FORM – Page 4 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 1, 2017

‘FORM’ Review

The word ‘surreal’ invariably falls short when it comes to trying to lift the shroud surrounding the VR first-person puzzler FORM. Transporting you to a strange inner universe via an enigmatic black obelisk, you experience what it must feel like to make contact with a higher intelligence, with its intense interlocking geometric constructions and imposing, dream-like architecture—FORM is an unexpected delight for anyone looking for something truly out of the ordinary.

FORM Details:

Official Site

Developer: Charm Games
Available On: Steam (HTC Vive), Oculus Touch (Coming Soon) PSVR (Coming 2018)
Reviewed On: HTC Vive
Release Date: June 1, 2017

Gameplay

It’s another day on the job for Dr. Devin Eli, a brilliant physicist working at a special research facility in the Alaskan
wilderness. Housed at the facility is ‘The Obelisk’, a seemingly alien artifact emanating a mysterious signal. Spiriting you away into an environment like none other on earth, a place where thoughts manifest visually and the machinations of the human mind are displayed as complex machines, it’s your job to uncover the secrets of The Obelisk as you journey further to the center of the human mind and the alternative realities that reside within.

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FORM shows a command of the medium that few have grasped with such clear intention. Every puzzle is an alien relic that demands your curiosity and experimentation. Every puzzle, while mysterious in its ultimate function, always injects you with the feeling that you’ve actually accomplished something wonderful. It’s like stepping into a machine of pure novelty, and it manages to deliver its intuitive puzzles without the need of a tutorial, i.e. no condescending robot voice guiding you through the world.

Puzzles are mostly spatial in nature, meaning you’ll be slotting glowing geometric shapes into manifolds, opening up mysterious machines and pulling levers. If you’re looking for a super hard puzzler though, FORM may let you down in that aspect. Although it would be hard to walk away without some appreciation for the visual complexity and unique variety of the puzzles displayed before you, there are some moments when I wished for a real stumper.

In the end, the story left me feeling a bit confused, probably necessitating another playthrough altogether to fully grasp. Considering it took about an hour for me to play from start to finish, it’s not unthinkable that even after solving all the puzzles that you’d want to play again to understand the intentionality behind them, and understand exactly what you’re reconnecting and discovering. In any case, I attribute it to the game robbing my attention with all of its strange and fulfilling abstractions.

Immersion and Comfort

Like a lucid dream, or being under the influence of a psychedelic, the visual complexity is really something to behold. The world morphs around you, drawing your gaze further and further, and you have to tell yourself to not give into the awe to complete the puzzles. Its humbling to think it all lives inside the human brain and you can access it (and interact with it) just by putting on a VR headset.

At some moments, when the world was whirring around me and dozens of tiny puzzle pieces were floating in front of my face, I did feel my computer choke a bit (reviewed on i7-6700, GTX 1080, 16 GB RAM). This may be helped somewhat by turning down the graphical intensity in the settings, although the pre-release copy didn’t include access to the settings menu, so we can’t say for sure. These moments were few and far between though, as most of the time things went by smoothly.

There isn’t any artificial locomotion to speak of besides the times when you teleport into puzzles, and that’s not a user-controlled mechanic anyway. Everything is basically presented to you in forward-facing position within a square meter area, making it an exceedingly comfortable standing experience with no risk to the first time VR player.

The post ‘FORM’ Review appeared first on Road to VR.

May 26, 2017

Form Is A VR Puzzler That Looks Set To Deliver Next Week

There haven’t been many high-profile VR releases on late, but Charm Games is promising to deliver something special next week with Form.

Due for release on the HTC Vive on June 1st, Form is a puzzler game that’s caught the industry’s attention with the high production values and intriguing challenges. It’s a first-person experience that makes full use of the Vive’s motion controllers to tease your brain in new ways.

In Form you play as Dr. Devin Eli, a physicist based in an Alaskan favility. During his research, Dr. Eli uncovers a strange singal emitting from a mysterious artifact known as The Obelisk. That sounds like enough of a twist in itself, but Dr. Eli isn’t your average doctor; he has superhuman powers.

Using geometric visualization you’ll follow the signal, completing puzzles that unravel in your own mind. Based on what we’ve seen in the trailer above, you can expect fantastical trials that remind us a little of Fireproof Games’ The Room with more of a supernatural twist.

We’ve already gone hands-on with the game and found a lot of promise. Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR versions are expected to launch over the course of the next year, too.

We’ve seen a lot of great VR puzzle games of late, including PSVR’s Statik, but we’re hoping Form goes above and beyond. Will we be scratching our heads or blazing through it?

We’ll find out if it succeeds next week. Form will hit Steam for $19.99.

Tagged with: FORM

May 23, 2017

Charm Games’ Psychedelic Sci-Fi Title FORM Coming to HTC Vive

Indie videogame studio Charm Games has announced today that its upcoming virtual reality (VR) title, FORM, will release on Steam for HTC Vive on 1st June 2017.

A surreal puzzle videogame, FORM is set in a remote Alaskan research facility, with players in the role of Dr. Devin Eli, a physicist with superhuman powers of geometric visualization, taking them on journey to uncover the secrets behind a recently discovered ancient artifact, The Obelisk. As players explore surreal environments built from Dr. Eli’s memories, dreams and fears they’ll have to assemble puzzle pieces, unlock doors and open rifts to alternative realities.

As players access the deeper and more distant recesses of Dr. Eli’s mind the puzzles and environments become more complex and intertwined allowing them to ascend through progressively higher levels of consciousness to discover a path toward Dr. Eli’s true destiny.

“FORM is about exploring reality through rich narrative in breathtaking dreamlike environments,” said Alan Jernigan, Co-founder of Charm Games. “With no death or time constraints, players are free to investigate the surroundings and solve mysteries at their own pace. Thanks to our focus on comfort and intuitive controls, people can play either seated or standing and with zero motion sickness.”

FORM will come to HTC Vive on 1st June for $19.99 USD with a one week discount available. Additionally, Charm Games plans to release the title on Oculus Touch soon and on PlayStation VR in 2018.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of FORM, reporting back with any further updates.

May 1, 2017

FORM Is An Abstract VR Puzzle Game With An Actual Story

Puzzle games are a strange genre in video games. When most people think of a puzzle game they conjure up images of blocks falling like in Tetris or adding up numbers in grid arrangements such as with Sudoku. But now the term “puzzle game” is much more fluid. It’s not just about blocks and numbers, it’s about exploring and unlocking secrets. That shift was kickstarted partially by the dawn of Myst, which helped usher in a new era of puzzle-adventure hybrid experiences, and now VR is pushing those boundaries even further. In fact, the creators of Myst have their own VR spiritual successor named Obduction.

In this crossroads that’s still searching for its own identity is precisely where FORM, an upcoming puzzle title from Charm Games, finds itself. “FORM has similar themes to Obduction, but I like to call it 2001: A Space Odyssey meets The Room in VR,” writes a representative from the company in an email to UploadVR.

In FORM you play as Dr. Devin Eli, a brilliant astrophysicist on the verge of his most remarkable discovery to date. My demo began in a research facility as I stood behind a control panel full of buttons, screens, and objects to interact with. A sarcastic male-voiced A.I. system is there to provide instruction and, most notably, thinly veiled insults. The writing and delivery are good enough to earn a few chuckles.

After I press some buttons for a while things start to take an interesting turn. The wall in front of me shifts and transforms as I’m seemingly immersed into a great white void before me. I look skyward and close my eyes inside the Oculus Rift I’m wearing, reaching up instinctively with my hands, now holding Oculus Touch controllers, to shield my eyes. When I open, I’m standing in a dark cavern surrounded by incredible lights and seemingly alien architecture.

Floating in front of me are bubbles with my thoughts, somehow existing both in my character’s mind and in the world as real objects. What follows is a series of puzzles that have me manipulating objects, light, and patterns in 3D space around me, solving cryptic ruins in ways that only VR could allow. The entire game’s premise and gameplay mechanics are all situated around the idea that it’s taking place inside Dr. Eli’s subconscious. In a way, it’s one giant metaphor.

In the video above you can see a very early-stage prototype of the game in action. While the mechanics were similar in the build that I tried, the actual visuals, effects, and overall presentation were very different. For example, one puzzle involved me spinning a cylinder around as I tried to align circuit patterns. For another I had to connect balls of light to small nodes to create a specific rectangular pattern. It sounds simple, but in practice it feels incredibly rewarding when you figure things out.

That satisfaction payoff that follows every puzzle is perfectly balanced with bits of narrative along the way. Near the end of my demo I saw a brief cutscene that peeled back the layers a bit on Dr. Eli’s childhood and a specific traumatic event that serves as the cornerstone of the game’s story. There isn’t a ton of voice acting or anything to keep up with, but from what I’ve seen FORM does an admirable job of giving you a world with characters to care about without sacrificing the merits of its cerebral puzzle-solving ways.

FORM is currently slated to release for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR (PSVR). However, its releases will not be simultaneous as the small (less than 10 person) development team needs extra time to smooth out each version. Rift and Vive are currently expected in 2017 with PSVR to come in early 2018. Find out more information at the game’s official website.

Tagged with: Charm Games, FORM