Category: Funomena

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Visually Stunning VR Narrative Luna Is Coming To Quest

Funomena’s visually arresting VR debut, Luna, is finally making its way to Oculus Quest.

The narrative-driven experience was confirmed for launch on the platform at Oculus Connect 6 last week. Though Luna didn’t feature in the new Quest sizzle reel shown on stage, it did show up in the logo thumbnails on stage after.

Luna is a peaceful bit of VR storytelling. In it, users follow a bird traveling to several idyllic locations.  The app has some light interactivity to it, allowing you to decorate scenes and interact with creatures. That said, it’s the gorgeous animated visuals that truly stand out, making Luna a sight to behold in VR. It’s definitely the type of experience that a VR user of any age could enjoy.

Luna Quest 2

The initial version of the experience was wordless, but Funomena has since updated it with a ‘storybook’ mode. This adds in narration to the piece, helping to give its collection of scenes a little more context.

No word on exactly when the experience will launch on the standalone headset for now, sadly. It will be one of the few story-driven experiences on the device, which largely focuses on gaming content.

We reviewed the initial version of the experience earlier this year. “It’s never anything less than exquisitely beautiful, which goes some way to redeeming the lacking pacing,” we said. “It’s worth bathing in its glorious rays while it lasts, but there’s better gold to mine from VR storytelling.”

Funomena also brought a spin-off to the experience to Magic Leap. Right now the studio is working on a non-VR title for PC and PS4 named Wattam. Fingers crossed its planning to dive back into headsets following its release.

The post Visually Stunning VR Narrative Luna Is Coming To Quest appeared first on UploadVR.

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The VR Job Hub: Funomena, Zerolight & More

Looking for a change of direction in your career or are simply so excited about the possibilities of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) that you want to join in the fun? Well then, VRFocus might just have a few jobs available to help make that yearning a reality.

Location Company Role Link
San Francisco, CA Funomena Lead Programmer Click Here to Apply
Northampton, UK Engine Creative Senior Unity/AR/VR/Game Developer Click Here to Apply
London, UK VeloCloud Senior AR/VR UI Developer Click Here to Apply
Aberdeen, UK Robert Gordon University Research Assistant – Virtual and Augmented Reality for Cultural Heritage Click Here to Apply
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK ZeroLight Design Director Click Here to Apply
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK ZeroLight Senior Software Engineer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK ZeroLight Tools Engineer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK ZeroLight Director of Business Development Click Here to Apply
Detroit, US ZeroLight Technical Project Manager Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

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Fairy Tale Puzzler Luna Gets a PlayStation VR Release Date

Last summer indie developer Funomena announced that its puzzle experience Luna would be getting a PlayStation VR version and that it should arrive Fall 2018. That didn’t happen, with the studio going rather quiet for a while. Today, that’s all changed, with Funomena confirming a June launch date for Luna.

Luna

Called Luna – Storybook Edition, it’ll work with or without PlayStation VR and will feature a new component, with the gameplay accompanied by a guided voiceover with localized subtitles in 18 languages.

This will be Funomena’s first title for PlayStation 4 – founders Robin Hunicke and Martin Middleton previously worked together on Journey for PlayStation 3 – having originally launched for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift back in 2017. An interactive, narrative-driven experience, Luna’s story focuses on a young bird enticed to eat the last piece of the waning Moon by mysterious Owl and is subsequently blown far from home. Players must untangle the bird’s memories, solving a sequence of celestial puzzles to unlock each level’s tree, plant and animal spirits. In doing so they can then plant and cultivate plants within terrariums, making them grow a flourish in a bid to bring life back to the moonless world.

“Creatively, Luna is also an incredibly personal title, with elements of each team-mate woven deeply into its environments and storyline,” states Hunicke on PlayStation Blog. “As the team grew, we spent a lot of time talking about how being creative is one of the best ways to communicate how past experiences have shaped us. We took this notion of making art to heal into the mechanics, building a tactile audio-visual experience that defied traditional game labels.”

Luna

In VRFocus’ original review of Luna we noted that: “The artwork is gorgeous, a bright, detailed, hand drawn style that really makes the title standout from a lot of other VR content, perfectly intertwined with a musical score that’s light, refreshing and filled with depth. This really is something that’s aimed at a younger audience as they’ll certainly be enthralled by what Funomena has created.”

The text and subtitles in Luna now support Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. Luna will be available from 18th June in North America and 19th June in Europe. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.

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Studio Behind ‘Luna’ to Launch ‘Luna: Moondust Garden’ on Magic Leap One This Fall

Indie game studio Funomena, known for their interactive VR experience Luna (2017), announced that the company is bringing a new Luna experience especially made for augmented reality. Called Luna: Moondust Garden, the experience is slated to launch on Magic Leap One this fall.

Funomena calls Luna: Moondust Garden a playful extension of the original Luna which brings a new story from Bird and Owl’s forest into your living room.

In Moondust Garden, the studio says, players “explore the storybook world of Luna from a new, intimate perspective by bringing its animals & forest right into their own reality. By planting and tending a variety of plants, flowers, trees and islands within their physical space, players can create a lovely garden where Fox can come out to play.”

Activities

  • Plant and interact with a musical landscape directly into your own physical playspace
  • Discover & collect the moondust that’s hidden throughout the forest
  • Sprinkle moondust on the plants and flowers to help them grow and transform
  • Build a beautiful garden so that the sad Fox will cheer up, come out and play!

Funomena co-founder, CEO, and designer of Luna Robin Hunicke will be at Magic Leap’s L.E.A.P. conference on October 10th to talk more about Luna: Moondust Garden and discuss the design and development process that the team applied in building the experience for Magic Leap One. During the session she will talk about the creative inspiration, design and best practices for developing experiences for AR.

The post Studio Behind ‘Luna’ to Launch ‘Luna: Moondust Garden’ on Magic Leap One This Fall appeared first on Road to VR.

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Funomena To Bring Fairy Tale Luna: Moondust Garden to Magic Leap One

Having created beautiful fairy tale experience Luna for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and most recently PlayStation VR, developer Funomena has today revealed a new project based on the virtual reality (VR) title, Luna: Moondust Garden.

Luna: Moondust Garden isn’t a VR experience however, with Funomena developing it exclusively for the Magic Leap One Creators Edition.

Designed as a playful extension of the original Luna: Moondust Garden brings a new story from Bird and Owl’s charming forest, with players able to explore the storybook world from a new mixed reality (MR). Using Magic Leap’s technology users can plant and tend a variety of plants, flowers, trees and islands within their physical space, sprinkling moondust on the plants and flowers to help them grow and transform.

Hidden throughout the forest, moondust needs to be discovered and collected, helping to build a beautiful garden so that the sad Fox will cheer up, come out and play.

Luna screenshot 2

To help developers working on Magic Leap One content Robin Hunicke, co-founder and CEO of Funomena and designer of Luna, will be at Magic Leap’s L.E.A.P. conference on 10th October to talk more about Luna: Moondust Garden, its design and development process , and how the team applied their original idea with Magic Leap’s spatial computing. During the session she will touch on the creative inspiration, design and best practices for developing experiences for emerging platforms such as AR and MR.

Luna has won numerous awards across the globe, including ones from Brazil’s Independent Game Festival, The Taipei Game Show, VRCORE Award in China, and the Windows Developer Award for Game Creator of the Year. VRFocus’ review found that it was an: ‘unusual marriage of interactivity and storytelling’ and ‘perfect for those who’ve got kids old enough to try VR and want to see what it’s all about.’

Luna: Moondust Garden will come to the Magic Leap One Creator Edition headset this fall. How many will actually get to play the experience on the expensive headset is another matter. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.

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VR Fairy Tale Luna Coming to PlayStation VR This Fall

Having brought its playful virtual reality (VR) fairy tale Luna to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in 2017, developer Funomena has announced it’ll be porting the title to PlayStation VR this fall. And for PlayStation VR fans eager to get an early look ahead of its official release, Luna will be on Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE’s) booth during PAX West this month.

Luna is an interactive, narrative-driven experience whose story focuses on a young bird enticed to eat the last piece of the waning Moon by mysterious Owl, and is subsequently blown far from home. Players must untangle the bird’s memories, solving a sequence of celestial puzzles to unlock each level’s tree, plant and animal spirits. In doing so they can then plant and cultivate plants within terrariums, making them grow a flourish in a bid to bring life back to the moonless world.

Adding to the bird’s own story it will meet other animals along its journey, each of which offers help to guide the bird home.

Funomena has created a striking visual design for Luna, almost mixing cardboard and modelling clay stop-motion designs together, creating a rich vibrant world for young VR players. As VRFocus noted in its review: “Luna isn’t the sort of title that’s going to draw VR players away from their first-person shooters (FPS) or RPG’s, looking for the next amazing VR experience. It’s the type of title that’ll suit those who liked Gnomes & Goblins for example, an unusual marriage of interactivity and storytelling. Or perfect for those who’ve got kids old enough to try VR and want to see what it’s all about.”

Luna has won numerous awards across the globe, including ones from Brazil’s Independent Game Festival, The Taipei Game Show, VRCORE Award in China, and the Windows Developer Award for Game Creator of the Year.

You can see it for yourself on PlayStation VR during PAX West in Seattle at the Sony booth fro 31st August to 3rd September 2018. When the Fall date is announced VRFocus will let you know.

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Funomena Heads to VRDC to Talk About the Story of Luna

With CES 2018 now done and dusted for another year you maybe looking at that’s next on the calendar for the videogame industry and virtual reality (VR) in particular. Well there are plenty of little of niche events taking place over the next few weeks and months but the next big one for actual game news is going to be the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018 and its subsidiary event the Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC). A good portion of both events will be talks and sessions by industry professionals, and Luna creator Funomena will be hosting a session.

Luna screenshot 2

Titled: The Story of ‘Luna’: Designing Accessible PC and VR Experiences, Robin Hunicke, CEO, Co-Founder & Designer at Funomena will explore design challenges and solutions faced while developing Luna for both PC and VR players. The reason being, PC games are established with the possibility of being more profitable, while VR, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) experiences tend to be less so, so why not build for both audiences?

Luna is an interactive fairytale experience whose story focuses on a young Bird who is enticed to eat the last piece of the waning Moon by mysterious Owl, and is subsequently blown far from home. So players must must untangle the Bird’s memories, solving celestial puzzles to unlock each level’s tree, plant and animal spirits. By planting and cultivating plants within terrariums, players bring life back to the moonless world.

The title originally launched back in October 2017, seeing a multiplatform release across Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. Then a month later Funomena released the standard PC version for those that don’t own a VR head-mounted display (HMD).

In VRFocus’ review of Luna, we said: “It’s the type of title that’ll suit those who liked Gnomes & Goblins for example, an unusual marriage of interactivity and storytelling. Or perfect for those who’ve got kids old enough to try VR and want to see what it’s all about.”

Funomena won’t be the only studio giving a talk at VRDC 2018. Baobab Studios will be there with ‘Invasion!’: Crafting a VR Story, Survios will be on hand to discuss Sprint Vector‘s Fluid Locomotion Technology, Against Gravity will have a session called Room for Everyone: The ‘Rec Room’ Approach to Community VR, plus many, many more.

Check out the GDC/VRDC 2018 website for the full roster and as always, keep reading VRFocus for the latest VR, AR and MR news.

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Launch Trailer for VR Fairy Tale Luna

Luna has drawn attention with its vibrant, hand-drawn style and its appeal towards children as a kind of modern, interactive take on a fairy tale. The developers at Funomena have now released a new trailer to celebrate the launch of the title.

The story of Luna concerns a young songbird, who is persuaded by a mysterious owl to eat the last piece of the waning moon. As you would expect, this proves to be something of a mistake, so the player must help the songbird recover the moon by solving puzzles based around patterns in stars.

Luna offers few of the trappings usually see in videogames, there is no real user interface and no tutorial, presenting itself more as an interactive story that unfolds as the player progresses. The star puzzles unlock terrariums where the player experiments with plants, mixing various combinations to find the correct one to complete the level.

Luna screenshot 2

Unlike most VR experiences, the intended audience of Luna skews younger. As VRFocus said in its review of Luna: “Look at it as a children’s story book that you can interact with and Luna takes on a whole other meaning. The artwork is gorgeous, a bright, detailed, hand drawn style that really makes the title standout from a lot of other VR content, perfectly intertwined with a musical score that’s light, refreshing and filled with depth. This really is something that’s aimed at a younger audience as they’ll certainly be enthralled by what Funomena has created.”

You can view the launch trailer for Luna below.

VRFocus will continue to report on new and innovative VR content.

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Review: Luna

Virtual reality (VR) isn’t just a new way of playing videogames it’s a new form of technology that can encompass all forms of entertainment. As such, developers are continually experimenting with what content works and doesn’t work in an immersive environment, which can lead to confusion over what’s classed as a videogame or merely an interactive experience. The difference – which can be minimal – is important, especially when it comes to Funomena’s latest project Luna.

Luna is a fairy tale style story about a young bird who is enticed to eat the last piece of the waning Moon by mysterious Owl. To bring the moon back you need to solve celestial puzzles to unlock each level’s tree, plant and animal spirits, and then seed various plants within terrariums to bring life back to the moonless world.

Luna screenshot 2

The reason for differentiating between a videogame and a more interactive story is due to the way Luna is laid out and the content its offers. Right from the start there’s no user interface UI or any real options to speak of, as you’re thrown into the world without a hint of what to do. As the story unfolds through animation and music the basic principles of Luna become clearer, offering two stage levels that consist of unlocking star based puzzles which then move onto the terrariums. In these habitats you then have four plants with which to mix and match in this miniature world. Getting the right combination then completes the level.

It’s the celestial puzzles that really offer the most gameplay, you have to move stars into certain positions to form a dot-to-dot shape that becomes a plant to use in the second section. While the amount of stars increase as the levels progress the actual difficulty is fairly negligible – it really shouldn’t take much more than a minute to complete the higher level ones.

So in terms of interactivity that’s pretty much it. You can pet the song bird which it reacts to, making it warble a tune but there’s not a great deal else, so the entire experience will probably take just over an hour to fully see.

Here’s the thing, as a videogame there’s just not enough to recommend over all the other content releases as it is a once play through kind of title. Look at it as a children’s story book that you can interact with and Luna takes on a whole other meaning. The artwork is gorgeous, a bright, detailed, hand drawn style that really makes the title standout from a lot of other VR content, perfectly intertwined with a musical score that’s light, refreshing and filled with depth. This really is something that’s aimed at a younger audience as they’ll certainly be enthralled by what Funomena has created.

Luna isn’t the sort of title that’s going to draw VR players away from their first-person shooters (FPS) or RPG’s, looking for the next amazing VR experience. It’s the type of title that’ll suit those who liked Gnomes & Goblins for example, an unusual marriage of interactivity and storytelling. Or perfect for those who’ve got kids old enough to try VR and want to see what it’s all about.

60%

Awesome

  • Verdict
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VR Fairytale Luna Confirmed for October Launch

Indie developer Funomena recently announced that its first virtual reality (VR) title, a fairytale experience for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets called Luna, will launch later this month. 

Luna is an interactive experience whose story is about a young Bird who is enticed to eat the last piece of the waning Moon by mysterious Owl, and is subsequently blown far from home. So players must must untangle the Bird’s memories, solving celestial puzzles to unlock each level’s tree, plant and animal spirits. By planting and cultivating plants within terrariums, players bring life back to the moonless world. The bird will meet other animals along its journey, who can help guide it home. Luna screenshot 1

The title is due to launch on 17th October 2017 in the Windows Store, Oculus Store, and Steam, no price has been confirmed just yet.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Funomena, reporting back with the latest studio updates.