Today VentureBeat announced a series of panels on November 11th at 10AM PT in partnership with Facebook’s Oculus. Next week’s debut panel, ‘The Next Generation of Games’ will include an analyst from NPD, product officer at Survios, and co-creator of Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon, who is VP and Creative Director at NetherRealm Studios.
Each panel is designed specifically to be viewed in VR using the Venuesapp from Oculus.
‘Next Generation’ VR Games
The fact that Oculus and VentureBeat are hosting a series of panels together isn’t very surprising, but the inclusion of Ed Boon on the debut panel about the next generation of games, presumably VR games in particular, is quite surprising. We had no idea Boon was interested in the VR industry, let alone that he might be working on VR projects.
When you consider Boon’s work is primarily in the fighting game realm as co-creator of Mortal Kombat and Injustice, it’s extremely intriguing to imagine what he might work on in the wheel house of VR games. Perhaps there is a novel and effective way to translate the gameplay concepts and gore of Mortal Kombat over to VR?
Interestingly the Chief Product Officer from Survios will also be on the panel. Survios released Creed: Rise to Glory, which is one of the best VR boxing games around. Perhaps they’ve joined forces in some way to develop a Mortal Kombat VR game?
The collection of panels will consist of individually livestreamed events on select Wednesdays once per month starting this November until mid February, 2021. The other panels include one on mental health for December 9th, one on virtual beings for January 27th, and one on sci-fi tech in games on February 17th.
In an interview with The Washington Post’s gaming vertical, Launcher, Sony Interactive Entertainment / PlayStation President and CEO Jim Ryan said in an interview published today that he does not believe VR will be a “meaningful component of interactive entertainment” for some time still. According to him,”the future of VR” won’t arrive until after next year. This potentially means no new PSVR 2 headset until at least 2022.
The Future of PlayStation VR
The interview is all about immersion and how the PS5 hits your senses more directly by using 3D audio and the DualSense controller’s impressive haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. As explained in my editorial this week, the controller is extremely impressive and bodes well for the future of VR haptics and interaction — that is, assuming it’s ever used for VR gaming in the first place.
In the aforementioned interview, Jim Ryan seems rather unconvinced on the promise of VR despite PSVR selling over 5 million headsets:
“I think we’re more than a few minutes from the future of VR,” Ryan said. “PlayStation believes in VR. Sony believes in VR, and we definitely believe at some point in the future, VR will represent a meaningful component of interactive entertainment. Will it be this year? No. Will it be next year? No. But will it come at some stage? We believe that. And we’re very pleased with all the experience that we’ve gained with PlayStation VR, and we look forwarding to seeing where that takes us in the future.”
Admittedly, his stance isn’t all that surprising. Just a month ago Ryan was quoted as saying that VR is still an “unproven space” but that he is “intrigued and really excited by it.”
They seem to be playing the long game here and will likely release a new device when it’s ready to make a significant leap forward, likely in late 2022 if I had to make a prediction.
We spoke with the director of Virtual (Black) Reality, Baff Akoto, about how his latest collection of immersive short films tell a connected tale of shared identity.
I wasn’t always a fan of virtual reality. Conceptually, I was on board. It was the practicality of it all – as much as I would’ve enjoyed emulating Ready Player One from the comfort of my home, the associated cost of an Oculus Rift and VR ready PC kept that dream out of reach. And given the fact that VR had come and go multiple times throughout the years, I didn’t think it would last long enough for me to indulge. It had always been a fad.
But, my views started to change as things progressed.
[UploadVR regularly commissions freelance writers to review products, write stories, and contribute op-ed pieces to the site. This article is a feature piece from an established journalist.]
Virtual (Black) Reality: Volume 2
With new technology came expanded uses. I started to see VR headsets as more than expensive toys/machines meant to render virtual worlds for us to play in. I saw them as tools. An avenue to accessible gaming. A means of fighting discrimination. And most recently, a powerful way to connect with others.
This was made most apparent after viewing a narrative VR series called Virtual (Black) Reality: Volume 2. Directed by Baff Akoto (Football Fables, Leave the Edge), the series takes a brief look into the lives of four African-descended Berliners and Parisians.
The goal was to represent black communities that are seldom depicted in mainstream media while also sharing parts of the Afropean experience to others around the world. The shorts do more than that though. They also make aware an undeniable truth. That black people, regardless of origin, have a lot in common with one another.
The idea that we all share a basic level of familiarity isn’t new. As a black person living in the US, this sort of thing is a regular occurrence. Still, I was moved by what I saw in each of Akoto’s short films. It could have been due to my current disposition – 2020 has been a rough year for everyone – or the fact that it was nice to see black people in a state of just being.
Director, Baff Akoto
But each short resonated with me on a deep level. In them, I found a part of me that I didn’t know was missing. A shared familiarity to unique spaces, some of which I’d had never actually been in. Talking with Akoto, he’d express similar feelings.
“I think it was always a very inherent thing to understand,” explained Akoto over the phone. “That we are global, as black folks, as people or descendants from the African diaspora.”
We are global.
Filmed in 180°, Virtual (Black) Reality was first conceived as part of the YouTube Creators Lab in London back in 2018. The series would eventually land in this year’s BFI London Film Festival as part of the LFF Expanded – the festival’s special grouping of immersive art. Its placement within the festival is a testament to the care that went into each short. Shot in a manner befitting a given subject, the audience is always afforded an intimate perspective on the onscreen happenings. Building on this space are the subjects themselves. Whether it’s Babs in his barber shop or Bella in her dance studio, they all are more than comfortable sharing a part of themselves with Akoto (and the rest of the world).
Outside looking in, Baff Akoto accomplishes his goal – as expressed by him in the details used to explain the series. There’s more to it than just sharing these experiences though. It was also to provide a sense of community. Raised in London and Accra, he didn’t always feel properly represented. Akoto explained that “being African, West African or Ghanaian, was an anomaly [in the UK]. You didn’t really see that representation in the culture. So, from an early age, you kind of pick up that my kind of black wasn’t really mainstream black, ya know?”
The lack of representation wasn’t necessarily indictive of a largely shared sentiment among Afropeans; they weren’t hatful of West African’s or anything like that. On the contrary. The diversity was well met. It’s just that some of us might not always feel as welcome as we should. “You talk to your friends in Germany or your cousins in France and you know, there’s this unconscious kind of multiplicity. Like, this inherent diversity amongst black folks and Africans.” He continued, “but as the same time, [we’re seen] or recognized for being black.”
Akoto wanted to explore the wider context of being black. He didn’t want to focus on our shared trauma though, instead keeping the series grounded in tradition and heritage. “There’s a very well-oiled machine that…kind of commoditizes Black Pain, right? That’s something we are very used to seeing.” I nodded as he talked about how we see ourselves in film. How those works frequent the Oscars. No shade given though. “I mean, they’re very fine projects by very fine filmmakers,” said Akoto. “And I’m not saying I won’t ever do [something like that] but this wasn’t that. This was very much about black life and showing communities.” He wanted to show everyday life.
That’s not to say that his shorts didn’t include any history. One of his shorts featured Kwesi, who works at the Each One Teach One library in Berlin. In it, he shares his views on early German colonial aggression on the African continent. Between 1904 and 1908, German forces would enact the first genocide of the 20th century; they killed Herero, Nama, and San people, sending thousands of them to the first German controlled concentration camps. When I asked Akoto why he included this segment along with the others, given his aim to showcase normal life, he expressed its importance to the culture. “I don’t think we have culture without history, ya know. Like, neither of those things could exist in a vacuum, right?”
Akoto explained that the irrational damage of history is in culture and vice versa. “The Germans have a long and sordid history with colonialism. And if you’re Black and you’re German, that’s something that you need to know and understand in order to kind of make sense of your place in that particular country.” In other words, these shorts mostly offer a peak into the everyday lives of black people. The extra bit of history helps to contextualize their current standing in these countries. “I’m really interested in showing something that wasn’t sensational or headline-worthy,” said Akoto. “Just show another day in the life of people like you or me, you know?”
Virtual (Black) Reality: Volume 2 is profound. On the surface, it might seem mundane. We’re just watching people do their thing? Well, yes. In doing so, we’re allowed to be viewed as normal people. Not the downtrodden. Not slaves. But as black people living our lives. It also showcases a part of the Afropean experience. A view of our culture in Berlin, Paris, London and so forth. Which, with it, comes a relegalization that we aren’t as different as some would believe. I can see myself rocking with Bella as she incorporates hip hop and African dance into a dope routine, sitting with Kwesi to discuss African history, laughing at Babs’ stories while getting a haircut and encouraging ShaNon as she moderates talks with refugees (utilizing her multicultural experiences).
In a way, they all feel like distant cousins even though I’ve never personally met them or shared in their live experiences – my time living in Frankfert and Berlin, Germany (or the fact that my wife is a first-generation Ghanaian) notwithstanding. “I for one, am always marveling at the spirit around us black folks,” said Akoto. “You have a culture, you know. When you’re stepping into a [black] barber shop in Harlem or one in Paris. You know what…in a sense, you know what you’re going to get.”
The VR version of Blair Witch releases very soon for the Oculus Quest later this month. Dubbed ‘Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition’ this new version of the first-person psychological horror game was rebuilt for VR and is dropping on the Quest platform first on October 30th before coming to other headsets later.
We got the chance to send a few questions over to the Blair Witch VR Project Manager, Szymon Erdmanski, to see what it was like working on such an iconic horror property in VR.
Blair Witch VR Developer Interview
UploadVR: What about BlairWitch felt like a good fit for VR?
Project Manager, Szymon Erdmanski: BlairWitch is a psychological horror story, it does not depend on a lot of action and fast movement to deliver an intense experience. Quite contrary, scares using atmosphere and the experience of being alone in dark woods with just a flashlight and monsters hiding in the dark. This is a perfect match for a VR where fast paced action just does not work and will make you nauseous at best.
VR is all about atmosphere and story, and those are also BlairWitch strongpoints, so that just made a perfect fit right there. We obviously had to do a lot of redesign to make BW work for VR but we didn’t have to turn the whole project upside down because the strong foundations were already there.
UploadVR: This is now the third VR game you’ve done, counting the Daydream version of Layers of Fear and then the full Layers of Fear port for PC and Quest. What are the main takeaways you’ve learned while developing for VR?
Erdmanski: There is a huge difference between traditional gaming platforms and VR from a gameplay standpoint. What works well on PC or consoles will not, in most cases, work in VR. Fast paced action with a lot of player movements is especially a big no no in VR. What works well is manual interactions with VR controllers, limited player movement, great storytelling, and building atmosphere using visuals and sound effects.
UploadVR: Can you explain what it is about VR that feels like such a great fit for horror games?
Erdmanski: As I mentioned before, fast paced action and a lot of player movement is very difficult to make work in VR. Psychological horror games are rooted in atmosphere and story, and the genre’s slow build up using visual and audio cues works really well in VR.
UploadVR: For BlairWitch, I noticed it indicates it’s “redesigned” and “rebuilt” for VR and I see lots of physical interactions in the trailer that weren’t possible in the non-VR game. Can you explain just how different this version is? Is the story still the same? How much new content is there?
Erdmanski: The story is more or less the same. Levels were redesigned and rebuilt from scratch for Oculus Quest for a lot of reasons. We found that a lot of walking around, which created the atmosphere of being lost in the woods in the original game, turned out to be pretty frustrating in the VR version. Remember you don’t want to move a lot in VR, so we redesigned the levels from scratch, to make the game a more compact experience with gameplay condensed in a smaller space. That alone made the experience more intense. We also added a bunch of interactive physical items which always work great in VR.
What we believe is the most important improvement is the interaction with your dog, Bullet. In the Oculus Quest version of the game you can pet your dog, grab his paw and play with him using VR controllers almost like you would with a real dog in real life. One of the new features is playing fetch with the dog, you can grab sticks and throw it for Bullet to bring them back to you.
UploadVR: Why did you choose to launch on Quest first?
Erdmanski: We have a great relationship with Oculus and Facebook. Oculus is one of the fastest growing VR platforms and the Quest 2 is just astonishing as a standalone VR headset.
Of course other platforms are also ok and we will work on them too. 😉
UploadVR: Will there be any Quest 2-specific enhancements in comparison to the Quest 1 version of the game?
Erdmanski: Yes, there are visual improvements for Quest 2, since it is significantly better performance-wise then the old Quest. Most noticeable is that the dog will look significantly better on the new Quest and we added more foliage in the woods.
UploadVR: Once BlairWitch VR launches on the Rift store, will it have cross buy with the Quest version?
Erdmanski: We’re working on that – stay tuned.
UploadVR: Are there plans to eventually bring The Medium to VR or Layers of Fear 2?
Erdmanski: We are focusing on BlairWitch, but you never know.
UploadVR: Can you at all speak to how well Layers of Fear VR is doing in terms of sales on Quest vs PC?
Erdmanski:The Quest is a dynamically growing platform, especially with the new Quest 2. We are a public company and we can’t share numbers, but sales are meeting expectations.
UploadVR: Finally, if you could work on any established IP, whether it be a film, book, TV show, game, etc — and adapt that into a VR game, what would it be and why?
Erdmanski: We can handle a variety of IPs and when it comes to horror, we want to work on it all! The team is packed with horror fans of all kinds, and we would love to work on stories from John Carpenter, Steven King, or Silent Hill.
Do you plan on playing Blair Witch VR this halloween when it releases for Oculus Quest on October 30th? Let us know down in the comments below!
Isekai Entertainment’s Sword Reverie has gained significant traction these last few weeks. Bringing us a single player JRPG-inspired action RPG to VR, it’s been in the news thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.
First revealed last year with some gameplay footage, it reached their $10,000 funding goal in 72 hours and Isekai are now seeking to hit further stretch goals, including further content and support for both PSVR and Oculus Quest. As of the time of this publishing it’s got about 4 days to go.
Reminiscent of Sword Art Online, last year’s VR RPG Nostos, and VR MMO Ilysia it utilizes a hand-drawn anime visual design within a single player experience, designed to make you feel like a JRPG protagonist.
Playing a nameless Hero summoned to this realm, it takes place across an open world with explorable villages, boss fights, and dungeons. Placing you amidst a war between humans and Elementals, it promises a story-driven experience that follows this plot:
“After a thousand years of peace, the boiling tensions between the “kingdom of man” and the elemental lords continue to escalate. Seeing that the threat of a catastrophic war is imminent, the Guardian Magnus uses his powers to summon you the “Hero” to his realm, to become his new apprentice. The Guardian explains to you, that he believes the Elemental lords have grown too powerful and as legend goes, only a “true hero” from a faraway land, can bring balance, peace, and prosperity to all the realms.”
With the Kickstarter campaign finishing very soon we reached out to one of Isekai Entertainment’s founders, Frank Zhang, who was kind enough to tell us more about this exciting new project.
Henry Stockdale, UploadVR: Firstly, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could you please introduce yourselves and your game?
Frank Zhang, Isekai Entertainment Co-Founder: Hi, my name is Frank. One of the co-founders of Isekai Entertainment. We are a game studio founded in 2018 to develop anime and manga inspired VR games.
Our game, Sword Reverie, is a single-player JRPG inspired VR action game. In Sword Reverie, you will be an anime protagonist who fights off hordes of Elementals using your sword and launches powerful abilities using body gestures. You will explore a large fantasy world alongside anime-style characters in a thrilling story-driven adventure.
UploadVR: Sword Reverie was announced last year but it’s only just gotten a Kickstarter campaign. Why choose to do this now, rather than when you first revealed it?
Zhang: Our original plan was to release the game directly to Early Access by the end of 2020. However, during our playtests this summer, we had an outpouring of support from players who wanted to see the game developed further before Early Access to realize its full potential and were asking for ways to support us financially to do so. We believe Kickstarter is the best way to continue the development of Sword Reverie with feedback and support from our community.
UploadVR: It’s planned for early access release in Spring 2021. What can we expect to be included at launch, compared to the full release?
Zhang: The Early Access release will include the first map and boss fight. The game will be roughly 2~3 hours at Early Access, with a smaller amount of enemy types and weapons. The full release will include 5 maps, 4+ boss fights, and additional enemies and weapons for 8~10 hours of gameplay. The full story of Sword Reverie will also be completed in the full release.
UploadVR: JRPGs aren’t really something we’ve previously seen in VR, though similar ideas were used in Nostos and OrbusVR. How does Sword Reverie distinguish itself from those experiences?
Zhang: Like Nostos and Orbus VR, Sword Reverie has a large fantasy world and epic stories. However, Sword Reverie is a single-player game with a greater focus on satisfying VR combat. Our game has a unique elemental combat system and players use different body gestures to launch abilities. We also do a great job recreating the anime experience with our art style and voice actors.
UploadVR: Perhaps inevitably due to the concept, we’ve seen plenty of Sword Art Online comparisons with your game and I noticed the Kickstarter FAQ discourages use of life-threatening hardware mods. All joking aside, is there any major similarities between SAO and Sword Reverie?
Zhang: We want Sword Reverie to be a game that immerses you in a VR fantasy world with thrilling action combat. Our team is a big fan of Kirito’s use of dual blades and the fights in SAO were exhilarating to watch. This is why we created a combat system that allows players to launch larger than life JRPG like abilities by doing cool battle poses using dual blades.
UploadVR: You’ve previously shown off open-world gameplay footage, showcasing combat and village exploration, so how much freedom will players have here? Can you go off adventuring to complete some side quests, or does it mainly focus on the campaign?
Zhang: Certain details are still being designed, but the player will be able to freely explore large sections of the map during the campaign and will be rewarded with experience and loot for venturing off the beaten trail. The focus is on the campaign, but side quests are a possible addition.
UploadVR: In true JRPG fashion, will there be a fishing minigame?
Zhang: Currently, the answer is no, but additional VR interactions may be added in the future.
UploadVR: Regarding combat, Sword Reverie promises a physics-based approach, using a rock-paper-scissors style system for elemental attacks and you’ve also got physical weaponry. How do these two aspects combine?
Zhang: The elemental system means that you need to change elements and use different abilities to deal with different enemies. The physics weaponry means you can’t just wiggle your sword around, that weapons have weight, and that you need to pay attention to how you are attacking enemies, such as where to attack, and when to dodge or block. You will need to choose the right element and strategy against enemies but also fight hard to dispatch enemies quickly.
UploadVR: We know that the Hero is joined by Magnus and Stella during this adventure. Stella and Magnus will join us during combat, but can players control/influence their actions during fights? Or do they operate independently?
Zhang: Magnus and Stella cannot be controlled by the player and will operate independently. However, they will both have major roles in the story.
UploadVR: Your Kickstarter video tells us we can combine elemental abilities to create our own playstyles within game. Could you tell us more about how this works?
Zhang: Each combination of elements and abilities have unique effects. When faced with different types of enemies, there are multiple strategies on what elements to use and which threats to tackle first depending on the playstyle of the player. For example, players may prefer to use fire elements to burn enemies or grass elements to root enemies. Each approach will have its pros and cons.
UploadVR: What VR headsets will be supported?
Zhang: We already support all PC VR headsets that run SteamVR (HTC Vive/Vive Pro/Cosmos, Valve Index, Pimax, Windows MR such as HP Reverb G2 and Samsung Odyssey+, Oculus Rift/Rift S/Quest with Link Cable, etc.) and Oculus PC VR (Oculus Rift/Rift S/Quest with Link Cable). PSVR and Quest are stretch goals for the Kickstarter.
UploadVR: To bring it to Oculus Quest and PSVR, you’re asking for $20,000 and $25,000 as stretch goals. Is it possible to achieve these goals with just a small financial boost?
Zhang: It will take far more money, and most importantly development time, to create proper Quest and PSVR versions of the game. For the Quest version, due to the performance limitations of mobile processors, we need to make major changes to the game. The Kickstarter is meant to be a gauge of interest in Quest and PSVR versions and not an indicator of the investment needed. If the stretch goals are met, we will seek alternative sources of funding to build these versions or put up more money ourselves.
UploadVR: Lastly, is there any message you’d like to share with the fans?
Zhang: Thank you to our Kickstarter backers for backing our project. The Kickstarter has been a huge success so far, and we will do our best to create a game that meets your expectations.
Again, thank you to all the weebs and gamers who have supported us along the way. Your support allowed us to keep moving forward during difficult times. We hope that all our fans will continue to provide us feedback to make the game better and continue to spread the word about Sword Reverie.
For more details on Sword Reverie, you can visit the official website, Kickstarter page, and Steam page. Sword Reverie is currently targeting a Spring 2021 release window for Early Access.
Star Wars: Squadrons is here and it’s pretty great. We’ve been having a blast playing it in VR with a HOTAS setup since EA chose not to support VR motion controllers. During an interview last week, we also spoke about future plans for the game and whether it could ever come to the Oculus Quest.
One major point in favor of Star Wars: Squadrons in the hearts of gamers is that EA has promised to never have any microtransactions at all, which is great to hear after the loot box fiasco in Battlefront 2. But what does that mean for the game’s future support post-launch with new game modes, DLC, and so on?
Well, as it stands, there are no plans for any of that stuff:
“Never say never, so to speak, but as far as our philosophy goes we’re not trying to treat the game as a live service,” says Ian Frazier, Creative Director on Star Wars: Squadrons. “We don’t want to say, ‘It’s almost done!’ and then dribble out more of it over time, which to be honest is how most games work these days. So we’ve tried to treat it in kind of an old-school approach saying, ‘You’ve paid the $40, this is the game and it’s entirely self-contained. We’re not planning to add more content, this is the game, and we hope you understand the value proposition.'”
Part of me hopes this mindset changes, or perhaps EA opens their wallet a little bit more to fund new content. I’d love to see more ships become available, more game modes, or more maps. Something near a planet’s surface would be a really cool change of pace, but that seems unlikely:
“From pretty early on we wanted to be a space combat game, emphasis on space,” says Frazier. “So even though we do go into the outer atmosphere of Yavin Prime, we never go anywhere truly terrestrial because we wanted to separate the game in that flavor from something like Battlefront, which we already have. “
Finally, I wanted to ask and get a concrete answers from Frazier directly, even though I already knew what he was going to say. Is there any chance of a Quest port?
“No plans at this time,” says Frazier. “Obviously if you have the Oculus Quest and Link with a PC that has sufficient requirements you can run a Quest off of your PC, but as a standalone thing, no plans at this time.”
Some people might be surprised to find out that Star Wars: Squadrons, the brand new space combat game from EA Motive with full top-to-bottom VR support, does not support VR motion controllers at all. We spoke to the Lead Gameplay Director and Creative Director to find out why.
Playing Star Wars: Squadrons in VR is a magical and entirely immersive experience. I’ve already put over 15 hours into this game and the entire time I’ve been using a flight stick in VR, other than maybe 20 minutes between gamepad and keyboard/mouse for testing. I can’t really imagine playing it any other way it just feels that good.
A big part of why it feels so good in VR is that it was designed with VR support from the very beginning:
“It was planned from the beginning,” says Ian Frazier. “Since the second week of prototypes, before we were even in production, we had the VR version running. Ever since then, we do daily playtests with the team on the competitive side of the game, and we always have some people, like James, that are usually playing VR and other people on traditional displays all playing together. We’ve kept that going all through production.”
Star Wars: Squadrons VR Controllers
Naturally, every VR headset that can play this game — PC VR devices like the Rift, Vive, and Index or Quest via Link / Virtual Desktop, as well as the PSVR — has a pair of motion controllers. However, Star Wars: Squadrons won’t let you use them at all.
According to EA, here’s why:
“Early on there were some pitches,” says James Clement, Lead Gameplay and Technical Design Director on Star Wars: Squadrons at EA Motive. “I worked on a pitch at one point for the Touch, but we decided we wanted to keep this hardware oriented so you can really feel the controls in your hands and everything and have that tactile sensation. The very best experience is with a HOTAS in VR so that you can feel that you’re in the cockpit as well as see that you’re in the cockpit. And it was also a matter of precision and timing. Everything we do in the cockpit since you have a lot of stuff to manage needs to be instantaneous and you can only really get that on a hardware controller. The Touch controllers, for example, just don’t have enough inputs to really put everything on a button on the controller so we’d have to do simulated touches and stuff like that. If you went into a dogfight having to do that you’d probably be at a severe disadvantage, I don’t think it would be a fair match.”
What do you think of the reasoning? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Some people might be surprised to find out that Star Wars: Squadrons, the brand new space combat game from EA Motive with full top-to-bottom VR support, does not support VR motion controllers at all. We spoke to the Lead Gameplay Director and Creative Director to find out why.
Playing Star Wars: Squadrons in VR is a magical and entirely immersive experience. I’ve already put over 15 hours into this game and the entire time I’ve been using a flight stick in VR, other than maybe 20 minutes between gamepad and keyboard/mouse for testing. I can’t really imagine playing it any other way it just feels that good.
A big part of why it feels so good in VR is that it was designed with VR support from the very beginning:
“It was planned from the beginning,” says Ian Frazier. “Since the second week of prototypes, before we were even in production, we had the VR version running. Ever since then, we do daily playtests with the team on the competitive side of the game, and we always have some people, like James, that are usually playing VR and other people on traditional displays all playing together. We’ve kept that going all through production.”
Star Wars: Squadrons VR Controllers
Naturally, every VR headset that can play this game — PC VR devices like the Rift, Vive, and Index or Quest via Link / Virtual Desktop, as well as the PSVR — has a pair of motion controllers. However, Star Wars: Squadrons won’t let you use them at all.
According to EA, here’s why:
“Early on there were some pitches,” says James Clement, Lead Gameplay and Technical Design Director on Star Wars: Squadrons at EA Motive. “I worked on a pitch at one point for the Touch, but we decided we wanted to keep this hardware oriented so you can really feel the controls in your hands and everything and have that tactile sensation. The very best experience is with a HOTAS in VR so that you can feel that you’re in the cockpit as well as see that you’re in the cockpit. And it was also a matter of precision and timing. Everything we do in the cockpit since you have a lot of stuff to manage needs to be instantaneous and you can only really get that on a hardware controller. The Touch controllers, for example, just don’t have enough inputs to really put everything on a button on the controller so we’d have to do simulated touches and stuff like that. If you went into a dogfight having to do that you’d probably be at a severe disadvantage, I don’t think it would be a fair match.”
What do you think of the reasoning? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Last week Game Director on Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, Peter Hirschmann, revealed a bunch of new details about the VR shooter’s multiplayer modes.
Prior to the interview Hirschmann teased that the multiplayer felt so unique and special to play that it included things “you can only do in VR” which seems like a pretty drastic statement. Upon further investigation though, via talking to Hirschmann himself, it sounds like this was just his way of explaining how exciting it is to play this sort of game in VR.
“You know, we have conventional modes that just by the nature of being in VR and being the nature of our systems, it’s a different experience. It’s just the locomotion and being able to lean and peek and hide and say cover.
That’s just, that adds a depth to just straight death match and TDM [team deathmatch] that’s cool. Uh, I, our, our take on sabotage is something that you can only do in VR because of how you interact with the environment and how you interact with the mode playing off of bomb placement for bomb diffusal fantasy.
You know, there are things you can do in VR. And again, we abstract it down to the most accessible mechanics. But with VR where you’re interacting with the world and every surface is available to you. There’s things you can do that are really cool, that would be hard to do on a flat screen.
That would be hard to do with just a conventional controller. And those are the kinds of things that we really leaned into and went deep on because it’s like, wow, this again, death match, team death match, domination, whoop — gave one away!
That again, you put them in a VR environment, you put them in our maps. Um, you know, it’s in the, in our weapon handling, it’s just, it just by the nature of the platform, they’re going to feel different. Um, but at least the rule sets are the rule sets are, are very convinced. The rule sets are conventional and easy to get.”
The arcade shooter Shooty Skies Overdrive launched on Steam for PC VR last week, after an Oculus Quest and Rift release earlier in the year.
While the game launched for Quest and Rift last month, it was only available on the latter through the Oculus Store. Now, Shooty Skies Overdrive is flying its way onto Steam and brings with it support for more PC VR platforms like HTC Vive and the Valve Index.
The game is a bullet hell wave shooter from Mighty Games and Matt Hall, the co-creator of the famous mobile game Crossy Road. Shooty Skies Overdrive features 5 different levels in its campaign, each with a different aesthetic theme and three difficulty settings to work through.
We enjoyed the game in our review last month, even if it did leave us itching for a bit more than what we got:
In terms of aesthetics, performance and gameplay mechanics, the team at Mighty Games have absolutely nailed Shooty Skies Overdrive and developed a strong foundation. But the campaign (which is currently the only way to play the game) feels limited in scope no matter which difficulty you play on, and perhaps misses opportunities to take those strong games foundations to a new level.
As with any game, you mileage here might vary depending on your genre preferences. If you love wave shooter, bullet hell chaos, then Shooty Skies Overdrive takes those concepts and applies them to roomscale VR in an exciting way. However, the campaign fails to elevate those concepts to something more substantial, and some players might finish wanting more.
