UNDERDOGS (2024), the underground mech brawler from Racket: Nx (2019) studio One Hamsa, recently revealed the game’s development roadmap, which could also include a multiplayer mode in the future.
The studio outlined a number of future updates coming to Underdogs, which launched on Quest 2/3/Pro and SteamVR headsets earlier this year.
The Sandboxxer – will feature Sandbox Mode, which One Hamsa calls “a large kit of UNDERDOGS building blocks to play around with,” which includes test builds, enemies and props, and the ability to save and load scenarios and share with the community. It will also include a ‘Big Balance’, bringing new events and enemy balancing.
Corruption – will let you customize your runs, either through ‘Corruptions’ – take on extra challenges and customize how you start your run, or ‘Content Boost’, which include new enemy variants, items and more.
Aggressor – will refresh the arsenal with new weapons (chainsaw), enemies, and events.
Challenger – will include new challenges in “a new game mode,” which includes leaderboards with big names, cosmetics for your mech, and rewards.
The Alternative Path – called a “huge content update,” it will bring “a new twist in the story,” which includes new enemies, weapons, status effects and arena.
Finally, One Hamsa says it’s planning on an update called ‘Rampage In New Brakka’, which could include a multiplayer mode.
“We’ll be honest with you. We want to give UNDERDOGS a Multiplayer Mode, and if we do, this will be the update. We have ideas, we have a basic plan, but it’s too far off to be making promises, so here’s hoping,” the studio says.
Again, it’s no promise from the devs, but Underdogs is too cool, too stylish of a game not to want to share with friends. In the meantime, we’ll be following along with the game’s X profile and its Discord channel (invite link) for the most recent developments. Check out the trailer below to see it in action:
Racket: Nx (2018), the VR racket sport game from One Hamsa, took a big step towards becoming a potential Olympic sport recently. The team revealed it’s been endorsed by the International Racquetball Federation (IRF)—an important step on its way to becoming a candidate for the Olympic Games.
Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IRF revealed it’s working with Israel-based developers One Hamsa to enter Racket: Nx into the new Olympic Virtual Sport Series program, but also as an eventual candidate for the Olympic Games. The news was announced via an IRF press release.
The IOC’s Virtual Sports Series was created to reach engage new Olympic audiences; it already includes five games which simulate cycling, rowing, baseball, sailing, and car racing. Granted, the IOC hasn’t said whether those activities will merit actual medals, however a Guardian report maintains it hasn’t been ruled out for “physical” virtual sports such as rowing or cycling.
On its quest to make it to the Olympics, the studio is pitching three ‘disciplines’ within the game itself, which includes both solo and co-op leaderboard competitions, and a mode whereby two competitors fight in a sort of score-driven tug-of-war: the first player to 1,000 points wins.
While Racket: Nx is essentially a sport in its own right thanks to its intense physicality, need for good hand-eye coordination, and block-breaking scoring system, there are a few more hurdles to jump over before we’ll see a VR game make it into the Olympics.
Like bowling and chess, activities can gain official recognition but not become a competing event at the Olympic Games, the IOC says. In addition to getting the endorsement by an International Federation, the activity also has to be practiced “widely across the world and meet various criteria.” After that, the IOC’s Executive Board will need to recommend that its added to Games program. Still, if those “physical” virtual games see some level of legitimacy at this year’s games, Racket: Nx’s chances are good.
According to One Hamsa, Racket:Nx has now sold over 150,000 units across all supported platforms, which includes the ever-popular Oculus Quest 2. The game is also said to host around 15,000 players per month. Studio CEO Assaf “Usul” Ronen says this makes them “more likely to achieve the mass acceptance that the IOC seeks. Racquet sports, it turns out, all together, maybe the largest sports category in the world, eclipsing even world football.”
The pinnacle of sporting achievement for most athletes is winning a medal at the Olympic Games. It’s also a badge of honour if a new sport is recognised and accepted into the Olympic Program. Whilst there’s still a way to go until that happens, One Hamsa’s Racket: Nx has taken an important step towards that goal, receiving an endorsement by the IOC (International Olympic Committee)-recognised International Racquetball Federation (IRF).
The first time a virtual reality (VR) videogame has received an official endorsement of this kind, One Hamsa and the IRF have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). They’ll collaborate to develop Racket: Nx as an Olympic Virtual Series sport with the eventual aim to fully approve Racket: Nx as a full l discipline, thus making it a candidate for the Olympic Games.
“Racket: Nx is an immersive, skill-based and fully athletic experience, that opens the gate for players of all racquet sports–not only racquetball–to play full out inside a lighted, player-responsive, sound and music-filled dome, in a game that is as unique as it is engaging,” said One Hamsa Studio Director Assaf Ronen in a statement. “Racket:Nx has over 150,000 players connected overall PC and mobile VR platforms, including the fastest-growing VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2 and is available around the globe, including the emerging Chinese VR market. That means that this game is more likely to achieve the mass acceptance that the IOC seeks.”
The Olympic Virtual Series was unveiled earlier this year and ran from May through to June. It featured five games simulating Baseball, Cycling, Rowing, Sailing and Motorsport but only two were physical (Cycling & Rowing) and none were in VR. Should Racket: Nx eventually join this group it’ll add another highly physical element to the roster.
“This is a marriage made in future-sport heaven: a world-class developer and a unique, successful, and wonderful game, with a fully global international IOC-recognised sports federation, that has the vision and the grit to not just see around the corner but to go there. This is a major opportunity, as there are more total racquet sports players in the world than soccer players,” adds Virtual Sports Association CEO Victor Bond who helped broker the deal.
Available for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets, Racket: Nx is known for its highly energetic gameplay. Players find themselves inside a futuristic dome where they have to smash a floating ball into the wall to score points as quickly as possible to progress through the waves. Gameplay is augmented with various tiles like wormholes, so they need to listen to audio cues to hear where it’ll appear next. Last month One Hamsa released a new update adding a level builder enabling players to create and share their own designs.
As further details regarding Racket: Nx’s Olympic aspirations are revealed, VRFocus will let you know.
One Hamsa’s Racket: Nx already provided an intense sports workout inside a giant, spherical squash arena, either by yourself or with a mate. Today, Racket: Nx greatly expands its content offering by allowing players to create their own arenas with the new Level Builder.
The Level Editor is its own separate environment where you can build Racket: Nx’s waves of shot challenges however you wish. The full selection of hexagonal tiles are available, so you can have walls filled with health and points titles for maximum scoring potential or turn up the difficultly by popping in a few skull titles to remove energy and knock players out quickly. Plus there are a few border options to add a little style to the proceedings.
This is really easy to do so. One Hamsa has essentially created a painting tool for the titles, select one and start drawing were you’d like them to go. You can then add in powerups to each wave and just go nuts, add 30 waves if you’re so inclined!
Once you’ve built your level go ahead and publish it for everyone else to try. If the community likes it they can vote, giving levels a chance to feature in future monthly challenges. Likewise, you can use the new content browser section to look for other player build levels, with the ability to search for specific or random creations.
The videogame is a futuristic twist on indoor racket games like Squash, putting you inside a giant glass dome with loads of illuminated tiles. Whether you’re playing solo, multiplayer or co-op the goal is to get through each wave as fast as possible, clearing the score tiles with a lively ball you can hit in any direction. Needless to say, you need to clear some room when you play Racket: Nx as it can get competitive real fast.
Racket: Nx is available for Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, with the Level Builder available as a free update. If you’ve not tried the energetic title out there’s a free demo currently available on Steam. For further updates on Racket: Nx, keep reading VRFocus.
Racket: Nx (2018), the VR sports game from One Hamsa, just got an update that includes the long-awaited addition of a level editor.
The Israel-based studio has been teasing the update since late May, although fans have been asking for a level editor since it was released in Early Access on PC VR headsets back in 2017.
Now, live as a free update to the game on all supported platforms, editing is done in-game, allowing you to choose from a range of powerups, obstacles, and gadgets to get your ball zooming around the spherical playing field.
FINALLY!
Make your own levels IN VR! Play them SEAMLESSLY! Make them PUBLIC! Get them voted for MONTHLY CHALLENGE!
If you’ve never played Racket: Nx, it’s a bit like racquetball-meets-Breakout: hit the ball against the wall, try to break the correct hexagonal blocks, and avoid the wrong ones. That’s the basics, but in practice it becomes much more complicated as you go for chain combos and encounter increasingly difficult levels in a race against the clock.
It’s a full-featured game—and quite a workout too. Online play allows you to either play in co-op or PvP, and single player mode lets you go against a lengthy campaign or swat away at an endless survival mode. Just make sure to clear the area, and stay far away from TVs and monitors.
Racket: Nx, a virtual reality fusion of tennis and Breakout, is soon to get a major update with new features like co-op, avatar customization, and in-game tournaments. The studio has also teased that the game is heading to “another VR platform,” very likely PSVR.
Having launched initially in Early Access back in 2017 and then in its full version in 2018, Racket: Nx is by now a VR classic. Playing out like an immersive, 360 degree version of a ‘brick breaker’ game, the sharply designed title has maintained consistently excellent review scores, though it has remained something of a hidden gem.
After its release years ago on Steam, Oculus, and Viveport, the game’s moderate traction seemed sure to keep it from growing beyond its initial scope. But after the game launched on Quest in 2019—and in one year generated 10x the number of reviews as the Rift version—developer One Hamsa is now preparing some major updates.
Major Updates Coming to Racket: Nx
In an email yesterday (the one-year anniversary of the game’s Quest launch) the studio outlined big changes in store for all versions of Racket: Nx, which are due “in the coming year:”
Coop Mode – we’ve wanted to do this one forever, and finally have the chance. Coop will allow friends (or strangers) to play together, as a team!
Avatar Customization – customize your racket, your avatar, and a bunch more elements we’re still keeping secret ;)
Custom Mode – we’re going to give you all the knobs and checkboxes to play with – game speed, gravity, powerup type and frequency, rules, and much more.
Monthly Challenge – a special monthly Solo set that will keep changing, allowing us to regularly introduce new content.
Tournaments – an easy way to setup and spectate tournaments in-game.
The studio also shared a new trailer for the game:
And there’s more in the plans, including deeper integration with Oculus’ latest social features to make it easier for players to connect and compete, new options for leaderboard filtering, and improved matchmaking to match players of equal skill.
PSVR Release for Racket: Nx Likely
Included in the studio’s announcements is a tease about the game coming to a new platform:
“Developed a [a Racket: Nx] port for another VR platform, including an extensive language localization system (not out just yet).”
PSVR is the only major VR platform that the game isn’t currently available on, so that’s our best guess for now. This would be a similar trajectory to other indie VR studios with well-rated but lesser-known games which have prioritized getting their titles onto Quest and PSVR, like we see with Until You Fall which will launch on both platforms this Fall.
Quest Success Spurs More Development
Developer One Hamsa says that as a small six-person studio, Racket: Nx’s success on Quest gave them the nudge needed to expand the game beyond its original scope.
“[…] with RNX on Quest selling reasonably well, we’ve gained the resources (and confidence) to expand the game further. We’ve actually already started several months ago, with lots of invisible infrastructural work that is a prerequisite to developing the features we’ve mentioned above,” the email read. “But recently the work on these features has started in earnest, and we felt it was time to share the news with you all.”
Racket: Nx on Quest stands as the 9th best rated game on Quest at our last check, holding a user rating of 4.75 out of 5. As a game designed around 360 degree gameplay, Quest’s lack of tether makes it especially well suited to the game.
Indie VR gem Racket: NX (2018) launches today on Oculus Quest with cross-platform multiplayer with the Rift version of the game. Playing out as a techno-future infused mashup between Breakout and racquetball, Racket: Nx feels right at home on Quest thanks to its 360 degree tracking and lack of tether.
Lesser known but well received, Racket: Nx is a polished and high energy game which feels like a far flung imagining of racquetball fused with elements of Breakout. Players stand at the center of a 360 degree arena with neon targets that pulsate to the game’s excellent soundtrack. With a racket in hand, players smack the glowing orb to destroy some targets while avoiding others.
Having launched in Early Access back in 2017, Racket: Nx has been honed over the years, eventually hitting its full release for PC VR headsets in 2018 [our review]. Today Racket: Nx launches on Oculus Quest, and developer One Hamsa claims the game “is now tighter than ever, runs perfectly on the Quest, and without any significant compromises in visual fidelity or feel.”
On Quest, the game benefits from the headset’s 360 degree tracking and lack of tether. Priced at $20 (same as the PC version), the game also offers up cross-platform multiplayer between Quest and Rift. It’s at the moment unclear if the Quest version supports cross-buy with the Rift version, or if it can join multiplayer games with players using the Steam version of the game. We’ve reached out to the developers for confirmation.
Racket: NX (2018), the VR racket sports game, is now out of Early Access. Offering a surprising level of polish, fluid gameplay, and both an engaging single player and competitive multiplayer mode, Racket: NX has taken a fairly simple concept and fleshed it out to an ultimately fun (and addictive) conclusion.
Featuring breakable blocks like gaming classics Breakout or Arkanoid, Racket: NX pits you against a 360 degree domed wall filled with flashing yellow targets of various designs and placements. In a race against an ever dwindling energy meter, your job is simple: accurately break the blocks as fast as possible, collect energy pick-ups to refill your energy bar, and avoid the precariously placed energy-drainers which are littered throughout the multi-stage levels.
The game contains three principal modes: solo mode for classic single player gameplay, arcade mode for infinite survival with both classic and ‘zen’ mode, and multiplayer mode for one vs. one online battles.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
Single player mode features four increasingly hard difficulty level subsets: basic, advanced, hardcore and insane. To move up, you’ll have to complete at least four of the five bespoke levels in the preceding difficulty level. Each of these bespoke levels contains multiple stages, which take anywhere from three to ten minutes to pass in total.
Controls are very simple, as you only use one controller (left or right) with a single trigger pull acting as your only input, which retracts the ball to your racket wherever you’re facing. Besides the obvious benefit of getting your ball back quicker, this can be useful when your ball is flying dangerously close to energy drainers so you can pull it to safety mid-run. Smacking the ball harder will send your ball wall-sliding for those tasty combos, so a tactical ball retract is always useful.
Later in the game you run across things such as gravity wells that suck in your ball and spit it out somewhere else, and speed boosters that can either send your ball for a level-winning combo, or straight into a minefield of energy drainers. Floating power-ups such as scatter shots, extra points, and a temporary buff that changes all of the energy-drainers into positive energy pickups keep things moving at a fun, and always varied pace.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
While I had trouble at first with the racket (auto-aim is either non-existent or very subtle), after a few levels of brick-bashing and power-upping, I had a good enough grip on how to accurately smack the ball for a more or less consistent arc to my target. As I headed into ‘insane’ mode though, that’s where I really started to feel the rush of the clock ticking, the ball flying just one brick off its target, and that’s where I started to consistently lose a battle of what turned out to be a real test of ball-handing precision.
Abandoning my first real test of difficulty, I went off for my first multiplayer game to see how I stacked up after about an hour and half playing from the beginning tutorial through to the beginning of ‘insane’ mode. When I could find a match (more on that below), they usually turned out to be a thrilling competition that really combines everything you’ve learned in single player, but letting each player return the ball one at a time, which is color-coded when your serve is up.
Getting into a multiplayer game isn’t always easy due to unfortunately low player numbers. You can invite a friend to play, but the friend’s list isn’t as straight forward as I would have hoped. Contacting a friend through the Oculus app and starting an Oculus Party (voice chat) to coordinate—we were both on Rift and playing through the Oculus Store—we were unable to actually get into private match by sending the game’s match invite request. A tone would sound in the game when you were sent a request, but there wouldn’t be any obvious way to accept the invite afterwards. While this will no doubt be fixed in the future (it’s a crucial element, after all), at the time of launch getting into a private match seemed hopeless. We ended up both going for a competitive match at the same moment, and were fortuitously matched up. Now, back to the good.
With voice chat on as default, it was really cool to glance over for a chat, only see that the avatars are equally as futuristic (and befittingly weird) techno-lizards whose heads would articulate and pulse when they talk.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
Some niggles not withstanding, Racket: NX is a very solid experience gameplay-wise, which on its own is a pretty great thing to proclaim, but what really puts the cherry on the cake is the game’s impressive visuals. A bright and varied color palette helps you quickly distinguish target from trap, and combines a fun mix of translucent materials to give it that ultra slick, futuristic feeling.
The game’s music also helps set the scene, giving you a pulsing vibe that keeps you going until the energy meter’s tempo takes over for heart-pounding last-minute saves. You can replace it with your own music, but I never felt the need, as it fits to perfectly with the game.
Immersion
In a physical tennis game, learning where the edge of an actual racket is takes a bit of time when you start learning; a few key elements such as the weight of the racket, the vibration of hitting the ball, and how the racket cuts through the air all help us ‘feel’ where the ball hits, and know where it might land. In the physical world, this level of proprioception (knowing the position of your own body) helps the racket become a part of us, something that isn’t equally reflected in VR racket sports currently.
At times, it’s difficult to tell where the virtual racket is when it’s out of your field of view, and it’s not always clear at what angle the racket takes when you swing at the ball. When you do hit a ball, we miss out on that level of proprioception I talked about earlier, making it difficult to fully ground yourself in the virtual sport. That said, this can be overcome with practice though, as you get a better feel for the ball, and become more consistent in your racket hits. This isn’t so much a downfall of the game, but it’s a clear drawback of any racket sport in VR that uses stock motion controllers.
Outside of this, citing all of the game’s positives above, Racket: NX does everything it can to make you lose yourself in the task at hand.
Comfort
As a room-scale game that requires a 360 setup, Rift players may have a tougher time playing without a third sensor due to occlusion. Using a two-sensor, front-facing setup though didn’t create nearly as many issues as I thought I would have, as I only lost positional tracking for a moment and was still be able to return balls with the always-on rotational tracking of my single Touch controller.
Obviously three sensor setups and HTC Vive’s SteamVR base stations won’t have this problem, but it’s a valid warning nonetheless.
While you could play seated, provided you clear your space entirely, this is really a standing game that requires some physicality to play. I found myself switching between left and right hands to give my elbows a break too—but outside the obvious physical demands, the game is ultimately one of the most comfortable VR gameplay experiences you can have, thanks to the room-scale only nature of the game.
Racket: NX (2018), the futuristic VR racket game, has left Early Access on Steam and the Oculus Store.
Developed by Tel Aviv-based studio One Hamsa, Racket: NX puts a stylish VR spin on some classic game mechanics made famous in titles such as Breakout and Arkanoid. Using your single racket to break block targets, you go for the high score as you hammer the ball at the dome-shaped wall, hoping for that wall-sliding chain reaction to help you clear the level.
Racket: NX supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows VR headsets, and features two single player modes, and an intense multiplayer. You’ll definitely need to clear some space though, because once the targets start to envelop your entire 360 playing space, you can easily lose track of where you are (and how close you are to lamps, kittens, innocent bystanders).
Road to VR‘s Matthew MacGee was mightily impressed with Racket: NX in our Early Access review of the game, saying:
“At times it’s breathless entertainment, and a good rally will have you laughing at the sheer thrill of it all. It feels very pure, very old school, and very polished. For a game in the vanguard of the initial VR wave—embracing the most modern gaming tech—in the hands, it whisks you back to playgrounds and simpler times.”
The full title now boasts new powerups, more impressive visuals, a completely new solo campaign, and what One Hamsa calls a “much improved multiplayer.”
Image courtesy One Hamsa
While the thumping soundtrack fits really well for a heart-pounding session, you can also play with your own music now too, which is an available option through the game’s settings menu.
“Developing this game, the first One Hamsa release, has been a life changing experience for us,” the developers say in a statement on Steam. “We had many challenges along the way, and we can honestly say we would not have been able to withstand them if it wasn’t for our Early Access players. The love, enthusiasm, feedback and companionship you guys offered throughout made all the difference.”
RX: Racket is currently on sale for 25% off the usual $20 price tag, and is available from both Steam (Vive, Rift, Windows VR) and the Oculus Store (Rift).
A couple of months back VRFocusreported on indie developer One Hamsa announcing that its futuristic tennis title Racket: Nx would be fully launching in July 2018 having spent just over a year in Early Access. VRFocus can confirmed that will be happening today.
Racket: Nx might be inspired by sports like tennis, the actual experience itself turns the difficulty up a notch to ideally make use of virtual reality (VR). Players enter a 360-degree domed arena surrounded by a variety of different panels. Once a match starts the players must rack up their high score by targeting score panels with extreme precision before the timer runs out. To add to the challenge, players also need to maintain their health bar by avoiding penalty-dealing death panels as well as restoring health by hitting health panels.
With a glowing ball whizzing around the arena it can be difficult to keep track of it – especially when you get to the warp panel levels. So sound plays a major part in the Racket: Nx experience, developed in conjunction with Waves Nx Spatial Audio Technology that captures the audio in 6 channels. This provides players with accurate 360-degree spatial surround sound enabling them to track the ball even when it’s not within their field of vision.
And just to make sure you’ve got ultimate control of the ball when you do spot it, Racket: Nx also comes equipped with a grappling hook tool, enabling players to instantly retrieve the ball for another quick serve.
Featuring a selection of single-player and multiplayer game modes, Racket: Nx’s solo mode offers score-based challenges across dozens of stages of varying difficulty. Then in Arcade players compete for global highscores in an infinitely intensifying survival mode. On the competitive multiplayer side, local and online multiplayer modes feature a competitive league with head to head matches, a skill rating system and rankings.
Racket: Nx includes cross-platform online play between HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality devices. For any further updates on the videogame or the studio, keep reading VRFocus.
Make your own levels IN VR!
Play them SEAMLESSLY!
Make them PUBLIC!
Get them voted for MONTHLY CHALLENGE!
