Category: Population: One

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Population: One: VR-Battle-Royale im Fortnite-Stil für Rift, Vive und Windows-VR-Brillen

Entwicklerstudio BigBox VR (bekannt für Smashbox Arena) präsentiert seinen neuen VR-Battle-Royale-Shooter Population: One, welcher mit aufwendigem Gameplay punkten möchte. So vereint der Titel beliebte Spielelemente aus bekannten Genrevertretern, wie beispielsweise klettern, fliegen und bauen. Das Setting führt die Spieler/innen in eine futuristische Sci-Fi-Welt.

Population: One – VR-Battle-Royale für Oculus Rift, HTC Vive und Windows-VR-Brillen

Battle-Royale-Shooter befinden sich derzeit im absoluten Videospieltrend. Mit Titeln wie PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds und Fortnite finden sich täglich unzählige Spieler/innen auf den virtuellen Schlachtfeldern im knallharten Überlebenskampf wieder. Das Genre ist mittlerweile beispielsweise mit Rec Royale und Virtual Battlegrounds ebenso im VR-Markt wiederzufinden, um ein immersiveres Erlebnis zu ermöglichen.

Population: One möchte mit seinen ambitionierten Gameplay-Mechaniken die VR-Adaption des Genres nun auf das nächste Level bringen. So ist es möglich an Gebäuden oder Deckungen hoch zu klettern, um aus einer erhöhten Position auf seine Gegner zu feuern. Mit einem Jetpack können die Spieler/innen über die riesige Map fliegen und sich dadurch stets neu positionieren. Außerdem ist es möglich, im Stil von Fortnite Deckungen oder Brücken errichten. Das klassische Looten gehört natürlich auch dazu.

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Im Multiplayer-Modus soll zudem Crossplay zwischen Oculus Rift, HTC Vive und Windows-VR-Brillen gewährleistet werden. Die Feuergefechte finden auf einer riesigen Karte statt, die über ein Kilometer Fläche offenbart. Auch für Solo-Spieler stehen Singleplayer-Missionen bereit, in denen ihr euer Können gegen die KI beweisen dürft.

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Zur Steuerung soll laut den Devs ein FreeMotion-Bewegungssystem zur Verfügung stehen, das auf den Studien der UK Royal Air Force basiert. Dadurch sollen die diversen Spielmechaniken ohne Motion Sickness ermöglicht werden. Die Entwickler/innen arbeiten seit vielen Monaten an der Weiterentwicklung der Technologie für die freie Bewegung innerhalb der Virtual Reality.

Wer Interesse an Population: One hat, kann sich auf der offiziellen Website für die private Beta einschreiben, die Anfang 2019 beginnen soll.

(Quellen: Population One BigBox VR | Video: BigBox VR YouTube)

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‘Smashbox Arena’ Studio Announces VR Battle Royale ‘Population: One’

You might think battle royale shooters are passé, but until we get a really good one in VR, it isn’t over yet. Enter Population: One, a newly announced VR battle royale from Bix Box VR, the developers behind Smashbox Arena (2016).

On paper, Population: One certainly sounds ambitious, as it promises to deliver many of the elements seen in popular battle royale games such as Fortnite and PUBG along with a few other things too. On the game’s feature list: one square kilometer map, the ability to climb anything, jet packs, the ability to build defensive structures, and even the addition of single player missions.

Some of this traversal tech, namely the flying and climbing, is being couched as the studio’s own ‘FreeMotion’ scheme, although the team hasn’t specified exactly how any of it differs from standard VR locomotion methods yet.

Image courtesy Big Box VR

With its emphasis on realism, it also marks a stark departure from the company’s previous shooter, Smashbox Arena, which used cartoony characters and fictitious plasma ball guns.

Smashbox Arena however fared very well in comparison to many other VR multiplayer games, which sometimes languish with low hourly active user numbers, creating a downward spiral into empty severs and essentially a dead game. Hopefully some of this valuable multiplayer know-how will make its was into Population: One as well.

info is still thin on the ground, so there’s plenty more to learn about Population: One before we can tell where the game’s headed exactly.

Big Box is currently taking sign-ups for a closed beta, which they say will come sometime in 2019. The game is said to include cross-play for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows VR headsets.

The post ‘Smashbox Arena’ Studio Announces VR Battle Royale ‘Population: One’ appeared first on Road to VR.

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Population: One Is A New VR Battle Royale Game With Fortnite-Style Building Mechanics

Population: One Is A New VR Battle Royale Game With Fortnite-Style Building Mechanics

Population: One is the latest upcoming VR battle royale game, this time from BigBox VR, the same developers behind Smashbox Arena, which is a hybrid of dodgeball and a first-person shooter with a whimsical, bright visual style. Population: One is very much not that game.

In Population: One you compete against other players to be the last-man standing, as expected, but what’s unique about it compared to other VR battle royale game is just how ambitious its gameplay mechanics seem to be. You can of course run around, shoot, and even climb things like Virtual Battlegrounds and Stand Out, but you can also build things like in Fortnite and even glide around the massive one-square-kilometer map with a jetpack. It’s got a futuristic tone, which is a stark contrast to the typical post-apocalypse we’re used to seeing.

We’ve nearly reached peak battle royale saturation in the VR market and headsets haven’t even been out for three years yet. In a way, it’s kind of impressive.

The grim-dark, semi-realistic future setting is an interesting choice given BigBox VR’s prior game, but it’s kind of working for me. It looks really polished for a game that’s still in Private Beta testing and I’m eager to see how it feels to play.

On the website the developers have detailed what they call a “FreeMotion” movement system that’s been tested similar to how the UK Royal Air Force studies pilots, supposedly, but it’s unclear exactly what that means. It just says they’ve “developed advanced technologies that allow players to freely move in Virtual Reality without limits or discomfort” which sounds like something we’ve heard a time or two by now.

Another point worth noting is that the website also mentions “Single Player Missions” where you can practice your skills against AI robots and drones — something we don’t see much in the genre at all, VR or otherwise.

The real test for Population: One, as is the case with all multiplayer-focused VR titles, will be whether or not it can sustain its player base. Rec Room doesn’t have trouble because it’s cross-platform between PC and PSVR and is totally free and Stand Out, Pavlov, and Onward have been around for multiple years to grow their base of players. It seems to have the ambitious and creativity, we’ll just have to see if the quality of the gameplay is up to snuff too.

Population: One is currently accepting applications for Closed Beta testing over on the official website and is targeting a 2019 release for Rift, Vive, and Windows VR. Let us know what you think of this new challenger in the VR battle royale arena down in the comments below!

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