One of the first apps available as part of Oculus’ new App Lab service is getting an update adding a ton of new content and features to the game.
Puzzling Places was one of the 12 apps that launched with App Lab last week, providing users with an easier way to install experimental non-store content on their Quest without needing to go through traditional sideloading methods.
According to the developers Realities.io, the update brings a total of six puzzles which range from 20 to 200 pieces in size. Puzzling Places launched in April last year on SideQuest as a prototype that turned a 3D model of an Armenian monastery, captured with photogrammetry, into a 98-piece 3D puzzle.
Now, almost a year on and in light of the launch of App Lab, Puzzling Places is in beta and available to conveniently install for Oculus Quest users.
In addition to new puzzles, the update features a completely overhauled audio system with new sound and regionally-specific audio for each puzzle. Pieces can also now be stacked and grouped together, for easy organization, and the game includes a settings menu with the option to add reference photos, change locomotion settings and more.
More than 30 other test puzzles are also available to those who are subscribers to the game’s Patreon, with that version of the game merging into the App Lab version.
Realities.io, the team behind the photogrammetry-based VR experience Realities (2016), announced that its 3D jigsaw game Puzzling Places will arrive on PSVR sometime later this year.
Update (March 17th, 2021): Puzzling Places is coming to PSVR in Winter 2021, Realties.io say in a PlayStation blopost. Just like the version available on Quest, the 3D jigsaw puzzle app will feature multiple difficulty variants for each puzzle, and also post-launch content after it arrives on PSVR later this year.
Update (February 17th, 2021): Puzzling Places is now live on App Lab. The publicly-accessible version obtained from SideQuest and App Lab now includes six freebie puzzles.
Patreon supporters are granted greater access to over 30 puzzles, which the studio hopes to release once Puzzling Places launches officially. (Patreon link)
The studio also released a new trailer, which we’ve included above and below the article.
Original Article (April 28th, 2020): The studio is currently seeking funding to eventually bring a full-feature version to the Oculus Store, however in the meantime the studio has made the prototype game available for free on SideQuest, the unofficial sideloading app store for Oculus Quest.
The project is still in pre-production, however with today’s prototype the studio is releasing one environment to get what they hope will be some early validation of the concept and feedback from the community to guide further development.
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Image courtesy Realities.io
Image courtesy Realities.io
Image courtesy Realities.io
Image courtesy Realities.io
Image courtesy Realities.io
Image courtesy Realities.io
The Realities team says Puzzling Places was made with “some of [their] most beautiful Photogrammetry scans,” with the first centered on the historic Tatev Monastery, a ninth-century Armenian Apostolic monastery located in southeastern Armenia. This, the studio tells us, includes immersive ambisonic spatial audio recorded on-site, and includes whole scans of both the interior and exterior of the monastery.
“The goal was to create a relaxing and meditative experience, giving you a very simple task: putting pieces together,” Realities.io tells Road to VR. “The game design, sound design, and environment design were all built around reinforcing that concept.”
And where did the idea come from? Realities.io tells us it was actually a mistake that led them to create the unique puzzler.
“We’ve had the idea of Puzzling Places floating around our heads for a while. One day, due to a Unity import error, the pieces of a scanned environment were scrambled around the scene. Someone made a joke that fixing this by hand would like making a 3D jigsaw puzzle, and so the idea was born!” the studio says.
Founded in 2016, Realities.io is spent its early days in the Boost VC accelerator in San Mateo, California. Now based in Berlin, Germany, the studio has a number of VR films and experiences to its name, including Tribeca 2019’s Best Immersive Media award winner The Key, and Home After War, winner of the Best Use of Immersive Arts at SXSW 2019.
Find out how to install SideQuest to play Puzzling Places and many more indie gems that are currently flying under the radar.
