Real-time Strategy & MOBA Inspired ‘Spuds Unearthed’ Available Now

Spuds Unearthed, a mashup title which combines real-time strategy and MOBA elements, has launched on Rift and Vive headsets following nearly nine months in Early Access.

Set in a persistent battlescape where players contend against one another for planetary control, Spuds Unearthed is about building and maintaining a tribe of ‘spuds’. These spuds can be used to go forth and conquer planets from other players asynchronously, or even tackle dangerous ‘Zombuds’. Players can also unlock and upgrade ‘hero’ spuds, advanced soldiers that dish out increased mayhem.

In addition to maintaining their own army of spudly soldiers, players get to hop directly onto their own personal turrets and fire at incoming enemy troops. Throughout their time in Spuds Unearthed, players will discover or craft an arsenal of specialized and improved turrets with which to assist their spud forces, claims developer Gamedust in the title’s storefront description. “There are many different turrets to choose from that support different playstyles and are useful in different situations,” the description states further.

At least at the beginning of the game, there are two basic turrets placed on the left and right of the player. Both are completely mannable, featuring interactive handles and cranks that operate like a real hand-cranked turret would. The circular platform which houses the turrets (and the player) can be raised or lowered at any time with a flick of the analog stick or the thumbpad. Further, players can extend or retract their virtual hands to reach distant objects outside of their immediate boundaries, a useful option for those who prefer to play seated.

Spuds Unearthed is available as of September 19th on the Oculus Store and Steam Store for $20. The title is currently marked down to $15 as a launch discount on both major storefronts, and will remain so until September 26. It is also available to Viveport subscribers. The game launched in Early Access on Steam in January and this release marks its ‘full’ 1.0 release.

Strategy games that hybridize VR embodiment with top-down gameplay are, seemingly, becoming more and more common in VR. A few weeks ago, tower defense strategy game Home A Drone released with some similar stylings.

There is no official word on a native compatibility with Valve Index or Windows MR headsets. However, the title’s Discord community server is likely where new information will become available first.

The post Real-time Strategy & MOBA Inspired ‘Spuds Unearthed’ Available Now appeared first on Road to VR.

Spuds Unearthed Coming to PlayStation VR, Indiegogo Campaign Launched

Polish developer Gamedust (Neverout) released the rather unusual Spuds Unearthed via Steam Early Access in January and now it wants to bring the title to PlayStation VR with some public support on Indiegogo.

Spuds Unearthed

The studio has just started the crowd-funding campaign with a mission to raise $10,000 USD in the next month. The main focus is to support the development of a PlayStation VR version which the team expects to release in Q3 2019. As with a lot of Indiegogo projects, backers can pledge from as little as $1 but that won’t get them access to the videogame. For that backers will need to pledge a minimum of $25 for ‘Limited PSVR Hot Potato Bundle’ which also includes a comic and two digital artbooks. There’s also a tier for Steam/Oculus keys at $19 – or you could just go to Steam direct to download the title.

The Indiegogo campaign isn’t just about supporting PlayStation VR. It’s still in early access so Gamedust wants to add further content and polish the experience. That base $10k goal would also see an additional character added, the Mechanist, a new turret, a Mecha-Bot vehicle, more Zombuds and Goonbots enemies and a new map. Several stretch goals have also been outlined including a $25k single-player campaign.

“We believe that Spuds Unearthed provides a truly unique mix of VR-focused design, seamless user experience and a world full of wacky potatoes fighting for their own piece of land,” said Piotr Jaworski, CEO, Gamedust in a statement. “We’re launching our Indiegogo campaign to help us bring the game to PSVR and help us reach our full vision for Spuds Unearthed, including a full single-player story campaign. We would love to hear feedback from our supporters on the final stage of the game’s development to create something capable of being sustained for a long time, for current and future players.”

Spuds Unearthed

In the Spuds Unearthed universe the wacky Spuds just love fighting, and you’re in charge of controlling and managing a troop of guns wielding potatoes. A mix of strategy, tower defence and shooter gameplay all wrapped up together, the videogame training and upgrading your team for specific roles whilst building turrets and vehicles with various parts you happen to find.

Head on over to Indiegogo to learn more about the project, and as the campaign continues VRFocus will keep you updated.

Mash Your Opponents in Spuds Unearthed Next Month

Having made a name for itself with virtual reality (VR) puzzle title Neverout in 2017, indie developer Gamedust has announced its next immersive title. Called Spuds Unearthed the comedic strategy videogame is due to launch on Steam Early Access in January 2019.

Spuds Unearthed

Described by Gamedust as an ‘asynchronous multiplayer mix of a dynamic action game and a god simulator’, Spuds Unearthed puts you in charge of the titular spuds. You happen to be an AI system on the Spuds baseship, to help them conquer the galaxy after they destroyed their homeworld because they love fighting among themselves so much.

Players will need to specialise their crew by assigning them to different classes before deployment to various planets. It’s not just troops you can create, build frontline forces made up of vehicles and robots, while an assortment of turrets can be placed for defensive capabilities.

These will need to be strategically created on the worlds you encounter, from zombie infested planets to other players Spuds squads in the asynchronous multiplayer world. Whilst playing you’ll earn and spend Playdust – the main currency – on blueprints to produce new equipment.

Spuds Unearthed

Spuds Unearthed will launch on Steam Early Access on 10th January for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, with a PlayStation VR version planned for the future. The early access version will feature five Spud classes with special abilities, tanks and planes, twenty-five possible turret combinations, planetary conquest and the Spuds Home Planet with many factories to use for production of troops and weapons and an economic system.

As for future plans, Gamedust explains: “In the final version of the game we are planning to include more customization elements, like Spuds ageing and levelling, their reactions and over-reactions to some actions, and visual customization. You will also have the chance to form an alliance between yourself and other players and challenge your enemies together by creating clans. Apart from that, we will improve the game experience, add traps, turret levelling system, and polish the graphics. The gameplay is likely to have more modes (potentially pvp/co-op) and ranking system.”

VRFocus will bring you further details on Spuds Unearthed nearer to launch day.