VR Skater, the skateboarding sim for PC VR headsets, is hitting the launch ramp for a June 21st landing on PSVR 2.
Update (April 28th, 2023):VR Skater has honed in on a June 21st release date for its launch on PSVR 2. The studio has shared an updated release date trailer, as well as some fresh views of the upcoming ‘Mega Ramp’ which will take players from the streets to the extreme end of the sport.
Image courtesy Deficit Games
The original article, which covers the initial announcement of the game’s PSVR 2 version, continues below.
Original Article (April 7th, 2023): First launched on Steam Early Access in 2021, VR Skater offers up a unique way of sidestepping the fact that most people don’t have tracked feet (or skateboard peripherals) in VR yet.
In it, you move your motion controllers in the same way you might move your feet. It’s a pretty unique locomotion concept that sidesteps the need for some sort of skateboard peripheral, like the old skateboard controller for Tony Hawk: Ride (2009).
Customizing at the shop | Image courtesy Deficit Games, Perp Games
In VR Skater, you push your board forward by moving your hand in a skiing motion, and use precise controller motions to execute a wide variety of flip tricks, grabs, grinds, slides and manuals.
Developer Deficit Games and publisher Perp Games say the urban skating sim offers up seven environments as well as the Mega Ramp, which will test your mettle by launching you across a giant chasm.
In addition to an online leaderboard, it also lets you earn XP, medals, trophies and even a VR Skater shop, where you can exchange XP for grip tape, trucks, wheels and board artwork.
The studios haven’t mentioned a precise launch date beyond “summer 2023,” although in the meanwhile you can wishlist VR Skater on PSVR 2 here.
Sometimes getting it wrong means something must be going right.
Take VR Skater‘s curious approach to skateboard tricks, for example. They’re, well, tricky. Really tricky, in fact. Whilst simply moving in the game — swinging a controller past your body like a leg pushing off from the floor — feels instantly intuitive, nailing the basics of VR Skater’s approach to ollies and kickflips takes a lot of work, and a lot of getting it wrong. Kind of like the real thing, then, just with fewer scraped knees and chances of ending up on YouTube as you tumble down the stairs.
I’m not yet sure, though, if VR Skater is a bit too tricky for its own good. Bits of it definitely seem that way, but other bits of it are really pretty brilliant.
Out today in early access, Deficit Games is definitely onto something with VR Skater. One straight shot through the game’s high school environment, winding through multiple paths and springing over lunch tables, is enough to tell you that. Rather than setting up halfpipes in skateparks, the studio is designing linear courses that focus on grinds and ollies, and give you a real sense of the speed involved with the sport – not something that flatscreen games have captured quite as well.
Even without spending much time trying to master the game’s catalog of tricks, it’s immensely rewarding to gun it down the course with a sense of confidence I’ve never really achieved in real skateboarding. Ollies are simple – just hold down a button on your right controller (or left for a nollie) and let go. Turning using one hand with the trigger held down can feel sluggish at first but you can adapt to its learning curve quite quickly. Do so, and you’ll soon be jumping through windows, landing on rooftops and rolling down makeshift ramps formed from tables. It’s just the one map for now but Deficit hopes to add more as the pre-release phase progresses.
The more crucial element of VR Skater’s pre-release mode, though, is the Academy, which teaches you its tricks. They’re best when they’re simple – grinding is assigned to holding two buttons as you come down from mid-air and keeps the flow going. Kick and heelflips are quick to master too – wave your hand in a certain direction as you lift off from the ground to effectively spin the board and then hold the jump button back down at the right time to land.
This gesture-based system isn’t always so forgiving, though. Shove its are really tough to master, requiring you to throw your arms back and forth and nail the timing. With practice, I found I got better at them but it’s still tough to nail it just from a stationary position, let alone when speeding through a map. Eventually, you’re taught to handle kickflips and shove its in the same move and that’s when I found the system to really strain, often unsure of what I was asking it to do. With any gesture system it’s hard to tell if you’re not doing it right or if the game simply isn’t registering it right, and throwing that uncertainty into the game is frustrating. Its current video tutorials are very decent, but it’d be great to get a more detailed feedback system in that explains exactly what you’re doing wrong.
I don’t doubt, though, that there are people that are going to master VR Skater, and I’m looking forward to the inevitable YouTube videos of people racking up crazy scores and combos and reaching parts of the map previously thought inaccessible. That, I suspect, will be the real indicator of just how successful this fascinating new control scheme is.
VR Skate is available to buy on Early Access today. Deficit Games hopes to launch in full at the end of the year.
April will soon be coming to an end and what a month it’s been for virtual reality (VR) content. The Oculus Gaming Showcase had plenty of updates for current titles plus the likes of Maskmakerand Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife have launched. As VRFocus likes to do every Friday, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to in the days ahead.
Imercyve: Living with Intellectual Disability – Valley General
First up how about an educational VR app. Imercyve: Living with Intellectual Disability has been: “Developed in partnership with support services not-for-profit Mercy Connect, this experience explores the efficacy of an immersive approach to strengthening communication and understanding between advocates and people with a disability by simulating a variety of effects that may be familiar to those with diverse and high care needs.”
The big IP for next week, Zen Studios return to VR fusing pinball with the iconic Star Wars franchise. Set within a customisable fan cave where you can unlock statues, posters, music and more by scoring big on the tables, there will be 8 pinball tables to master, each based on the films. There will also be two brand new tables such as The Mandalorian.
Originally a standard PC title created by Bloober Team, developer Incuvo over saw the PC VR port in 2019. Now its PlayStation VR owners turn to step into this house of horrors. You play the role of a Victorian-era painter aiming to finish his Magnum Opus. However, as the dark narrative unfolds your character delves deeper into his own madness, experiencing visions that fill the mansion with macabre artwork as well as changing its layout.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 29th April
VR Skater – Deficit Games
An Early Access launch for PC VR headsets, VR Skater is a mix between arcade and simulation gameplay so you can pull a variety of tricks like Flips, Shuvits, Slides, and Grinds across one big map. There are practice and run modes to begin with, with thhe final version set to add a career mode and a least 6 more maps.
Why bother with a small golf ball when you can utilise a frisbee instead! Another Early Access launch, Disc Golf Valley VR provides 14 courses to complete, unlocking new disc’s in Challenge mode as well as three practice modes to test those skills on.
VR Skater is a skateboarding game from indie studio Deficit Games; mark your calendars for April 30th, because that’s when it’s coming to Steam Early Access.
The developers call the game a “finely tuned mix between arcade and simulation,” as it promises a wide variety of realistic urban environments, but giving you plenty of gravity-defying lift and finesse to execute moves that would put most people in the hospital.
At launch, the studio says VR Skater will include custom-built environments, skateboarding controls designed especially for VR motion controllers, a ‘Skate Academy’ to learn all the tricks and complete challenges, and the ability to skate the game’s environments freely.
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Image courtesy Deficit Games
Image courtesy Deficit Games
Image courtesy Deficit Games
Throughout its time in Early Access, the studio hopes to add a career mode, more map challenges, an online leaderboard, achievements, skateboard customizations, more maps, more than 15 handpicked songs, and support for Windows Mixed Reality headsets. Deficit hopes to release the game fully sometime in Q4 2021.
You can wishlist VR Skater now on Steam. At Early Access launch, the game is said to support Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus PC headsets at launch.
Das Indie-Studio DEFICIT Games hat einen neuen Trailer zum kommenden Spiel VR Skater veröffentlicht, welcher Einblicke in die aktuelle Gestaltung und Steuerung des Spiels gibt.
VR Skater von DEFICIT Games geht am 30. April in den Early Access
Wie im Trailer zu sehen ist, erwartet euch im Spiel eine Steuerung mit den Motion Controllern, welche ein wenig an Fingerboarding erinnert. Ihr verwendet jedoch nicht einzelne Finger um Tricks auszuführen, sondern dreht und bewegt hierfür eure VR-Controller. Die Gestaltung des Spiels wirkt im Trailer ebenfalls sehr ansprechend, weshalb wir uns bereits auf den Start des Spiels am 30. April freuen.
DEFICIT Games ist bereits seit einigen Jahren mit der Entwicklung von VR-Inhalten vertraut und das Team hat bereits zwei Titel für die Oculus Go veröffentlicht. VR Skate wird jedoch der erste Titel des Studios sein, welcher speziell für PC VR entwickelt wird. Wenn ihr das Spiel nicht verpassen wollt, dann könnt ihr es bereits auf Steam auf eure Wunschliste setzen. Außerdem findet ihr das Spiel nun auch in unserem Release-Kalender.
