If you’ve ever wanted the power of a Palpatine from Star Wars, Aldin Dynamics is ready to put electricity in your fingertips. A new update to Waltz of the Wizard on Oculus Quest adds a number of features to the groundbreaking game which was one of the first to support hand tracking in May.
Slingshot Fingers And New Experimental Updates
The new update adds the Palpatine-like electricity fingers as well as slingshot fingers, each of which look like a ton of fun. The latter has you extend your index and pinky fingers with your hand sideways to see a slingshot extending from the tips. Just pinch and pull back to launch a magical projectile, plus any small object can be launched into the distance as well.
Aldin also added an experimental accessibility feature meant for people with less than five fingers on a hand that makes “virtual representations of missing fingers move in sync with other fingers,” according to the company.
There’s an experimental microphone-based option as well that will see your voice reverberate or echo in different ways, depending on which scene of the game you’re in. The studio is also teasing an additional easter egg hidden somewhere.
For those unfamiliar, Waltz of the Wizard is a magical playground that offers access to a number of recipes that play havoc on the world around you. Each recipe changes how the world can be impacted by your hand’s movements. The game’s been in development for years but the May update recognized a number of hand tracking gestures like a way of pointing at the ground ahead of you to paint a path for room-scale movement.
“We have big plans for Waltz of the Wizard this year that we are very excited about. We can’t share details just yet, but let’s just say we are opening new doors for the future of Waltz of the Wizard — with our strong focus on VR design innovation, as always,” the developers teased.
Virtual reality (VR) developers the world over are trying to create comfortable movement systems for virtual exploration, expanding upon standard smooth or teleportation locomotion. In 2017 Aldin Dynamics released ‘Telepath’ for Waltz of the Wizard, offering a solution between the two. Now the studio has released further improvements to the feature whilst preparing for a major gameplay expansion.
Currently only available for the PC VR version of Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition, the new Telepath update offers players more advanced features to experiment with.
The original Telepath allowed users to draw a line where they wanted to walk, the videogame then followed this path, whether it was a small one around a room or down a long corridor. Players would then automatically move between smaller points along this path.
The update introduces features which include Presence Control, a Smooth option, along with Arc Roll. Presence Control ensures that Telepath isn’t some rigid locomotion system, that it can be adaptable. So you can physically step away to dodge an incoming projectile or smash a crate and Telepath will pause, resuming once you return, no button presses required.
A smooth option has been added so players have an alternative to the step-based mode. Gradually moving along the path, smooth movement can also be sped up by physically moving your hands. Arc Roll then takes Telepath’s line drawing a step further, rolling sideways with a twist of the wrist to get around corners or other obstacles.
What’s most exciting about these and future developments are Aldin Dynamics plans for Oculus Quest. The studio previously detailed its experiments with hand tracking on the headset and now it seems implementation isn’t too far away. Combined with Telepath, Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition could offer one of the most natural and comfortable VR locomotion systems yet.
Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition lets you become a powerful sorcerer, combining arcane ingredients into a boiling cauldron to create all manner of spells. You can then step out of your sanctuary and embark on quests to unleash your new magical skills.
As further details are released, VRFocus will let you know.
New movement updates to Waltz Of The Wizard: Extended Edition aim to make traversing large spaces in VR more comfortable — and they will even work with Oculus Quest’s controller-free hand tracking.
The system is called “Telepath” and development studio Aldin Dynamics detailed the new options available in the PC version of the game now. There’s a blog post and videos explaining the features alongside a glimpse showing the “come hither”-esque gesture for Quest hand tracking that’ll make it possible to use the new system without any physical controllers.
Check it out:
I wrote to Aldin CEO Hrafn Thorisson over direct message and he told me the gesture shouldn’t interfere with a pinch gesture Facebook is reserving on the Quest to access the menu system from a VR app when you aren’t using controllers.
The videos explain the range of options available with the “telepath” system. It is focused around a more dynamic arc you can place out into the virtual world and then move along the path it generates. There’s a “step” option that quickly moves you to points along the path while a “smooth” option looks more like walking in real life at a constant rate of speed. If you reach for nearby objects or dodge something coming toward your head with physical movement it’ll slow down, but you can also swing your arms to increase the movement speed. You can also redraw the path at any time. Thorisson warns the new system may take getting used to for experienced VR users but more than 90 percent of users stick with the system.
The studio provides a detailed look at the new system here:
According to Aldin Dynamics, the new “Telepath features are being rolled out in preparation of our upcoming expansions of Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition, both the big expansions to the world and gameplay, as well as hand-tracking that will soon become available on Oculus Quest.”
That’s the second tease this week for hand tracking features coming soon to Oculus Quest games. The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets showed that it’ll be possible to push a cute little doggy on a swing using the new input system. Facebook first released the Software Development Kit for hand tracking on Quest late last year and made it available to consumers as an experimental option. They’ve been steadily updating the Quest system software seemingly in preparation to offer the new input system more broadly.
May 21, 2020 will mark the one year anniversary of Oculus Quest going on sale and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Facebook start accepting store submissions for hand tracking soon. Facebook can’t make the $400 headset fast enough to meet demand and a report this week from Bloomberg confirmed our expectations for a future version of the standalone headset.
You can grab Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition on Steam now with the latest “Telepath” feature. The game is available on Quest too but still has an older version of the feature at the time of this writing and doesn’t feature hand tracking yet.
As an educator focused on the implementation of virtual reality (VR) in the classroom, most of my VR app downloads over the last four years have been educational ones. That’s not to say that I don’t ever download videogames (as if I wasn’t going to hammer Beat Saber along with everyone else) but on the whole, the amount of non-educational content I purchase is limited. Last year though, with the launch of Viveport Infinity, I found myself in a position where I could download hundreds of titles with complete freedom. Whilst I continued to grab educational content, I also started grabbing a lot more videogames.
Obviously many of the most accomplished developers produce experiences exclusively since videogames tend to attract a wider audience. I’ve had the opportunity to try some truly stunning VR title but it’s always hard for me to remove my teacher’s hat. As such, I found that as I played, I kept noticing elements of various games that I thought had great potential to enrich educational VR experiences. So I thought why not pull out some of these features that I was seeing in VR games and explain why I think they could be applied effectively to educational experiences. Who knows – maybe I’ll help spark an idea for the next great educational VR app?
Game: Beat Saber
Feature: Shallow learning curve
There’s a lot to love about Beat Saber but one thing that I think makes it so powerful (and so successful) is the fact that anyone can pick it up and get the hang of it within a couple of minutes. So many educational experiences have overly complex UI or a lengthy tutorial-style opening section. Being able to have students engage with a new VR experience without a lot of input or support is very useful and reduces the impact on learning time.
Game: Waltz of the Wizard
Feature: Fully interactive environments
The sense of freedom to interact with absolutely anything you can get your hands on in Waltz of the Wizard is wonderfully engaging. I find that many edu apps limit this type of freedom to explore a space and instead prefer to deliver a linear experience where you are directed from one point of interaction to another. More freedom, more interactive content and more Easter eggs would not only add to the sense of presence but also encourages exploration within the educational space. This type of approach is what helps foster a love of learning.
Game: Acron: Attack of the Squirrels
Feature: Parallel access on mobile devices
I recognise the fact that some multi-user apps like Rec Room allow access from mobile devices but Acron: Attack of the Squirrels offers something more unique in the way that the mobile users take on a complementary role within the experience. One of the real issues for schools in terms of VR adoption is still price and therefore schools tend to have access to a limited number of headsets. I’ve shared numerous ideas in the past for handling this issue so that students are not waiting for turns but the use of parallel access on mobile devices seen in Acron: Attack of the Squirrels would be a real plus here. By allowing students with mobile devices to interact and engage with another student using a VR headset, a larger group can be involved in an experience despite limited amounts of hardware. Massive potential here folks.
Game: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Feature: Parallel access for analogue players
In a similar way to Acron: Attack of the Squirrels, the way Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes makes a single VR user collaborate with non-VR teammates (with the bomb-defusing instructions) is something that could really benefit schools with limited hardware. Transpose this exact videogame to a chemistry experiment scenario and it would make a great opportunity to develop practical science skills as well as valuable soft skills like communication and collaboration. What about having an experience wherein the analogue players have a physical map of a virtual world which they need to use geographical knowledge to interpret and guide the VR player? Lots of potential here…
Game: Summer Funland
Feature: Curated activities
When I first downloaded Summer Funland for my daughter, I didn’t expect much and I definitely wasn’t prepared for the wealth of experiences built into this one app. From carnival games to rollercoasters to puzzle-filled mazes and even Batmobile rides – it really does give the sense of being at a huge virtual theme park. There is just so much here in the same space – and this is something I wish we saw more within the VR education space where often an app includes a short activity and little more. Or multiple experiences are split into separate apps to force multiple downloads/payments. I do appreciate that in some cases this may be to keep file sizes lower but multiple experiences could still be housed within one core hub and then users cache experiences that they engage with.
Game: Rec Room
Feature: Junior accounts
The addition of junior accounts in Rec Room was a brilliant move. Limiting youngsters’ access to communicate within this social VR platform may seem somewhat detrimental to the experience as a whole but by prioritising child protection and digital safety, Rec Room definitely earned a gold star in my book. The junior accounts feature could be applied to educational experiences in a range of ways. I’ve had to shelve plans to use platforms like Within and some historical apps with younger learners due to some more mature content Having the ability to switch to a junior mode would allow apps to reach a broader range of students but ensure that the content is age-appropriate.
Game: Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
Feature: A sense of humour!
Learning should be fun. So many educational experiences are deadly serious and lack a sense of humour. Being able to make students laugh a little will make them enjoy the experience even more. Whilst I’m obviously not advocating for that special blend of risqué Roiland/Harmon humour found in Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Accounting or Trover Saves the Universe, in content aimed at children but there’s definitely scope for more fun and whimsy in educational VR. It wouldn’t always be appropriate (e.g. within a historical experience it may not be suitable) but there are definitely some educational experiences which would have benefited from a less-serious tone.
Game: Quanero
Feature: Time manipulation
I was tempted to put Superhot here to be honest but this lesser-known title from a couple of years back is still my favourite example of time manipulation within VR. The player can slow down time, reverse it or stop it completely to allow them to explore scenes as they try to solve a crime. Imagine this same mechanic applied to a chemistry experience, allowing students to view a reaction from multiple angles, or a history experience, walking through key events and finding additional details. I’d love to see more dynamic time controls in educational VR. The best I can think of right now is the ability to make spatial recordings in Engage – which can then be replayed, paused, scrubbed and walked through as if you were there. It’s definitely something you need to try if you haven’t already.
Game: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Feature: Freedom of Choice
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is awesome for a lot of reasons but its clever use of choice and consequences make it unique to each player and very rewarding. This is another feature I’d love to see integrated into educational experiences more often, as a part of a shift away from the linear, follow-the-path experiences. One of the real benefits of VR in education is that it can remove the fear of failure since things can be rest and retried multiple times. Bringing in more choice and branching narrative type mechanics could really supplement this and help forge deeper learning opportunities.
Game: Half-Life: Alyx
Feature: Engaging narrative
It would be remiss of me not to include the recent smash hit that is Half-Life: Alyx and whilst there is so much to love about this AAA title, for me, it is the powerful narrative that makes it so impressive and engaging. It’s by no means the only VR videogame that boasts a great narrative, with Torn, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and A Fisherman’s Tale being other good examples. Wrapping a learning experience in an interesting, well-structured narrative is a great way to immerse learners in the content more deeply. Just look at how Operation Apex blends learning about marine biology and conservation with a hunt for a giant shark. The story draws you in and makes the learning both more authentic and more subtle.
Developers Aldin Dynamics provided an update on Waltz of the Wizard today, providing information on the newly released Scavenger update for PC VR, performance improvements and optimizations, along with plans for the future.
The team says they are happy with the response to the Enhanced Edition of the game which launched last year and, as a result, have big plans for it across the coming year. The team has been “working on new technologies and content prototypes for high degrees of natural interaction in VR. Some of those experiments have helped us understand what isn’t yet possible, while others have proven what is.” The game will also receive more expansions with “more advanced levels of magic and believable reality simulation.”
In addition to all these planned future changes, Waltz of the Wizard also received additions and optimizations in a new update this week, titled the “Scavenger” update. This includes the new Scavenger Hunt quest and some new items to play with, while also improving and upgrading visual effects.
Aldin Dynamics stated that they took what they learnt while developing the Oculus Quest version of the game and applied it to the PC version, which allows Waltz of the Wizard to run on lower-end hardware and at higher fidelity on beefier rigs. The studio said they also improved the particle effects and lighting.
Valve Index users should see some framerate improvements as well, with Aldin Dynamics claiming that even low-end hardware should be able to run at 144Hz on Index when using the low graphics settings preset.
VRFocus rounds up all titles being released across virtual reality (VR) headsets over the course of next week. In a good week for Oculus Quest users, next week will see a total of 3 VR titles from 2016 reworked for the standalone headset. Make sure to check out our accompanying video to get a preview of each title’s individual gameplay.
Glyph – Bolverk Games
In this third-person adventure, work to direct this mechanical and spherical scarab through a series of non-linear desert settings, picking up various relics as you go. The scarab can fly small distances and must bounce off of other objects in the environment to keep going. Compete with friends online or work to beat your personal best speed.
In this fantasy spaceship shooter, race across 14 levels in both solo and co-op modes. Scavenge through merchant ships searching for hidden treasures and work to upgrade your ship to protect yourself from bosses, parasites and traps that surround you.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 3rd December
The Climb – Crytek
Previously released 2016, German developer Crytek is now giving their immersive climbing experience the Quest treatment. Experience and perfect free solo climbing across four different locations. Explore caves and work the best routes and shortcuts while trying to earn over 100 achievements. Race and compete with others in multiplayer and online modes, featuring varying difficulty modes such as “Tourist Mode” for beginners in VR.
Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition – Aldin Dynamics
Revisit the magic in this new Oculus Quest version of the 2016 title, Waltz Of The Wizard. Learn what it’s like to have magical powers as you combine ingredients into a boiling cauldron to create new and extravagant creations. Dodge guards and traps that surround you, play a series of minigames and look for artefacts and Easter eggs along the way.
In another reworking of a title from 2016, in this Oculus Quest re-release of Arizona Sunshine, you once again must fight through hordes of zombies in a desperate attempt to make contact with the last remaining signs of human life. Set in this post-apocalyptic Grand Canyon setting, you set off on a dangerous mission after hearing the faint sound of human life on your radio. Utilise over 25 weapons and make a journey across huge deserts, mines and canyons, also featuring multiplayer modes for up to 4 players.
Waltz of the Wizard (2016) is a exceptionally well-built VR experience from Iceland-based studio Aldin Dynamics. As one of the pioneering demos to heavily feature object interaction back at the birth of consumer VR, it always felt like the curiously magical prologue to something much larger. And although Aldin hasn’t promised as much today, the studio is continuing on with development of Waltz of the Wizard in a new ‘Extended Edition’, heading to PC VR headsets next week.
Set to launch on July 10th, Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition will be a paid experience that Aldin says will help them continue to maintain Waltz of the Wizard as a “fun showcase of the potential of virtual reality.”
Essentially, the Extended Edition is a remaster of the original which adds new spells, interactions and secrets. Performance optimizations and new options are also in tow to “help keep the experience an excellent showcase introduction to VR,” the studio says.
Aldin says on the experience’s Steam page (linked above) that they’ve included things like a roomscale-only locomotion option and also ‘reach-assist’ to make the experience more accessible for showcasing VR. The new experience also features Valve Index controller support too.
The studio says they can’t commit more resources to the free version while in the midst of their next (still unrevealed) project, however they’re using the Extended Edition as a way for them to continue providing support and updates to Waltz of the Wizard, while helping fuel development of new products.
The free 2016-era version will remain free for the foreseeable future, the studio says, although content updates will focus on the Extended Edition moving forward.
Aldin has set the Extended Edition’s price at $10 (with a 40% launch discount). Although a bulk of the experience can invariably still be experienced for free, this is actually the first way VR users will be able to support the studio and their future projects; you might well look it as a way to help fund one of the smaller studios that has not only gathered the hard-won knowledge on how to make magical and immersive VR experiences, but a studio that helped pioneer VR as we know it today.
Update (9:00 AM ET): Aldin reached out to us to clarify that Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition is actually set be priced at $9.99, with an added 40% launch discount. We’ve corrected this in the body of the article.
Remember Waltz of the Wizard? It was a free VR experience that launches around the same time as the HTC Vive. Developer Aldin built a magical showcase of room scale and hand-tracked VR. Now, with the Vive semi-succeeded by the Valve Index, developer Aldin Dynamics is doing a remaster.
Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition is due out on July 10 and adds full support for the Index controllers. Not only that, but this edition adds brand new spells and interactive objects. It’s also had a visual tune-up and some performances improvements to bring it in line with 2019 standards. You can see them in the below footage, which focuses on the finger tracking afforded by the Index Controllers. Pure magic, we say!
Like a lot of Aldin’s work, this is very much a showcase rather than a full ‘game’, but its digital playgrounds have always been a treat to explore. Here you can try out different spells, resizing objects and firing fireworks from your hands. It’s a great way to test the limits of current VR technology.
With all the new additions, the Extended Edition won’t be free. It will cost $9.99, though Aldin is planning a heavy launch window discount of 40% (so about $6). This version of the app will still support other headsets like Rift, Vive and Windows VR, but obviously won’t include the finger tracking there.
Elsewhere Aldin has its VR tracking tool, Ghostline, to maintain. We’re not sure we’ll see any truly ‘new’ experiences from the developer in the future but we sure hope we will.
Remember Waltz of the Wizard? It was a free VR experience that launches around the same time as the HTC Vive. Developer Aldin built a magical showcase of room scale and hand-tracked VR. Now, with the Vive semi-succeeded by the Valve Index, developer Aldin Dynamics is doing a remaster.
Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition is due out on July 10 and adds full support for the Index controllers. Not only that, but this edition adds brand new spells and interactive objects. It’s also had a visual tune-up and some performances improvements to bring it in line with 2019 standards. You can see them in the below footage, which focuses on the finger tracking afforded by the Index Controllers. Pure magic, we say!
Like a lot of Aldin’s work, this is very much a showcase rather than a full ‘game’, but its digital playgrounds have always been a treat to explore. Here you can try out different spells, resizing objects and firing fireworks from your hands. It’s a great way to test the limits of current VR technology.
With all the new additions, the Extended Edition won’t be free. It will cost $9.99, though Aldin is planning a heavy launch window discount of 40% (so about $6). This version of the app will still support other headsets like Rift, Vive and Windows VR, but obviously won’t include the finger tracking there.
Elsewhere Aldin has its VR tracking tool, Ghostline, to maintain. We’re not sure we’ll see any truly ‘new’ experiences from the developer in the future but we sure hope we will.
It’s been sometime since VRFocus heard much about Icelandic virtual reality (VR) software developer Aldin (previously called Aldin Dynamics), the creator of Waltz of the Wizard for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Today, the team has revealed a successful seed funding round, securing the studio $1 million USD of investment.
The funding round was led by Crowberry Capital and joined by angel fund Investa and the Icelandic Technology Development Fund. Aldin will use the investment to produce new consumer VR entertainment products and to further develop the company’s technologies to make more believable VR worlds.
“The ability of old entertainment formats to astound and amaze is fading because we’ve seen it all before. We are ready for something new and completely different,” said Hrafn Thorri Thorisson, CEO & co-founder of Aldin in a statement. “Believable reality experiences are unlike anything that’s been possible in the past, offering the accessibility of movies and interactivity beyond conventional games. Since nothing can play on our emotions like reality, believable virtual realities are set to become the most emotionally engaging format in entertainment history.”
Aldin is currently developing a new VR title which it says will: “let users step into a fantastical world and become acquainted with a character in ways that could only happen in VR, powered by XR AI systems that help form personal connections with characters beyond what’s possible with screenbound entertainment.”
The new experience unites the elements of Aldins past products, Trial of the Rift Drifter, Asunder and Waltz of the Wizard, with further details and release dates set to be announced in the latter half of 2018.
“We’ve been at the forefront of VR since 2013, focusing on content and technologies that bring immersion and presence to the level that justifies VR and gives people a reason to want it,” adds Gunnar Steinn Valgardsson, CTO & co-founder of Aldin. “We are humbled and thankful for the amazing response to our earlier work. We’re now at the next frontier and we are going to deliver experiences that place users in worlds that are only possible in VR.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Aldin, reporting back with its latest announcements.
