Category: WarDucks

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The VR Job Hub: Camouflaj, WarDucks & Spatial

Whether you’re an experienced designer, programmer, engineer, or maybe you’ve just been inspired after reading VRFocus’ articles – either way, you have stumbled across the weekly VR Job Hub. The vacancies listed here are usually located worldwide, from major companies to humble indie developers – the one thing they all have in common is that they are all looking for new staff.

Location Company Role Link
Bellevue, WA Camouflaj Gameplay Programmer Click Here to Apply
Dublin, Ireland WarDucks Senior Game Client Developer Click Here to Apply
Dublin, Ireland WarDucks Game VFX Artist Click Here to Apply
New York or San Francisco Spatial Holographic Engineer Click Here to Apply
New York, NY Spatial Producer/Product Manager Click Here to Apply
New York or San Francisco Spatial AR Designer Click Here to Apply
New York or San Francisco Spatial AR Design Intern Click Here to Apply
New York, NY Spatial Quality Assurance Engineer Click Here to Apply
New York or San Francisco Spatial AR Engineer Intern Click Here to Apply
San Francisco, CA Spatial AR Engineer Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

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The VR Job Hub: WarDucks, Oculus and Facebook Reality Labs

It has been a rather hectic week thanks to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 in San Francisco. But now its Sunday and time to relax, put your feet up, watch a movie, get some gaming in, or if every day feels like a Sunday and you need a job, then look no further.

Location Company Role Link
Dublin, Ireland WarDucks Game UI Developer (WPF) Click Here to Apply
Dublin, Ireland WarDucks Game Developer Click Here to Apply
Dublin, Ireland WarDucks Game Server Developer Click Here to Apply
Redmond, WA Facebook Reality Labs Applied Scientist, AR Audio Click Here to Apply
Menlo Park, CA Facebook Reality Labs Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Engineer Click Here to Apply
Redmond, WA Facebook Reality Labs AR/VR Software Engineer, Eye Tracking Click Here to Apply
Seattle, WA Oculus 3D Generalist Click Here to Apply
Seattle, WA Oculus Product Design Prototyper – AR Experiences Click Here to Apply
Seattle, WA Oculus Product Designer – AR Platform Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

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WarDucks Secures $3.8 million Investment for a Location-Based AR Experience

Having made a name for itself creating virtual reality (VR) titles like RollerCoaster Legends II: Thor’s Hammer and Sneaky Bears, Irish studio WarDucks is now looking towards augmented reality (AR) development, having secured $3.8 million USD in a recent funding round.

Image Credit: WarDucks

In a funding round led by EQT Ventures, with Suir Valley Ventures and several others also involved, WarDucks will be using the investment to grow its team and fund development of its first AR title. The team expansion has already begun, with veterans such as John Romero (co-creator of Doom and Quake) on board as a creative consultant, ZeniMax lead content designer Lawrence Schick has been chosen as lead narrative designer (Elder Scrolls Online, Dungeons & Dragons), and  Doug Kaufman (Civilization II) is lead game designer.

“There’s a huge opportunity in AR location-based mobile gaming, which combines the local appeal of real-world maps with engaging gameplay,” said Nikki Lannen, CEO and founder of WarDucks, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with EQT Ventures as we race towards the launch of our location-based AR game as the team’s extensive mobile gaming experience will be invaluable on the next phase of our journey. The fact that we’ve also had so many top gaming executives from around the world join our team is testament to the talent and vision of the team we’ve currently got in place.”

Currently, WarDucks hasn’t released any details regarding its new AR title, whether it’ll be a new IP or leveraging one of the company’s existing properties.

“WarDucks is a strong, proven games studio with an impressive team of passionate game experts ready to take on this rapidly growing genre of mobile gaming,” Lars Jörnow, partner at EQT Ventures adds. “We believe that WarDucks’ next title will engage players all over the world and become a popular franchise. The EQT Ventures team is excited to partner with Nikki and the team on this journey with our in-house gaming expertise.”

As further details surface regarding WarDucks plans to enter the AR scene are revealed, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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WarDucks’ RollerCoaster Legends is Making its way to Gear VR

Roller coasters are great fun but depending on where you live in the world February isn’t exactly the best time of year to be enjoying some adrenaline fuelled rides. With virtual reality (VR) you don’t need to worry about the weather as there are one or two roller coaster VR experiences available. One of the most recent comes from Sneaky Bears developer WarDucks, with the studio announcing that Rollercoaster Legends will be coming to Samsung Gear VR next week.  

RollerCoaster Legends

Having released RollerCoaster Legends for Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive at the end of December 2017, WarDucks turned its attention to the mobile headset. “At release, we received great feedback from players. We want as many people as possible to experience this rollercoaster ride through Greek Mythology, which is why we decided to bring RollerCoaster Legends to the Gear VR,” says CEO of WarDucks, Nikki Lannen in a statement.

RollerCoaster Legends transports you into the world of Greek mythology, which includes the Minotaur, Kronos, and Hades. Players will speed through various mythical scenes and encounter enchanting characters, all while riding a fast-paced rollercoaster with daring drops and turns. For a rollercoaster app the experience is fairly lengthy, lasting around 8 minutes in total. WarDucks has tried to ensure that RollerCoaster Legends remains unchanged for the Gear VR version with the visual quality only slightly different to accommodate mobile specs.

“A rollercoaster is a universal experience and we are thrilled to be able to deliver a high quality rollercoaster with minimal discomfort wherever you go with your Gear VR!,” adds Lannen.

RollerCoaster Legends

RollerCoaster Legends for Gear VR will be available on the 27th February at a $2.99 USD price point.

Or there’s always WarDucks’ interactive shooter Sneaky Bears for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, as well as PlayStation VR. For any further updates from WarDucks, keep reading VRFocus.

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Ride Through Greek Legends In PlayStation VR’s RollerCoaster Legends, Brand New Trailer Here

Many times people have told me to “go to Hell” and yet I’ve never done it. Partially because I don’t have the directions, partially because I heard real life has perma death turned on. But if I ever were to go to Hell, the thing that would make me do it is most definitely a bad ass rollercoaster ride that cruises past everyone suffering through eternal hellfire and all that. But of course there’s a virtual reality (VR) experience for that!

RollerCoaster Legends is rolling onto PlayStation VR soon, and there’s a brand new trailer embedded below which was posted on the PlayStation Japan YouTube account. Despite it being a Japanese trailer you don’t have to worry too much, all of the text in the trailer is in English. Handy for us, but it does make you wonder how the intended audience was supposed to be able to read it.

In the trailer we see a rollercoaster powering through some mineshafts before taking us through the Temple of Poseidon, with Greek ampitheatres placed atop rock formations which have no discernible way of getting there without a rollercoaster. Clearly rollercoasters were an important mode of transportation in these ancient caverns, as evidenced by the ancient rickety tracks, but we are dubious of the structural integrity of the cavern. There are flaming rocks falling from the ceiling, after all.

Next up is The River Styx, the legendary river which the souls of the dead travel down before being trapped eternally in the afterlife. In the trailer we dive directly into the river – shockingly, no signs of dead people nor ghosts. Somewhat underwhelming.

Luckily The Palace of Hades is a bit more interesting, complete with a maze and a minotaur charging about the place – naturally. Our advice? Keep your hand to a wall – you’ll find the exit eventually…

Tartarus is next, and looks a bit more like the Hell we envisioned originally. Molten lava, rock formations bubbling away. Incredible.

You can see the full trailer below. Developer WarDucks has previously worked on Sneaky Bears, the evil teddy bear destruction game. We’ll have all of the latest information on RollerCoaster Legends as it drops, so to take your own rollercoaster ride through the mythical, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.

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Some Paws For Thought, As Sneaky Bears Comes To Japan In A New PlayStation VR Trailer

Yesterday, when bringing you news about the imminent PlayStation VR release of virtual reality (VR) title Out of Ammo by RocketWerkz and Zen Studios, I may have made a reference regarding being smarter than the (above) average bear. In hindsight this was an error. After all, why would you really want to anger a bear by suggesting you are smarter than it? It’s a flipping bear, for goodness sake. It could claw your face off – and last time I checked you’ve only got one of those.

Sneaky Bears Screenshot5This all struck me upon watching one of the latest trailers for PlayStation Japan. With a video whose description begins “The world was wrapped in flames.” And then proceeds to introduce a megalomaniacal teddy bear complete with super-evil eyepatch. Welcome to Sneaky Bears VR.

Initially a title for the Samsung Gear VR and already out on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, as well as PlayStation VR too in the West, it seems WarDucks’ cuddly criminals have now set their sights on the other side of the world. In this videogame you must take on the erudite evil mastermind Frank (a dastardly name if we ever heard it) in virtual battle of… well, maybe not wits, but certainly lasers. It seems that Frank and his army of equally bad bears have seized control of a toy factory and are going to use it to take over the world. Because of course they have.

“Armed with only your motion-controlled weapons, it is up to you to stop them and rescue the innocent Panda teddy bears that Frank and his minions have taken hostage!” They’ve got hostages too? Diabolical. It’s up to you to survive the bear army, take down Frank and save the Earth from the paws of utter chaos. You can see the trailer below.

Developers WarDucks, based in Ireland, were in the headlines themselves back in September last year. Having successfully secured over a million Euros in investment from venture capital firms. A representative emphasising that VR, as the company saw it, was the future: “Virtual reality will increasingly become part of the fabric of our everyday lives and gaming is pioneering this as we speak.”

VRFocus will bring you more news on VR releases from around the world very soon.

 

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Developer WarDucks Announce New VR Rollercoaster Title

Irish start-up developer has announced its intention to capture the white-knuckle thrills of the theme park with its next virtual reality (VR) title, a VR rollercoaster simulator titled Rollercoaster Legends. The studio has previously produced VR title Sneaky Bears.

WarDucks has announced that Rollercoaster Legends will be a VR rollercoaster simulator that will feature various figures from Greek mythology, including the towering Minotaur, and Greek gods Kronos and Hades. The title will bring players on a high-speed trip through various scenes taken from Greek legends, while subjecting them to the fast turns and daring drops that draws many people to ride rollercoasters.

The studio hope to release the title for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR in time for the Christmas period of 2017, aiming for late December, though an exact release date is yet to be revealed.

WarDucks previously worked on other VR titles, including first-person shooter Sneaky Bears, which was originally released for Samsung Gear VR before being posted in expanded form to PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Sneaky Bears pits the player against Frank, an evil mastermind who also happens to be a teddy bear. Frank takes over a toy factory to create an army of dangerous plush bears and it is up to the player to stop his plans.

The studio also released a Sneaky Bears spin-off for Samsung Gear VR and google Cardboard called Sneaky Bears RollerCoaster, a ride through the factory that produces the murderous teddy bears featured in Sneaky Bears.

Nikki Lannen, CEO of WarDucks, said of the new release “We love rollercoasters here at WarDucks but felt what is out there is lacking in certain ways. Many of the rollercoasters available are not focused on a virtual environment and are simply badly built replicas of what is available in real life. We feel as though we have built something which gives the thrill of a rollercoaster but also provides an engaging, interesting experience at the same time.”

A teaser trailer for Rollercoaster Legends is available to view below.

VRFocus will bring you further news on WarDucks and Rollercoaster Legends as it becomes available.

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Sneaky Bears to Launch on HTC Vive Next Week

Back in August Irish videogame studio WarDucks released its not so cuddly first-person shooter Sneaky Bears for PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift after its original launch on Samsung Gear VR. Today, the studio has announced that the HTC Vive version is set to be released next week, on 12th October.  

The launch on Steam for HTC Vive – and of course Oculus Rift – will also coincide with a new update for all the versions,  adding a global leaderboard and additional difficulty levels (cuddly and crazy), to increase the challenge for seasoned gamers.

Sneaky Bears Rift

The update is in response to customer feedback for more re-playability. “Our motto at WarDucks is to listen to what the gamer wants and as such we have taken the feedback from players and reviewers into account for this update. Although reviews are positive, we hear a call from players for the game to be longer. We’re delighted that people are screaming out for more content. We are happy to be able to increase the replayability and add a more obvious competitive angle with the game,” said Nikki Lannen, CEO and founder of WarDucks in a statement.

In addition to the re-playability updates, English subtitles have been included plus additional subtitles will soon be added for Japanese, Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chinese.

Sneaky Bears storyline revolves Frank, an evil mastermind – who happens to be a teddy bear –  who takes over a toy factory, creating an army of dangerous teddies with the aim of taking over the world. So it’s up to players to take down these deranged menaces and free some Panda hostages in the process.

The suggested retail price on Steam will be $14.99 USD/ €14.99 EUR with a 35 percent launch discount for the first week.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of WarDucks and Sneaky Bears, reporting back with further updates.

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Sneaky Bears Creator WarDucks Nets €1.3 Million In Seed Funding

WarDucks' Sneaky Bears

WarDucks, the team behind the Sneaky Bears franchise, has successfully raised €1.3 million (USD 1.5 million) in seed funding. Venture capital fund Suir Valley Ventures led the round, joined by the state agency Enterprise Ireland as well as private investors.

Based in Dublin, WarDucks released Sneaky Bears for PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift last month. A lightweight version of the game was previously published on the GearVR and Google Play stores. According to the developer’s website, HTC Vive support is coming within a few weeks. A tie-in game, Sneaky Bears Roller Coaster, reached the number two spot on the the GearVR store. Before entering the VR market, WarDucks created the social and mobile title, Global Agents.

WarDucks founder Nikki Lannen commented on the investment in her company, “Our Sneaky Bears brand has already performed extremely well on mobile VR platforms, however our move now to more sophisticated hardware, including PlayStation, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive marks an important step for WarDucks. I am delighted that Suir Valley recognizes our potential in the expanding virtual reality space and is supporting our next phase of growth through this investment, together with Enterprise Ireland and other private investors”

Suir Valley Ventures Managing Partner Barry Downes said, “VR is an area of enormous opportunity and potential, and we remain keen to increase our exposure to this market and become a leading investor in the expanding industry. We see Dublin based WarDucks as a great example of the type of games studio that is going to be hugely successful in the VR industry and are looking forward to working with Nikki and her team to support them grow the company rapidly and launch unique products worldwide.”

Suir Valley Ventures expects the VR market to grow to over $35 billion by 2022, and said it “is eager to increase its exposure to this burgeoning industry.”

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Sneaky Bears Developer Nets €1.3M In Funding

Dublin-based independent developer WarDucks, who recently released virtual reality (VR) title Sneaky Bears, have announced the successful completion of a Seed Funding round led by Suir Valley Ventures.

Sneaky Bears was initially released as a mobile VR title for Samsung Gear VR, but the developer recently released an expanded and updated version for PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift, with a version for the HTC Vive also currently being developed.

Commenting on the recent investment by Suir Valley, Nikki Lannen said: “Virtual reality will increasingly become part of the fabric of our everyday lives and gaming is pioneering this as we speak. Our Sneaky Bears brand has already performed extremely well on mobile VR platforms, however our move now to more sophisticated hardware, including PlayStation, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive marks an important step for WarDucks. I am delighted that Suir Valley recognises our potential in the expanding virtual reality space and is supporting our next phase of growth through this investment, together with Enterprise Ireland and other private investors.”

€1.3 million in funding has been raised by WarDucks, led by venture capital firm Suir Valley Venture, with additional funding from Enterprise Ireland and other private investors.

Barry Downes, Managing Partner – Suir Valley Ventures, said, “We are delighted to announce that we are leading the investment round in WarDucks. Nikki and her team have already had major success, launching a number of hit VR games on mobile, and we are thrilled to help the company bring its unique Sneaky Bears IP to console and PC platforms. For the team at Suir Valley, VR is an area of enormous opportunity and potential, and we remain keen to increase our exposure to this market and become a leading investor in the expanding industry. We see Dublin based WarDucks as a great example of the type of games studio that is going to be hugely successful in the VR industry and are looking forward to working with Nikki and her team to support them grow the company rapidly and launch unique products worldwide.”

VRFocus will continue to report on new developments in the VR sector.