Industry Direct by Rein Zobel, Creative Director & Co-founder at Maru VR Productions
Industry Direct is our program for sponsors who want to speak directly to the Road to VR newsletter audience. Industry Direct posts are written by sponsors with no involvement from the Road to VR editorial team. Links to these posts appear only in our newsletter and do not intermix with our on-site editorial feed. Industry Direct sponsors help make Road to VR possible.
About three years ago, after years of doing custom-made VR projects, we decided to start working on our own VR game: Bootstrap Island. We envisioned a systems-based survival game, where players could forget their everyday world in a lush tropical setting. The physics-based interactions would not only be for show, they would actually have gameplay depth, so that features such as a dynamic day/night system, fire, liquid, AI and even contextual voiceover would blend together into one immersive Robinsonesque gaming experience. Over the years, we have pitched the game to most of the publishers and investors in the VR field. While most of them were enthusiastic about the game, all the conversations boiled down to one question and conclusion: “Will you also have a standalone version? No? Okay, good luck then!”
In February 2024, we launched Bootstrap Island into Steam Early Access as an independent self-published title. At the time of the writing, it holds a “Very Positive” rating, with hundreds of content creator videos made within weeks, totalling millions of views.
Players seem to enjoy the most being in a photorealistic free open world where the interactions actually feel like they would in a real world. We made a stylistic choice of using minimal menus and tutorials, because figuring out interactions on your own gives people a sense of achievement and agency in a virtual world. And of course, it fits the survival theme very well.
These design and tech choices are not only inspired by other games, it goes back to our previous work before Bootstrap Island. We have completed over 35 custom-made VR projects for location based tourist attractions, marketing experiences, training applications, etc. While producing these projects, we have often had freedom over the hardware on which the experience will run. And over the years, we have been convinced by seeing the same result over and over again—people respond better to high fidelity VR content! Not only gamers, even first timers are more immersed by a VR world which has been designed to look, sound and feel realistic. If the illusion of VR is more convincing—the textures, details, view distance—user responses become more intense and raw. As a result, we would see more PC VR users laughing, crying and screaming in fear, much to the amusement to their friends and family.
That isn’t to say that standalone VR does not have its moments. I have been repeatedly blown away by Quest 3, which has surpassed the Quest 2 in every regard. It is mind-bending what developers have been able push out of the Quest hardware; the mountains of work that goes into optimizing an open world game on a mobile VR headset is awe inspiring. Unfortunately, the business reality of the VR market in 2024 can’t ignore the 20 million plus (and growing) install base of Quest 2 devices. If you are producing a game for multiple platforms, it would be unwise to ignore the least powerful but most popular headset on the market. And while VR games often are ‘enhanced’ for PC VR, PSVR 2 or Quest 3, the underlying structure of the game is still made with mainly Quest 2 in mind and the enhancements are often superficial. That means that a game’s physics, environment design, core gameplay, animations etc. are limited to what a mobile chipset can run.
With Bootstrap Island, we tried to approach differently. In order to meet our gameplay goals, we needed all the hardware juice that is possible, so PC VR was the only viable option. In the early stages of development, we were hoping that one day we could port the game to Quest platform as well. After all, business-wise that seemed to be the only smart choice. However, as the game has grown, we no longer have that notion. The difference in raw power between a Quest and a powerful PC is ten-fold. Keep in mind, that even a PC VR-only game needs to put considerate effort into optimization, as compared to regular screen games, as a VR game is rendered to two screens at a high framerate. The stakes are high, as when the game doesn’t run well or doesn’t look good, from the user’s standpoint it’s not just an inconvenience, it’s an unforgivable disruption in their perceived reality.
But after all, virtual reality is not only about tech. It’s about giving people an opportunity to step into a story and be completely immersed in a different world. It feels surreal that millions of people have access to this technology but the content simply doesn’t exist yet. The birth of virtual reality is the most exciting thing I have seen in my lifetime as a gamer and as a creator. In my mind, it’s the closest thing we have to magic, and I personally think it deserves to be used for more than just ports of mobile games.
VR veteran studio Survios and 20th Century Games announced back in 2022 they were building a new game for VR, PC and console based on the well known sci-fi franchise Alien. Though we’ve heard very little about the project since, we have fresh confirmation the game is still in the works.
Meta released a new mixed reality showcase for Unreal Engine developers that ought to help kickstart some Quest projects that use your room in fresh and interesting ways.
VRAL Games, the publisher behind the SBK superbike mobile franchise, announced it’s publishing its first VR motorcycle racing game, coming to Quest and SteamVR headsets later this year.
Industry Direct is our program for sponsors who want to speak directly to the Road to VR newsletter audience. Industry Direct posts are written by sponsors with no involvement from the Road to VR editorial team. Links to these posts appear only in our newsletter and do not intermix with our on-site editorial feed. Industry Direct sponsors help make Road to VR possible.
Today, we are thrilled to unveil an exhilarating trailer for our upcoming VR game, Strike Rush.
Our 4v4 team-based action shooter is already making waves among virtual reality gamers across the globe in beta testing. We designed the game to pit players against each other in the Combat Arena, a futuristic sport celebrated as the most popular in the 22nd century.
Strike Rush distinguishes itself with its richly designed characters, known as ‘Blitzers,’ who battle it out in the arena. Each Blitzer comes equipped with unique abilities and a distinct personality, brought to life in the trailer, hinting at the strategic depth players can expect. Furthermore, the game introduces innovative elements like Blitzmon, an AI robot assisting players in combat, and Colossus, a towering machine that can significantly influence the battle’s outcome. These features are just a taste of the core gameplay mechanics awaiting players.
Following the feedback from the Closed Beta Test (CBT) we conducted in January, we’ve implemented several enhancements to elevate the gaming experience. These improvements include increased movement speed, the integration of team voice chat, weapon rebalancing, and overall quality enhancements. These adjustments are a testament to our dedication to leveraging our extensive experience in shooter development, including our work on “Mortal Blitz,” to deliver a captivating VR experience that pushes the boundaries of immersive gameplay.
For gamers keen to delve deeper into the world of Strike Rush and keep up with the latest news, we highly recommend visiting our official website or joining our official Discord server. See you all there Blitzers!
Our series Inside XR Design examines specific examples of great XR design. Today we’re looking at the interface of Electronauts to find out what makes it so excellently usable.
Pine Studios, the team behind the Escape Simulator franchise on PC, announced its bringing SteamVR headset support to the studio’s hit title next month.
Spring has nearly sprung, and with it come great sales on games for Quest and PC VR. Don’t miss this chance to pick up a title you’ve been waiting for!
VR studio and label Creature announced Starship Home, a plant-filled mixed reality adventure that turns your living room into a spacecraft on a mission to save alien flora.
Jan ‘Split’ Ilavsky, founder of Beat Games and creator behind VR’s favorite block-slashing rhythm game Beat Saber (2018), left the studio late last month, stepping down from his position as the game’s Creative Director. Now, Ilavsky tells Road to VR he’s taking an extended break from VR altogether.
YouTube has a ton of videos created for immersive viewing, but without an official YouTube app on Vision Pro, it’s a bit of a song and dance to get them to play. Moon Player however launched a Vision Pro app that, with significantly less hassle, not only unlocks YouTube’s library of VR video, but lets you play basically any video format regardless of origin. Yes. Even those.
Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery | Photo by Road to VR
A widespread charging fault with Meta’s $130 Elite Battery Strap for Quest 3 forced the company to pause shipments back in December and start replacing units on a case-by-case basis. Now, it seems Meta has zeroed in on just which units could potentially be defective, and issuing what it calls “voluntary replacements”—but only if they contact you first.