Prominent VR social app Rec Room is getting full-body avatars soon, which will let users choose to either stick with the standard floating bean-body type, or go all-in with a fully-appendaged avatar.
The studio says in a blogpost that it’s bringing its new full-body avatars to the platform as a beta feature by March 2024.
It’s not set to entirely replace the old standard avatars, but rather act as a new body type you can choose in the customization menu. The studio says the new full-body avatars will be “fully compatible with all your existing outfit items.”
Full-body avatars will be made available first to level 50 players, meaning veterans get first go, however the studio says it will open up to lower-level players in time during the beta period.
“We’re doing this because we want to gather feedback from our seasoned players first before extending the feature to players who haven’t been in Rec Room as long,” the studio says.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen full-bodied avatars on the platform. In 2021, Rec Room rolled out a number of full-body costumes, which also allowed users to create their own bespoke full-body avatars. The new system however will include support for all costume items, which means you can keep wearing that cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume you picked up last year.
The beta update in March also comes with a new inverse kinematics (IK) system, which the studio says it’s updated and improved it for the rollout of full-body avatars. Thankfully, if you want to stick with the floating bean-bodies, Rec Room says its plans to support them indefinitely.
The studio says Rec Room will also get full-body tracking as well at some point, however it hasn’t outlined which devices it will support and when. Finger tracking is also on the docket, however it won’t be available on release of the beta in March.
