CCP games, the developers behind EVE: Valkyrie, have revealed their next made-for-VR title Sparc, a futuristic TRON-esque sports title for HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift & Touch.
This is Sparc, a new multiplayer sports title from the developers that brought us the slick online space combat shooter EVE: Valkyrie, one of the first VR-only titles ever to be announced by a major developer.
There’s a chance that Sparc may look a tad familiar and that’s because you may have seen it in an earlier form, originally sporting the codename ‘Project Arena’, an internal CCP VR demo that graduated to be shown to attendees of last year’s EVE Fanfest 2016. Described at the time as a competitive full body VR experience. That already polished demo has evolved into an even slicker looking title, now set for release on all VR platforms later this year.
“After our early experiments with standing VR gameplay, we were excited by the idea of building an original sport designed for the current generation of VR hardware. We’ve designed Sparc so that players can express and improve their skill through their physical actions.” said Morgan Godat, Executive Producer at CCP Atlanta. “Ultimately, we want players to think of Sparc as a virtual court in their living room where they can meet and compete with other players from around the world.”
Sparc will allow you to join players online to spectate or compete in matches but will also feature single player focused elements too if you really can’t stand other people. Should you venture online, CCP promise a full ‘free form’ social area to hangout while watching courtside. More detail on the game will be revealed later in year, in the mean time take a look at this excellent mixed reality the team released after the title’s original debut as Project Arena last year. Meanwhile, Sparc will be playable on the show floor at GDC 2017.