Thursday 28 March 2024

Medieval Dynasty New Settlement Builds A Home On Quest

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Medieval Dynasty New Settlement is a new VR survival game reaching Quest today.

Developed by Spectral Games, Medieval Dynasty New Settlement is a VR spinoff of 2021's flatscreen Medieval Dynasty by Render Cube. Mixing sandbox, role-playing, simulation, crafting and exploration mechanics, you're tasked with founding and building a thriving settlement to establish your new dynasty. Here's the Quest 2 gameplay trailer.

Ensuring your settlement's long-term survival in Medieval Dynasty requires constructing buildings, cooking, hunting, cultivating crops, and wider exploration. Narrative quests, challenges, and hidden treasures encourage that, and Spectral Games states you'll encounter characters with "unique personalities and stories."

For more details, here's an official description from the store page:

As the protagonist your primary focus will be on the challenges of survival, resource gathering, and the ambitious task of creating a lasting dynasty. Utilizing the immersive capabilities of VR technology, you will physically engage in the construction of buildings, cooking, hunting, and cultivating fertile fields. Doing all of this and much more will ensure experiencing the gratification of watching your settlement rise from humble beginnings to a majestic medieval hub.

Medieval Dynasty New Settlement reaches the Meta Quest platform today for $29.99.



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Meta's Horizon Workrooms Is Getting An Overhaul, Simplifying Meeting Setup But Removing A Key Feature

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Meta's Horizon Workrooms is getting a major update on May 30.

Workrooms is Meta's collaborative productivity app for Quest headsets. It lets you view your PC monitor inside VR and share your screen with teammates as Meta Avatars in a virtual meeting room. People who don't own a Quest can join via webcam through a web interface or paid Zoom plans.

The app also has a solo Personal Office which gives you free extra virtual monitors, effectively turning your laptop into a triple monitor setup.

Facebook Launches Horizon Workrooms To Power Remote Work
Facebook is moving to power remote work with a collaborative platform called Horizon Workrooms. The new service launches as an open beta testing release today free to use on the Web over video call or embodied in Oculus Quest 2, with the latter being the only entry point requiring a

The coming update will remove the virtual whiteboard in meeting rooms, the web-based text chat and file sharing system, and tracked keyboard support.

The whiteboard was a flagship feature of Workrooms. Meta's Touch Pro controllers, which come with Quest Pro or can be bought separately for Quest 2 and 3, even come with pressure-sensitive stylus tips specifically designed for drawing on Workrooms' whiteboard.

Tracked keyboards support removal means you'll no longer be able to see a virtual version of certain keyboards inside VR, but given Workrooms lets you toggle on a passthrough cutout of your desk this shouldn't be a major loss.

The whiteboard was a flagship feature of Workrooms.

In return, the update will address the biggest complaint about Workrooms: the friction in setting up meetings and the inability to do it within the headset.

Currently you have to create a meeting room on the web interface and add others by their Meta account email address. With the new update you'll be able to easily create a meeting inside the headset, then invite people on your friends list or share a joinable link.

Meta is also promising a "more comfortable viewing experience" for screen sharing, improved graphics for the lakeside virtual environment, and the ability to resize and adjust the distance of your virtual monitors in the solo Personal Office. These adjustments will be saved for next time you use the app, Meta says.

The app's interface, which is currently styled similarly to the Quest system interface before its late 2022 refresh, also seems to be getting updated to match the current Quest system design language, based on screenshots shared by a Meta Product Manager on Threads.

The Horizon Workrooms overhaul will ship on May 30, according to Meta. Existing users will have until then to download their web chat and files if they want to keep an archive of them, as they'll be deleted when the update goes live.

Workrooms' friction was a major complaint in mainstream reviews of Quest Pro, and Meta seems to be gearing up to significantly improve its productivity and collaboration software well in time for the next headset aimed at professionals. Workrooms also seems primed to eventually be the first app to get support for Codec Avatars, whenever they finally ship.



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Wednesday 27 March 2024

RAGER Demo Brings Rhythm Melee Combat To Quest App Lab

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RAGER is a new melee combat VR rhythm game with a free demo on Quest App Lab.

Developed by Insane Prey, RAGER seeks to "test your skills and reflexes" as you fend off cyborgs from all directions. Offering multiple weapons like a sword, mace, claws, hammer, axe and more, this requires timing your attacks, blocks and dodging in line with the music's rhythm. You can watch gameplay in the trailer below:

We briefly went hands-on with the demo, which only features swords and maces with four difficulty settings. What follows feels like combat-driven rhythm game reminiscent of Beat Saber. Arming you with two futuristic weapons to land your strikes gives you a brief window to slice foes before they attack. However, unlike Meta's rhythm game, you don't need to use a specific colored sword to attack; either will do.

There's a good sense of rhythm as you defend, attack and dodge. Failing to avoid enemies damages you, though your health is quickly healed through a successful action. I enjoyed the gameplay loop but some presentation aspects could feel a little plain, like the flame design. Still, I like the idea and I'll be interested to see how it evolves at full release.

RAGER reaches Quest and Steam Early Access in the next few months, and you can download the Quest demo now.



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Metal: Hellsinger VR Adapts The Rhythm Shooter This Year On Quest, Steam & PSVR 2

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Metal: Hellsinger VR brings the flatscreen rhythm shooter to Quest, Steam & PSVR 2 later this year.

Developed by The Outsiders, Metal: Hellsinger previously appeared on flatscreen platforms in 2022 and has now been "reimagined from the ground up for VR" in collaboration with Lab42 Games. Playing as a half-demon called the Unknown, this tale of revenge sees you moving, dashing, slashing, and shooting demons to the rhythmic beat as you journey through the eight hells.

While the VR adaptation features changes like swapping "most" menus for an immersive hub area, you can expect to find the original game's full campaign, difficulty settings, and challenges. The soundtrack, with guest vocals from Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), is also unchanged.

However, don't expect Metal: Hellsinger VR to be a free update if you already own it on Steam or PS5. Separate store page listings suggest the VR version will require an additional purchase, though pricing details are currently unknown.

Metal: Hellsinger VR reaches the Meta Quest platform, Steam and PSVR 2 in 2024.



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Meta Is Only Allowing A Few Quest Developers To Disable The Annoying Boundary In Mixed Reality

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Quest mixed reality apps can disable the annoying safety boundary, but only a handful of whitelisted developers can ship this on the Quest Store and App Lab.

Boundary, formerly called Guardian, is certainly useful in virtual reality so you don't leave your playspace and bump into furniture and walls. But in most mixed reality apps it's superfluous, since you can already see the environment around you, and downright annoying because it means you can't utilize your full room as a playspace.

In the v57 system software changelog Meta said "some apps with mixed reality" will no longer have Boundary. But the company didn't say which apps this included, nor the mechanism for this happening.

UploadVR has now learned that any Quest app can disable Boundary when using passthrough by including the CONTEXTUAL_BOUNDARYLESS_APP flag in the manifest. However, the upload system for the Quest Store and App Lab will automatically reject any app version using this flag unless they're on a special Meta whitelist.

Currently whitelisted apps include:

But Why?

So why not let all developers use this flag and get rid of the annoying boundary in mixed reality? We asked Meta's VP of VR Mark Rabkin a similar question on X around a year ago.

Rabkin pointed out that some apps flow quickly between VR and MR, blurring the boundary between the two content types. And he does have a point. If an app uses passthrough as the background but is covering most of your view with virtual objects such that you can't see your walls and furniture, shouldn't the Boundary kick in?

However, Rabkin did agree that "if you're in a mode where you can see all around you", Guardian should be "a lot more chill".

Meta's solution for now is reviewing apps on a case-by-case basis to determine whether it's safe to disable Boundary. This seems deeply unscalable, however, and the company will have to find a better solution if it's serious about making Quest a mainstream mixed reality platform, and especially if it hopes people will one day wear its headset passively throughout the day.

That solution will likely include replacing Boundary with something better altogether - as was seen in clips found in the firmware in the months before Quest 3 launched.

Quest 3 ‘Smart Guardian’ Room Scanning Setup Leaked
Clips appearing to show room scanning setup for Quest 3’s mixed reality and ‘Smart Guardian’ found in firmware:

In contrast, Apple Vision Pro's approach to this problem is to fade all virtual elements to transparent if your head moves further than 1.5 meters from where you started or gets near real-world objects. This avoids a visible boundary, but limits you to a 3-meter diameter circle.



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Apple Announces WWDC 2024 with Plans to Highlight “visionOS advancements”

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Apple finally revealed when its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is happening this summer, and the company says it’s also slated to highlight some “advancements” on Vision Pro’s operating system, visionOS.

Coming June 10th – 14th, WWDC is set to feature updates to visionOS in addition to the regular deluge of stuff for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

It’s not certain what the company will have in store, however there are a few rumors out there worth considering the closer we head to the second week of June.

Marking one year since its initial unveiling, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed this week that Vision Pro is set to launch internationally in 2024, which also includes mainland China—a region where its competitor Meta can’t sell headsets. The timing on international rollout still isn’t clear however, making a WWDC announcement possible.

According to a recent report from MacRumors, Apple has been internally testing a new Apple Pencil that supports Vision Pro, which would allow it to work with XR drawing apps, such as Freeform and Pixelmator. To boot, the company recently published a patent for such a device, which could make it technically the headset’s first supported controller.

The most likely of prognostications: it’s also rumored we’ll be getting visionOS 2.0 at WWDC, which could come with a host of updates. We could see announcements surrounding its Personas avatars, improved Mac integration, Bluetooth mouse support, and updates to its hand and eye-tracking.

Like in years past, the company is holding WWDC online for free, however Apple will also be inviting a select few to join in person for an all-day event at Apple Park on Monday, June 10th. We’ll be following along then, so make sure to set your calendars.

The post Apple Announces WWDC 2024 with Plans to Highlight “visionOS advancements” appeared first on Road to VR.



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Anarchitects Hands-On: Creatively Chaotic VR Multiplayer Sandbox

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Free-to-play VR/MR multiplayer sandbox Anarchitects has enjoyably chaotic potential. Read on for our full impressions.

Squido Studio made little secret of its inspirations when it announced Anarchitects last month. Reminiscent of Roblox's approach to user-generated content (UGC) with the creative freedom of Garry's Mod, it's not what I expected from the team following its 2023 VR platformer, No More Rainbows. That's certainly not a bad thing, though. After a half-hour demo, the comparisons are justified.

I tried a pre-release build on Quest 3 during GDC 2024, where I was joined by two members of Squido Studio. Anarchitects uses mixed reality for building levels, showcasing this world as a resizable floating area in your living space. Using MR means I could focus more clearly on the map when adding new items. Pressing X to swap between MR and the fully immersive VR mode makes this straightforward, and creators are represented as giant avatars looking down on the world.

Objects take a pleasing physics-based approach to weight that further enhances immersion and UGC's potential creates a recipe for chaos. You can drop any item from the menu into this fully immersive world, and I mean anything. You can drop cars onto the highway of a pre-made small town to go racing or scatter endless explosive barrels and murderous drones to liven up the scene.

Usable objects are freezable in set positions without removing their functionality. One completely spur-of-the-moment decision saw Squido freeze guns mid-air, and I gradually used them to climb toward a hot air balloon. I quickly realized that pressing the Touch Controllers' triggers still fires them. Did I mention that nothing prevents weapons from hurting you just because you're wielding them? I discovered this the hard way.

I'm already seeing how I could create new game types within Anarchitects. When Squido informed me that lightsabers can deflect rocket launchers and bullets, I immediately theorized a potential baseball-like game mode where you bat these away, though I didn't get a closer look at how you establish rules for your own games during my demo time.

Given the many interactive elements, sandbox games are naturally prone to jank and Anarchitects is no exception. Some shaky camera motions left me slightly nauseated near the end, though I played with minimal comfort settings. I'm told the team is looking to implement more comfort options, though at launch you can expect artificial stick-based locomotion, dominant hand selection, seated and standing modes, plus smooth and snap-turning cameras.

Might Anarchitects appeal to a younger audience with its undeniably creative sandbox? With seasonal post-launch content updates planned, we'll be watching to see how it lands with buyers and will follow up if it gains momentum.

Anarchitects reaches Quest App Lab on April 23.



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