Friday, 23 December 2022

A Year On: Why Now Is The Best Time To Join After The Fall

https://ift.tt/mYXFbwB

Over the last year After The Fall has seen players grouping up in teams of up to 4 slaying hundreds of undead monstrosities and having a blast in its detailed and gruesome world. The snowbreed have become more ferocious since release though, and Vertigo Games continued to support the game with a series of updates and additions to keep the experience fresh, giving players more content to shoot their way through.

If you’re new to After The Fall VR, it’s a game from the creators of VR classic Arizona Sunshine that can be played solo or co-op is an intense VR FPS action game. Set in an alternate 1980s-inspired LA, the world has been overcome by undead in an apocalyptic snowstorm facing players with the snowbreed, an evil that must be conquered by you and up to 3 of your friends. 

An assortment of weapons is up for grabs when you, the harvest runner, must go deep into snowbreed territory and loot supplies for the group at The Line. Succeed and you will find your arsenal improving with each step into the unknown and soon you will find rocket launchers, shotguns, rifles and even electric knuckledusters!

Since its December 2021 launch, Vertigo has updated After The Fall with regular new content that means both returning players and newcomers have plenty to sink their teeth into. Firstly, the Frontrunner season update brought along a Horde mode for 4-player cooperative play and saw players survive waves of enemies to retrieve rewards that are granted every 5 rounds. The Frontrunner Season update also had the Highway and Junction Horde mode maps and a new powerful revolver weapon to fulfill your gunslinging fantasies.

The updates continued in September 2022 with the release of Reclamation Season, where Vertigo Games added a new Harvest map, Downtown, and Horde Map, Mall , an expanded arsenal and modes and a host of gameplay updates and improvements. Notably, all the updates are free!

This update also brought some deadly new threats in the form of juggernaut variants Gunner and Chargers. Runners will be tested in new ways with these ferocious new breeds and will encourage players to work together to fend off these new enemies. Moreover, there are now mutators for each run that make every mission feel completely fresh and force runners to adapt as a team to the different effects of the mutators. 

Thankfully, with the addition of new threats also comes some fun new boosts for runners. Firstly, an auto-shotgun and a new wrist sawblade device makes for some extremely satisfying ways to dispose of snowbreed. More importantly though, runners now are able to have perks in the form of chipsets. These chipsets will work with your weapons and give some customization to your playstyle, and can only be earned in Mutator runs, which change up the existing Harvest maps with extra challenging modifiers.

With a PSVR 2 version of the game due to launch on February 22nd, After The Fall will also be receiving two further maps in the form of the Hospital and the Subway Harvest maps. These free additions will join other changes Vertigo plans to detail closer to release.

After The Fall is an action heavy VR experience and with a year of content now under its belt, there are more snowbreed than ever before and The Line needs your help to clear them out. With crossplay also available and with a PSVR 2 launch on the horizon, it doesn’t matter how you choose to play. Just find a team and blast away some undead.

Follow Vertigo Games for announcements on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and Youtube.



from UploadVR https://ift.tt/gFmwQqV
via IFTTT

Thursday, 22 December 2022

Maskmaker From InnerSpace VR Arrives On Quest 2

https://ift.tt/1qRPo7h

Maskmaker From InnerSpace VR Vertigo Games Arrives On Quest 2

The trailer for Maskmaker premiered in The UploadVR Showcase – Winter 2022, you can watch it here

InnerSpace VR, the award-winning developers of A Fisherman’s Tale, launched Maskmaker on Quest 2 December 15th. 

Maskmaker is available on Steam and PSVR for Innerspace VR with its combination of magic masks and intricate puzzle-solving. You craft masks and explore, as players seek “Prospero who appears to rule it and ultimately unravel the secret of his identity.” 

On Quest 2, the game is poised to take advantage of wireless standalone VR for the first time. 

So what is Maskmaker? You play as a Maskmaker’s apprentice who must learn the magic of mask-making to immerse yourself in encounters with the beings inside the game.

Your journey will see you explore eight unique biomes in the Mask Realm to seek Prospero, a shadowy presence whose workshop is used to craft the magical masks. While Prospero seems to rule the world there’s a lot of mystery here. You progress through the biomes by solving puzzles in a rich world with a story driven by voice-acting that unfolds steadily as you discover secrets surrounding you.

You can find rare resources allowing you to craft stunning masks in your workshop, each with their own style and look, as players work to chisel, shape and paint their magical masks. A trusty spyglass can be used to look around the zones to find the remnants of inhabitants and the masks that they wear. When you’ve collected all the materials necessary, return to the workshop and get to making the masks you discovered.

While the masks are eye-catching and the process of making them immersive, they’re also useful and help you beat obstacles throughout the game. Wearing the masks allows you to blend into the different biomes and inhabit the spirits you found with the spyglass roaming the lands of the Mask Realm. Taking them over opens up new areas for you to explore, and gets you ever closer to finding out the answers of Prospero. 

Explore the immersive mask-making playground on Quest 2 now, CLICK HERE.

And find it on SteamVR, PSVR and Viveport.



from UploadVR https://ift.tt/TQkRdqs
via IFTTT

Quest 2 Update Will Boost Performance and Automatically Make Apps Run Better

https://ift.tt/vwrikZS

Meta has announced that an upcoming Quest 2 update will unlock additional performance that developers can tap into to make their games look better. Some apps will benefit from the increased performance automatically.

Meta announced this week that the latest updates to Quest 2 will allow the headset to boost the GPU processing power available to developers from 490Mhz to 525MHz (a 7% increase). That might not sound like much, but with developers limited to the power of a mobile processor, every bit of additional performance counts.

Meta says “no integration or coding is needed to start reaping the benefits of this improvement,” as the headset’s dynamic clocking system will automatically boost the GPU speed if it detects that an app needs it. For apps with occasional stuttering, this little boost could smooth things out.

For apps using the headset’s dynamic foveation capability (which blurs the area in the peripheral view to improve performance), Meta says the headset will boost the processor to the new 525MHz speed to maintain visual quality before blurring the peripheral area. That means apps which previously relied on cranking up the blur during demanding scenes should look better in those cases than if they didn’t have access to the extra power.

Meta says the Quest 2 performance increase is technically available as of v47, but requires a bit of a workaround to enable it each time. As of the Quest 2 v49 update the performance boost will be unlocked without any caveats.



from Road to VR https://ift.tt/dACWl4I
via IFTTT

Avatar: The Way Of Water Used Gravity Sketch In Its Set Design

https://ift.tt/1qRPo7h

Gravity Sketch, the VR art creation platform, was used in the environmental and set design for Avatar: The Way Of Water.

First released in 2017, Gravity Sketch is a creative toolset available on Meta Quest, Rift and SteamVR. Used for a range of 3D creative tasks, we’ve now learned how James Cameron’s Avatar sequel utilizes it, thanks to a new Instagram post.

“This is a key frame of Lo’ak and Neteyam jumping off the edge of the Council Platform in the Metkayina Village followed by Kiri and Tuk. This is the moment just before we all get our first glimpse of the magical world underneath the surface,” explains Jonathan Bach, concept artist at Lightstorm Entertainment. Confirming that the platform was initially designed in Gravity Sketch, Bach followed this up with concept artist and illustrator Nick Gindraux, working as a duo to create the platform’s complex textures.

The patterns of the textures aren’t shown too well from this angle, but hopefully I can share more in the future” states Bach. “A lot of time was spent by all of us on the team to resolve how these structures tied into the roots with appropriate looking strapping and the right level of tension.”

It’s not just films we’ve seen the app used in, though Avatar: The Way Of Water is the most high profile example yet. Back in March, Gravity Sketch outlined how developer Mighty Coconut uses Gravity Sketch when designing courses for Walkabout Mini Golf, highlighting this with the now-released Labyrinth DLC.



from UploadVR https://ift.tt/8tBOmGf
via IFTTT

Wednesday, 21 December 2022

Meta Increased Quest 2’s GPU Performance By 7% Via Software Update

https://ift.tt/ElJgw2Q

Quest 2’s GPU performance is now 7% higher than before.

The Quest OS dynamically adjusts the GPU clock frequency to give apps the performance they need without wasting battery when they don’t need it. In a software update today, Meta increased the maximum frequency from 490 MHz to 525 MHz. This appears to be an automatic update applied to all headsets, not a new full system update you’d need to wait for.

No developer integration is required, but developers could leverage this extra power to release updates slightly increasing rendering resolution. Pico 4 uses the same GPU with the maximum clock speed set to 587 MHz, and Red Matter 2’s developer utilized this to deliver noticeably higher resolution.

Bizarrely though, for Quest 2 to use the new 525 MHz maximum you have to take off the headset and then put it back on again after launching each app. Meta said this odd requirement will be dropped in the v49 system update. V47 released earlier this month, so v49 could be months away – although Meta has skipped version numbers in the past.

Meta didn’t disclose whether this update will reduce battery life, nor what made it possible. Quest 2 is now in the final year of its three year lifespan – Quest 3 is launching later next year, and its GPU could deliver at least double the performance.



from UploadVR https://ift.tt/GDIcFl4
via IFTTT

Unplugged Adds Over 20 New Songs, Expands Controller Support

https://ift.tt/ElJgw2Q

The Take Control update for Unplugged: Air Guitar is now live, adding over 20 new songs and expanded controller support.

First released last year, Unplugged: Air Guitar is one of VR’s more notable hand tracking games. While controller support was previously introduced for Valve Index, the new Take Control update greatly expands your options for PC VR. On SteamVR, Unplugged now supports HTC Vive Pro, Rift S, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. A separate controller update on Quest is also live, letting you pick between the game’s original hand-tracking or the Touch Controllers.

As for the new music, Take Control’s 20+ new songs adds further rock, punk and metal songs to the Unplugged tracklist. Unlike the previous Pantera and Riff Pack paid DLC, these new songs are also free for all players. Finally, Anotherway’s added four new guitar models for you to pick between, and over 20 cosmetic items.

We revisited our Unplugged: Air Guitar review earlier this year, following Quest’s hand tracking 2.0 update. Calling it a “close to night-and-day difference” compared to Unplugged’s launch state, we considered it the “first app to take Quest’s hand tracking to a new conceptual and technical level.”

At launch, the concept felt just slightly ahead of the technology, perhaps a few years behind developments that could take it to the next level. But only seven months later, it’s shocking how quickly Meta’s software has caught up and improved the experience from all angles. The baseline was already strong, but the game is now more accurate and responsive than ever.

Unplugged is available now on the Meta Quest platform, and it’s currently 40% off at $14.99. It’s also on PC VR via Steam and Rift for $24.99.



from UploadVR https://ift.tt/3U40deF
via IFTTT

Espire 2 Gets Co-Op Voice Chat, Heads To ‘New VR Platforms’ In 2023

https://ift.tt/URqhb6s

Espire 2 received a voice chat update and its 2023 roadmap confirms the stealth action game’s heading to “new VR platforms” in 2023.

Published by Tripwire, Digital Lode’s Espire 1 sequel first appeared last month, bringing a new single-player campaign and secondary campaign with co-op support. Following update 1.1 last month, which added further campaign polish and bHaptics support, update 1.2 is now live for Espire 2. Adding voice chat into co-op mode, this also brings “improvements to AI and other quality-of-life issues, addressing bug fixes and stability.”

Alongside update 1.2, Digital Lode also provided the first look at Espire 2’s 2023 roadmap. While this is subject to change, Q1 2023 promises public co-op games and ‘Espire Ops’, new SP levels where the developer sets weekly challenges. Q2 2023 includes further co-op missions, alongside a hardcore difficulty setting for solo and co-op play, while Frame skins and weapons variants are only given a general “2023” release window.

Finally, Espire 2 won’t remain a Quest platform exclusive. “Espire 2 is coming to new virtual reality platforms. We are in the early stages of development and will have more to announce in 2023,” Digital Lode confirms in a press release. Unfortunately, no specific platforms were mentioned, though we’d speculate PC VR and PSVR 2 are likely candidates.

Espire 2 roadmap 2023

We enjoyed the stealth sequel in our Espire 2 review. Advising it’s “more of the same” for fans of the original, we believed the core gameplay “isn’t without some minor hiccups” but came away impressed by the choice granted to players.

Espire 2 expands on the concept of the original game in ways that feel fresh and add diverse approaches to each mission. The sheer amount of choice granted to players, both pre-mission and during the thick of it, is incredibly impressive. Every player will be able to approach Espire 2 with their own unique ideas and execute them as they see fit.

Espire 2 is available now on the Meta Quest platform for $29.99.



from UploadVR https://ift.tt/bPMsYKq
via IFTTT
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...