Proton Pulse was one of the Rift’s earliest demos, and also one of its best. After a successful Kickstarter, backers were refunded as the game mysteriously ceased production. After a long absence, Proton Pulse has returned with a new demo for the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2.
Proton Pulse is the brain child of Justin Moravetz, founder of the VR indie dev studio, Zero Transform, and creator of the impressive Vanguard Valkyrie. It was back in mid-2013 when Proton Pulse first hit the VR community. For many, myself included, it’s been the go-to demo demo for first time VR users thanks to its instantly intuitive head-based control and its energetic audio and visuals. The demo was taken down after Moravetz fully refunded money to Kickstarter backers, but copies of the game survived, being passed about the VR community.
Way back in February, 2014, we caught a pulse of life from the game. A vague teaser image was followed by a teaser video that was shown on Cymatic Bruce’s live stream.
Now, Proton Pulse returns and it’s better than ever. Moravetz has coated the game in a sheen of polish—this is one of the most complete VR games I’ve yet seen. Everything from the menu to the gameplay is well designed and easy to use. The visuals have a futuristic Tron-like feel to them which are sure to pop on the Oculus Rift DK2’s improved display. As with Vanguard Valkyrie, the music has received lots of attention and compliments the visuals superbly. Moravetz himself contributed several tracks to the game.
A new teaser trailer promises 50 levels and shows a wide variety of level types and modes from rotating arenas, to bosses, to a trip through space.
Moravetz has made a demo of the new version available today for the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 on both Mac and PC. Download them here.
We’re still in the dark as to what happened with the game the first time around, but we’re thrilled to see that it has returned! There’s no word on release details at this point; hopefully we’ll hear more soon.
