With the news that WebVR is now supported in Google’s official Android Chrome browser and Daydream-supported phones have the ability to pop into virtual reality experiences just by clicking on a simple hyperlink, we’re more impatient than ever for WebVR to make its way to the standard Chrome browser for PC. But did you know you can try out the magic of WebVR experiences on HTC Vive right now? Easily one of the coolest VR experiences to date may only be a click away.
Puzzle Rain is a hands-on musical journey where little singing blocks combine to create a beautiful chorus. Awaken all of your little blocky buddies and put them in the correct positions to revive the world’s desolate landscape, and bring rain and happiness back to the Universe.
Puzzle Rain is a simple little experience, but it illustrates just how easy it is to inject a little happiness into a dreary day—and all of it just by clicking a link and popping on your VR headset.
There’s really only a few hoops to jump through first if you want to get into WebVR apps like Puzzle Rain or badass laser shooter mini-game A-Blast. It’s as simple as installing either the latest Chromium VR build, or Firefox Nightly. Both include WebVR, but because they’re not official versions, they may not be stable and are generally not suitable for your everyday browsing needs (hence the impatience for official, stable builds).
Firefox Instructions:
- Install Firefox Nightly
- Download version 1.0.2 of the
openvr_api.dllfile from the OpenVR GitHub repository: 32-bit, 64-bit (preferred, if running 64-bit PC). - Save the
openvr_api.dllfile somewhere on your computer where the user running Firefox can read it (e.g.,c:\openvr\). - In Firefox Nightly, navigate to
about:config; change the value ofdom.vr.openvr.enabledtotrueandgfx.vr.openvr-runtimeto the full path of theopenvr_api.dllfile (e.g.,c:\openvr\openvr_api.dll). - Restart Firefox Nightly.
Chromium Instructions:
- Install experimental build of Chromium.
- In the URL bar, load
chrome://flags#enable-webvrand toggle theEnable WebVRflag. - In the URL bar, load
chrome://flags#enable-gamepad-extensionsand toggle theEnable Gamepad Extensionsflag. - Launch the SteamVR application.
Once you’ve installed either web browser and have properly enabled WebVR, just click the link below—or any WebVR link you come across!
Web developers interested in this should check out this detailed case study that breaks down the design process of Puzzle Rain.