VR Funhouse, Nvidia’s physics sandbox revealed alongside the GeForce GTX 1080 in May, is coming to Steam this month for free. Nvidia is keeping mum on exact release dates for now.
The suite of HTC Vive-compatible mini-games primarily acts as a showcase for the company’s GPU-based physics systems, wrapping in a number of visual effects available through the GamesWorks SDK.
According to the initial announcement on the Nvidia blog, the project is open source “so developers, artists and enthusiasts can learn how to make similarly compelling experiences with the power of UE4 and GTX 1080.” But even if you’re a layman, there’s plenty of fun to be had in the many carnival-style games such as skeet shooting, archery, and arcade basketball.
Nvidia’s GamesWorks SDK effects, which are made possible in VR by the increased processing power of the company’s Pascal-based GTX 1080, include:
- NVIDIA Flow — Grab a bow and arrow in our target-shooting mini-game. Set the arrow aflame and you’ll be able to shoot it at targets that burst into flames when they’re hit. Our NVIDIA Flow technology physically simulates experiences such as fire throughout VR Funhouse.
- NVIDIA HairWorks — The whimsical feel of our colorful “The Mole the Merrier!” and “Knock’Em Silly” challenges is enhanced by NVIDIA HairWorks technology. Jab at your targets. Give them a knock and you’ll see their colorful hair bounce. Or pat them on the head to flatten their jazzy haircuts.
- Physics for VR — Poke, punch, pound and explore. VR Funhouse is filled with objects that you can interact with in surprising ways using your hand controllers. Our PhysX for VR technology gives the objects in the game realistic physical behavior, enabling proper graphics, collision detection, and haptics force feedback.
- NVIDIA FleX — In our “He’s Flexible” mini-game, you’ll be able to pick up gooey, colorful blobs — that stretch and jiggle in surprising ways in your hand — toss them at targets and watch them ooze toward the ground. You’ll find this next-generation particle-based physical simulation used all over VR Funhouse.
- NVIDIA VRWorks Audio — Walk into “Flight of the Clown,” and you’ll need to use your ears to locate a stealthy drone. VRWorks Audio uses our Pascal GPUs to ray trace sound waves in real-time, realistically simulating how audio propagates and reflects across the room. The reflections and echoes created by VRWorks Audio will test your skills in locating the drone.
- VR SLI — The more, the merrier. If you’ve got two GPUs, this technology will let one GPU render images to your left eye, and the other to your right, maximizing performance and minimizing latency.