Faceted Flight is a crowdfunded VR Stunt Flyer that’s packed with style, offering a gameplay experience that recalls classic 16-bit titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Star Fox (1993), and Pilotwings (1991). The game’s Kickstarter campaign just went live, so we take a sneak peek at the game.
Featuring an ambient electronic soundtrack with a chiptune beat that evokes an objective simplicity of early 90’s consoles, Faceted Flight is hiding something important—it’s smuggling my entire childhood into a beautifully packaged, low-poly stunt flyer that will have you speeding through cliffs and around blocky islands to your heart’s content. If you can handle gamepad controlled VR games, that is.
In Faceted Flight’s current downloadable demo you’re given a choice of two maps, The Simonet Islands and Stillwater Gorge, where you’re tasked with speeding through as many rings as possible before the time runs out. It sounds simple, but missing a single ring with the afterburner on—a necessity to get the highest score—will make you swear at innocent house pets and children walking by your house.
Although the demo only features a single hover ship and only the two ‘ring attack’ tracks, the projected full version is said to contain more ships, a racing mode, an exploration mode, and online multiplayer mode. The game has also been Greenlit by the Steam community for later release on the platform.
Like all flight-based games, there’s a certain knack to getting around in Faceted Flight. The ship in the demo is a little mushy around the turns—likely a good thing—because at points I intentionally limited the amount of barrel rolls and hard turns as to avoid the dreaded ‘hot sweats’, my own brand of brain pathology that inevitably precedes full-on sim sickness.
I could see novice fliers needing a few sessions before feeling entirely comfortable with the twisty turny action of the game, but on a personal level I felt none the worse for having played it. I largely attribute this to the physical cockpit (with a nicely tucked away control diagram), appropriate ship speeds, and well-thought-out level design that doesn’t require anything superhuman to accomplish.
Before creating Faceted Flight, Lead Developer Matthew Scott spent much of his career at premier game studios Oddworld and Valve working on award-winning franchises, most notably Portal 1 & 2, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, and the Half-Life 2 Episodes. This is however Scott’s first foray into VR, releasing it from his indie studio The Dept. of Silly Stuff.
The Kickstarter campaign’s goal of $50,000 will allow for the studio to support Faceted Flight on upcoming consumer VR headsets like the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. If the project can make it to the $100,000 benchmark, the creators have also promised a moon level.
Kickstarter Rewards – Estimated Delivery Nov. 2015
- Pledge $10 or more — LIMITED EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: The first 1000 backers to grab this will snag themselves a great deal on a digital copy of Faceted Flight on Steam, ready for takeoff on launch day! First come first served. Get it while it’s hot!
- Pledge $15 or more — On Time Arrival: Enjoy one digital copy of Faceted Flight on Steam, ready for takeoff on release day.
- Pledge $20 or more — Early Departure: Get Early Access to Faceted Flight on Steam as soon as we’re funded!
For more on funding tiers and to support the campaign, head over to Faceted Flight’s Kickstarter campaign.
