We take a look at a new, Kickstarter-funded title from indie developer CloudHead Games that promises not only to support the Oculus Rift but to actively develop the core experience around it. In the game’s first Kickstarter update, Denny Unger, Creative Director at CloudHead Games, demonstrates how the Razer Hydra motion control peripheral might be used to further enhance immersion.
VR Gaming: ‘Support’ Vs ‘Integration’
We’re convinced VR and in particular the Oculus Rift has a bright future here at RtoVR, this clearly comes as no surprise – the clue’s in the domain name. But if we’re honest, the number of new Games which have proclaimed Oculus Rift support AND are at a stage in development to be shown are few and far between.
The Gallery: Six Elements, is an adventure game inspired by the classic PC adventure series Myst. It puts you behind the headlamp of a brave (daft?) young Spelunker, exploring hidden tunnels under our cities. These modern tunnels inevitably lead to older, more mysterious ones and that’s where the adventure begins. The Kickstarter launch promo video is below:
We’ll be covering The Gallery in much more detail in an upcoming article – in fact, we’d like to hear any questions you’d like to put to the CloudHead team over on our forums, or via this subReddit. Needless to say it shows enormous promise and we’ll be following it’s progress very closely in future.
Enter, The Hydra
Apart from wanting to introduce the game to our readers, it also came to our attention again today with the release of the game’s first Kickstarter update, showcasing what the team has managed to achieve using the Razer Hydra motion controller. The full video is below, but despite this being pre-Alpha in development, the 1:1 motion and 3D spacial capture of physical gestures are already compelling. Neat early touches such as raising the controller to your head to switch your headlamp on and off really demonstrate the possibilities.
We’ve already heard from early users of the Oculus Rift that using it almost instantly ages every traditional gaming peripheral you own. The Razer Hydra seems to be one of the few controller on the market that’s ready to meet the challenges game designers and developers will be thrown in these early days of VR gaming. With titles like The Gallery actively to developer for rather than around VR, the immediate future doesn’t look quite so clumsy for us early adopters.
Support The Gallery: Six Elements at their Kickstarter page here.