Resolution Games developers of the hit game Bait! announce a VR swashbuckling pirate adventure for Daydream

Resolution Games today revealed the details of their next project called Narrows, a game of swashbuckling pirate adventure. Coming soon on Daydream, Google's platform for high quality, mobile VR, Narrows will follow the studio's wildly successful VR fishing game Bait!.

"We've been ecstatic about how our first games have been received, but Narrows will be our biggest game yet," said Tommy Palm, co-founder and CEO of Resolution Games. "Pirate adventures have long been a part of our culture, from literature classics like Treasure Island to historical villains like Blackbeard and his contemporaries, the golden age of piracy is rife with legend and lore."

The highly successful Bait! has seen over 2 million players and the team is bringing a version of it to the Facebook Spaces social VR platform to capitalize on that success. 

Though the team will support their previous hit they are looking to utilize the $6 million dollars they raised in 2015 to grow into a trusted name in VR games. 

"While the idea of action and adventure may skew to a slightly different audience than our earlier games, we're confident that the intuitive controls and welcoming design will make Narrows an experience that the whole family can enjoy," added Palm. "With Bait! and Wonderglade, we managed to create fun and accessible games that appeal to the widest possible audience. In that same vein, Narrows is very much a product of the Resolution Games design philosophy. We're making VR games for everyone."

Narrows will offer players a unique, unmatched view of a pirate's life that they can step in and out of with a simple slip of the headset, while allowing players to explore numerous voyages on the sea, creating their own mariner myths in the process.

"While the idea of action and adventure may skew to a slightly different audience than our earlier games, we're confident that the intuitive controls and welcoming design will make Narrows an experience that the whole family can enjoy," added Palm. "With Bait! and Wonderglade, we managed to create fun and accessible games that appeal to the widest possible audience. In that same vein, Narrows is very much a product of the Resolution Games design philosophy. We're making VR games for everyone."

Resolution Games is anticipating a 2018 release for Narrows. For more information, be sure to follow Resolution Games on Twitter and Facebook, and visit www.resolutiongames.com .

As seen at VRLA Spring Expo: Tender Claws' Virtual Virtual Reality made me want to believe in Google Daydream.

During VRLA 2017 Spring Expo I ran into Jonathan Krusell, former Executive Producer at Mindshow and now Producer for Google Daydream. Last year Jonathan helped me skip the line to check out Mindshow so I appreciate talking to him any chance I get. I told Jonathan that the Google Daydream booth at GDC kind of bored me and I was not impressed by Ubisofts Rabbids VR game demo. I basically said that if this was my first time using Daydream it was not the best impression I would want. 

Just a tad bit bored with Google Daydream at GDC.

Jonathan took this in stride and vouched for the development team and explained somethings that made me want to take a second look at the Rabbids game in the future. I was then informed by him about a really rad Daydream experience that I missed at GDC and was tucked away at VRLA. That game happened to be Virtual Virtual Realty and blew me away as the best game on Daydream and one of my favorite VR experiences thus far.

Virtual Virtual Realty made me question what is my purpose? The best way to describe Virtual Virtual Reality is a Half Life 2 cinematic developed into its own experience with a dash of Twin Peaks mystery and Portal 2 aesthetic. The game mechanics keep you engaged with a narrative that is built with those fun interactive mechanics in mind as part of the whole. 

In Virtual Virtual Realty you put on VR headsets in a VRinception sort of way in order escape your manager and explore deeper realities of your purpose.  This two hour game provides a great value at $8.99 with an excellent art style and game play that will put an immediate smile on your face and then follow up with a sense of real uncertainty. 

Virtual Virtual Reality in a tongue in cheek way questions the very pedestal people like myself place on VR in showing both the beauty and bleakness of the escapism VR evangelists seek to make the current VR movement seem real.

A game about VR, AI, and our collective Sci-Fi hallucinations the developer Tender Claws has made a must play game that truly showcases VR for its immersive potential. Excellent voice work, beautiful settings, and once again 2 HOURS of gameplay make this a must experience VR experience. Since I have access to multiple VR devices I did not want to invest in a Pixel phone yet, however after playing a short demo at VRLA showcasing the modular nature of the game I ran to find someone with a Google Daydream so I could sit down and continue the immersive fever dream that is Virtual Virtual Reality.

So for me V-VR is the killer app for Daydream and one of my favorite VR experiences. I want to thank Jonathan for introducing me to the rad Tender Claws team, a team that truly highlights the level of creativity and passion coming out of the L.A. VR community. I do hope Tender Claws build on what they did with VVR and takes their charm, game mechanics, and overall love of VR to other platforms but for now they have helped to win me over to give Daydream a chance.

The V-VR Story: In the near future, most jobs have been automated. What is the purpose of humanity? Activitude, the Virtual Labor System, is here to help. Your artisanal human companionship is still highly sought by our A.I. clients. 

The Dev Team: 10 years ago, media artists Danny Cannizzaro and Samantha Gorman began collaborating on projects as diverse as webart of a medieval manuscript to virtual reality poetry. Recognized by the MacDowell Colony, they were given a residency to rethink how story and tech could meaningfully merge. This time spent in a cabin in the woods would eventually become PRY. Tender Claws has grown in size to take on new challenges and commissions, while remaining true to its origins in creating hybrid, interactive experiences.   Tender Claws' first release PRY (http://prynovella.com) was named by Apple as one of the top apps of 2015 and was a finalist for the "Excellence in Narrative" IGF Award and "The Future of Storytelling Prize" before touring film festivals including the New York Film Festival and Slamdance.

http://tenderclaws.com/

Google Daydream Labs Update- 6/28/2016

Daydream Labs have been experimenting with ways to reduce technical complexity and even add a greater sense of play when animating in VR. In one experiment they built, people could bring characters to life by picking up toys, moving them through space and time, and then replay the scene. Check out the latest updates from Daydream Labs

An app experiment from Daydream Labs. Instead of animating with graph editors or icons representing location, people could simply reach out, grab a virtual toy, and carry it through the scene.

To create more intricate animations, they also built another experiment that let people independently animate the joints of a single character. It let you record your character’s movement as you separately animated the feet, hands, and head — just like you would with a puppet.

An app experiment from Daydream Labs. Independently animate the joints of a single character.

Check out more from Daydream Labs.

https://developers.googleblog.com/2016/06/daydream-labs-animating-3d-objects-in-vr.html

Cats And VR

Gold Winner of the Oculus Moblie Jam bringing VR camping game to Google Daydream.

RalphVR  announced that their award winning multiplayer VR game Daydream Blue is coming to Google Daydream.

“Our mission is to connect people together and help foster smiles in virtual reality. We are thrilled to be achieving a major milestone on our journey by bringing Daydream Blue to Google’s Daydream.” - Richie Hoagland, CEO and Game Designer

Daydream Blue is like a camping simulator for VR…if the simulation was run by an eight year old. Enter the simulation to find a magical valley full of mystery, surprise, and an AWESOME ROBOT buddy. But you don’t have to do it alone! Connect with your friends from around the world online in Daydream Blue multiplay. Daydream Blue is a virtual world, a place where you can customize yourself and your place in it. It’s a space to be explored and discovered either alone or with friends. A place to build a fire and catch some fish. Or play some golf. Play fetch with your robot. Or just wish the clouds out of the sky. 

http://daydreamblue.com/

Daydream Blue is available on GearVR but will be coming to Google Daydream,

CatsAndVR will also be going camping in the woods...see ya...off the grid.

Cats And VR

Unreal announces Google Daydream support!

Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri announced on the Google I/O stage  support for Daydream to Unreal Engine 4. Daydream integration is available now on GitHub (login required), and it's coming to the binary tools in the full Unreal Engine 4.12 launch, which is on track for release on June 1, 2016.

Here's what Kim had to say: "At Epic our mission is to give developers the very best tools for building immersive and visually impressive experiences with great performance on every platform we support. We have been creating VR experiences for many years now that not only push visual fidelity but what’s possible in terms of input, interaction, characters and gameplay mechanics

"Every project we work on extends the capabilities of Unreal Engine, and we pass these improvements to developers on a daily basis. Today we’re proud to be part of this new chapter in VR history."

Technical Director Nick Whiting discusses several details on the Daydream VR plugin for Unreal Engine 4. They are highlighting the support of the plugin, along with information on what developers can expect when creating for Daydream.

Cats And VR