Update News
Return Zero VR Releases on Steam
September 12th, in the year of our Lord 2016 – Porto,
Portugal/ Ground Control Studios is proud to announce
the release of Return Zero VR on Steam plus a major update on
all platforms.
According to the developer, the game was slated to be released
in August, but was delayed due to, among other reasons,
bureaucratic/clerical issues. September saw the project
completed and finally made available on all platforms. This PC
version is compatible with Oculus (DK2, CV1), HTC Vive support
will be made available on the next update.
The game is a tunnel-racer that takes place on a Tron-like
world, being the player in control of a very fast spaceship. The
goal of the game is to be fast enough to reverse time and beat
all the races in all the available worlds.
During the month of August, the developer finalized a major
update to the game, which brought among other tweaks, procedural
racetracks and the ability for the tracks to change and shift
during a race. This addition will bring a new
difficulty/challenge layer, and added replay value for the
players. This update is already available for download on all
platforms.
The Steam version offers online leaderboard integration,
allowing players to compete both for the best track times and
global game completion times.
The VR component of the game has the player controlling the ship
using only his gaze, thus creating an interesting experience
concerning interaction. “We felt that having game-pads or other
non-motion controllers is a complete immersion-breaker in VR, so
we wanted to try something different. Using gaze control is also
perfect for mobile, since it’s a more convenient interaction
method.” Says Rui Guedes, Lead Game-designer.
Another key-point for the game was comfort while playing, which
had the developer do extensive research and testing to create a
good balance between excitement and a enjoyable experience. “VR
is a daunting concept to many people, present them a game so
fast and so exciting-looking like Return Zero, and they will
instantly assume that it is going to make them sick. Nothing
could be further from the real experience. We have tested and
tweaked that bit for a very long time, it is very hard for
someone to feel sick playing Return Zero VR. It is one of the
most comfortable VR experiences we’ve ever produced.” Says Joćo
Martins, lead-developer.
Currently the developer expects to add more features and more
elements to the game. “It all boils down to adoption. Return
Zero VR is a complete game and it is being released as such, but
that does not mean we cannot change a couple of details to make
it better and more enjoyable to players. There’s always
something you can improve on a game such as this. How deep those
improvements will go only depends on player response and
feedback.” Says Rui Guedes, Lead Game-Designer.
The developer was also caught by surprised when they discovered
that they have been the first Portuguese studio to commercially
release a VR game, thus adding up to their previous achievement
of being the first Portuguese studio to release VR content on
Samsung GearVR.
No word on a physical copy of this game at this time. Families
are required to pay for Internet usage fees to download this
game. For more information click
here.