As of last week, players can check out the demo version of Space Rift – Episode 1 for free and dive right into the fascinating VR universe. The demo is accessible via the Space Rift Steam product page at no charge and can be found here. Last week, the first episode of the VR game Space Rift – Episode 1 was released for all established VR headsets for PC via Steam and the Humble Store. A new making-of video for Space Rift – Episode 1 focuses on the technical aspects of Virtual Reality and can be accessed here.
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Gaming as the driving motor for Virtual Reality
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In part six of the making-of series of Space Rift – Episode 1, publisher bitComposer and developer Vibrant Core talk about the VR technology. Exciting insights into the development process document the limits one needs to take into account when developing games for Virtual Reality hardware – and how these limits can be exceeded further to fully exploit the possibilities of the new technology. The bigger viewing range alone causes an overwhelming feeling of immersion compared to a normal monitor. Gaming is one of the biggest segments of Virtual Reality and will presumably make the best use of the technology, because you can feel like you are actually a part of the game environment due to the the tremendous freedom of action. In spite of the currently limited resources and the high expense in optimizing games for VR, it is possible to create impressive, beautiful and incredibly immersive worlds – as Space Rift: Episode 1 demonstrates spectacularly. The involved producers also give the viewers an understanding of the differences in hardware (between HTC Vive and Oculus Rift). The informative video can be found here.
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Space Rift: A complete VR experience
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Space Rift is specifically designed and optimized for VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Gear VR und PlayStation VR. The cinematic story paired with the gameplay and level design is what makes Space Rift unique in this regard. Space Rift thrills players with a movie-like atmosphere, which reveals itself in the scripted missions and dozens of dialogues with detailed characters. Unlike other VR mini games and tech demos, which have been released for VR so far, Space Rift is a complete game experience.
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About Space Rift: The player will become part of the story
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Earth has been devastated entirely by a destructive meteor shower, thus forcing humanity to emigrate to Mars. Humans were enslaved by the organizations WEYSS and PANDORA and carve out a miserable existence on the xeric red planet. Players slip into the role of the veteran pilot Casey, who takes on the hostile organizations in order to liberate humankind from their suffering on Mars. Radio transmissions, newscasts and the interaction with the fondly designed non-player characters on the base station continuously add new thrilling details about the on-going conflict and also reveal pieces of background information.
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Real cockpit feeling in outer space
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The combination with Virtual Reality leads Space Rift to provide a unique and immersive gaming experience. This motivates the player to advance the story autonomously and to put together newly revealed pieces in the puzzle. Concurrently, the space ship evolves into being the player’s favorite companion – not only in connection with the quest to free humankind, but also in the course of exploring the whole galaxy. The particular segments of the playable outer space were designed individually by the level designers and therefore offer a vast amount of variety – also thanks to impressive visual effects.
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Space Rift is available for all major VR headsets applicable for PC at a price of USD/EUR 19.99 (GBP 14.99): namely via Steam and the Humble Store. The Android GEAR-VR version of Space Rift will also be released in Summer 2016 and the PlayStation VR version is planned for Fall 2016.
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Further impressions can be taken out of the official Gameplay– and Mixed Reality-Trailer. A 9-partmaking-of documentary is also available and will be released weekly.
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For further information, go to the game’s website: http://spacerift-thegame.com/spacerift-en/.
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