Exciting upcoming indie strategy game Siegecraft Commander by Blowfish Studios hitting PS4 without PSVR support, for now.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that strategy titles aren’t such a great fit for the visceral experience of virtual reality, but our hands-on session with Siegecraft Commander at PAX AUS proved otherwise. The premise of the game is to take down your opponent’s caste while defending your own. And the way you expand your empire unfolds by hurling new towers out from existing towers into the environment. Doing this automatically forms a wall, adding to your defence. However, strategic placement of towers and the choice of tower – as they each hold different attack and defence units/moves – are key.
As a result the game straddles the divide between more traditional strategy games and tower defence, and has been well received by critics during its run on mobiles.
The game works in both traditional form – controller or mouse and keyboard – and via virtual reality, with the game set to release on January 17 for Xbox One, PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PS4. The latter was hoped to have PSVR support, but it was only confirmed with us this morning. Unfortunately we’ve been informed by developer Blowfish Studios that it won't be available for launch. PSVR support will be patched in post-release, but a representative for the company was unable to confirm a release window at this stage.
While no doubt disappointing for those with a PSVR setup, what we’ve experienced so far suggest the gameplay will hold up in the interim with the Dualshock. And obviously owners of other formats have nothing to worry about. Reviews should land in a couple of weeks, and you can read up on how the experience plays in VR with our hands-on preview.
Those who simply cannot wait to try it out, can dive into the original iOS game, Siegecraft, or can opt for its first iOS sequel, Siegecraft Defender.
If you are wondering who we are, we're primarily a digital magazine for the iPad focused on the coverage of indie video games. Run by the former editor of Game Informer, you'll find worldwide exclusives, but also an interactive media experience unlike any you have seen before. If you have an iPad, you should check out the free sample issue at the very least, or enjoy one of our other episodes as listed below.
Stirfire Studios' Symphony of the Machine was already revealed for the HTC Vive, but we can confirm the title is also heading to PS4 and the PlayStation VR.
Australian developer Stirfire Studios, who is best known for the great vertical platformer Freedom Fall, is working on a great puzzle game for virtual reality formats. In an apocalyptic world, you are given the opportunity to bring life back to the desolate landscape. You stand in a tower built by some ancient civilization, and by manipulating the beam of light that travels through its centre, you can solve puzzles to control the weather. The further you progress, the more items you unlock to help you guide the light into locations around the tower.
I played the game on an HTC Vive, and found it quite enjoyable. There is little hand-holding, which leads to a great sense of reward as you figure out how each item can alter the course of the beam, and the opportunities that opens up. Especially as you conceive of new combinations of items. Using the now standard point and press to transport technique for movement, I was impressed by how accurately you could interact with the world. Picking up items in each hand, and rotating them, feels incredibly natural. And while everything unfolds in a small, contained playing space, the variations I saw in the weather help spice things up.
After playing the game, I got chatting to managing director Vee Pendergrast, and the topic soon turned to her passion for accessibility in gaming. She sees VR as a big opportunity to expand what is possible, so I took the chance to interview her for further insights. During that interview, she confirmed that the game is also coming to PSVR, stating:
"The PSVR is certainly building up to be the most accessible device that meets our requirements from a price perspective. For the PSVR version, we adjusted the game for seated play, which is of course part of the Sony experience, but we were also very conscious about how this affected the movement and positioning available in-game."
A release date is set for Q1 2017, but we will keep you posted on an exact date.
Virtual reality can widen the accessibility of gaming up to a whole new audience, and Aussie developer Stirfire Studios is leading the way with Symphony of the Machine.
Hailing from Perth in Western Australia, Stirfire Studios (of Freedom Fall fame) made some waves at PAX AUS in 2016 with its game Symphony of the Machine. A puzzle game that tasks users with returning a barren landscape to thriving life by manipulating the weather, it's zen gaming at its best. (You can read our hands-on.) After playing the game, I got chatting to managing director Vee Pendergrast, and the topic soon turned to her passion for accessibility in gaming. She sees VR as a big opportunity to expand what is possible, so I took the chance to interview her for further insight into the future she sees for the hardware.
It might not be what you think of when you're looking to try out VR, but Siegecraft Commander is proof strategy games just might be one of the coolest virtual solutions yet.
Virtual Reality feels right at home in first-person games, where you can walk and interact with hands that are carefully simulating your own movements. At least that's what I thought before I played Siegecraft Commander. I should start by mentioning that I love strategy games - the likes of Warcraft, Starcraft and Total War were staples of my gaming collection growing up. Couple that with city-builders and you've got a pretty great gaming afternoon.
Despite, this, strategy in virtual reality just hadn't occurred to me. Enter Australian developer Blowfish Studios.
The story you are about to read isn’t going to win any “father of the year” awards. But if I had caught it on video, I would be a millionaire already.
I’ve been testing a lot of PlayStation VR lately following its recent launch in October. One of the games I very much enjoy is Playroom VR, a collection of minigames done with a kid friendly aesthetic. One of these games is two player, and has the person in VR playing as a cat hiding behind a curtain. The other players, using a standard controller and watching the TV screen, play as mice hiding under a tin can trying to sneak around to capture cheese. If the cat sticks his head out of the curtain at the same time the mouse is moving, the cat wins.
Literally and figuratively, a game of cat and mouse.
VR was huge at this year's PAX AUS, but the biggest players weren’t the AAA developers. Indie developers were all across the show floor showing off a tonne of innovative experiences, from strategy games to VR boxing. Of all the games I tried, A Township Tale was by far the most exciting, and the demo shown was just a proof of concept.
The pitch for A Township Tale goes something like this: imagine a VR world where multiple players work together to run a medieval village. So different players acting as miners, blacksmiths, builders, hunters and more combine their skills together. You'll work together to manage the town and support each others' goals, or mess with other players as you see fit.
Unlike its inspiration, Minecraft, A Township Tale's aesthetic is cartoony and lush. Everything feels slightly larger than it needs to be, but in going with this stylistic choice, Australian developer Alta ensures the world feels very clear and crisp on a VR headset.
A Township Tale is made by Sydney-based team for the HTC Vive, making full use of the headset, motion controls, headphones and a microphone to talk. When I first put on the headset I found myself standing on a small road with a sign pointing towards “the mines” or the “old castl.e” I pointed my gloved and cartoony hand towards the old castle and teleported down in a few short hops. The dilapidated structure was mostly crumbled stone walls around a grassy clearing.
I immediately spied a treasure chest and sauntered over to it.
It’s strange how doing something in VR can make it immediately feel exciting and new again. I opened the chest and with my right hand, saw it was full of coins and started to pull them out one by one with my left hand, throwing them into a nearby bucket.
I did that for almost all of my five-minute demo, it was utterly engrossing.
That is, before the multiplayer element kicked in an I heard someone behind me say, “what’s in the chest?” I turned around quickly and saw another player peering over my shoulder. “Nothing, it’s empty,” I replied, trying not to look at the bucket full of coins. He spotted them anyway and picked up a couple of the coins and started to juggle with them. I quickly joined in and before long we were throwing coins at each other and playing frisby with a nearby shield.
It’s these little interactions that make me think the future of VR isn’t as insular as we've been lead to believe. The potential for engaging, evolving stories built out of real human interactions is simply amazing.
When I came back in the afternoon for a second shot at A Township Tale, I found something completely different to fill my time with. This time I found a bow and quiver of arrows.
I quickly realised that I could strap the quiver to my belt and the bow across my back before setting off in search of targets. All I found was another player, and after exchanging a few words we set about making an impromptu game of dodge-arrow. We firied from behind rocks until one of us eventually got hit or we ran out of arrows.
What I didn’t realise until I got out of the game was that the other guy I was firing arrows at was actually set up across the other side of the convention centre at a completely different VR booth. It was a stunning moment of realisation.
To find out more about A Township Tale, head over to their website here.
If you are wondering who we are, we're primarily a digital magazine for the iPad focused on the coverage of indie video games. Run by the former editor of Game Informer, you'll find worldwide exclusives, but also an interactive media experience unlike any you have seen before. If you have an iPad, you should check out the free sample issue at the very least, or enjoy one of our other episodes as listed below.
