Having recently competed a Techstars accelerator, Finnish indie studio Hipfire Games has revealed new details about its upcoming virtual reality (VR) project Failspace, which the team first announced work on last year. A comedic multiplayer title, Failspace aims to bridge the gap between smartphone gamers and VR players.
Designed around teamwork and crisis solving, Failspace puts you on a space cargo truck tasked with keeping the craft running whilst warping through ion storms and solar flares attempting to transport all manner of unusual goods.
The main gameplay consists of short 5 – 10 minute missions where you have to deal with potentially life threatening events. These can cause electric systems to malfunction, fires to randomly start here and there, and other problems to occur, requiring immediate actions from the crew. Everyone on board must work together on hastily finding and fixing things in order to make it through.
One person assumes the role of Captain, informing their crew about how to fix problems before they reach critical states. The rest of the team – up to four players – then need to fix everything by clearly communicating to the Captain who has the troubleshooting manual.
In December Hipfire Games will begin its first closed alpha, followed by a closed beta in Q1 2019. This will then be followed by the official VR launch in Q2 2019. As mentioned, the studio also plans on adding cross-platform integration for Android and iOS devices so players on mobile and in VR can interact. That feature is currently expected to roll out in Q4 2019.
“We’re so happy to finally announce the Failspace alpha is coming on 3rd December – this is the start of the multiplayer revolution in VR!” said Antti Sartanen, CEO of Hipfire Games in a statement. “Our promise to our community is to not compromise on the quality of the VR experience we are aiming to deliver by rushing any mobile aspect of the game. When the game launches, and we have happy live players, we will then focus on integrating our technology to create a high quality VR game where everyone can play together, even when there are only limited amount of VR devices available. At the end of 2019, we will be ready to bring VR and mobile audiences together for fun, meaningful multiplayer gaming. Watch this space!”
The Failspace alpha will begin on 3rd December 2018, compatible with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Window Mixed Reality headsets. Registration to join the alpha is now open via the Hipfire website. For further details regarding the title, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR