Facepunch Studios introduced that s&field, its upcoming physics sandbox and recreation growth platform, is now utilizing OpenXR, which won’t solely permit the studio to increase its VR characteristic set, but in addition the vary of supported units.
VR assist has been on the desk since Facepunch introduced in 2015 it was engaged on a non secular successor to Gary’s Mod (2006), which won’t solely embody a sandbox as you’d count on, but in addition a whole growth platform for customers to make and publish their very own third-party video games.
Quick-forward to late final month, and the studio has opened its developer preview to the general public, which till just lately included VR assist due to integration with SteamVR. Now the studio says its unplugged SteamVR from its backend, and adopted OpenXR assist.
Whereas Facepunch mentions in an replace that it comes with “no main modifications to performance” to the person, in actuality the change to OpenXR offers s&field—and creators utilizing the platform—extra latitude to exist independently from Steam.
“The primary advantages to this are that we get a great deal of management over all the pieces, we will increase our characteristic set a lot additional, and we’re in a position to assist a a lot wider vary of units,” programmer Alex Guthrie says.
Whereas SteamVR apps are essentially tied to the Steam platform, OpenXR is a extra open cross-platform API normal geared toward maximizing compatibility and decreasing fragmentation within the XR area—additionally making for a dizzying variety of XR units and peripherals supported by OpenXR.
You may technically dive into s&field in the present day by way of the developer preview, nevertheless it nonetheless has a methods to go earlier than its heads right into a 1.0 consumer-ready model.
When it does launch on Steam in some unspecified time in the future, Facepunch is little doubt hoping it has a inventory of first and third-party content material on the prepared, which we’re hoping additionally comes with a wholesome glut of distinctive VR video games. Besides, the studio is now operating a recreation jam open to all, which options £40,000 in prize cash.
We’ll be holding our eyes on the platform’s Discord (invite hyperlink) and its information portal for more information because it arrives.
