What do you mean by space/life-sim?

• Revria exists at an intersection between space-sims, life-sims, and immersive sims. Overall, the closest genre is probably the immersive sim. An immersive sim is a game where player freedom, choice, role-playing, and complex systems with realistic interactivity are emphasized, rather than a specific linear or narrative path. Although it's often accompanied by a steep learning-curve for the player, it remains undoubtedly the most ideal genre for Virtual Reality, especially when combined with a truly open world design. (See "immersive sim" on Wikipedia.)

Role-playing? Can I name and customize my character? Is there an inventory? Am I able to eat/drink, have a home, buy property, upgrade my vehicles/gear, etc.?

• Yes, many of these features are already represented, even in the game's early sate. But the depth and complexity of all these systems will continue to grow. The intention is to eventually simulate every possible facet of life as a Revrian citizen.

What about control and accessibility options?

• The game currently has all of the most standard options for Smooth Locomotion VR control schemes. (*See below about Teleport Locomotion)

• You can pilot ships using either the real thumb-sticks or the virtual HOTAS controls, which are placed exactly where you have your hands when clicking the thumb-stick to calibrate/recenter (such as your lap or arm-rests). Unlike many other VR experiences, the virtual joystick is based only on rotation (as it should be, with the physical controller acting as a lever with the fulcrum at the bottom where it is resting). With the default combination of the virtual controls and thumb-sticks you can control your vessel in 6-DOF with both hands resting comfortably on your lap or arm-rests. A lot of thought went into this system, and it feels, to me, like playing with a real HOTAS. Naturally I'm happy to add even more options if they are requested.

• The game should be close to fully playable one-handed with the correct settings (fly with thumbsticks only, etc.), but officially I have not worked on confirming this yet. It's something I do want to prioritize though. If you're a one-handed player or anyone with any other accessibility requirements I have missed, please let me know! You can use the contact form here on the site or Discord/Reddit etc. (Linked on the Welcome page)

• If you're color vision impaired and have any issues at all, please let me know!

• *Teleport locomotion? - I'm on the fence about including any type of teleport locomotion since this is a high-intensity/advanced-user VR experience by definition. There are some issues where this would be problematic to incorporate with the way the experience is designed. I will likely add a comfort-vignette/blinders option at some point in the future regardless.

• What if I want to experience a more peaceful world, and I'm not interested in combat, etc.?

  • This is not an experience that will force you into combat/action in any way. If that's not your thing, you can be an outer-space delivery driver and (eventually) spend all your money at the arcade or the candy shop (once I've created the interiors, items, etc. for those buildings). Or if you want to live off-the-grid in a cave and just meditate by the sea all day, or maybe camp on a different planet every night, eventually you'll be able to do all that and more.

Quest 1? Quest 2?

• Officially, only Quest 2 and up are supported going forward. So much time has passed during the development of Revria that the original Quest is no longer supported by Meta, and it has become unfeasible from a technical standpoint to continue Quest 1 support for the game. The Meta Quest SDK for Unity must be kept up-to-date for compatibility with Quest 2, 3, etc., but for Quest 1 it is required to use an old/obsolete version of the SDK. This makes keeping the Quest 1 version updated essentially impossible. Purchasing the app for Quest 1 has been blocked, but for those who already own it and may still play on Quest 1, the final compatible version (0.0.41d) should always be available to install.

PCVR? 

• Not for now. It’s just me so I’m focused on a single platform until the game reaches a later stage of development. With that being said, everything is being designed as future-proof as possible. It won’t take much effort to push the graphics and lighting closer to PCVR quality standards. I can also very easily increase the population density etc. And as a bonus, since the game is optimized to run on mobile hardware, the PC performance should be amazing!

Who made all this stuff?

• Aside from the Unity Engine and other tools/software, a base-mesh from MakeHuman, some sound effects, one shader, and a simple IK script, this is all the work of a solo developer. I designed the world-streaming, orbital, and gravity systems. I wrote the AI and player/interaction scripts, as well as the background simulation manager that keeps it all running, and many other systems. I create all the buildings, ships, items, etc. in Blender, then map them onto an ever-evolving PBR texture atlas. All of the textures/materials were made with Gimp (aside from a few of the terrain textures that are leftover from earlier in development before I remade all the art, but even those have been modified).