Seattle studio Polyarc Video games introduced an open playtest for its subsequent undertaking, a brand new multiplayer VR recreation set in the identical universe as its award-winning VR adventures Moss and Moss: Guide II.
“The playtest is us starting to introduce among the issues we need to do sooner or later with the corporate,” Polyarc CEO Tam Armstrong informed Startup. “We knew from the start that we wished to discover a variety of recreation mechanics for our IP. The playtest is us publicly branching out in the direction of that long-term plan.”
Armstrong and Polyarc have been cautious to not say precisely what recreation is being examined, apart from that it’s a aggressive expertise for a number of gamers. Whereas they do have an concept of what they’d wish to make subsequent, the plan with the playtest is to get some real suggestions from followers prematurely of an official reveal.
“We’re enthusiastic about what now we have, however we need to be sure that everybody’s excited, too,” Armstrong mentioned. “I can say for positive that it’s a well-recognized setting, and it’s nonetheless inside the Moss universe, with characters that folks will acknowledge. …We do have a particular concept we’re attempting, with no concrete timeline about when it’ll be carried out.”
In Polyarc’s Moss video games, the participant takes the function of the “Reader,” an unnamed one who’s discovered a magical storybook. This enables them to look at and work together with one other world, the place they meet Quill, an adventurous younger mouse on a journey to rescue her uncle.
Moss: Guide II was launched final yr, initially as a timed unique for Sony’s PlayStation VR. It was met with widespread acclaim, together with a win for Greatest VR/AR Recreation on the 2022 Recreation Awards, and has since been launched on Meta Quest 2, Pico, and PlayStation VR 2.
“We’re very appreciative of the popularity,” Armstrong mentioned. “I’m so pleased with the staff. I used to be one of many recreation administrators on the primary Moss, but it surely was a brand new group of administrators for the second. They did an excellent job and made a greater recreation than the primary.”
“We’re very glad that folks love Moss,” he mentioned. “Hopefully they’ll need to come again to this world and see some extra of it on this new recreation we’re playtesting.”
For the reason that launch of Guide II, Polyarc has expanded from 15 to 45 staff; begun growing a number of IPs and video games; and moved into a brand new workplace in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. It’s additionally adopted a brand new, extra hybrid method to its workspace, with a number of full-time Polyarc staff working from as far-off because the east coast.
In keeping with Armstrong, one of many surprising advantages of switching from a single-player recreation like Moss: Guide II to a multiplayer launch is that it’s inspired Polyarc, as a studio that’s centered on VR video games, to undertake practices which might be friendlier to making a hybrid office.
“As soon as upon a time, in earlier generations of [VR] {hardware} when it was a bit bit cumbersome, it was vital to have the ability to share the headset with individuals and see what was happening in individual,” Armstrong mentioned. “The great fortune of engaged on a multiplayer recreation is that it’s pressured our hand in making that recreation attainable to work on in a distributed method, since [its multiplayer modes] will want to have the ability to work throughout the nation anyway. It was only a coincidence that labored out.”
followers are inspired to enroll in Polyarc’s playtest, which is being held on the weekend of April 14-16. Contributors will want entry to a Meta Quest 2 VR headset, and can be required to signal a non-disclosure settlement.
[Errata: Clarified Moss: Book II‘s currently available platforms.]