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Croteam announced VR version of Serious Sam TSE, 3 and The Talos Principle

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Edit: i screwed up the title. It should be Serious Sam The Second Encounter, not Serious Sam 2.

They have released 2 Serious Sam games in early access: 1 is a wave shooter, another is the VR version of the first Serious Sam

Now they have announced that after these 2 games are finished they will be converting Serious Sam: the second encounter and Serious Sam 3 to VR as well. Also The Talos Principle VR. There will be an update to allow players between VR and flatscreen version to play together for the Serious Sam games

http://www.croteam.com/serious-wednesday-update/

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope “Shanti” update is now finished and will become available right after internal testing. The update will include the new planet (Shanti), new weapons (one melee and one long ranged weapon), new feature (Sam’s personal shield) and a very scary new boss. Boo!
Yes, there will be SSVR: The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE!
Yes, there will be The Talos Principle VR!
Yes, Serious Sam 4 is still happening and our core team remains hard at work on this, while two much smaller VR teams will continue to grow and work on more VR projects.
No, we haven’t forgotten our “flat” games. We’re announcing Serious Sam Fusion 2017, a FREE update for all owners of Serious Sam games, both flat and VR versions. This update will be rolled out gradually, starting with The First Encounter, and then The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 3: BFE.
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 update will bring a common workshop for cross-game mods support, as well as enable multiplayer between “flat” and VR versions of games, among other things. So, if you have Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter and your friend has The First Encounter HD, you can connect and play coop or versus with one another – using Fusion 2017.
 
I assumed they would do this, but god damn I'm excited.

Only thing is that I now regret playing Talos Principle a few weeks ago. Fantastic game, but in VR it is going to be the god damn killer app.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
They said Serious Sam 4 is being development by the main team. The VR projects will be done by the smaller teams.
 

Vash63

Member
Wow, Croteam is truly one of the best developers in the industry right now for long term support. I love that they're back porting engine updates to all of their older games. This should mean high performance Vulkan support too!

Edit:

Support for Vulkan API (DirectX9 is now being removed; so long and thanks for all the bugs)

Very interesting that they're completely removing DX9 from an already released game! Glad to see Vulkan making progress.
 
I'm playing Talos Principle right now and it's pretty great. Because I generally have my finger on the run button, I don't know If I'd be wanting to playing any of these games as a VR thing. Either way, Good for Croteam!
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
This should mean high performance Vulkan support too!

Yep, and in fact it'll replace the D3D9 renderer entirely:

Here's the complete list of Serious Fusion 2017 update features that will become available in ALL of the games, for free:

- All games now support SteamOS/Linux/OSX!
- Split-screen!
- 64bit executables
- Support for Vulkan API (DirectX9 is now being removed; so long and thanks for all the bugs)
- Multithreaded rendering
- The new ”lightweight" savegame system; savegames are now saved much faster, are very small and stored in the Steam cloud, and savegames still work even if a level is changed in a patch, or if a mod is updated
- Full support for all controllers including Steam controller, PS4 gamepads, all older DInput joysticks
- Proper multimonitor support
- Borderless window support
- Customizable sound outputs
- Proper 3D audio using a proprietary sound-mixer (the same approach as used in the old Classics games)
- Improved physics engine with better handling of character movement
-Texture streaming in all games
- Much better modding support with customizable weapons and items, improved scripting (including better support for scripting networked games)
- Lots of other improvements, optimizations and fixes
- And last but not the least – we will now be able to more easily ship updated code towards all these titles more regularly!
 

d00d3n

Member
The Talos Principle seems like a great fit for VR. Now I am glad that I have procrastinated instead of playing its DLC
 

Falk

that puzzling face
I feel like I could challenge myself to make it through speedrunning Talos Principle in VR without throwing up.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Damn. Croteam timed this nicely. Was intending to go through the old Serious Sam games again recently getting the full pack having not played the earlier games in years and not played the latest one. VR serious sam is one great thing by Talos getting VR is a nice way for me to replay it. Also if Vulkan means less bugs in SS, I'm all good with it.

Also it appears Valve teased the Linux SteamVR with it too.

C4HcMiYXUAElTF1.jpg
 

tokkun

Member
The Talos Principle seems like a great fit for VR. Now I am glad that I have procrastinated instead of playing its DLC

Hmm, I was thinking the opposite.

What about all those puzzles with launch pads or fans? What about the parts where you need to do platforming? I don't know how they will handle that stuff without motion sickness.
 

d00d3n

Member
Hmm, I was thinking the opposite.

What about all those puzzles with launch pads or fans? What about the parts where you need to do platforming? I don't know how they will handle that stuff without motion sickness.

Teleportation would have to be restricted to the same horizontal plane or lower with a range restriction to not break platforming. Launch pads and fans may cause motion sickness, I guess, but the active time being "pushed around" is pretty short compared with the time contemplating solutions imo.
 

Dunfisch

Member
I... oh god. Second Encounter in VR? Remember The Pit? Those wacky rooms where gravity extends to a cylindrical room? Where you and all the enemies bounce off the floor? Where Kukulkan throws around players and enemies like they were taffy? Now imagine all that in VR.

Yeah.
 

Varth

Member
Teleportation would have to be restricted to the same horizontal plane or lower with a range restriction to not break platforming. Launch pads and fans may cause motion sickness, I guess, but the active time being "pushed around" is pretty short compared with the time contemplating solutions imo.

Also the fans are basically teleporters. While they are sometimes very vertigo inducing even in the base game (mostly for chasing secrets, though), one could just close his eyes and jump on them without any real issue.

I'll take a PSVR patch or decently priced DLC to play Gehenna.

Anyway: PLAY TALOS. Best puzzle of its kind. Great difficulty curve, LOVELY crafted story, I'm literally in love with the main character. Plus, you basically get to visit Pompei/Ercolano ruins playing it :D

Better than Pneuma, better than Witness, better than Turing Test.

There, I said it.
 

tokkun

Member
Teleportation would have to be restricted to the same horizontal plane or lower with a range restriction to not break platforming. Launch pads and fans may cause motion sickness, I guess, but the active time being "pushed around" is pretty short compared with the time contemplating solutions imo.

I'm not sure teleporting would work. Remember, there are many puzzles in that game where your character's specific position and movement is important. Think about all the puzzles that require you to carefully time your movements to avoid the moving proximity mines or the gun turrets.

There are also platforming sequences where you are riding on a moving object and need to time a jump onto another moving object.
 

*Splinter

Member
Serious Sam VR sounds great, hope this comes to PSVR at some point.

Would have loved to play Talos in VR too, but I don't find puzzle games very replayable sadly :(

Hmm, I was thinking the opposite.

What about all those puzzles with launch pads or fans? What about the parts where you need to do platforming? I don't know how they will handle that stuff without motion sickness.
That's still way tamer than anything in (for example) Rigs or Windlands
 
Hmm, I was thinking the opposite.

What about all those puzzles with launch pads or fans? What about the parts where you need to do platforming? I don't know how they will handle that stuff without motion sickness.

With all the stuff they've already solved in Serious Sam VR:FE, I'm pretty confident that Croteam will be able to adapt comfort options and/or puzzles in a way that will work for most people. Can't remember many puzzles that require you to do complex interactions while moving in an unpredictable manner. At least not in the base game.
 

Durante

Member
I'm happy I haven't finished Talos yet, hopefully saves migrate. That should be fantastic.
And of course I'll play TSE too, we had a lot of fun in TFE in coop.

Also, Croteam = best team confirmed once again.
 
Croteam proving once again that they are one of the greats.

Serious Sam is gonna be one of the first things I play once I get a VR set. As if the games weren't good/crazy enough already.
 
Heh, yeah, too late for the main game for me, unfortunately

I played through it two weeks ago, and I was even expecting them to release it in VR (devs have dropped some not very subtle hints on reddit).

Game is just so good though. If I had played it whenever it came out, it would have been a contender for goty.

Guess I'll save the last few levels of Gehenna or try to find all the stars when the VR version is out.
 

Tain

Member
Eventually I'm just gonna pull the trigger on both of their VR-only games. I'm really excited for Talos VR, that's a game I didn't dig too far into.

Also, if nothing else, Talos could use FOV-limiting techniques to keep things relatively comfortable during motion. If they really can't do anything else.
 

Wallach

Member
Glorious.

I'm surprised more studios aren't pursuing ports. There's a shitload of games I'd love to play in VR with a proper port,
 

vermadas

Member
Glorious.

I'm surprised more studios aren't pursuing ports. There's a shitload of games I'd love to play in VR with a proper port,

I wonder if it has to do with Croteam rolling their own engine. Games with older versions of UE, Unity, etc. would not only have to dedicate dev time to implementing VR properly, they'd also have to update everything else that using a newer engine would require.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Glorious.

I'm surprised more studios aren't pursuing ports. There's a shitload of games I'd love to play in VR with a proper port,

Well, in this case, all of Croteam's VR titles either are or will be in Early Access, and the all-encompassing "Fusion 2017" update spans several games and so is more of a long-term goal. Additionally, the simple fact is that consoles aren't conducive to iteration, owing to their certification processes/fees.

Edit: Err, sorry, I misread "VR" as "PSVR".
 

Durante

Member
I wonder if it has to do with Croteam rolling their own engine. Games with older versions of UE, Unity, etc. would not only have to dedicate dev time to implementing VR properly, they'd also have to update everything else that using a newer engine would require.
I think that's a significant factor.
Also helps that Croteam has been forward rendering all this time.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
I am not sure if they will hand out a VR patch to the existing The Talos Principle or they will make it a seperate version. I think i will hold out just in case.
 

Durante

Member
One more thing I just realized is that this serves as a good argument for why developers should own their IP. This allows them to provide continuous support and improvement for their games like you see here (while also seeing some returns on the work they put into that).
 
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