(Check out the full update devlog here) Some people don't realize that BrVR Backrooms Virtual Reality is really just a high-effort Reddit post to show off the fan-art we made while learning Unreal Engine. The original idea was to take the Backrooms WikiDot pictures that we are so enamoured with and recreate them in a 3d space in Unreal Engine 4.25. We originally did some work on a few pics to prove out the idea and then came the Reddit post from our good friend LocalLawfullness, aka Grimnee, asking if someone could please make a proper Backrooms game in Virtual Reality. We had just gotten a Quest 2 and our prototypes of the pictures were turning out better than expected, but you could only stand in one place and look around. Develop this into a full fledged VR game? Sure! We were looking for a new school project that would encompass everything we wanted to accomplish in our programmimg/CS homestudies, but could we go totally "full Stack"? Could we make a VR game start to finish (excluding major artwork), market it with a YouTube Channel and Social media, get it on STEAM, make enough to sustain the project and new hardware, learn to package and push updates, manage a community on Discord, fight the endless bugs and hardware issues, and everything else that goes with being an indie game developer? It looks like we have and we couldn't be more proud of ourselves, but even more proud of our amazing community. Without them this is a much different story. That was the part we didn't expect. The endless bugs are fun when people are giving feedback in real time and you feel that passion and symbiotic relationship between developer, player, playtester, and community. It's truly magical and exhilerating to say the least. These people are just our friends who we share a passion with and we've come to lean on each other for far more than just this game. That brings me to a HUGE milestone for BrVR. Congratulations Gatchi13 for creating the first user made Level in the BrVR!!!
Level Theta
We have said from the start that we wanted to be the VR version of the Backrooms Wikidot.
For the uninitiated it's a freewriting site where users can submit Backrooms Levels they have written for inclusion in the Backrooms Wikidot "canon". The dream of one day having a user made Level has come true for us with this latest update. BrVR History is being made with our first user generated Level by our good friend, playtester, content creator, and just amazing individual Gatchi13. They have made an incredible interpretation of Level Theta. Gatchi13's Level was inspired by a Level from the Backrooms Fandom a different freewriting site.
We are happy to help anyone design a Level using Unreal Engine. From a brand new user to seasoned UE pro we are happy to help anyone get a level submitted and approved to be in the game. John also has an easy to use mod for UE to make procedural levels as well as the full maps. We are currently creating Level Critical which will utilize the procedural algo with a huge map in what we think will be an amazing experience.
Several other goodies in this update include a working browser on the Frontrooms apartment television so you can browse the internet or watch us on YouTube. The Computer in the bedroom can be turned on and off, start up, turn off, run apps etc., and you can now transfer the notes from your notebook to your computer for easier reading and storage.
As always lots of various bug fixes, QOL adjustments, lots of new details in levels 22, -6, and -8, and a roll back of a slight faux pas on our part. We heard you loud and clear on our STEAM Community hub and rolled back the decision to eliminate infinite weapons after unlock. We will instead make that a feature for the hard mode we are working on. So Infinite firearms are back in your Vault as of this writing and latest hotfix. This prompted our updated transparency policy. It was time; the family is getting big. Love you all.
We have also had several discussions regarding transparency about our own internal ideas and sharing most everything we even remotely consider with our community. This happens primarily on our DISCORD where we have an amazing family. This is where we post our suggestions for the game and put them up for discussion before making it so. The bigger decisions will be put to a poll for the community to vote on. We used to put a lot of this stuff on our internal slack, work on it, and then present it to our community. We will now get our fam involved as soon as possible.
Thanks fam!!