Suchworks Ltd, a UK-based VR and AR studio, just released skiing VR games Alpine Ski VR for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The controls themselves are easy enough to pick up, as you can see in the first couple minutes of this gameplay video put together by Steve Such, the lead developer at Suchworks Ltd. Players are to tilt their heads deliberately to start themselves off on the slope, using their head movements gently to control their descent down the hill.
The Xbox controller is used on the Rift, and there are additional ski pole controls for the HTC Vive controllers. As the developers themselves said, “we wanted to create a game that would be fun to play but also allow you to take a step back and just enjoy your environment once in a while”.
There are four different modes to try out, including a self-explanatory Ski School where you can learn how to play the game and try out tricks that will help you out later on in the game. There’s also Slalom which is a racing mode with six different levels to set records for, as well as Freestyle where you’ll perform tricks to try and get a high score.
The last mode is the one that perhaps stands out the most, as there are no competitions or scores to be made. This is the Heliski mode, where you fly around a mountain range in your own helicopter and choose to be dropped off in whichever ski slope you wish. This isn’t as vomit-inducing as it sounds, as the helicopter gently settles you down onto the ground rather than you jumping out and hoping for the best.
“We’ve carefully designed all movement to be as comfortable as possible,” Such said. “The biggest technical challenges we’ve faced were around creating a believable yet fun skiing model in VR that doesn’t leave the user with motion sickness.”
Alpine Ski VR is now available for $4.99 on Steam.
