Waltz of the Wizard is a bit like Job Simulator but for people who want to dabble around in magic instead of cartoon versions of real-world jobs. As of today it’s available for free on Steam, so HTC Vive owners have no excuse not to give it a try.
The experience puts a player in a wizard’s tower with a cauldron, skull and crossbow among the objects with which to interact. You can also create a tear in space to travel to new places — it’s pitched as Fantasia meets Harry Potter. The above video shows just a few of the activities included in the software.
According to developer Aldin Dynamics, the experience was built using internal company technologies, including a tool for user testing that records what people are doing in VR. Though there might be downloadable content for the experience eventually, the company released it free for feedback while hoping it finds popularity as an introduction to highly interactive VR.
Aldin Dynamics has been working in VR since 2013 with a number of apps available, including tower defense game Twisted Realms for Gear VR. The company is experimenting with Oculus Touch and PSVR for Waltz of the Wizard but hasn’t confirmed the game for either platform.
One note: be sure you wear the wrist straps in HTC Vive while playing this because it’s easy to think of the virtual table in the game as real, and you might find yourself dropping a controller to the floor. I’m excited to see Waltz of the Wizard is available for free because it can certainly introduce a lot of VR first timers to what you can do when you’ve got your hands in VR. I only spent a few minutes inside of it but hope to see Aldin Dynamics continue development.
