I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jim Brodbeck, the main developer of RainSoft Games, to talk about his upcoming title “Powder VR”, a game that will make you do some crazy stunts in the snow, like jumping down a helicopter to ski at a hundred miles per hour down a steep slope! I think the idea of the game is pretty cool, and since I’m all with indie developers, I thought it was cool to talk with him about his upcoming game and his gamedev journey!
Hello Jim, I’m happy to host you on my blog!
Hi Antony, pleasure to meet you. I’m honored to be invited to your channel and share about Powder VR.
Can you tell us more about Powder VR?
Powder VR is the winter sports game that VR has been waiting for. Let’s face it: most of us will never heli-drop onto a mountain. The time, effort and cost involved with extreme sports is not something many of us can afford, let alone would dare to do. With Powder VR, you can get an immersive, simulatory taste of it.
How have you come out with this idea?
There were some Reddit threads talking about ski and snowboarding VR games and after trying out what was available and having a lot of fun with Destinations but seeing nothing else like it, the wheels started turning in my head. Then earlier this year, I got stuck in traffic for 12 hours returning from Tahoe. That weekend I sat down and made a prototype that was very playable. It’s perfect for those of us who can’t enjoy winter sports during the off-season and for those who don’t have any plans to actually take up extreme winter sports. With Powder VR you can experience the thrill of it without the risk or investment.
How has it evolved from the original concept to the final implementation?
The game has definitely evolved as I’ve developed it. What started as a VR sliding simulation down a hill has grown to flying over 6 different mountains where you can ski, snowboard and wingsuit across vast expanses. It went from a crude physics prototype to trying to be the Assetto Corsa of skiing with real-world geo-mapped mountains and terrains based on Olympic courses.
Ultimately, I ended up scaling back some of the simulation elements. If you have to worry about your turn angles and speed and velocity and you’re constantly falling over, it’s just not as fun. A lot of the hardcore simulation settings are disabled by default but can be toggled on for those who want the real experience. There’s a large fanbase for the technical tricks of Skate 3 but at the same time, there’s a huge appeal to performing crazy out-of-this-world stunts like in SSX. That prompted me to add some fictional mountains in arcade-like environments including a mega-city with speed boosts, long, gnarly rails, and massive rooftop jumps. The unlockable jetpack is the ultimate upgrade. You have the option to toggle on invincibility mode and fly into things at 150 mph and be fine. The brave and daring will toggle it off, which will make you appreciate learning to wingsuit in a VR simulation. It’s dangerous as in real life. The resulting game feels somewhere between Steep and SSX.
How many people and for what time worked on this project?
I’ve worked solo on Powder VR since early this year, right after the Tahoe trip.
Isn’t it a crazy idea to make this kind of running game in VR? How do you cope with motion sickness?
Absolutely. I used to get car sickness in short, easy trips. There are a lot of things that are jarring and disorienting in VR: elevation changes, sudden starts and stops, etc. I’ve put huge efforts in making it as comfortable and beginner-friendly as possible. One of the biggest comfort factors is locking the horizon. On step further is locking rotation on all axes for the playspace. That makes a world of difference.
There are also options to reduce the viewing size through a resizable ski mask to reduce immersion. Plus, your board or skis are always attached to where you’re standing so there’s no requirement for walking around in room-scale. The first place you spawn in-game is actually exploratory so players can move around and engage with the courses and tutorials at their leisure. It’s designed to be very easy to play with no prior VR experience. But advanced players with strong VR legs can enable hardcore features to perform more difficult and complex tricks. We’ll likely release a demo so people can try before they buy.
What is the feature you love the most about this game?
Speed. Air. Pulling out that perfect line. Sometimes it’s just relaxing to take in the view from the top. That small moment scanning from the horizon to your feet and watching the snowfall before dropping into a ravine. Carving a trail at high speed and launching off a giant cliff into the soft powder below. There’s no rush quite like it.
What are the three biggest lessons that you learned while developing this game that you want to share with your fellow VR game devs?
I’ve been making games for several years and this is my second VR game, so many of the hard lessons were learned along the way. Three things that stand out are 1) Work on a project you absolutely love, otherwise it won’t keep your interest. 2) Make time with your significant other, furthermore, 3) Get assistance with things you don’t have time to do, such as promotion and testing.
When and for what price will the game be released?
We’re launching Early Access in December which makes our full release date fluid. We’ll build and update various aspects of the game based on people’s feedback. The full launch is likely to be in late February or early March. We haven’t set a price yet.
What are its short and long term future plans?
We’re currently in active development and plan to roll out beta tests in November. We encourage everyone to join our mailing list or Discord to gain access to it! We’ve released our trailer which was recently featured on UploadVR.
Target platforms include Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and WMR. In the future, we may consider PSVR, if we can get our icy paws on an SDK.
Do you think it is sustainable being a VR indie game studio nowadays that the market is so small?
I think we’re in a unique situation where the market is just large enough to sustain an indie game studio but not large enough to support major game studios with massive tentpole productions. I think a lot of indie studios have been struggling with 1) making a large enough splash in the VR market and 2) retaining that audience with subsequent releases. There are probably only a handful of really successful VR studios doing VR only work.
We’re hoping it all works out but we’ve kept expenses and staffing to a minimum because of it. The VR space is ever evolving. Hopefully, Powder VR not only gets a lot of downloads, but helps draw new people to experience VR.
Anything else that you want to add to this interview?
I hear HitMotion: Reloaded will be available soon and it will be a great way to get in shape for the upcoming Powder VR release.
Powder VR looks pretty cool: it is coming soon to Steam, so be sure to check out its page! As for the press release, these are some features we can expect from the game:
– Hit the slopes and choose between skiing, snowboarding, and wingsuiting your way to the finish!
– Fight the clock and the terrain- drop down sheer cliffs, soar over glaciers, and slide across frozen lakes, dense forests and abandoned towns.
– Obliterate every speed record in the downhill race, score the highest points with the sickest tricks in freestyle, or navigate the perfect line in slalom.
– Adjustable comfort settings and gameplay optimized to reduce VR motion sickness.
– Choose between arcade and simulation styles to enhance the feeling of shredding the mountainside and the raw thrill of catching big air.
Coming soon in the full release:
– Tour six different mountains, each with their own unique environment, set of courses and challenges.
– Earn enough medals to heli-drop anywhere you like and free-roam explore every inch of the mountain.
– Get ready to reach ludicrous speed and create ridiculous stunts with the unlockable rocket pack.
– Steam achievements, additional unlockables and easter eggs.
Considering that this is the work of only one person, it is very impressive. I wish the best of luck to Jim and to Powder VR!