From hand-crafted environments in VR using Quill to head-mounted VR devices supported by player gestures, Peanut Button's Secrets of Retropolis shows tantalizing glimpses of the future.
Secrets of the Retropolis sells for about the equivalent of two cups of coffee at theQuestorSteamIt's all available on. The second chapter of Retropolis 2: Never Say Goodbye has already received positive reviews on Steam and is waiting to be released in the coming weeks in theQuestand PlayStation VR2 were released.
Peanut Button's Retropolis is designed as "a classic adventure game" that aims to capture "the nostalgia of your favorite '90s point-and-click adventure game. Look around. Find items. Solve puzzles." You'll be in the body of a mechanical detective-Philip Logue-which could be the same future as the homework simulator, physics aside, but with the addition of Logue's commentary as well as gorgeous art direction and film noir-inspired music to set the mood.
This is the official description of the first Retropolis:
Secrets of Retropolis is a new kind of VR narrative game that blends classic point-and-click adventures with immersive cinematography. Play as the witty protagonist of a film noir plot. Meet memorable characters. Solve puzzles. Immerse yourself in a retro-futuristic atmosphere.
To make it easier to sit down, the original idea for this game was that "first time VR users will find this game fun and easy to pick up. Seasoned VR users will find the game easy and relaxing."
Retropolis: physical publishing with strokes in VR
I contacted Peanut Button to inquire about development efforts.
They say that the positive response to the first Retropolis, released in 2021, helped them craft a richer second chapter, Never Say Goodbye. Now, they even have a storyline in place for Chapter 3, but have no more concrete plans to share at this time.
Publishing partner Perp Gamesis helping this studio withPhysical release of PSVR 2, will showcase the return of characters created in VR to traditional media.
We're about to release a video on our YouTube channel about Retropolis 2. This video was produced by genre fan Don Hooper, and the studio shares some behind-the-scenes glimpses into the process of shooting animation from VR.
We don't usually include charts sent to us by developers or publishers designed to promote their work, but we found the one below from Peanut Button quite interesting. It shows that Retropolis 2 had close to 2.5 million virtual strokes hand-drawn in its creation, compared to less than half a million on the first attempt.
The developers used a tool called Smoothstep called Quill. it's an art tool used to create some of the most emotionally impactful short-lived experiences in VR, such as the trusty tear-producing experience in the headset, Dear Angelica. quill was originally launched at Oculus, but has since beenMetaabandoned to support Meta's larger Horizon effort.
As such, Retropolis shows developers moving along the path paved by the work of Oculus Story Studio, long before inspiring PC platform tools such as Medium and Quill, which were poorly resourced relative to Meta's larger Horizon work.
The way to experience the point-and-click storytelling that Retropolis offers from today is to look back to a time when Oculus was still focused on VR tools for creativity on the PC platform, not just on Facebook's Horizon.
"All of the Quill animations at the time were impactful and we really believed it was an amazing creative tool," Peanut Button told us.
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