SUPER STARDUST ULTRA VR

TASK

To port Super Stardust Ultra to run on PlayStation®VR.

THE SOLUTION

The process of porting Super Stardust Ultra to run on PlayStation®VR started with very early hardware, which is a steep learning curve for anyone. Any new hardware goes through evolutions and changes, so we had to ensure our software kept up with this rapid development pace.

Making games work well in VR is not just a case of a straight port, however. At the time, best practices for ensuring a good VR user experience were still in their infancy, so a fair amount of this learning was done in-house. For example, the UI had to be refactored to work in the extra dimension, and we discovered that players reacted better when it was just the planet that rotated, rather than the entire background.

The PlayStation®VR version is a technical accomplishment too. On a legacy engine, the PlayStation 4 version was already running at 60fps. To ensure the quality of the VR experience, this had to be doubled to give this same quality to each eye.

OUTCOME

Overcoming the technical challenges with no impact upon the overall visual quality is a good indication of the quality we like to bring to our projects. Super Stardust Ultra VR is a great updating of the original shooter, but as a more immersive experience.