European independent developers are going to try to make interesting VR experiences in just a couple of days.
Epic Games, HTC, and Nvidia are teaming up to run a game jam for VR Funhouse, a carnival-themed virtual reality game for the HTC Vive headset. Teams will be using VR Funhouse’s mod kit to create new experiences. The event takes place September 24 to September 26 in Hamburg, Germany, aboard the MS Bleichen, a ship. Market watchers predict that VR could generate $40 billion in revenues by 2020, but more gamers will only buy VR devices if they see compelling software. Events like this will encourage independent developers to make VR games.
VR Funhouse is a collection of minigames, but it’s sophisticated thanks to its use of Unreal Engine 4 and advanced physics via PhysX from Ageia Technologies. VR Funhouse is free on Steam.
Teams across Europe will spend the first two days of the event making their creations. The final day will open up to registered attendees, who will get to play the jam games. You can sign up for access here. Epic, Valve, and Nvidia will also be raffling off prizes during the day.
The mod kit for VR Funhouse is available in the Epic Games launcher, where developers can also get the Unreal Engine 4 for free.