About Portal Stories: VR

[🍪 Anna]

Hey everyone!

We'd like to talk a bit more about Portal Stories: VR, what it is and clear up some confusion.

Portal Stories:VR is our own brand new mini story set in the Portal Universe. It's completely separate from Portal Stories: Mel and it will be releasing as a new game on Steam, available for free.

It features 10 brand new puzzles, specifically designed to work using the 360 room scale that the HTC Vive offers.
Inside Aperture, you'll be able to use the new "Aperture Science Instant Teleportation Device" and the "Aperture Science Apparatus Retrieval Device" to solve the ten new tests.
But new puzzles and tools aren't everything! We've also got new dialogue, music and models!

We've been working on Portal Stories: VR for a couple of weeks, and in that time we've got an amazing amount of work done.
Everyone has been working extremely hard, and we still have plenty of work ahead of us, but we're confident we'll be done on time for the Vive release.

Just like with Portal Stories: Mel, PS:VR will be releasing completely free.
You will NOT need to have either Portal 2 or PS:M installed in order to play PS:VR.

That said, a lot of you don't have a Vive and still would love to play it, we totally understand that.
Once we've released Portal Stories: VR, we'll be looking at making the game more accessible and try to get it to work with traditional inputs.

To be clear: Portal Stories: VR is *NOT* a VR port of PS:Mel. It is a special set of puzzles, created specifically for VR.

FAQ:
Q: Do I need to own a Vive for this?
A: Yes, for now, we'll be looking for other input methods later.

Q: Why Unreal Engine and not Source (2)?
A: Unreal Engine supports SteamVR natively. Source doesn't, and Source 2 isn't released yet.

Q: Can you even release portal stuff in Unreal?
A: Yes. We've got permission from Valve's legal team.

Q: Why don't you have Oculus Rift support?
A: We don't have Rift units, so we can't do any testing for it.

Q: How much is this going to cost me?
A: Nothing, it'll be free!

Q: Do I need to download Portal Stories: Mel again?
A: Nope, you only need to own Portal 2 on Steam. But neither Portal 2 nor Portal Stories: Mel need to be installed.

[DarkEmpire]

Can't wait!! good work m8!

[Spark7979]

I don't have a Vive, or an Oculus Rift. Guess i'll just have to stick to the youtube playthroughs.

[Logical123]

ooohhh i really would like to play this, but, there's a time and place for everything. and i don't even HAVE a VR set.

[Usvart]

Will there be custom Maps via Workshop?

[Steed]

Will there be a portal gun? No doubt it would induce savage nausea, but I'd love to try.

[StaraWolf11]

!!! This sounds amazing!

[Devil in me.]

Any chance of a preview code, so I can do a community preview for our YT VR channel?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyX4cfmZOrWzA0E1tgmXuzQ

[🍪 Anna]

Originally posted by ParaPlays:

Any chance of a preview code, so I can do a community preview for our YT VR channel?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyX4cfmZOrWzA0E1tgmXuzQ

Best way to get one is to send us an e-mail at press at prismstudios dot org

[BoddAH]

This is a short but amazing experience that serves as a rock-solid proof of concept for a room-scale version of Portal or, indeed, AAA FPS-style games in general. It just works!
Now to the negatives:
- It’s short but that’s to be expected considering the modest size of the development team and the fact that it’s free. I’d rather have quality over quantity any day of the week for this kind of thing. I can’t wait for more.
- Physics, especially throwing stuff doesn’t really work. Not a deal breaker but kind of affects the immersion in some circumstances.
- Lastly and most importantly, please show the room-scale play area on the ground when teleporting (just like in The Lab Hub)! I can’t count how many times I teleported right next to a button or floor switch, just to find out that I was already right next to the edge of my play space and the button was out of reach outside of my chaperone bounds. Many games with room-scale teleportation already do this. In fact, Valve itself seem to have implemented it to the Aperture Robot Repair demo in a recent patch when I clearly remember that it wasn’t there in the beginning.

[Major_Troubles]

Originally posted by BoddAH:

- Lastly and most importantly, please show the room-scale play area on the ground when teleporting (just like in The Lab Hub)!

Pro-Tip: Place a small rug in the centre of your play area. That way you always feel where you are in your room.

[Master Betty! MouseNoKeyboard]

really well put together hope more levels and workshop just like portal 2 for endless fun. to the comment above (BoddAH) therre have made the throwing like that so you cantt cheat the game, would be really easy if you could chuck stuff were you want it. i think the teleport system and the gun physics worked really well. WELL DONE DEVS!

[Mau5er]

Was expecting a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ portal game and instead i get this 5minute + riding an elevator for 2min tech demo. I even bought weed for the ocation..

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ selling my Vive unless i get a playable game of any sorts soon!

[Zone]

Is there any way to change graphic settings in this game?

[🍪 Anna]

Originally posted by Zone:

Is there any way to change graphic settings in this game?

Not at this moment. What would you like to change?

[PVT_PILE]

Any word on your next endevor devs?