Greg Dziemidowicz
Published Feb 1, 2018
Hailed by professional sailing organisations as the closest thing to actual sailing
Wednesday 31 January 2018 - Melbourne, Australia — After more than a year of early access testing and being exhibited to the public at events around the world, VR Regatta: The Sailing Game has been officially released today.
Game studio MarineVerse was founded by a small group of passionate sailors and technologists, spread across the globe and working together through the internet. VR Regatta is the product of years of research, development, design, and testing. All of this has culminated in a product that is not only an enjoyable video game experience, but also a solid introduction to the fundamentals of real sailing.
Players explore the sparkling sapphire waters of Akalana, a fictional archipelago inspired by beautiful real world locations in the Caribbean. After mastering the basic interactions of wind and water against their sail and rudder, they will then be challenged to compete in demanding races in varying conditions, including sunset and night races. Vessels available at launch include a simple single-sail dinghy and a larger and more sophisticated yacht with two sails and a motor. There is also a special launch day bonus: a never before seen model of training sailboat, and a scorching hot equatorial location called Windy Islands, just waiting to be explored. Other features include tutorials to help players find their sea legs, a career mode, multiplayer exploration, and a variety of races based on real world events.
The team’s dedication to capturing the heart and soul of sailing has earned the admiration of several sailing organisations, and the game has been demonstrated to the public at sailing exhibitions, sporting events, and trade shows around the world.
VR Regatta: The Sailing Game could not have become a reality without the assistance of Film Victoria’s assigned production investment funding. It is available today from Steam for USD 14.99 (AUD 17.50) and is compatible with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
Lead developer at MarineVerse Greg Dziemidowicz said:
“Developing an experience like this for VR is very rewarding. No other creative medium on earth allows you to really place yourself so deeply inside something that came out of your own imagination, and then share them with others in this way. Developing for VR comes with a lot of unique challenges, too, but it’s worth it to be able to slip on that headset and enter a world that we created. We’re not done, either: this release is one step in an ongoing process. We’ll be taking VR Regatta to the world, encouraging sailing organisations to use it as a publicity and recruitment tool, and of course we’ll keep adding new features!”
Gavin Wall, Victorian regional manager of Australian Sailing, said:
“VR Regatta is an exciting new development for the sport of sailing. We have utilised this technology as part of our Discover Sailing offerings at a number of events including the Australian Grand Prix, The Volvo stopover and Club opening, and Discover Sailing Days. It has proven to be a successful platform to introduce new people to the sport of sailing in conjunction with real life on-water experiences.”
Essential links: Steam △ Website △ Trailer △ Press kit △ Enquiries
MarineVerse is an international team of creatives and advocates for sailing and emergent technology, with a mission to inspire, train, and connect sailors and to share the unique feeling of sailing with a global audience.Their debut project VR Regatta: The Sailing Game brings entertainment and education together through virtual reality (VR). Neither a pure video game or an absolutely realistic simulation, the goal of the project is to find a perfect balance that captures the essence of real sailing within a fun video game framework.