Tempest 4000 - YES! YES! YES!

[mb3018]

Polybius and Tempest 4000 are two of my favorite games ever. Polybius is the first Llamasoft game I ever played, and it was in VR.

[Zen Monkey]

It's better in VR, I agree, but the standard version is pretty fab too and by no means redundant. The thing is VR gives me eye strain, peripheral image retention and temporary colour drain so I'm not really cut out for it but do enjoy using my mate's headset in very short bursts. Furthermore I tend to enjoy playing these kinda games in inebriated states and VR is a step too far!

[Foozwah]

You're in for a treat. Polybius, in particular, is a neo classic and masterpiece. As good as anything this gen in my opinion.

Cool, looking forward to it!

It's better in VR, I agree, but the standard version is pretty fab too and by no means redundant. The thing is VR gives me eye strain, peripheral image retention and temporary colour drain so I'm not really cut out for it but do enjoy using my mate's headset in very short bursts. Furthermore I tend to enjoy playing these kinda games in inebriated states and VR is a step too far!

I'm unlikely to ever have VR, so I'm happy with the standard version as it's likely the only way I'll experience it.

I also like trippier games in an inebriated state, and am prone to motion sickness issues with certain games at the best of times anyway, so yeah, VR would be a step too far for me as well.

[WiteWulf]

I suffer from motion sickness very quickly and easily in most VR, but Polybius doesn't affect me at all. I'm no neuroscientist, but I think it's down to two things:
- very high, solid frame rate
- fixed viewpoint, you're permanently fixed in the same position behind your ship so actual movement is kept to a minimum

[gilesgoat]

Polybius and Tempest 4000 are two of my favorite games ever. Polybius is the first Llamasoft game I ever played, and it was in VR.

I will always cry over the fact that T4K as well *WAS* a VR game .. and it was literally "something you NEVER seen" ! .. .. and the first thing that Atari wanted was "Oh btw we don't want the VR"

I think probably for "uniformity" with other plattforms where they could not have the VR.

A VR version been offered a few times ( as a separate job ) .. but .. they never picked it up so far.

[mb3018]

I can imagine how awesome it must've been. All the explosions and effects and stuff, those awesome new backgrounds for Tempest 4000.

[gilesgoat]

I can imagine how awesome it must've been. All the explosions and effects and stuff, those awesome new backgrounds for Tempest 4000.

It all started that at some point we had "prototype 1.0" of the PSVR ( that was pretty different than the final product and really hard to wear )

We were still deciding "what to do next" ( even if "a pure port" of TxK from Vita at that point was the idea , well "a port" + something else ).

So I remember I was just studying/experimenting with "rotating cubes" and simple stuff in VR "to get the idea about how it works/how to use it".

And some point during the port I realized that "with some modification to the main render loop" I could have someway "inserted" VR in , so literally "give me a few days I want to try an experiment" I modified all the rendering scheme to be VR compatible.

I still remember the first time I put the heasdset in and looked at TxK in VR was like OH MY GOAT ! ...

"Nobody ever seen the web in VR before" ..

What I remember was "shocking" ( well unexpected even if obvious ) was that "all the enemies were looking like Origami moving on a surface" .. well of course, because they were designed to live "in a 2D world"

It became obiovious that an "immediate upgrade" was to "tranform" them from 2D shapes into real 3D objects.

That's why came the idea "we need a tool for that" and I created "a number of modules" in our Neon Engine basically adding 3D shapes generation/editing/composition capabilities.

What is not well known is that THE WHOLE design/testing/development of what was "TxK VR" ( that never been ) and that later on Polybius it's been "entierely done IN VR with VR tools", let's say "our levels / games editor" totally works in VR, we spent literally "1 year in VR 10 hours a day in VR" or such

Because we figure out "that's the ONLY way to actually SEE how it looks in VR".

So all the object, levels, etc. been entierely created in VR with our own VR tools

Yes it does look awesome, it's something really good, I hope someone one day will remember "WE HAD IT !! IT DID EXIST ! And was SUPER COOL!".

[Tempest Nut]

Polybius and Tempest 4000 are two of my favorite games ever. Polybius is the first Llamasoft game I ever played, and it was in VR.

I will always cry over the fact that T4K as well *WAS* a VR game .. and it was literally "something you NEVER seen" ! .. .. and the first thing that Atari wanted was "Oh btw we don't want the VR"

I think probably for "uniformity" with other plattforms where they could not have the VR.

A VR version been offered a few times ( as a separate job ) .. but .. they never picked it up so far.

They are a crime against humanity for not picking something up that would evolve the human mind to new levels of reality!!! lol

[gilesgoat]

Polybius and Tempest 4000 are two of my favorite games ever. Polybius is the first Llamasoft game I ever played, and it was in VR.

I will always cry over the fact that T4K as well *WAS* a VR game .. and it was literally "something you NEVER seen" ! .. .. and the first thing that Atari wanted was "Oh btw we don't want the VR"

I think probably for "uniformity" with other plattforms where they could not have the VR.

A VR version been offered a few times ( as a separate job ) .. but .. they never picked it up so far.

They are a crime against humanity for not picking something up that would evolve the human mind to new levels of reality!!! lol

Nobody knows what's happening with them, or at least I don't have a clue, that job been offered not one but nearly "any time conversations came up" and it's always been a "maybe but that's not what we want now".

Said that I can't even remember when was last time anyone contacted me or I've been able to talk with anyone there which BTW I have only ONE "contact" I talk to , if there would be "any reasonable job offers" we always said we'd be available but nothing came out so far.

[Tempest Nut]

"maybe but that's not what we want now"

That's not what we want now???????? An AWESOME GAME???

I can't imagine what they want outside of a game that will make them a gazillion dollars but who doesn't want that? one thing is for sure if someone develops a gazillion dollar game Atari is the last place that will get their hands on it!

[gilesgoat]

"maybe but that's not what we want now"

That's not what we want now???????? An AWESOME GAME???

I can't imagine what they want outside of a game that will make them a gazillion dollars but who doesn't want that? one thing is for sure if someone develops a gazillion dollar game Atari is the last place that will get their hands on it!

Honestly I don't think/don't know if such a game would make "gazillions of dollars", but certainly I think would do "ok" and surely be "a very good PR".

Well .. as far as I heard, if nothing else, they did manage to get "some millions of dollars in their hands" which "various places" ( like Slope's Game Room for example ) multiple times discussed about so I don't need to add anything here

All I could say is that a tiny fraction of those millions certainly would secure some LS games .. if they'd been interested ...

I suppose "there's a Bell curve for everything" ..

But certainly I am the SECOND to say that "if you want something making GAZILLIONS of dollars" then yes "maybe we are not correct place to look for" however "if you want something UNIQUE that no one else has ever done or will ever do ( probably becuase it does NOT make gazillions of dollars ) we ARE the place to come for"

And if you look for "mad" and "psychedelic" .. we can turn it to ELEVEN .. or even TWELVE .. or even MORE .. "we don't know limits about that"

[Tempest Nut]

I guess I must be a UNIQUE person because the only games I play these days are LS games and I have 687 hours into Tempest 4000 alone! I am a "Tempest Nut" after all!

[Zen Monkey]

It is a pity Atari won't sanction a VR version but I'm just thankful to play this version, especially considering the legal threats a couple of years ago, and despite being stripped of VR support, it's a fantastically addictive game. First thing I did upon completing the game was start anew aiming for a decent score. Managed 6th on the global leaderboard in the end. I would try moving further up (I could pinch 3rd place I reckon but the top 2 scores are well beyond my means) but I recently took delivery of a second hand Xbox 360 with a half a dozen Cave bullet hell shoot 'em ups which are my new focus. But I digress, it's a really enjoyable game; even the AI bot frequently ignoring me or the stage 'Dalik' (that stage is nasty!) couldn't wipe the smile from my face. One thing I couldn't figure out, what does the 'Duel Wield' power up do?

[VanAlphen]

what does the 'Duel Wield' power up do?

It will give you double fire, from both the left and the right gun. You can only get it at the end of a couple levels if you use the tactic for getting the max power ups per level: don't destroy enemies while a power up is coming down.

[Zen Monkey]

Is that really the mechanic to generate the Dual Wield power up? I've bagged it loads of times. Presumably because I miss every enemy I'm aiming at quite a lot! How serendipitous.