Craft a deadly gauntlet right in your living room.
Ever since Meta (formerly Facebook) released its Passthough+ APK to the public, VR developers have been hard at work crafting unique and interesting AR games and apps on Meta Quest headsets. This includes Dungeon Maker, an addicting new experience available now via SideQuest that lets you craft your own medieval dungeons using a collection of virtual traps and obstacles.
The app, while simple, is an excellent example of the immersive capabilities of Quest’s Passthrough+ technology. Instead of artificial locomotion such as teleportation or joystick movement, you navigate your custom dungeon using your own two feet. You’re essentially using the Quest’s built-in cameras to craft your own location-based mixed reality experience.
You begin by establishing a spawn point somewhere throughout your real-world space using your Touch controllers. From here you can select from six different traps ranging from giant spiked pits to a massive swinging ax. You can select each obstacle from the item wheel and reposition it using your grip and joystick controls.
There’s also an “Occlusion Box” which can be used to hide virtual traps behind your real-world furniture. To give players a sense of accomplishment, you’re able to place waypoints throughout your real-world space. Reaching these key areas triggers an audible chime letting you know you’ve successfully completed the objective.
After spending some time with the app I can safely say this is one of the most unique examples of Passthough+ VR gaming I’ve tried on the Quest. After just a few hours I’ve already crafted a handful of custom dungeons throughout my apartment and I’m still learning new tricks for creating the ultimate gauntlet.
There’s no collision at the moment which means the virtual traps don’t actually affect you in any way, so there’s a certain amount of role-playing required on the part of the player. That said the developer hopes to implement new features in the near future, including new traps and interactive elements.
Other potential features include (according to the developer):
- Audio
- Object collision
- Scoring system/lives
- Buttons & doors
- Save system
- Spatial anchors
Dungeon Maker is available free on Meta Quest via SideQuest. Like all of the apps available on SideQuest, you will need to set your headset to Developer Mode in order to play. You can learn more about how to sideload VR content on Quest here.
Image Credit: Field Of Vision