starship home, a cozy mixed reality game for Meta Quest 3, is trying to get to the heart of “what makes a game meaningful in mixed reality.” This is according to developer Doug North Cook, who wrote on Reddit that the game, which turns your environment into a custom spaceship and you into an intergalactic horticulturist, is independent studio Creature's “first answer to that question.”
A meta search blog post says players will customize their spaceship by “strategically placing virtual windows, control panels, and other components” in their room. Outside the windows, the gameplay trailer shows that you'll see things like space creatures, planets, cloud tops, and travel animations as you leave the planets. When players land on a planet, they will collect plant clippings and tend to them aboard their ship. The game uses Quest 3's automatic room meshingso you won't have to do any manual blocking to tell the headset where things are in your space.
starship homeThe story puts players in charge of exploring planets and saving alien flora from a “sinister plague that threatens plant life across the galaxy.” Other aspects of the game will include entering the dreams of plants, navigating with a star map, interplanetary space jumping and “unraveling the mystery” of the disease that affects plants. according to the Creature website.
This all sounds like it could be a lot of fun, if done right. The developer doesn't seem to say whether your spaceship persists during game sessions (it seems like it might, given Cook's opinion). Reddit response saying that there will be saved files “so that everyone can have their own spaceship”). If so, that might give you a real reason to put on your headphones every day. You know, the kind of time-honored tradition you see in everything from animal crossing to Tamagochi. “Sorry, family,” you might say, “I have to go down to the basement to play with my trains Take care of my space plants.”
starship home is exclusive to Quest 3; is first, according UploadVR. It doesn't have a specific release date at the moment, but Creature says it will be out in the third quarter of this year.
