Along with releasing the non-VR version of Kismet, there is another new release today from our development team. It's called "Camp W" and it's a story-rich adventure game about being a young Witch trespassing at a summer sleepaway camp for Human kids.
Like Kismet, Camp W is a beautiful visual experience filled with lots of high quality artwork and unique design. It's casual, but also immersive and thoughtful, and you can bet that it was crafted with heaps of heart. It also has a lot of spooky, witchy moments and themes spread throughout.
We hope that you'll give it a look!
Now available for non-VR PCs!
A quick announcement from Team Kismet:
Since releasing Kismet as a VR title, we have been extremely grateful to receive such a positive response. However, because there are so many more PC owners out there in the world who are still yet to adopt VR, we wanted to find a way to get Kismet to them as well. For that reason, we have added in a third launch option, in addition to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift -- a new non-VR version.
We have also dropped the price and added subtitles for English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. (VR versions will also now feature these subtitles.)
A quick note regarding compatibility: Since developing Kismet as a VR title meant primarily targeting Nvidia GPUs, we have noticed an issue with specific AMD cards. When changing graphical settings from within the game, there is the potential for lighting issues. If you encounter such issues, we would love to have your help in solving this problem! Please reach out to us at KismetVR@gmail.com so we can collect your specs and work on it together. The simple fix for this is to restart and not change graphics settings. We understand that this is not an ideal solution, so if it effects you please don't hesitate to email us directly.
Thanks to everyone who has supported Kismet in the past, and we look forward to meeting new fortune-seekers in the days to come!
Kismet is at PAX East 2017!
Come meet us in person and try Kismet for both VR and non-VR PC Edition at PAX East 2017, March 10-12!
We will be exhibiting Kismet as part of the incredible Indie MEGABOOTH, right in the center of the show floor. You can find us listed in the guide under our company name, Psyop, at booth 16078
The show, as always, is sold out... but if you're there, you simply must stop by and say hello. We'd love to get to chat with you, face-to-eerie-victorian-plague-mask.
Here's the Indie MEGABOOTH map, which represents the center chunk of the expo floor, with the full expo hall map below:
We look forward to meeting you!
Kismet Development Update
It's been a little while since we updated you guys on the progress of Kismet, so I have some news to share.
First, a big THANK YOU to everyone out there who has tried Kismet and recommended it to a friend. In these early days of VR, your support has been HUGE for us. Kismet has been downloaded thousands of times all over the world, and the reception has far exceeded our original hopes and dreams for this quirky experience. We appreciate the positive reviews we've gotten here on Steam especially, where we've consistently held a 90%+ positive rating. If you've ever doubted if these user reviews matter, you can stop doubting it--they do!
Here is what the Kismet dev team is exploring right now.
<*>Mobile Kismet - While we built Kismet for PC, we have heard from a lot of fans that mobile platforms are their only way into VR right now. We would love for you to be able to try our experience, so we're investigating how a mobile port would work.
<*>Non-VR Kismet - We've also heard from PC owners who would like to try Kismet without investing in a headset. Having focused on creating something with real potential to appeal to a wide audience, it's time to reach out to that audience the best we can. VR continues to be the best way to experience the immersive design of Kismet, but as headset adoption rates take their time moving up, we want to keep sharing our work with more people who might truly appreciate it.
<*>Additional Headsets - Technology is moving fast, and we intend to keep up with it. From VR to AR, we are as excited as everyone else for what the future holds.
<*>Additional Languages - English not your primary language? We've been translating Kismet into Spanish, French, and German, and are on our way to getting those languages into the experience.
<*>Hitting the Road - In the past year, Kismet has been available for demo at events like IndieCade, Ciclope, and UploadVR's E3 and GDC events. These won't be the last chances to try Kismet at a show or expo near you.
<*>New VR Games - Kismet wasn't the only project that Psyop will be releasing in VR. We're already hard at work on our next full VR-native game, with additional projects gearing up as well. As soon as we have more to share with you, we will!
Tarot-A-Day, Meet the Cards of the Major Arcana
For the next 22 days we'll be sharing the cards of the Major Arcana on our Kismet Twitter account. Follow along to see each one, as designed and animated especially for Kismet, and learn about what the cards mean in under 140 characters.
What exactly IS the Major Arcana? The Major Arcana represent the core of a deck of Tarot cards, and are considered to be the most important cards in the deck. Each Major Arcana card is numbered, from 1-21 (with The Fool, #0, a wild card) following a sequence of a person's life, from beginning to end. As you traverse the deck in order, you see characters, symbols, and situations that relate to different moments and stages of life, not necessarily good or bad, but distinct from one another. What each card means depends on the question you have asked, where it shows up in your particular reading, and the interpretation of your intuitive.
Today we featured The Magician, the first numbered card in the deck. The Magician offers a sudden solution, as if by magic - but it may be just an illusion.
We will have Kismet available for festival attendees to come and try out as part of this year's Night Games event.
Night Games is a unique annual event at IndieCade Festival. On Saturday night, October 15th, the Festival transforms into the ultimate live playground as people play specially curated games under the stars and experience a memorable festival highlight.
If you're going to be attending IndieCade, we'd love to hear from you! You can always reach us via the contact page on KismetVR.com.
How we created our mind-bending Tarot Cards with 3D scenes inside of them
When viewed from the front, each of the Tarot Cards in Kismet appears to have a fully rendered, animated 3D scene inside of it. However, if you turn the card or move your head around it, it appears to be as thin as paper. Want to know how we did it?
We've posted a full write-up on our website for you to check out, with lots of images from the making-of process. Here's a quick preview for you, then head to our website for the rest:
The original painting of "Death":
"Death," cut into pieces: (Also pictured: the "Fool" card)
"Death," animated:
How we did it: The cards are not strictly any one size. They are actually in a constant state of transformation that allows them to maintain the appearance that you see inside the experience.
Each card in the game knows where the player is looking. The card compares the player’s location to its own, as well as to its relative rotation. Using that information, the card calculates something called a Dot Product.
The Dot Product drives a constantly updating physical transformation of the cards themselves. If a player is looking at a Tarot Card straight on, the card stretches to its maximum depth, making it look more 3D. As the card turns to it's side, or the player moves their head around it, the Dot Product shrinks, as does the stretching. The more the player looks at the card on its side, the flatter the card becomes. Up until it's as thin as a piece of paper.
The calculation happens to every card, on every frame, ninety frames a second.
The Steam Summer Sale is here, and we're happy to be offering a 30% discount on Kismet! That brings the price down to under five dollars, but you will need to act fast if you hope to take control of your destiny; this sale will only last until July 4th.
An Interview with Kismet's Writer & Director, David Chontos, via Polygon
Gaming culture website Polygon just posted an interview with our very own David Chontos, Writer & Director of Kismet.
Here is a snippet from the story:
I've never believed in astrology or fortune telling, but the original pitch for coverage was surprisingly earnest and sincere. I wanted to give the program a shot and, to my surprise, I found the process of having my tarot read both calming and helpful for my mental health. It gave me a few minutes every day to think about the most pressing thing on my mind, and to have someone else talk about it, even if it all happened inside a headset. It was a quiet moment for contemplation and mindfulness.
"The concept of psychic advisers has maintained a profound importance in human culture for thousands of years, and has a rich and beautiful history of art and craft that I have always found captivating," Chontos told me when I brought this up.
"I do not believe in the supernatural of any variety, but I do believe, however, that a reading from a talented intuitive can be some of the best advice you may ever get," he continued. "I consider it to be hyper-natural that someone can be so tuned into your physical and emotional micro-reactions to words and symbols that they can actually offer you valuable feedback on what's going on in your life at the moment."
We are excited to finally flip the switch on the Kismet store page and make it available for download.
Kismet will be on sale for a discounted price of just $4.96 for the first week.
We hope you enjoy the experience! Feel free to reach out to us through this store page, our website, or via our social media accounts if you need any help at all.
