Hi everyone,
We’re excited that standup mode is available to demo in our latest build and would love your feedback on it.
Standup mode is being built for our upcoming Oculus store release, so that anyone with just a Quest can play and get great exercise from VZfit.
By the time we release on the store it will be our new full default mode, with a custom trainer and better UX flow for connecting devices and everything else.
Explorer is the app we are turning into VZfit for Quest. When it launches, Play will still be available for bikes only. But our plan after launch is to incorporate Play games that can also be played in standup mode into VZfit for Quest, as well as new virtual world and Streetview experiences.
The first step was to create a special vehicle and mode for standup exercise, which is now in the current Explorer build for you to try. If you are already signed into Explorer with your bike, you will need to press Y/B in startup to “connect new device”. From there you will be able to press Y/B again to enter standup mode. New users will have that option right away before they’ve registered a bike.
You will play standup mode with the premium or freemium membership associated with your bike. New users won’t be able to signup or try premium until they get a bike, for now. But we’ll be changing our registration flow for anyone to try VZfit for free without creating an account, and then allow anyone to signup for premium using your Oculus account for payment.
The first thing you’ll notice when selecting standup mode is it asks you to stand in a clear area before recenteribg to start the game. Make sure you have at least one meter space around you, and are holding both oculus hand controllers. We’ll be using the oculus hand controllers more for menus and recentering, but for now (and ever with bikes) we still have gaze-buttons.
When you start the game you’ll be standing on your new vehicle, called an “Exerboard”. It’s a futuristic cross between a Can-Am and Segway, that reacts to your head and hands motion to drive. It works with customizations, snapshots, multiplayer, and every other mode we have. In 3rd person you’ll even see yourself standing on it, animated by your head and hands.
Any kind of head and hands motion will start it moving. You can sway your arms like walking, or do squats and lunges, or mimic cross country skiing. We tuned it to similar amount of energy you out into biking for a workout. You head generates more speed than your hands because it takes more energy to move. And it matter how much your hands move relative to your head. Use both hands to get the most speed from them.
By default you play standup mode with autosteering. But you can still switch to Tilt steering to control yourself, which can feel more like a real walk, and which you’ll need to take your own turns in open rides. When you go back to bike mode you can also switch back to Lean steering if you prefer.
That’s it for now! We really hope you enjoy it as another way to get exercise and can help us make it and our store build the best it can be for launch early next year.
We’re excited that standup mode is available to demo in our latest build and would love your feedback on it.
Standup mode is being built for our upcoming Oculus store release, so that anyone with just a Quest can play and get great exercise from VZfit.
By the time we release on the store it will be our new full default mode, with a custom trainer and better UX flow for connecting devices and everything else.
Explorer is the app we are turning into VZfit for Quest. When it launches, Play will still be available for bikes only. But our plan after launch is to incorporate Play games that can also be played in standup mode into VZfit for Quest, as well as new virtual world and Streetview experiences.
The first step was to create a special vehicle and mode for standup exercise, which is now in the current Explorer build for you to try. If you are already signed into Explorer with your bike, you will need to press Y/B in startup to “connect new device”. From there you will be able to press Y/B again to enter standup mode. New users will have that option right away before they’ve registered a bike.
You will play standup mode with the premium or freemium membership associated with your bike. New users won’t be able to signup or try premium until they get a bike, for now. But we’ll be changing our registration flow for anyone to try VZfit for free without creating an account, and then allow anyone to signup for premium using your Oculus account for payment.
The first thing you’ll notice when selecting standup mode is it asks you to stand in a clear area before recenteribg to start the game. Make sure you have at least one meter space around you, and are holding both oculus hand controllers. We’ll be using the oculus hand controllers more for menus and recentering, but for now (and ever with bikes) we still have gaze-buttons.
When you start the game you’ll be standing on your new vehicle, called an “Exerboard”. It’s a futuristic cross between a Can-Am and Segway, that reacts to your head and hands motion to drive. It works with customizations, snapshots, multiplayer, and every other mode we have. In 3rd person you’ll even see yourself standing on it, animated by your head and hands.
Any kind of head and hands motion will start it moving. You can sway your arms like walking, or do squats and lunges, or mimic cross country skiing. We tuned it to similar amount of energy you out into biking for a workout. You head generates more speed than your hands because it takes more energy to move. And it matter how much your hands move relative to your head. Use both hands to get the most speed from them.
By default you play standup mode with autosteering. But you can still switch to Tilt steering to control yourself, which can feel more like a real walk, and which you’ll need to take your own turns in open rides. When you go back to bike mode you can also switch back to Lean steering if you prefer.
That’s it for now! We really hope you enjoy it as another way to get exercise and can help us make it and our store build the best it can be for launch early next year.