Space Rocks (WebXR)

Slow down, Space Pirate! Before you can blast asteroids out of orbit you need to:

Upgrade to a Web browser that supports WebGL, like the latest version of Firefox, Chromium, or Edge.

Upgrade to a Web browser that supports the WebVR API, like the latest version of Firefox, Chromium, or Edge.

Attach a virtual reality headset to your computer, such as an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Windows Mixed Reality device.

Upgrade to a virtual reality headset that tracks both position and orientation, such as an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Windows Mixed Reality device.

High score: 0

Enter VR

Put on headset

Escape through space on stolen plasma engines while slinging photon bolts at deadly asteroids. How many can you blow apart? Put on your virtual reality headset and pick up your hand controllers. You’ll need them if you want to survive.

Instructions

Pull your trigger to sling photon bolts. And watch out for that accumulated recoil.

Press your side grips to rev your plasma engines. Careful: you may be going faster than you think. (And slowing down takes some talent.)

Requirements

You’ll need a position-tracking virtual reality rig with two hand controllers, and a WebVR-capable browser. Right now in 2017 the most expensive part is the computer needed to run a room-scale VR rig, but take heart—by 2022 all of this hardware will be much cheaper. And the Web will still be free. In the meantime here’s what Space Rocks is tuned to run on:

	Oculus	Vive	Win MR
Firefox			×
Chrome	×		×
Edge	×	×

Colophon

Space Rocks is a WebVR experiment created by me, Stewart Smith, and brought to you by Moar Technologies Corp, a consultancy for emerging technology and strategy in Brooklyn, New York. Built with VRController for Three.js. Display typeface: Big Noodle Titling by James Arboghast for Sentinel Type. Body typeface: Roboto by Christian Robertson for Google.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped to make WebVR possible, from the hardware teams to the browser teams, to the framework developers, and everyone in between. And a very special thanks to Lyle, Ed, Dominic, and whoever else had a hand in making Atari’s Asteroids (1979) which was a childhood favorite of mine and an obvious influence here.