BoomBox, the VR rhythm game that features Pupa the cat, has launched in full release and will celebrate with a party for musicians, mappers, partners, and community members.
BoomBox comes to us from Cyberspline Games, an indie game development company based in Vancouver and many of the team members are actually alumni of the Vancouver Film School, a post-secondary entertainment arts school that trains students in immersive, production-oriented programs. Whether you’re looking for a fitness experience, an engaged community, or want to try designing your own maps, BoomBox makes it possible for community members to enjoy as well as create in the game, emphasizing a strong sense of teamwork and collaboration as well as individual achievements along one’s personal journey.
The Game
Varying difficulty levels make it possible to tailor fitness workouts to meet your needs. I played on the Oculus Quest 2, both seated and standing. It was playable both ways, but I was much more comfortable seated since that’s how I normally play VR games and it’s always great to find games that are accessible to seated players.
There are local and global leaderboards in the main room where you select songs and environments. It’s fun to compare your stats to others and such leaderboards can be great motivational tools as well!
BoomBox also features unlockable achievements and an editor that enables you to create maps.
Check out this video for a neat little view into the development journey of BoomBox by the Cyberspline dev team.
One thing BoomBox has that other VR rhythm games don’t is Pupa the cat, who accompanies you on the journey as you put drum skills to use and travel along pathways or roads in various maps. The cat is kind of adorable and while it might seem insignificant, having Pupa run along in front of you does provide an interesting sensation that you’re not quite alone in the immersive environment.
Songs
There’s a large selection of high-energy songs that are mapped at various difficulties. The are also 300+ DMCA-free songs, including Camellia, for community mapping. Many of the current songs are techno music, but as the community grows and the developers continue to make connections with musicians, the musical selection will expand.
“We are aiming to become the game that actively promotes music and helps talented musicians to be heard and connected with the community in an organic and friendly way,” says Ekaterina Nosova, BoomBox CEO & Partnerships Coordinator. “This is why we welcome all types of music, as long as the music can be used for drumming [and not just a background melody].”
If there are musicians interested in featuring their music in BoomBox, Nosova encourages them to reach out to her.
Recent additions to the BoomBox musicians team include DeBisco and DJKiske. Personally I like a lot of the music available, but these are especially enjoyable for an active, high energy drum workout. Click on the images below to hear some of these musicians’ BoomBox music.
If you want to chill out a bit, I’d recommend the songs from Alan Fullmer, which almost have a sort of ASMR effect. For those who aren’t familiar with autonomous sensory meridian response, it means the songs can give you give you literal chills as they creates a sort of sedative sensation. I’m very responsive to ASMR so I save music that provides this effect for my warm-up and cool-down since it’s seems a bit more relaxing to me.
Full Release Party
To celebrate the full release launch of BoomBox on both Steam and Oculus, Cyberspline is hosting a party Monday, June 14 and all community members are invited. If you’re interested in VR rhythm games or you’re already a BoomBox fan, this is a great opportunity to meet developers, tournament champions, mappers, musicians, and the community at large.
The party will begin at 5:00 pm PDT / 8 pm EDT on the BoomBox Twitch channel and then at 7:00 pm PDT, the party moves to the official BoomBox Discord server later in the evening.
- 5:00 pm PDT: Intro and Core Developers Q & A
- 5:30 pm PDT: Multiplayer with Developers and Tournament Champions
- 6:00 pm PDT: Musicians Q & A
- 6:30 pm PDT: Mapping Session with Atlas Rhythm [BoomBox OST mappers]
- 7:00 pm PDT: Discord Hangout (party moves to Discord)
During the Discord Hangout time, starting at 7 pm PDT / 10 pm EDT, there will be areas where people can chat, hangout and stream together.
https://youtu.be/mo6up12keWs?list=TLGGsTdodvoHll0xNDA2MjAyMQ
Join the Community
Engagement with other VR community members will help you make friends, stick with a fitness routine, and try new things like mapping. We encourage you to attend the Full Release Party, but even if you miss tonight’s party, download the game and reach out to the BoomBox community on social media.
The game is currently available in full release on Steam and will soon be available in full release on the Oculus App Lab store. (Note: BoomBox is available on the App Lab store, but this is an older version without all the full release features. The full version of BoomBox through Oculus should be on the App Lab store within two weeks.)
- Purchase on Steam – $19.99 USD
- Purchase on Oculus App Lab – $12.99 USD (older version)
BoomBox supports all major headsets, including Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality, and the Oculus Quest headsets.