Steam Workshop is Valve’s open marketplace for environmental additions and asset packs to SteamVR Home, the VR landing spot for users who play games through SteamVR. Now counted among Valve’s many self-built Home environments is a charming little alien dairy farm that ostensibly was created to spark the imaginations of casual users and developers alike.

Dubbed the ‘Gulping Goat’, the fully-roboticized and automated space farm is now available for exploration in SteamVR Home. The map includes an asset pack with several of the items found in Gulping Goat, including a fun mix of space and farm-themed props, and sounds.

Teleporting around the farm, it strikes me again just how capable Valve has become as a VR studio in its own right. With many areas to explore and a few little robot NPCs going about their jobs, it’s easy to see the little farm becoming the jumping off point for a grand adventure, or even a humble farm simulator. Although even just as a showpiece for Valve artists’ talent, it’s an impressive little addition to SteamVR Home all on its own.

 

To date, Valve has produced only a few larger-scale VR creations, including The Lab and a VR viewer for Dota 2We’re still waiting on the company’s promised three full VR games, which was confirmed to still be in production by HTC’s Dan O’Brien late last year.

While not a monolithic creation (it’s a large, but singular area), Gulping Goat is another great example of the sort of curious, well-realized set pieces and virtual objects the studio is capable of.

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For more info on how to subscribe to Workshop homes and assets, check out Valve’s the guide here.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Luke

    can I speak with the robot on the right?

    • Darshan

      ha ha ha… Exacly my wish .. Robot got to be as spontaneous as CIRI.( I wish i could say Cortana .. But Cortana you knew it,didn’t you!)

  • ale bro

    I struggle to see the point of SteamVR home – it really adds nothing to my VR experience

    • Rob H

      As someone who plays a lot with friends, home is a great place to just mess around with those already connected while you’re waiting for the additional members to join or come online before you start playing something. Solo I imagine I probably wouldn’t use it much as I’d just want to go straight into my games, but the social aspects it was designed for are absolutely spot on.

      • Darshan

        But where is that “Something” who is going to develop it for Steam VR,

        • Rob H

          Is this meant to make any kind of sense?

          • Darshan

            by Something i meant a compelling multi player game on VIVE platform..So far nothing of such magnitude with VIVE.

          • Rob H

            So you actually think what you wrote makes sense or relevant to my comment you replied to??? I guess you’re not a native English speaker then?

          • Darshan

            I have clarified.

          • Rob H

            You’re original statement makes no sense and your clarification doesn’t at all describe anything like what your statement says either, not that your “clarification” has any relevance to my comment either, or the one i even replied to!

          • Ellie 187

            Apparently looking at Darshans posts, its just an anti-Valve troll….. kind of pathetic, as i Don’t see anyone trolling the Rift who owns a Vive.

  • jasonmartino

    Can we just get the 3 games and knuckles instead of Farmville?

    • Raphael

      Yes, the 3 games are scheduled to release over a 30 year period. First one (the card trading game) is coming first quarter 2022. Unless of course the development team (Jack Le Bunn) disappears.

      • kuhpunkt

        I already told you to please be kind!

        • Raphael

          OK, I will try harder. But really I have no faith in Valve releasing 3 VR games. I reached the conclusion even before Vive shipped that Valve was kind of the weak link of the Vive. Yes it’s Valve designed hardware (oculus borrowed from), but the issue is that Valve has pretty much abandoned game development.

          I know, they make noises every once in a while that they have 3 VR games in development or more recently that they are getting back to game development. When you realise the unstructured system they have in place where developers are free to wander around the Valve HQ and pick and choose what they develop? That’s why there’s no continuation of Half Life and no VR games since Vive launch. Let’s put that in perspective… Valve launched Vive with NO games! Just a tech demo.

          • Darshan

            Where is that Valve Console doomed “Steam Machine” no where to be found… Who uses it BTW? Valve is “leopard to start and sloth in execution” Of course add insult to injury their vision less management which could not decide what to prioritize.

          • Sandy Wich

            To be fair steam machine is just a pc with SteamOS preinstalled for ease of access.

            Don’t see how them adding a more accessible option was a bad thing?

            Plenty of people have them and are happy. Why does everything have to sell like a cellphone these days in order to be not laughed at?

            Shouldn’t something being, “good”, in of itself carry some weight?

          • Darshan

            No its not babbling…

            Please see a reputed site article below..

            https://www.slashgear.com/how-the-steam-machines-failed-04525959/

            Agree with all logical points you cited, still you too be agree Valve start things with flair and lot of high hopes brewing in gamers, than suddenly become silent, Din’t you noticed?

          • Ellie 187

            Sandy Wich is correct… Steam machine are nothing but a PC under the hood.. and if one wanted to, they can just install the Steam OS on their own PC.

            Its a Linux variant… and it wasn’t a one size fits all like a garbage console (xbone/ps4).. Manufacturers could make / spec out whatever they wished.

            I had the OS installed on my both my laptop and desktop… games did have a higher framerate for me in SteamOS

          • Ellie 187

            “Valve launched Vive with NO games! Just a tech demo.”

            Interesting theory … the only problem with that is HTC launched Vive…. Valve designed it, but it isn’t their product. Valve does not receive money from Vive sales… Valve makes money on the sale of VR software.

            and the Lab isn’t the only game / tech demo Valve released for VR… Portal VR is there and its free if you own Portal 2 pancake.

          • Raphael

            Good point. Yes, HTC not valve. Valve should have played a much bigger role in the launch with software though since it was their hardware design. Portal VR wasn’t an official game. It was a user mod that didn’t even have portal gameplay! It’s a community mod. Valve previously modded HL2 and TF2, both of which I played on the DK2 before they killed them.

  • nasprin

    Now they only have to release two card games in the Half-Life Universe, a Team Fortress themed browser-farming simulator, a hardware box to synch your VHS Player with steam over bluetooth and a retro-futuristic looking toaster, and we will finally forget they were ever capable of making real games at all.

  • Raphael

    Vive wand firmware update today.

  • DC680

    Hurray! I was hoping for another tech demo. Not enough of those have been made to really showcase what VR is capable of.

    • Sandy Wich

      It’s not a tech demo

  • Darshan

    Yes there is hardly dobubt “The Lab” shows peak of what can be done with VIVE but then .. They didn’t care who is doing what with their hardware.. See the Oculus Studios … I would bet if you tried Lone Echo and if there is no other way on earth to play it. You will buy oculus rift in a heart beat if you are out to buy a VR hmd.

    Why no such must compelling games on VIVE?

  • iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

    Not a fan of the microcrap and shitbox-laden TF2. And that crap above looks like a TF2 map.

  • I was going to ask why anyone would care about another Steam Home environment, but it looks like… *EVERYONE* beat me to it.

    95% of all gaming I do nowadays is just me and my buddy in VR, and we still have yet to hang out in each other’s rooms for even a second. The only rooms we’ve ever shared are the sweet structures we’ve build in The Forest.

  • PJ

    Nobody cares, just get on with those 3 VR titles Valve

  • It seems beautiful… but of course as the other people, I would like something more from Valve…

  • mirak

    This is totally useless.