A totally unnecessary contraption is just a headset away when ‘Ruberg’ leaves pre-alpha later this year.
If campy 80’s cinema has taught us anything, it’s that every suburban family has at least one genius child building overly complex machinery designed to perform painfully-basic tasks. Often referred to as Rube Goldberg Machines, these convoluted devices use chain reactions to accomplish incredibly simple tasks – which means quite a bit of clean-up for very little pay-off.
Thankfully there’s Ruberg, an upcoming sandbox game that does away with all the hassle of real world contraption building by bringing that same unnecessarily complicated experience to VR.
Developed by Metanaut, Ruberg provides users with 27 unique gadgets in which to build their dream structures. Using an “arm swing” locomotion system, you’ll be able to move around your scene as you clear the room of objects and glue gadgets onto walls and various furniture to bring your vision to life. You’re also free to access a pre-built Rube Goldberg Machine in which to mess around with and perhaps gain some inspiration.
All of your available tools and gadgets are catalogued neatly within the experience via web browser-like windows. This convenient and easy-to-use organizational system allows for a painless, stress-free creative environment in which to focus entirely on the building.
Metanaut has also teased a variety of upcoming features such as the scaling of gadgets, gadget-to-gadget glueing, and undo & redo options. You’ll also have the chance to eventually access and test other users devices, as well as upload and share your own via the Steam Workshop.
Ruberg is scheduled to release on the HTC Vive via Steam later this year, although users can download and test a free pre-alpha version right now over at metanaut.itch.io. Ruberg recently took 1st place in the VanVR Experience Contest.
So if you’ve ever wondered how difficult it is to build the anti-pesto alarm from Wallace & Gromit, or the automatic mailbox from Honey I Shrunk The Kids, maybe try giving it a shot in VR before you go destroying your entire neighborhood. Just a thought!
Image Credit: Metanaut
