Valve will be releasing their free virtual reality game and experience builder called "Desitnations" to push the development of VR worlds even further for the HTC Vive headset with their SteamVR platform.
Aspiring developers of VR experiences will be able to build their own game through Valve's Destination toolkit. What is more interesting is that both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift will benefit from the software.
Users can develop their games to work on both VR headsets. This would help push the development of VR games on both sides so that more people would, in turn, be attracted to the aspect of buying the still expensive headsets out in the market.
Unfortunately, the Valve Destination VR creation toolkit is only available for the PC. The Sony PlayStation VR could probably have fewer titles when it finally launches later this year.
Since the Oculus Rift will be supported by Valve's toolkit as well, the Vive controller will not be the only the supported input. Developers will also be able to use the Xbox gamepads as the main input for their VR games, Road to VR has learned.
Inside the Destinations toolkit is the Source 2 engine tool set that is used by Valve. Beginners at the development of VR experiences will be given a sample map that they can copy and modify freely.
Valve's Destinations VR creation toolkit will be available on Steam through the Early Access in beta form, Gamasutra reported. It will continue to be free even after it is not part of the Early Access program any more.
"Content creators will be able to use the Source 2 game engine, the same engine that Valve uses to create its own games and experiences, to create and share their own worlds with the VR community using the Destinations Workshop," said Valve.
The VR industry has started off as an expensive investment for interested gamers because of the high PC rig requirements. However, the recent $380 GTX 1070 from NVIDIA and the $200 Radeon RX 480 from AMD can now make VR more affordable.
Valve's Destination VR creation toolkit is free to use for everyone. It includes the Source 2 tool set and some examples created with photogrammetry.