Recently an incredibly talented VR researcher and software developer based in Utah University took on the arduous task. Project Stardust: X-Wing VR is the idea that was birth from Dylan Stout, who used his autumn term in 2018 developing the VR, which became a sort of obsession for him.
However, over time with the help of a few friends, he was able to create the VR into a full PV VR experience of the 1983 Star Wars arcade game. This particular one has Luke Skywalker still in his X-Wing with Red 5 as he plans to alienate the Death Star when the Battle of Yavin.
The video below shows a fan playing through the latest builds of the game, which features some dogfighting in space, Trench Run, and, of course, turret clearing over the surface of the Death Star. The fan also creates a bizarre bug that slams X-Wings into reverse at a pivotal moment.
Looking at it and knowing it was fan-made makes Project Stardust quite the achievement. The fan notes, ‘not only does it look nice, the graphics are better than most VR games I’ve had to pay for, and it’s also incredibly fun to play.’ The fan goes on to say, ‘the feel of the 1977 movie is caught and represented properly in the game, and as I flew through Death Star trench, it was quite enough to get me some goosebumps and a multiple adrenaline rushes.’
The fan continued saying, ‘it felt like a childhood dream come true, I was the hero in Star Wars, seeing everything through Luke’s lenses. At certain intervals, the music combined the feel of flight, and the thrill of the dogfighting got me filled with joy.’
The point that this could be pulled through by just a team of fans with little to no budget goes to show the power and potential of VR as an alternative to create or expand cinematic experiences
However, the fan noticed some bottlenecks in the VR experience. For example, he noticed the aiming was quite stiff when compared to that of Rogue One: VR Mission and one could barely see the enemy Tie-fighters as they could easily be taken out by the X-Wing’s nose cone. Also, he noted the lack of crucial weapons, and he could only fire lasers without lock-on for easy target tracking. Finally, he also experienced bottlenecks in transitioning between sections, as shown in the video above. Hopefully, Dylan and his team would fix those bugs stampeding the VR experience.
For those looking to try Project Stardust, can download the latest version from Dylan’s website (saltyhash[.]org/2019/08/24/project-stardust-x-wing-vr), but looking at his development roadmap, the final build would be deployed around May 4th. Also, Dylan plans to add Survival game mode and HOTAS support, light speed jumping, Proton torpedos, and a host of different Rebel and Imperial ships.
Hopefully, Disney encourages and supports Dylan so he can continue his project because the Force is quite strong in him, and it’s the inspiration behind the complete Star Wars VR game. Imagine how interesting a VR reboot of the old Star Wars: X-Wing games would turn out! Thumbs up to Dylan, continue the great work. The Force is with you!
