Rec Room (video Game)

''Rec Room'' is a 2016 virtual reality massively multiplayer online game with an integrated game creation system. It is currently available on Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PS VR, Meta Quest 2, Oculus Quest, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest Pro, Oculus Rift, Pico 4, iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch.

Gameplay

''Rec Room'' centers around users voluntarily accessing various in-game experiences (referred to as "rooms") created by Rec Room Inc. (referred to as "Rec Room Originals"), as well as custom rooms created by players. These rooms can be accessed using in-game menus, teleports found in other rooms (referred to as "room doors"), as well as through invitations sent by other users.

Virtual reality

''Rec Room'' can optionally be played on a virtual reality headset, specifically using SteamVR, virtual reality headsets on Meta Quest, Pico 4, and PlayStation VR (PSVR2 not supported). In virtual reality mode, the game uses full 3D motion via the motion capture system of a virtual reality headset and two handheld motion controllers, which are required to pick up and handle objects in the game world, including balls, weapons, construction tools, and other objects. Players can explore the space around them within the confines of their physical floor space while roaming further by using the controller buttons to teleport a short distance, with minimal to no virtual reality sickness. A “walking” mode enables players to move continuously rather than teleporting, although this poses a higher risk of motion sickness.

Social interaction

Throughout rooms, players can encounter and interact with other players in real time through voice and text chat, being represented by their avatar. Players can choose to friend, invite, mute, block, or report other players, as well as "cheer" them for various reasons (equivalent to a "like" on most social media platforms), or form a party with other players to travel between rooms together. As players engage with ''Rec Room'', they gradually earn experience, and eventually obtain an additional level on their account, with an indicator displayed by their username showing how many levels they've earned so far, and by extension, an indication of the age of their account.

User generated content

When creating rooms, players can use the in-game "Maker Pen", a tool resembling a hot glue gun, that can be used to draw shapes in 3D. Players can also code in Circuits V1 and Circuits V2, ''Rec Room'''s visual programming language. Rec Room announced a partnership with Unity for Rec Room Studio, which allows certain users to use Unity to create more advanced rooms.

Circuits V1

When Rec Room was first released, there was no clear creation system. All games were made by the developer team and released as Rec Room Originals. Their first attempt at a creation system was the sandbox machine, a machine which was a stationary object with a simple UI in order to spawn objects such as props and a rudimentary "Maker Pen" system to build. This early version of the Maker Pen featured very few tools and functions compared to today.

When the actual "Maker Pen" was introduced into the game, a system of coding was also introduced. This system was developed mainly from 2018 to 2021, and worked with a system of wires. In the code, events ran constantly. An integer value was assigned to each event which could be changed by wiring, and when an event occurred, an integer would send to the next chip.

As a chip would detect a change in integer value at the input, it would be able to send output to the next chip. Players were assigned player IDs, which served as the primary form of integer input in order to keep track of players. Circuits V1 are not updated anymore (see Circuits V2)

Circuits V2

In 2021, Rec Room introduced a more complex version of the circuit system, dubbed Circuits V2. Circuits V2 used a very different style of circuits than Circuits V1. Aesthetically, the plain black chips of Circuits V1 were replaced by gray rectangular chips with ports on either side. Each port represented a different kind of input or output.

The most common port colors in the creation system included an orange triangular port, representing an event or input event. A blue rectangular port represented a floating-point and a green port an integer value. A purple rectangular port would represent a string, or text input.

When an event would be triggered, the input ports which have code connected to that event would have their data updated, either locally or globally. The code would then be accessible as an output connectable to another input.

Amongst the most major differences between the two types of circuits is actual functionality. Circuits V1 was a more simple coding system, while Circuits V2 had more capabilities and capacities. Circuits V2 is currently being worked upon and has no known plans to be deprecated.

Rec Room Studio

Amongst Rec Room's most major creation systems is Rec Room Studio. Rec Room Studio was a partnership between Rec Room and game engine Unity in order to bring professional-level tools into Rec Room creation. Rec Room Circuits V2 circuits have been created to accommodate Rec Room Studio.

Rec Room Studio's access has been gradually rolled out since 2023, with it at first only being accessible to handpicked creators before gradually being rolled out to everybody who meets the following criteria as of April 2025:
* Level 20 or Above
* No Negative Moderation Actions in the Past 90 Days

Rec Room Studio works so that an in-game "room" could be opened up as a scene within unity. It would then be editable with unity tools, with prefabs and other components being importable. The game could then be uploaded to Rec Room and published provided it passes AI moderation.

Rooms 2.0

Rooms 2.0 is the default creation mode in Rec Room. Despite it having formerly having been Rooms 1.0, a simpler version of the building system, Rooms 2.0 has many more useful features which are often used in creation. Amongst the most important features of Rooms 2.0 is hierarchical building. This structures building in a hierarchy, so that one component, called a "container", could be placed into another.

Both Rec Room Studio and Circuits V2 are supported in Rooms 2.0, but Circuits V1 and other features which were parts of Rooms 1.0, such as certain props, are not available.

Creative programs

Rec Room also has a large variety of creative programs which are supported in-game and on its discord server in order to boost levels of creativity. One of these are creative classes. A player could apply to teach a class, and if accepted, they are allowed to create a classroom and allow students to enlist.

Maker pen classes could teach many subjects, but the most common are Rooms 2.0, building, circuiteering, and Rec Room Studio. Amongst the incentives for teaching a class include in-game gowns, in purple for 10 hours, orange for 20, and green for 30. Taking a class could lead to the receiving of an in-game graduation gown.

Workshops are also led in Rec Room. To become a workshop host, application is necessary. Workshops are creative events where creators could join and free-create in themes led by the host. Workshop hosts could gain maker pens from leading a workshop.

Creative events led by staff also occur. The two most prominent are the Rec Room Gallery and the Maker Pen Class Q&A. The Rec Room Gallery is hosted every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern Standard Time, and features submitted inventions, or creations, by creators. The Maker Pen Class Q&A is much akin to a workshop and occurs on Fridays and Sundays, although to create in it prior experience is necessary.

Items and currency

''Rec Room's'' in-game currency, Tokens, can be earned throughout rooms created by Rec Room (Paintball, Laser Tag, Etc), purchased using real money, or earned by subscribing to Rec Room Plus (stylized as Rec Room+), which grants several benefits, including the ability to make custom shirts, sell user-generated content (also known as inventions), a 10% discount on all things purchasable with tokens (excluding items in rooms), access to the Season Pass Plus, the ability to use Maker AI in dorm rooms, a special name tag and ability to add emojis to name, a bot called Roomie AI you can access through your inventory and can talk to (upcoming), and doubles rewards earned in RROs (Rec Room Originals). Tokens that are earned by selling items can be exchanged for real money.

Development

Seattle-based development studio Rec Room Inc. (formerly Against Gravity Corp) was co-founded in April 2016 by Nicholas Fajt, Cameron Brown , Dan Kroymann, Bilal Orhan, Josh Wehrly, SallyBellyJessica, and John Bevis. Prior to the company's founding, CEO Fajt worked as a program manager on the HoloLens team at Microsoft. Kroymann worked on the same team after working on the Xbox team. CCO Brown worked as the creative director of HoloLens.

In 2016 and early 2017, the company raised $5 million in funding for the development of ''Rec Room'' and its community. According to Fajt, the company will keep the game free to download.

In June 2019, Rec Room Inc. announced that the company raised an additional $24 million over two rounds of funding. In December 2020, Rec Room Inc. announced an additional $20 million in funding.

In March 2021, Rec Room Inc. announced another funding round of $100 million with a valuation of $1.25 billion leading to its unicorn status. In December 2021, Rec Room Inc. announced that they raised $145 million during another funding round, bringing the studio's value up to $3.5 billion.

Music

Most of the music heard in ''Rec Room Originals'' were composed by creative director Cameron Brown, whose in-game username is "gribbly".

Reception

Dan Ackerman, writing for '' CNET'', described ''Rec Room'' as VR's "killer app". In January 2017, ''Ars Technica'' reported that trolling and harassment were major issues for ''Rec Room''. In June 2017, ''MIT Technology Review'' contributor Rachel Metz described it as a great example of VR's potential for social interaction while criticizing its underdeveloped anti-abuse features. Filmmaker Joyce Wong described ''Rec Room'' as her choice of "most interesting piece of art in 2017".

References

External links

Official website

Official community website

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