21/10/2023: UPLOADVR Squingle Receives New Mixed Reality Features Next Week On Quest App Lab

The mixed reality update also introduces Quest 3 enhancements. Speaking to UploadVR, creator Ben Outram explained that he "darkened the passthrough layer to bring out the action of the game" on Quest 2 but confirms this no longer made sense with Quest 3's improved passthrough "as it’s fun to be more connected to your real environment and lighting."

01/06/2023 Famitsu: VRパズルゲーム『Squingle -スクイングル-』開発Squingle StudiosとMyDearestが国内パブリッシングパートナー契約を締結

In a fantastic space, we will capture the amoeba-like maze. Maybe you can immerse yourself in a mysterious feeling that you can't experience in a normal puzzle game?

26/09/2022 FingerGuns: EGX 2022: The Indie Games Making A Compelling Case For VR’s Future

After a demo of the [Squingle], I was suitably impressed with every facet of the game. I would have been happy just to stand and play the game for the rest of the day. On the back of my experiences at EGX 2022 I’m starting to feel like, for the first time in a long time, that unmet promise of VR as a platform is starting to look convincing.

“Squingle is one of those games that you can look at and still not entirely understand what you’re actually seeing. But once you get your hands on the game all becomes clear: it’s a clever, trippy, and fun puzzle game that plays to VR’s spatial strengths. To put it simply, the goal of Squingle is to guide a pair of spinning balls through a pipe. Sounds easy enough, right? Well like any good puzzle game, Squingle starts simply enough but introduces more difficult concepts as you go—like a button that reverses the spin of the balls or one that changes the axis of the spin. And the pipe? It’s actually a bit more like a cosmic bowel that undulates with twists, turns, and parallel tunnels.”

“Dr. Benjamin Outram is your true modern day polymath. He’s a developer, scientist, technologist and artist from England. His latest VR game “Squingle” has received top star ratings and reviews with VRItalia saying it’s “one of the most fascinating and original things ever seen in the world of video games” and the game was selected as the “Best VR Game Nominee” at GDWC in 2021. Dr Bejamin is a super intelligent person with his professional and research interests including virtual reality, augmented reality, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, synthetic data, computer vision, liquid crystal and display technology, computer-human interfaces, telepresence, haptics and multimodal media technology. Dr. Benjamin has also completed a PhD in liquid crystal science at the University at Oxford, then learnt Japanese and completed a Tokyo based JSPS Post-doctoral Fellowship at Embodied Media with Keio (KAY-OH) Media Design in Virtual Reality and Media Technology.”

03/03/2021: Squingle Best VR Game 2021 Finalist at GDWC

“I’ve always been fascinated by speedrunning since I saw a Technology Assisted Speedrun (TAS) of Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES. There is a small but active speedrunning community in VR – notably doing speedruns of Superhot VR, Moss, and Boneworks. Our VR game, Squingle, lends itself to trying to play quickly, almost like a platformer, and as an indie game studio talking with the speedrunning community seemed like not only a natural fit to the game, but a great way to support our players.

“A speedrunner going by ‘BlitzVR’, who is famous for a viral IGN video ‘Moss (VR) Developers React to 43 Minute Speedrun’, got in touch with an interest to set a score on Squingle,” Outram continues. “Having asked the community what features might help them, the biggest request is for an ‘in-game-clock’. This sets the standard by not relying on external timing equipment to time your run, making it less friction to record a speed run. So based on Blitz’ interest, I went about to implement a speedrun timer.”

11/02/2022 RoadToVR: Psychedelic Puzzler ‘Squingle’ Shows Just Why Mixed Reality Trailers Are So Important

“Squingle, the psychedelic puzzle game for PC VR and Quest, is one of those “so out there, it’s difficult to explain” type of experiences.”

“Maybe it’s the undulating intestinal pathways, or the shimmering patterns that seem to change with every touch as you lead orbs around its increasingly circuitous routes. It’s so otherworldly and seemingly chaotic that you don’t implicitly know what to expect when looking at Squingle”

“If you’re curious to learn more about Squingle, indie developer Benjamin Outram has published it on Quest via App Lab and on PC VR via Steam.”

02/10/2021: FReality Podcast: Zimtok talks about Squingle as a year’s highlight

16/07/2021: UploadVR: Squingle Offers Psychedelic Puzzles For Quest & PC VR, Available Now

Great VR puzzle game.

The game features over 100 levels where you move an orb through a liquid-like substance floating in front of you.

15/07/2021: VRGameCritic: Squingle

91% “A one of a kind puzzle experience with wonderful visuals and music, as well as excellent gameplay”

9.1/10 - "Among the heavyweights like Rez, Thumper and Tetris Effect"

“One of the most fascinating and original things ever seen in the world of video games.”

“Level design that dwarfs some of the most important AAA studios.”

10/6/21 RoadToVR: 10 VR Games We Can’t Wait to Play During Steam Next Fest

We’ve rounded up our 10 most anticipated demos coming to Steam Next Fest

While Trippy Fingers, much like many of the other hand tracking apps we’ve tried, is more of a proof-of-concept, it’s perhaps the simplest one that feels the least buggy and very fun, probably due to its simplicity.

Trippy Fingers is the latest of many apps available on SideQuest that implement the new controller-free hand tracking SDK for a proof-of-concept or short demo game. Developed by Ben Outram, the app launches you straight into a void with some royalty-free music playing in the background. Opening your hands will shoot out a string of confetti-like particles, which change colors sporadically.

You can find links to download Trippy Fingers on Oculus Quest and Hololens 2 here.

2019/11/17 The Conversation: The main problem with virtual reality? It’s almost as humdrum as real life

Juggling on Pluto, anyone? Jindrich Adolf from the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics describes an otherworldly VR experience. Western Sydney University

2018/7/31 Vimeo: Crystal Vibes feat. Ott chosen as Staff Pick!

Also now available on SteamVR here!

2018/5/31 digital trends: Watching liquid crystals undulate under a microscope will melt your brain

"They are especially beautiful when they undergo phase transitions, where what you are seeing is the rapid self-assembly of matter between different flowing structures: a process that is reflected in the cells of every living organism since the origin of life."

The whole experience resembles the nerdiest acid trip since Steve Jobs took LSD.

2017/2/14 Japan society for the promotion of science: Science Dialogue Lecture at Nara Prefectural Seisho High School

2017/1/23 The Verge: I played Rez in a vibrating bodysuit at Sundance

2017/1/22 Quartz: This year’s Sundance Film Festival uses your body as the movie screen

“'Haptic technology came from motion-tracking development for Nintendo gaming systems,' Outram says. “My goal with Crystal Vibes and other haptic projects is about changing our perspectives in life…Can new media technologies help us transcend to something better than ourselves?'"

2017/1/20  TechCrunch: Sundance merges VR with real life through props, AR, and vibrating suits

"For a less frenetic but wildly psychedelic introduction to virtual synesthesia, Dr. Benjamin Outran [sic] designed Crystal Vibes. Colored orbs of every color sprawl out in all directions, like the The Matrix’s 'guns, lots of guns' construct scene mixed with the Yellow Submarine and a sizable dose of acid. You can squeeze and bat around jello bubbles that satisfyingly ripple through your suit."

2016/12/21 Mashable: Virtual Reality is invading film festivals, never mind the skimpy storytelling

"When radio came along, and television, and the internet, no one really knew or could predict how they were going to affect every aspect of society," Ben Outram, creator of Sound World, an interactive psychedelic world of geodesic shapes and music (see image, top of post), told Mashable. "I think VR is one of those — we’re in this stage now where no one really knows what it’s doing. But it represents a whole new level of an ability to communicate, an ability to empathize, there’s more information being sent, there’s more levels and channels of sensory perception and we can expect a whole multitude of ways that I think is going to change society just as much as the internet has."

2016/10/27 FORBES: THIS 'SYNETHESIA SUIT' ALLOWS VR USERS TO PHYSICALLY FEEL VIRTUAL WORLDS

The experience itself felt like I was traveling through a psychedelic kaleidoscope.

So. Crazy. So. Cool.

I’ve used a lot of VR, but can’t recall having such a transcendent experience since the first time I tried roomscale VR.