Nvidia releases mod kit for its zany VR Funhouse game

Nvidia‘s first game ever, the virtual reality experience dubbed VR Funhouse, has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since its release in July. And now the graphics chip maker is following that up with the release of a new mod kit and five new mods for VR Funhouse.

Victoria Rege, product lead for VR Funhouse, said in a press briefing that the free game is meant to show how to pull off a technically sophisticated VR game with realistic physics. As such, Nvidia wants the game community to learn from the free Steam game and go on to create more modifications of the game that highlight new tools, lessons, and experiences.

The mod kit was made by a team of modders led by Dain Johnson, producer of VR Funhouse. Johnson has a long history of making mods going back to Battlefield 1942.

“This is the world’s most advanced VR game,” said Rege. “What started as a tech demo, became a full VR game and experience. There are so many challenges in gaming, like simulation of hair, water, fire. They are hard to do in a game and even in filmmaking.”

In a blog post, Rege confessed that her summer job was running the clown balloon water-gun game at the boardwalk on the Jersey Shore. That’s one of the mini games in VR Funhouse, which is a collection of carnival activities in virtual reality.

Johnson said that VR Funhouse users can find the mods on Steam Workshop. They can subscribe to the mods and play with them, and they can also get Nvidia’s VR Funhouse mod kit. The source code will be available on Github. The mods are sure to be hilarious, as one of them substitutes a Tommy Gun for a pistol in the shooting gallery mini game.

“We’re excited with what the community will come up with,” Johnson said.