Valve Releases "Destinations" VR Workshop

Omnomnick

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While definitely not a "game" by any traditional definition, Valve's latest foray into the virtual reality software space is certainly an interesting new release. Known as "Destinations", this free, VR-only piece of software allows Steam users to create, share, and explore 3D environments similar to the photogrammetry experiments highlighted in "The Lab". In fact, the SDK included alongside Destinations is actually a slightly modified version of the Source 2 editor used to create custom games within Dota 2, and was reportedly heavily involved in the development of Valve's own 3D environments.

editor.jpg destination1.jpg destination2.jpg

Like the Dota 2 Workshop Tools, Destinations is designed to be easy to use, with full Steam Workshop integration, a relatively simple to use interface, and plenty of documentation over on the Valve Developer Wiki. As shown in the screenshots, Destinations supports the same effective blink system incorporated into The Lab, making it easy to travel around environments or between blink spots.

Although Valve have mainly focused on creating photogrammatic environments so far, with areas in Iceland, Italy, and Washington all being highlighted in The Lab, users are free to create whatever kind of areas they like - be it real or virtual. Entity support also allows the importing of custom models and assets into any of these levels, with P-Body's appearance at Valve HQ back in 2015 standing as a pretty good example of future possibilities.

valve-roomscan-1.jpg
Those of you looking to get started playing around with Destinations or its SDK can download it for free over on the Steam Store. Naturally, you'll need either an HTC Vive or an Oculus Rift to take part!
 
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Looking forward to having some time to play with this. Looks like I can finally put my rusty Hammer skills to use!
 
Looking forward to having some time to play with this. Looks like I can finally put my rusty Hammer skills to use!
Like wise. I may port an old ZM map or two.
 
Quick and dirty photogrammetry test:

Although this wasn't in Destinations, I threw it into Unity for testing.
 
Quick and dirty photogrammetry test:

Although this wasn't in Destinations, I threw it into Unity for testing.
I really need to try out Destinations myself next month when I get my Vive up and running again.
 
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