MAGE uses a fully custom engine to drive 120 FPS physics with dynamic shadows and “hundreds of high fidelity dynamic props” on Quest 3 & Quest 3S.
The vast majority of standalone VR games use Unity, Unreal Engine, or Godot. While these engines significantly reduce the time, effort, and expertise needed to make a game, their generalized scope can make it difficult for developers to squeeze out the best possible performance.
“We feel that no game has truly taken advantage of the power of standalone VR hardware. Nothing ruins our immersion more than laggy games barely hitting 72Hz, with blurry visuals, and spongey physics,” Charlie Shenton, the engine programmer for MAGE tells UploadVR.
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To truly take advantage of the XR2 Gen 2 chipset in Meta’s latest headsets, Shenton built his own engine and physics solver, specifically designed for standalone VR. “No Godot/Unity/Unreal, just Micron, our in-house engine,” he explains.
He says MAGE has “zero lag or loading screens” and runs at 120 FPS despite featuring dynamic lighting, shadows, magic effects, a relatively high render resolution, and “hundreds of high fidelity dynamic physics props”.
Further, he says his Micron engine can build, package, and deploy to Quest in just 10 seconds, enabling a much faster iteration time than existing engines.
MAGE is available in early access on Quest for $20. The game currently gives you 12 spells to play with, in addition to “explosive combos” possible when dual-wielding magic.
Between now and full release, Shenton claims his physics solver will “become many times as powerful as it is now”, enabling even more dynamic physics objects to interact at once.
