Several years ago, River Relaxation VR was released on Steam to provide an outlet for users to enjoy a calming, visually appealing experience. In the years that followed, new headsets have entered into circulation and the visual and immersive qualities of VR simulations has reached incredible new levels. River Relaxation VR however has not kept up with these new technologies and quality bars, nor has it had any new content added to it these past few years.

It has thus been decided to remove River Relaxation VR from the store for these specific reasons:

• In its current form, it does not meet the minimum bar of quality that I believe modern VR
  simulations being distributed on the Steam platform should have.
  
• There is no guarantee of compatibility with any VR headset released in the recent past.
  
• It is no longer in development or being actively supported, and there are no plans to change that.

I appreciate the attention the app did get for its time; but it is time to move on and not clutter the Steam store with low quality "oldware" that is untested on new hardware or new operating systems.


Yes. The simulation will remain in your Steam library. You may continue to download, install, and launch it. The Steam Community will also remain visible and accessible for you to post in.


Due to serious compatibility issues with the Vive Headset, development has indefinitely been postponed. I hope to revive it someday...and if I do, I also hope to have other VR developers help me figure out why the simulation, despite being based on a popular game engine, behaves so radically different between the Oculus and Vive headsets.

In early 2021 the creator of River Relaxation VR plans on releasing a new VR experience called Beach Relaxation VR. It is an escape to your own private island in virtual reality where you can relax, paint and build sandcastles from the comfort of home.

Listen to the soothing waves from your beach chair as you watch the seagulls play near the water. Lie in a hammock as the palm trees wave in the gentle ocean breeze. Paint a beautiful sunset on a canvas that you can take anywhere with you. Build a sand castle, or even your own little sand house on the beach that will never be ruined by an oncoming wave. Gaze at the moon and the stars from a hidden tropical enclave.

In exchange for a few hours of your valuable time, you will receive a FREE beta key to immerse yourself in the experience for as long as you like. If your feedback is detailed and helpful, you may also receive a key for the full version after it's released!

To apply for your FREE beta key, all you have to do is go to the beta key giveaway portal and submit your e-mail address. You should receive your beta key within 24 hours.

After that, post your feedback and bug reports on the Beach Relaxation VR Discussions Board.

So what are you waiting for? Join the Beach Relaxation VR beta and send us your feedback today!

Hurry, keys are limited and we may quickly run out!

Thanks in no small part to the wonderful feedback from the Steam community who purchased it in Early Access, River Relaxation is about to go into full release mode!

It is however with some regret that I STILL have not been able to pin down that bug where sometimes looking at a configuration soda can does nothing. As soon as I figure out the steps to duplicate it, it's only a matter of time before I fix it.

The plan is to take the app out of Early Access this Friday night and apply a discount on it for a very short time before the price goes up to a level higher than it was on Early Access.

So if you have any friends who have RRVR in their wishlist or are sitting on the fence undecided on buying it, let them know!

Today a minor patch was released with these improvements:

• When the kayak reaches the end of the river, it stops for one minute and then restarts at the beginning of the river.
  
• Fixed issue where the little white dot wouldn't appear on the big main menu buttons.

I thought about having the simulation return to the main menu after finishing, but based on user feedback I decided it would be more convenient to just repeat the river.

Remember, you can always quit the simulation immediately by pressing the Escape key, or looking at the "Exit" soda can in the kayak's cooler.

Meanwhile I'm still trying to duplicate the neverending bug where sometimes looking at the soda cans does not bring up their corresponding menu options!

It's the new year, and with it comes a big surprise change I promised everyone:


That's right! From the main menu you can now toggle between morning and night by looking at the new button on the top right corner of the main menu sign. Night mode features include:

• Moon and stars
  
• Moonlit foliage
  
• Cicadas and crickets
  
• Fireflies

Here's the best part: Night mode comes with the simulation at no extra charge. No DLC! No fees! I hope you all enjoy it.


Two things. First, I'm going to make it so when you reach the end of the river, the simulation will return you to the main menu after a minute. Second, I still have that pesky bug where you can't change configuration settings to chase down.

Remember: If you can't leave the game by looking at the Exit soda can in the cooler, you can always press the Escape key and it will instantly shut the game down.

Aside from bug fixes this will be the latest update for a little while. Changes are:

• The kayak now "cuts" through the water leaving a thin trail
  
• Reduced the breeze volume by another 20%
  
• The "Cancel out of the Exit Menu" button is now a checkmark instead of a confusing round arrow
  
• The second waterfall height has been cut in half
  
• The turn before the second waterfall has been eased up

Before I take this out of Early Access there are two more things I'd like to do.

First is do lower the ground level in the last quarter of the map because it just doesn't look right to me.

The second is a big feature which I'm saving for a surprise :)

As always, your feedback is welcome!

It's been a while, but a new update is available with the following changes:

• New water material: Should look a little less flat, less transparent, have some sparkling near where the sun is and discretely rise and fall periodically.
  
• Fixed issue where sounds would abruptly stop
  
• Reduced master breeze background audio volume
  
• Fixed an issue with kayak turning where the user is nearly thrown into a tree branch and then steered away hard
  
• Added foliage in some bare spots

I'd like to get some feedback on the water. I think it's better than before but not ideal.

In the next update I'd like to try to fix the bug where you can't interact with the menu cans, make more water improvements, patch up more barren, ugly coastal spots and lower the ground level in the last quarter of the river.

This is a big yet little update with the following changes:

• The underlying engine upgrade has been updated to improve performance
  
• Removed "mist" behind the first waterfall
  
• Increased kayak turn speed so as not to drift so much
  
• Made the kayak sail in a more centered path between the coasts in some areas

The "big" part corresponds to the engine itself. I just upgraded the app from Unreal Engine 4.19 to Unreal Engine 4.20 to get performance improvements. It works fine for me but engine upgrades are always big under the hood, so if this suddenly stops working for anyone I need to know ASAP.

After upgrading the engine I noticed the mist cloud that existed behind the first waterfall encounter about two minutes in the trip looked really bad, so I took it out entirely since it otherwise added very little value to the experience.

Further testing showed some problems with the kayak floating where it didn't belong in certain turns. I fixed the particularly bad ones and I plan to do more in the next update.

Furthermore I plan to reach out to an artist to help me make the water look better while still keeping the app running very smoothly.

This update has the following changes:

• The kayak no longer turns on a dime, but rather glides and slightly tilts toward the predetermined path
  
• The kayak now slightly bobs up and down
  
• The ripples are slightly more visible and the water slightly less transparent

The changes are designed to be subtle but still experience enhancing.

I think the water is still too transparent, but if I make it more solid then it turns into an ugly gravy textured flow. It will be a real challenge to improve the water to look more realistic without hurting the frame rate, but I'll see what I can do.

A new update has been submitted with the following changes:

• Floating rocks have been grounded
  
• Audio "dead zone" has been populated with sparse bird song to reflect sparse trees
  
• Breeze base volume has been increased by 50%
  
• There are now four distinct bird flock chatter sound areas along the river rather than just one
  
• Additional leaves no longer fall into the river and disappear; but rather drift past the river or otherwise fall elsewhere out of sight

Don't forget to post suggestions and bug reports in the Discussions board!

Also subscribe to my Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/drgndeveloper to watch real-time development when I'm online!