Note, this post describes Hypershack version 0.1. Version 0.2 is pretty different.

This post explains how to run hypershack with or without selected VR hardware. Thorough the tutorial it is assumed that the reader is familiar with rudimentary four-dimensional objects like 5-cells and tesseracts. If you are not familiar with these, some preliminary studying is highly recommended, for example “Flatland” by Edwin Abbott Abbot is a noteworthy read.

The goal of this tutorial is just to get your 4d hypershack launched. If you see a red tetrahedron on blue background, some text and a white crosshair on your screen/headset, and after clicking “unmute” you hear a cacophone of drums, guitar and saxophone, you have successfully launched hypershack and can move to the next tutorial. Below is a short video of what you should expect to see when launching Hypershack 0.1. After the video there are further details on selected hardware.

Browser, no VR headset

You can just go to https://brainpaingames.github.io/site/hypershack and click the latest version of hypershack. accept the terms and wait for the game to load. Click first start button on the top left, then unmute (if you so wish).

If you want to simulate VR controllers on your browser without actually having those on hand, you can install an add-on to many browsers. For exaple, a Firefox add-on can be downloaded from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/webxr-api-emulator/

HTC Vive with SteamVR

Launch SteamVR on your computer. Go on the computer you are running to https://brainpaingames.github.io/site/hypershack, accept the terms and wait for the game to load. Click first start button on the top left, then unmute (if you so wish), and finally “VR” button on the bottom right of the screen and the Hypershack should be playing on your headset. WebXR seem sto ba a bit buggy, you may need to experiment with different browsers, so far best luck has typically been using Edge on Windows.

Other headsets

Instructions may be added later. If you have access to VR headsets not listed above, and are willing to provide instructions, this site is hosted on github ( https://github.com/brainpaingames/brainpaingames.github.io ), so you are welcome to make a pull request for this page with your instructions.