Tips before playing
Before you can actually play, there are a few things to do. Here are some tips to set up everything because the Quest interface is not always the easiest to navigate.
Set your boundary. The last thing you want while playing is to walk into an object in your room while you are essentially blindfolded. Your quest will guide you through the process of setting up your border. With Romancale you can draw a play space to move freely, stationary as you stand still. But what if your locations move? Or do you want to play a game that sits instead of getting up?
To change your border, press the Oculus button on your right controller (this is the one just under the Joystick). It pulls up the menu at the bottom of the screen (you only have to do it if the menu doesn’t already show up). From there, if you hang over the clock, you can choose the quick setting panel. Then choose Guardian. If you stand still, just confirm and you are ready. Choosing your room scale will guide you by drawing a new Guardian border.
Your quest can also support room mapping, which uses the outside cameras to find walls and objects in your space and remember them later. This makes the move between rooms smooth and effortless, as well as making advanced XR features in some games. You can find the information about this feature in the ‘Environmental Setup’ tab of your settings.
Buy the games. The Meta Quest Store is the easiest way to buy games for your headset, but there are three ways to do it. Regardless of which option you choose, you must have a payment method on file (credit card, debit card or PayPal). The browser method is the easiest way to enter these details.
- Browser: Sign in to the store. From there, you can either tap the name of the game in the search bar to the top right, or click on apps & games to browse. After choosing a game, there is a blue button on the right of its information page containing the price. Click it and it asks you to buy.
- App: Download the Oculus app and log on to your account. Click the Store button below and, as with the browser steps, you can either go through or search for a specific title. After clicking on a game, the app uses the same button with a pricing system at the bottom of the screen. Just click the button, review the payment details and click on the purchase.
- Headset: Return the lower menu with the headset again. The store icon is the orange one with a small shopping bag. Click on this, and you have the option to browse through games or search. After selecting a game and watching the information page, press the blue button to the right with the price marker to buy.
Note: If the game is free, the blue button will ‘get’ rather than list a price. And if you buy the game via a browser or the app, you still need to download it on your headset. Look at the next step for instructions.
Download and access your games. After purchasing a game, download it. If you bought it via the store on your headset, the download should start automatically. Once done, the button will change to ‘play’ so you can jump immediately.
If you bought the game via the browser or app, go to the store on your headset and look for the game. The store will call it ‘bought’, but if you click on the information page, the Blue button will have changed from the price to ‘download’. Click on it and it will automatically show you the download bar of the download.
If your headset is plugged in, or on a drawer, and in Standby mode, you can also use the Oculus app to start a download on the device. I will use it to fetch a game on my phone, and then be ready to go when I put on the headset.
To access all your games – both purchased and downloaded – bring up the bottom menu bar by hitting the Oculus button on the right controller. From there, click the “Apps” button on the right (the one with the nine dots). This will show you all your purchases, and you can filter to see only those installed, or those who are not. Click the game icon and it should load immediately.
Recent U screen. Sometimes you find that your screen is no longer centered as you want it. Maybe your headset has taken off to check your phone or drink water, or maybe you want to be in the game and want to change your orientation. To quickly reset your view, hold the Meta button for a few seconds on the right controller. You will see that a small twisting button appears, and as soon as it fills in, the view will restore in the direction you are currently looking.
Check your battery life. If it is fully charged, the Quest’s battery normally lasts about two hours. If you are not sure how much juice your headset has left, press the Oculus button on the right controller to set up the bottom menu. On the left, under the clock, is a small battery icon that gives you a rough measure of your load. If you click on it, bring it up the quick settings screen. To the left is the exact percentage, as well as that of each of your controllers.