XR Daily: OpenXR Grows Windows

OpenXR Finally Gets Windows, and a New Session Model

The Khronos Group has ratified two OpenXR extensions, XR_EXT_spatial_container and XR_EXT_spatial_container_self_rendering, that let more than one app occupy the user’s view at once. The spec compares a spatial container to a window in a desktop 2D system: the user sees several, sends input to a subset, and the runtime manages their size and placement, even across different apps.

The bigger change is the session model. In OpenXR 1.x one app owns the view, and the session walks from READY to SYNCHRONIZED to VISIBLE to FOCUSED as the system hands it attention. Containers move that ownership down a level: the session stays in XR_SESSION_STATE_IDLE for its active lifetime while each container reports visibility through XrEventDataSpatialContainerVisibleChangedEXT and teardown through XrEventDataSpatialContainerClosedEXT. A bounds mode toggles each container between BOUNDED and IMMERSIVE.

Rendering is the second extension. The app calls xrBeginSpatialContainerRenderingEXT instead of xrBeginSession, then asks xrLocateSpatialContainerViewsEXT each frame for view poses, projection parameters and a recommended resolution per container. XrSpatialContainerViewStateEXT says whether a container’s layers should be drawn at all. That recommendation is a memory decision as much as an API one: a container covering a third of the view does not need a display sized swapchain, the same math as why XR headsets render below native resolution.

Two caveats. visionOS has had this shape of shared space since 2024, and Apple still does not implement OpenXR, so the standard is catching up. And ratification does not ship it: Khronos says implementations roll out during 2026, while Quest today runs one spatial app at a time alongside 2D panels.

→ Road to VR

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PAYDAY: Aces High Puts a Native Steam Frame Build in a $25 Purchase

Fast Travel Games has dated PAYDAY: Aces High for November 5 at $25, and the store listing carries the detail that matters: the Steam version includes both the PC VR build and the native Steam Frame standalone build. The game is four player co-op heisting across banks, museums and a penthouse, with per-player loadouts.

The playtest runs now through October 26 on Steam and Quest 3/3S, and anyone who joins gets an exclusive Kitty Mask in the full game. A demo with two playable heists is part of Steam Next Fest.

Selling a Steam Frame binary before the headset has a firm shipping date is the interesting part. Developers are treating Steam Frame as a compile target rather than a port project, which is how a platform gets a library on day one. The Quest 3 versus Steam Frame breakdown covers how far apart those targets actually are.

→ Road to VR

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Steam Next Fest’s Last 2026 Run Has More Than 40 PC VR Demos

The final Steam Next Fest of the year runs through October 26 with over 40 PC VR demos. UploadVR published Valve’s list, which is two weeks old and subject to change.

Worth a look: Rustmourne, The Rifted Skies, Drifters: Blackout Crew and RAID VR had demos up before the event opened, while PAYDAY: Aces High arrives with two heists from its closed playtest. The list also flags a Steam tagging problem. Several entries are flatscreen games with VR support, and it was unclear at press time whether their demos launch in a headset.

Next Fest is the biggest wishlist event on Steam. Check that a demo boots into VR rather than trusting the store page tag.

→ UploadVR

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Plasticity 2026.2 Adds Class A Surfacing Tools and a Constraint System

Plastic Software shipped Plasticity 2026.2, and the update leans on surface quality. A new Curvature Analysis shader draws Gaussian, Mean and Max curvature modes over a model, the feedback loop you want when a shape has to catch light cleanly. Edge Align adds a Collinear solver with Symmetric and Asymmetric behaviors aimed at Class A style modeling, plus a Skew boundary option controlling how far boundary edges tilt.

The Constraint System is the headline feature and the one with an asterisk. Constraints are created from the command you used and stay enforced as geometry is transformed, which is the difference between modeling and parametric CAD. It is Studio tier only, and constraints are not saved with the file yet, so it is a session tool rather than a document format.

Smaller additions: an Assets tab in the Outliner for sharing reusable parts like bolts, Project Align for aligning control vertices along a target surface’s edge, PolySpline CV editing in Point Selection Mode, mesh snap visualization and tintable matcaps. Class A edge work matters more in XR than it sounds, because specular highlights on a hand held prop are read at arm’s length.

→ 80 Level

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A VRChat World Turns Edo Kiriko Glass Cutting Into Practice

Mituhashi, a 3D artist who cuts Edo Kiriko glass as a hobby, has turned the craft into a VRChat world. Edo Kiriko is a 19th century Japanese technique: glass is run against an abrasive wheel and the cuts turn transparent, so the pattern reads as contrast between frosted color and clear glass.

Mituhashi Glass Crafts rebuilds that in Unity with a rotating cutter that works on flat sheets and curved objects like vases and wine glasses. You pick a shape and color, then set cutting angle, depth, and optional guides. Cuts turn transparent where you make them, and RARAlabo glassware assets handle details like pouring liquid from a pitcher.

The export path is the part worth stealing. Finished pieces can be shared in the world, exported as code, imported into a Kiriko generator for Unity, or exported as 3D objects. That turns a craft simulator into a content pipeline, the same pattern behind why VR’s most interesting games are mods and tools.

→ 80 Level

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Parin Is What a Game Engine Looks Like When It Refuses to Grow

A Show HN for Parin, a 2D engine written in D, hit 75 points by positioning itself in one sentence: somewhere between raylib and Godot. More direction than a library, far less overhead than an engine, with code driven design and optional garbage collection. Most of the runtime sits on Joka, a portable utility library that works on its own.

The feature list is specific: pixel perfect physics, a dialogue system, an atlas based animation library, tile maps, a UI library still in progress, and bundled extras including Box2D, Steamworks and ENet. It builds for Web, Windows, Linux and macOS, installs with dub init -t parin, and ships under MIT with a little over 130 stars.

There is no XR support, and that is the useful part. Every XR project eventually chooses between a framework that decides things for it and one that gets out of the way, the same tension inside Godot’s XR work. Parin’s answer is small scope and web export.

→ GitHub

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Quick Bites

• Synth Riders gets a free spooky update headlined by Apashe’s Lord & Master, timed for Halloween. → UploadVR
• I Am Your Beast VR adds nine new levels in a free Support Group update, available now. → UploadVR
• Fabula Rasa, an improv driven interactive experience, lands on Quest in November. → UploadVR
• Black & White may be getting a remaster, according to Peter Molyneux. Treat it as a hint, not a date. → 80 Level