With CES 2018 now done and dusted for another year you maybe looking at that’s next on the calendar for the videogame industry and virtual reality (VR) in particular. Well there are plenty of little of niche events taking place over the next few weeks and months but the next big one for actual game news is going to be the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018 and its subsidiary event the Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC). A good portion of both events will be talks and sessions by industry professionals, and Luna creator Funomena will be hosting a session.
Titled: The Story of ‘Luna’: Designing Accessible PC and VR Experiences, Robin Hunicke, CEO, Co-Founder & Designer at Funomena will explore design challenges and solutions faced while developing Luna for both PC and VR players. The reason being, PC games are established with the possibility of being more profitable, while VR, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) experiences tend to be less so, so why not build for both audiences?
Luna is an interactive fairytale experience whose story focuses on a young Bird who is enticed to eat the last piece of the waning Moon by mysterious Owl, and is subsequently blown far from home. So players must must untangle the Bird’s memories, solving celestial puzzles to unlock each level’s tree, plant and animal spirits. By planting and cultivating plants within terrariums, players bring life back to the moonless world.
The title originally launched back in October 2017, seeing a multiplatform release across Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. Then a month later Funomena released the standard PC version for those that don’t own a VR head-mounted display (HMD).
In VRFocus’ review of Luna, we said: “It’s the type of title that’ll suit those who liked Gnomes & Goblins for example, an unusual marriage of interactivity and storytelling. Or perfect for those who’ve got kids old enough to try VR and want to see what it’s all about.”
Funomena won’t be the only studio giving a talk at VRDC 2018. Baobab Studios will be there with ‘Invasion!’: Crafting a VR Story, Survios will be on hand to discuss Sprint Vector‘s Fluid Locomotion Technology, Against Gravity will have a session called Room for Everyone: The ‘Rec Room’ Approach to Community VR, plus many, many more.
Check out the GDC/VRDC 2018 website for the full roster and as always, keep reading VRFocus for the latest VR, AR and MR news.