We’ve been covering SynaptixGames and their virtual reality (VR) videogame Day of Destruction for a while now. The studio show incredible promise for VR development, and now in a new interview, Studio Director Robert Madsen has spoken about the studio and their investment in VR development.
Speaking to the Entertainment Software Associastion (ESA), Robert Madsen shares stories about himself and his experience in the videogame industry, before talking about SynaptixGames, Day of Destruction, and VR development.
Speaking about the studio SynaptixGames, Madsen states; “I founded SynaptixGames in 2011 and, as a contract game studio, we have written games for just about every platform out there, including mobile, web-based platforms, PC-based platforms, and consoles. VR is the latest and greatest thing we’ve been tackling.”
Madsen goes on to talk about VR, and how the studio adapted quickly to the technology to get ahead of the curve; “When we have clients that are coming to us with their ideas, they tend to ask for a specific type of experience on whatever the new thing is. About three years ago, we saw VR coming as the next big thing, so even before we had clients asking for VR we had already dove in. We started with Gear VR and started making our first game on that, and since then, we have had clients coming to us for VR projects. It was kind of a serendipitous thing because we had the experience and were taking clients who needed VR applications. Over the last three years we’ve created games for the Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive.”
Madsen also talks about the recent Day of Destruction, saying; “When we got our hands on our first Gear VR Innovator Edition about three years ago, there was a contest and we decided to use that as an impetus to get started. We actually created the first prototype of Day of Destruction on the Samsung Gear VR in about four weeks and submitted it for the contest. Since then, we’ve been continuously working on it, keeping in mind that our own projects can’t interfere with our contract projects. So, we spent about 20 percent of our time working on Day of Destruction over the last three years. Ultimately, we decided, because of the visual quality that we wanted, we would continue to develop the game on higher-end systems like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.”
VRFocus reviewed Day of Destruction, saying; “Day of Destruction certainly doesn’t wow in the graphics department – there are far better looking virtual reality (VR) titles – but it doesn’t need to. It has that B-movie quality that just works, and the in game audio (especially the music) is top notch. That’s why it’s a shame there isn’t more to the gameplay.”
You can read the full interview right here. SynpatixGames are sure to release more VR projects and videogames in the near future, and you’ll be able to read about them all right here on VRFocus.