UK based Supermassive Games has made a name for itself in the field of virtual reality (VR), debuting with two titles for the PlayStation VR launch, Tumble VR and Until Dawn: A Rush of Blood, and subsequently doubling their output in 2018 with The Inpatient and Bravo Team. Today, the development studio moves onto a new platform, Google Daydream, with the release of Shattered State.
Shattered State: Leading A Brave New World
Shattered State is a story led adventure videogame, in which the player takes on the role of a new government body, the National Intelligence Agency, during a time of unrest. The fictional country has been torn apart by civil war, with the north and south at political and economical odds. The people in each of the new democracies feel they haven’t been treated fairly by the other side, and so when a terrorist attack hits your capital city it’s up to you to determine who is responsible, and how to deal with the fallout during a state of emergency.
“We give you the role of the director of the National Intelligence Agency, which is a fictitious federal security organization in a fictitious country,” states Steve Goss, Director of Design and Technology at Supermassive Games, in an interview with VRFocus. “It’s a country driven by political disagreement; it’s a country with nationalism and liberalism, and minorities. It reflects a super view of what the world – of what countries – can feel like.
“We put you into a political situation of this country’s worst ever day, and we ask you to make decisions on the fate of the nation.”
Developing for Google Daydream
Developing Shattered State for mobile VR after having spent years working on high-end PlayStation 4 projects was certainly a challenge, Supermassive Games readily admits. “We’ve worked with very high-end platforms, very popular platforms, like Sony’s VR platform, and doing something on a mobile VR platform is a big challenge. Bringing our production values into that space; that’s been something we wanted to try and do,” says Goss. “We wanted to make a story – an experience – that could be consumed on a mobile device.
“For lots of creative reasons and technical reasons, it was a challenge we really felt wanted to go for, and we came up with a story and an idea which I think sits well on the platform.”
Shattered State Now Available for Google Daydream
Shattered State is now available for Google Daydream compatible devices exclusively, downloadable via the Google Play Store. The videogame is priced at £7.99 GBP, and you can watch the full interview with Goss in the video below. Stay right here with VRFocus for more on Shattered State coming soon.