Accounting, one of the most surreal and hilarious games on the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, is finally coming to PlayStation VR (PSVR) with expanded content.
Accounting Plus will release on PSVR on December 19th. A trailer at the 2017 Game Awards revealed the project, which will include brand new scenes. Appearing after the trailer, Squanch Games’ Justin Roiland stated the game would have ‘double’ the amount of content but, considering this is the co-creator of Rick and Morty, we’re not sure if we can take him at his word.
There is a hidden zoo level, though. Check out the new trailer below.
Pre-orders for the game go live tonight, which we assume means it will actually cost something (it was free on Steam). No word on if the added content could come to Rift and Vive just yet.
At the D.I.C.E. 2017 Summit, developers, press, and entertainment industry veterans gathered from around the world this week to discuss cutting edge technology and design principles. One of the most applicable discussions thus far for our audience took place today as Geoff Keighley hosted a live interview session with both Tanya Watson and Justin Roiland of Squanchtendo. The duo discussed their views on the budding VR industry, what made their debut effort in Accounting (created in collaboration with Crows Crows Crows) so special, and most interestingly, what they’re working on next.
Tanya Watson brings years of AAA game industry experience, having worked at Epic Games, and Roiland, a self-described “student of gaming” his entire life, is the co-creator of Rick and Morty and possesses one of the most iconic comedic personalities in the entertainment scene today. Their combination led to the creation of Squanchtendo, a brand new game studio, last year.
During their talk, Watson and Roiland issued very slight and minor teases about their next project. According to Watson, “We have a long-form game, a traditional game length game that I can’t talk too much about that we are in development on for VR,” she said. “But we would also love to make more of those dense, short-form experiences like Accounting as continued experiments.”
Judging by the hilarity and innovative interactivity of Accounting, we’re putting our money on this larger game retaining that same sense of humor. In last year’s interview, they also alluded to their next project being something of a comedic-action RPG, but that’s all we really know. It certainly sounds like it will no only be quite robust, but also likely just as witty and clever as we’d expect.
But that may not have always been the case.
“There was a period of time where I was going away from comedy and thinking about making a VR experience that was more eerie…” said Roiland. “Even going down that road it kept going back to comedy for me. I’m so drawn to absurd comedy I realized pretty quickly we shouldn’t try to do that.”
Accounting was released and marketed as a “Vive-exclusive” title, although it seems to work just fine when played with an Oculus Rift and Touch controllers through Steam. Designing the game with Vive in mind wasn’t meant to anger non-Vive owners, but rather was meant to make the game as good as it can possibly be.
“There is something to love about every piece of VR hardware,” explained Roiland. “My thought is, ‘How can I use these constraints as a benefit, what can I do with these limitations?’ All of this stuff is in my sketchbooks: game design, stories, characters…We have pitches that work for seated gamepad, some are designed for roomscale, there are some experiences that you can’t port over properly.”
Elaborating on that point, Watson said, “Designing bespoke for a platform is important and taking advantage of what makes the platform special. How do you put the player inthe world? That’s been the thing we’ve been approaching for all of our pitches. Making it more than just a screen on your face.”
There are no tentative release plans for Squanchtendo’s next project, but we’ll keep you posted as we find out more information. In the meantime, you can check out Accounting for free on Steam right now. And keep an eye out for more details on Owlchemy’s upcoming Rick and Morty VR game (teased above), built with feedback and input from Justin Roiland himself.
This April will see the annual Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) event return for 2017, and today organisers have announced Justin Roiland, creator of Rick & Morty on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, will deliver Saturday’s keynote address.
While Roiland is most synonymous with the aforementioned cartoon he’s also dived into the VR industry establishing studio Squanchtendo, and launching Accountingon HTC Vive created in collaboration with Crows Crows Crows. For the keynote he’ll discuss the surreally funny possibilities of VR. “What does the future of VR hold? Will there be more wizard games? Are grandmas real? What IS a wizard really? Are there wizard grandmas? How does this factor into VR? I did all this (simple) math and then made a power point presentation that I **think** maaaayyybe has these questions (and more) all figured out,” comments Roiland in a statement. “Please come to my incredible keynote address on the state of VR! You juuuust might learn something, maybe, I don’t know. I can’t make any promises on that because you may already know everything.”
Registrations have now opened for the VRLA, with the business-focused 2-Day Pro Pass at $299 USD and a 1-Day Pass for Saturday priced at $40.
“This is the third year of VRLA, and with each event we’ve grown in size and scope. It’s so exciting to serve both the industry and developers who make this whole thing go, as well as the VR-curious enthusiasts who want to see what it’s all about. That we can put Justin Roiland on the same stage as some of the industry’s greatest technical thinkers is a treat, and a testament to the support the community has shown us,” said event co-founder John Root.
The expo will take place 14th – 15th April, 2017 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and will include demos, educational sessions, experimental work and presentations. For further updates on the event keep reading VRFocus.
