Schlagwort: Secret Location

  • Become transfixed by the dreamlike world of Transpose

    Become transfixed by the dreamlike world of Transpose

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    The recently released Transpose takes you into a mesmerizing and surreal world where you’ll need to manipulate time and gravity to overcome various obstacles. We spoke to Josh Manricks at developer Secret Location to find out what inspired this stunning out-of-body experience.

    Interview by Nathan Ortega, Viveport

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_jkNOgKMkQ?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    For those unfamiliar, tell us a bit about yourself and Secret Location.

    Josh: I am the Senior Technical Director of Content and project lead on our game Transpose. When I started at the company 6 years ago it was 15 people, today it is over 80, it’s crazy how much we have grown over the years.

    We run two production teams internally that consist of a small group of full time staff, maybe like five people on each team. It lets us stay lean and prototype things quickly when we have ideas. Once we go into production though those team can grow to around 15 people in the office plus any external partners we have helping us.

    Tell us about the previous projects Secret Location has developed and how it influenced the direction of Transpose.

    Secret Location used to be a work for hire studio doing web and mobile game extensions for movies and TV shows. In 2015 we did our first VR project for a show on FOX called Sleepy Hollow. It was a 5 minute VR experience to help promote the second season of the show and premiered at Comic Con that year. It went on to win the first Emmy for a VR project and from there we moved more into the VR space.

    After that we made an experimental hybrid TV / VR show called Halcyon and went on to form an internal innovation lab lead by our Creative Director at the time, Pietro Gagliano, a producer, an artist and myself. We were just a small team jamming on week long prototypes for a couple of months to see what felt good in VR. The first full production to come out of that lab was Blasters of the Universe.

    Blasters took us a year and half to finish and the landscape of VR drastically changed over that time. By the time we were done, the market was flooded with shooters. We knew that we had to be more innovative if we wanted to stand out in the market. The two projects we put into production after that were The Great C, a 35 minute short film in VR (available on Viveport) and Transpose.

    What were the key inspirations to Transpose, from the art direction, to the music, to the mind bending puzzles?

    The earliest idea for Transpose came when I was playing a mobile game call Does Not Commute. You drive cars across a screen, rewind time then drive another car across the same screen with the original one playing out at the same time. I thought it would be really interesting to see that mechanic in VR, but with a full body representation of yourself. I talked it over with our game designer Mike Sandercock the next day and a few weeks later we had a working prototype.

    In terms of the art, Transpose was highly inspired by ancient geometry and how organic matter forms “mechanical” looking systems and complex shapes. There is heavy use of geometric symbols repeating themselves. Geometric construction, like master building diagrams. Shape framing and how patterns are formed. Recurring art motifs in ancient civilizations. The art of impossible architecture, a sci-fi take on Escher’s grand illustrations and concepts.

    With the music we wanted something that was relaxing for the player, so they felt like they could take their time with the puzzles, be contemplative and plan out their moves. The music evolves in each level the closer you get to solving the puzzle, it’s pretty subtle but it really adds to the overall feeling of achievement. We worked a local composed Robby Duguay, who took inspiration from such video game composers as Masashi Hamauzu (Final Fantasy), Hirokazu Tanaka (Metroid) and Whitaker Trebella (Piloteer).

    Tell us a bit about the challenge of designing intuitive puzzles in an immersive VR space. Did developing Transpose provide unique development challenges not present in your previous works?

    Our previous works had very little locomotion in them, with the player standing in one spot with the environment changing around them for the most part. Immediately we had to start trying to understand how to direct people’s attention when they can freely move around the environment. To that point I’d say one of the biggest challenges was getting the tutorial right.

    We iterated over the first three levels so many times. Every two weeks we did user testing sessions with new players to see if they could understand the time rewinding mechanic. We also reworked the keep / discard interface numerous times.

    Transpose has a pretty unique gameplay hook with Echoes, where players can interact with ‘ghost’ versions of themselves from previously recorded actions in order to solve heady challenges. Was this the idea at the core of the game from the start, or did it naturally evolve during development?

    It was at the core of the game from day one. From our very first prototype through to production the ability to rewind time and interact with your past selves was central to the game. The world rotation and everything else came after that as we started to develop the idea further.

    What are the key things you want players to take away from their time with Transpose?

    We want people to take their time and not feel rushed with the puzzles. The music is chill and there are no time limits, just take it all in. I think it can be very meditative.

    Talk to us a bit about your thoughts regarding the future of VR, especially as it pertains to the types of projects your team is interested in developing.

    I think the industry still has a long way to go to mass adoption. The biggest struggle I see right now is getting people into a headset and having a good experience. Awareness is definitely spreading further outside of the immediate industry. I hear people talking about it on my morning commute, but a lot of them still haven’t tried it for themselves. The other side to this, as I see it, is being able to show a value in the technology outside of entertainment for the average user. If it can used to better their lives in a way that resonates with people then we will really be on to something!

    What’s next for Secret Location?

    I would love to do Transpose 2, we learned so much during development and left so much on the cutting room floor that I think it would be awesome to revisit that world. If we did, I think I would like to put more emphasis on exploring the story of the world and its inhabitants, but we will have to see. Currently the team is working on a free roam experience called Occam’s Razor, where you and your friends must race against the clock to solve a dark strange mystery.

    Sounds exciting! We can’t wait to see more of what you and the team have cooking. Thanks for speaking to us!

    Transpose is now available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

    Website: LINK

  • The Great C breaks the mold for a new kind of VR story

    The Great C breaks the mold for a new kind of VR story

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Science fiction legend Philip K. Dick’s work has been adapted many times in many mediums, but none of his original material has appeared in VR form. Considering Dick practically invented the ‘reality is not real’ subgenre of SF, it’s surprising more of his works haven’t debuted in virtual worlds.

    That might change with The Great C, developed by Secret Location, and releasing today on Viveport (also launching in Viveport Subscription).

    We managed to track down several Secret Location team members to quiz them about the story behind The Great C and why Dick’s work seemed perfect for VR.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf3hlqpB9RI]

    Who are Secret Location (if it’s not secret) and where are you based?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: Ha! We actually have two (not so secret) locations. We are based in Toronto, and also have a satellite office in Los Angeles. We were founded in 2009 and acquired by Entertainment One in 2016. We focus on both the creation and distribution of our own and partner VR content. On the content side, we launched the hit bullet hell shooter, Blasters of the Universe, with VR puzzle game Transpose also coming this year. And on the distribution side, the team is getting ready to launch some exciting new features for our VR distribution platform, Vusr, which is currently being used by a number of major publishers.

    Tell us about The Great C.

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: The Great C is set in a bleak future, where most of humanity was wiped out by a mysterious apocalyptic event called “The Smash.” The remnants of society live in humble tribes and are ruled by an all-powerful supercomputer known as the Great C. Each year, the village is forced to send a young person on a pilgrimage to appease the mysterious machine, a journey from which no one returns.

    Dick’s original story follows one man on that pilgrimage. Our story features an original character called Clare. She’s a young woman whose fiancé is summoned for this year’s pilgrimage, and the story details the choices she makes to try to disrupt this vicious cycle.

    The Great C

    The Great C was originally published in 1953, making it one of Philip K Dick’s earliest published works. What made you think it would work well in VR?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: There were a number of elements in the short story we liked. We were drawn to the post-apocalyptic setting, which we thought would be a really engaging environment for VR. The story of a youth getting sent off each year to certain doom was a compelling premise, and then there were the interesting themes and motifs; the David and Goliath scenario, Man versus Machine, and the concept of having a ‘duty’ to do something when there’s no chance of success – or even a totally clear idea of why you have to do it. 

    Surprisingly, your adaptation of The Great C is entirely story-led, rather than interactive. That’s an unusual choice for VR. What led you to that choice?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: As this is the first Philip K Dick property to be adapted into VR, we wanted to deliver a cutting-edge cinematic experience that would help push the medium of VR forward.

    The original story of The Great C is fairly limited in scope, so we focused on creating a rich and substantial narrative for our VR version. The final result has a runtime of 37mins, a variety of characters, and spans over 20 different environments. That scope makes sure it’s a rewarding piece of standalone content.

    Along with that, we made it a goal for our version of The Great C to ‘feel’ like a cinematic experience. We focused on adapting film language and techniques, like editing, composition, scene transitions, camera movement, and pacing for VR, to give the piece the tempo and excitement of a big screen movie.

    A large part of achieving that goal was working with terrific collaborators, like noted film composer Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, Tomb Raider). The score is a big part of what brings the piece to life.

    The Great C

    How does a story-led experience work in VR, practically?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: The Great C is a fully animated, fully volumetric, real-time experience. But it’s also a highly orchestrated, highly authored narrative, where we closely control the presentation of the story, manipulating time and space in the same sort of way as films. Like most films, The Great C is presented in the third person and we use camera cuts to tell the story, moving the viewer quickly through time and space. 

    In a practical sense, this means The Great C was designed as a passive seated experience, where the viewer is invited to take in the presentation of the story, as opposed to driving the story forward themselves. The viewer is certainly still free to look around the space, taking advantage of that amazing aspect of VR, but we put the emphasis on a higher tempo form of storytelling that focuses the viewer’s attention on following the tightly orchestrated scenes.

    Did you always want to adapt The Great C in that way, or did it evolve during development?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: We actually started off developing the project with a lot more interactivity in mind. The very first version of The Great C was a lot more like a game, where you controlled a character the whole time.

    After that, we played around with ideas of dividing the piece up into passive and interactive portions, but along the way we started gravitating towards making a more cinematic experience and kept finding that the handoff between the interactive and passive portions was getting in the way of that.

    Eventually, we made the decision to go all in on the authored, cinematic approach.

    The Great C

    What inherent advantages do you see in VR versus a 2D adaptation?

    Steve Miller, Director: Different mediums, be it books, movies, TV shows or live theatre all offer unique opportunities for storytelling.

    For us, VR’s strengths of immersion and intimacy between viewer and story were an exciting fit to adapt a narrative with such a fantastical setting and characters whose journey we really wanted the audience to feel a part of. 

    One of our biggest goals on this project was to find ways to adapt and translate cinematic storytelling principles into VR. We really wanted to push what is possible in terms of editing, shot composition and camera movement. Especially as VR audiences become more accustomed to the medium, we believe evolving these sorts of tools will pave the way for even more sophisticated VR storytelling.

    Did you make any specific choices during development to ensure the story of The Great C worked well in VR?

    Steve Miller, Director: We were always sensitive to creating an optimal viewing experience throughout the production. We did extensive user testing and refinement of our editing choices.

    Initially, we played with allowing the user some control over camera switching, but ultimately concluded that the most rewarding experience was to architect the central action to always play out in the front 180º of a user’s field of view.

    Of course we also appreciate that an inherent benefit of the VR medium is it’s replay-ability appeal for discovering all the little details about the world around you!

    The Great C

    Tell us about the production of The Great C; how big was the team and how long did it take to put together?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: The production team would fluctuate in size, but on average there were around 12-14 people working on it full time. The production cycle started with a discovery phase that lasted a few months early on, and then a smaller team spent a month or so prepping the build for shipping and distribution. The core production phase lasted 9-10 months.

    I have to give huge credit to the team, because I think they accomplished a ton of work in a short amount of time. The production cycle was very similar to the other VR projects we make, like our upcoming puzzle game Transpose. Secret Location just has a knack for getting a lot done in a short amount of time!

    The Great C was your first Unreal Engine project. Was that a deliberate goal of the studio, or were there specific things Unreal could do you wanted to exploit?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: We’d always wanted to try making something in Unreal, and with The Great C being an artist heavy team, we thought the engine would be a good fit. We wanted to let the team use the mature and powerful visual and animation tools available there.

    Congrats on being selected to the Venice Film Festival. Do you feel there’s more of a future for computer-generated projects, as opposed to 360 video, in film festivals?

    Luke Van Osch, Producer: Venice was a great experience. It was really encouraging and rewarding to see how much emphasis they put on the VR section there, totally incorporating it as an equal part of the festival.

    The Programmers for Venice VR do an incredible job at showcasing a wide variety of innovative content ranging in format and genre. It was amazing to see and get to experience that breadth of work in one place.

    In these early days of the medium, I think everyone is still figuring out what’s possible, and it’s most important to just bring general awareness to VR and encourage the people that are making it. Eventually, the different sub-formats and genres will divide up and be compared on their own. I’m guessing that will sort of happen naturally, and will be a great sign that the industry has matured.

    And finally: anything you can tell us about upcoming projects from Secret Location?

    Kathryn Rawson, Head of Content: We are currently in pre-production on a free roam project and are excited to explore the untethered world of VR. We are also developing a slate of additional projects, also focused on the location based entertainment space.

    Thanks to everyone at Secret Location for answering our questions!

    The Great C is available now on Viveport, and as part of Viveport Subscription.

    Website: LINK