Yesterday, I took a little break from writing to join Akemi on a VR adventure! Our longtime friend Steve Bocska, a veteran of the gaming world, arranged a visit to Vancouver’s Charm Games for a sneak peek at what they have in the works.
Akemi was unbelievably excited as we arrived at their offices. While I was getting an overview of Charm Games, Akemi was literally bouncing with excitement and, the second they pulled out the head set, Akemi was handing me her purse and volunteering to go first.
We used HTC’s Vive headset and controllers for the immersive room-scale experience. And what an experience it was.
Our affable and informative hosts on this day were company co-founders Alan Jernigan and Derek Young, and engineer Tyler McCulloch. They opened with an undersea demo that had Akemi jumping around, waving her hands, and then, at one point, down on the floor interacting with the virtual jelly fish. “We appreciate her enthusiasm!”remarked one of the guys as she traipsed by, Oohing and Aahing, as she attempted to chase down a school of fish.
Akemi in action…
I followed and the first thing I thought, as I made my way through a dark underwater cavern was: “Holy shit. Horror games would be unbelievable in this environment.” I was also impressed by the program’s ability to create in-realm parameters – cavern walls, iron-wrought barriers, and teetering drop-offs (my acrophobia kicked in at one point) – to keep players from walking into real world obstacles.
Next was a sneak peek at something they had in the works. I’ve been sworn to secrecy but, trust me, it was pretty awesome. There was a puzzle component to the game that had me a little baffled at first. At one pint, Akemi was yelling at me to “Be more aggressive!” – something she had no problem doing when it was her turn, working those controllers like a champ!
A HUGE thanks to the gang at Charm Games for giving us that sneak peek, and an equally HUGE thanks to Steve for arranging the visit. Akemi hasn’t stopped talking about it.
Guess I know what I’m getting her for Christmas!
Friday night, it’s an all-new Dark Matter – “Episode 18: We Voted Not To Space You”! 7 pm PDT/10 pm EDT on Syfy and Space Channel!
So, what’s in store for us and the crew of The Raza? Well, looks like plenty of trouble. A potential settling of accounts. Oh, and some very atypical goings-on with our Android!
Intriguing, no?
Also on the Dark Matter front…
Executive Producer Jay Firestone speaks to Crave Online about what lies ahead:
Inverse’s Justin Andress argues that Dark Matter is Basically a Mass Effect TV Show. That’s a game, I’ve been told.
And, over at SciFiAndTVTalk, Steve Eramo Catches Up with Dark Matter’s Paul Mullie.
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