Green Hell VRis the latest VR adaptation out of Incuvo Games, which previously worked withBloober Team and others onLayers of Fear VRandBlair Witch VR. It released on the Oculus Quest 2 earlier this month and is set to release on Steam next month. Taking a game and putting it into VR is no simple task, and for many gamers, VR can seem like a generally daunting thing to get into.
To this end, Game Rant spoke with Incuvo Games CEO Andrzej Wychowaniec aboutGreen Hell VR, the VR market in general, adapting games and established IPs to VR, and much, much more.The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
RELATED:Green Hell VR is Available Now on Oculus Quest 2
Many still don’t believe VR will ever be a viable form of primary entertainment. With this in mind, where do you think VR as a platform will be in 5-10 years?
I believe, in 10 years, VR gaming will be at least as popular as console gaming. There’s data that backs up this trend, for example, emerging research specializing in emerging markets and technologies such asMetaverse, because some VR market growth is around 27%. I mean, the annual goals, right? So it’s a big amount. The revenue from sales of VR games, only on VR games not on the whole VR market in 2021, was estimated in 2022 to be 1.4 billion US dollars from research by studies done.
What’s more, the purchasers areturning to the Meta Quest platform considering it holds the largest market share in the VR consumer segment with over 10 million devices sold, and this number is quickly growing. These numbers are from the beginning of this year. Just by looking at theMeta Quest platform, it’s safe to say that VR is already a viable mainstream entertainment, especially in the United States because it’s worth noting that, currently, the primary market for VR is in the United States. The Meta Quest is immensely popular there.
The rest of the world is a significant new market to develop in the coming years, which is also a big chance for studios interested in pushing the technology forward. So it’s a big opportunity for other parts of the world, and another very important fact is that we have even more devices on the horizon like new Oculus and HTC devices, Sony NGVR, or even other reality headsets.These will also add to the rapid growth of the VR player base, and I think that the trend will continue in the next 5 to 10 years. And as I said at the beginning, VR gaming will be at least as popular as console gaming.
In the same period of time, we will see the biggest game studios jump into the market with deeper VR production, which I think is very important because we are ready now to make such games. We and other developers are ready to make triple-A VR production. So, our studio is focused on adapting full games to VR, with plenty of hours of gameplay without a significant loss of graphics quality. For me, the direction is clear and theprospectives ahead of us make me very enthusiastic and optimistic.
Needless to say, even the recent developments in Incuvo, we are joining forces withPeople Can Fly and developing a game based on its IPsshows that forward-thinking major studios are seeing the potential of VR already, and they are ready to invest in it. Finally, we cannot forget the huge effort of companies like Meta, Microsoft, or Amazon to bring the Metaverse to life. VR games will be a significant part of this new way of immersion into the VR world and social interaction. And the future of games doesn’t depend solely on the game developers. If Metaverse will become a must, mainstream, the VR games will be meshed in, too.
One question remains: where will the Metaverse be in 5 or 10 years? So, it’s my point of view that it’s not only our job on the developer side, and a lot of VR activities are outside of the game market.
What do you think some of the biggest advancements in VR have been since its inception?
I think that the most significant events in the VR market were the launch of the PSVR headset in 2016, which revived the hope for what is executed in VR gaming, and the launch of our first standalone headset: Oculus Quest in 2019.
The Oculus Quest 1 premiere was the biggest innovation that really pushed VR development. Not only is the mobile solution more comfortable than the tethered one, but it’s ready to work out of the box with no real need of setting up cables. Compared to an expensive PC, it’s also significantly cheaper. The number of players went ballistic when Facebook introduced the mobile device at a very reasonable entry price, like $399 US dollars at launch. It sped up with the follow-up, Quest 2, selling at $299 at launch. So, it’s similar to console prices.
It was a big epic milestone on this on this market. And on the software side, I think that we should recognize the VR support bar Unity. It’s important from my point of view.And everyone says Valve has the firstbig title on VR, Half-Life: Alyx, and there’s the sophisticated Index headset. Now, we have maybe better games, but it was big for VR to have the mainstream talking about it. So, it was an epic event for the VR market. Both events really helped to establish the developing VR market in many areas, and we could still list several developments in the area.
The emerging-market competition between headset manufacturers saw significant improvements in headset quality and user comfort, as well as the gradual reduction of expenses needed to play VR games, which translated to rising approachability and lowering entry-level for a mainstream audience. With the market and vast improvements came the higher quality of games and bigger scope. Developers who entered the market early acquired many new skills and experiences, which are now visible in the fantastic quality of end products and fresh ideas for immersion and direction. And of course, new and attractively-priced innovative games equal rising gamer awareness and more recognition also from casual gamers.
For VR newcomers, what would you recommend as far as getting into VR, hardware or game wise?
Well, I have no doubt Meta Quest 2 is the best value for money and the easiest way to take the first step into VR entertainment, especially when you can play on Quest 2 as a standalone headset or hook Meta Quest 2’s VR cable to your PC and play games dedicated to PC on Steam. We wholeheartedly recommended theGreen Hell VR on Quest 2, which offers an amazing VR experience for both advanced players and newcomers thanks to the difficulty levels starting at Tourist Mode. I know that might not sound very modest, but this is more than self-endorsement. The recommendation is coming from the fact that we are making this game with VR newcomers in mind too. It was really very important for us, we didn’t want to make the hardcore survival game only for hardcore players. We know that, especially on the Quest 2 market, the biggest market is for casual gamers. So, in the Tourist Mode, the player receives a fully realized experience for beginners, which allows them to sink into the world, interact with it, and enjoy incredible emotions.
More generally speaking, not only about our game, I recommend uncomplicated experiences for the first contact with VR, as well as short sessions. And of course, a lot of space in the room. At the beginning, it’s very important to be aware about it.
How does adapting a game to VR differ from other ports (Switch, etc.)?
Yeah, thank you for using the word adapting. It’s more accurate than port. We have a problem with this. When you use the word port, it suggests adjusting the game for a different platform. So translating controls, visual downgrading or upgrading, depending on the platforms, optimization, sometimes your UI, etcetera. It often seems like quite easy to do, but we make games from scratch. It’s a big, big, big, very big difference.
We use the assets and general gameplay as a base, but everything else needs to be designed and developed again. It’s nearly the same as going back to square one, and it is because VR offers completely new controller possibilities on top of what’s available. It’s using a traditional gamepad vs.Oculus Touch controllers, which track position in space that allows for completely new gameplay mechanics not possible on other platforms. And that’s why all the mechanics need to be rebuilt for VR, with immersion and physical interaction in mind. We also have to remember that Meta Quest 2 is a mobile device with a mobile chipset. It’s basically the mobile phone in terms of processing power. So, games have to be significantly optimized to work. These present huge challenges, technically and on the design front.
At the end of the day, we are using some assets, but we have to optimize them. We have to change the gameplay; we have to change, you know, everything. It’s quite a new game, which is not a port. It is adapting to other designs, to changing their mechanics. Everything is different. It’s very important to understand this difference.
What’s the hardest part of adapting an established IP like Blair Witch to VR?
Working on a recognizable IP is a challenge for many reasons. Each game has a specific vibe, it’s not only a matter of design, gameplay, graphics, etc., but something that comes from the mix of all of the game’s components that may be quite intangible. And then with the VR medium, we have very different resources, sometimes even more limited. Needless to say, when we create something established, we cannot make too many changes, and we need approval for all of them. It takes a lot of balancing and adjusting.Designing a game for VRis considerably hard and is sometimes an underestimated task.
But now we actually know based on our experience, we know it. Bringing a semi open-world dense woodland environment to a closed one was the biggest challenge when it comes to Blair Witch specifically. It frankly seems impossible, but with our mobile and mixed reality experience, we were able to deliver a very technically challenging game on time. It was on Halloween, so we had a very specific date. We had to do it and we did it, and it was a big challenge. It’s a big forest.
With Green Hell VR, we pushed the boundaries of Meta Quest thanks to the quick adoption of new Meta technologies for our work such as asynchronous space work. Green Hell is the first game to use this solution, so if you take a look at player and media opinion, Green Hell VR already gets lot of praise as one of the best-looking Meta Quest games so far. We are proud of the quality, and in my opinion, I am sure that Green Hell VR is the best-looking game on Oculus Quest and probably the PC version of Green Hell VR will be the best looking on the PC. It’s incredible to see this work on PC.
What’s the general process of working with another developer like Bloober Team when it comes to bringing their games to VR?
On this project, we were working not only with Bloober Team, but with Lionsgate Games, which is responsible for the franchise itself as the owner of the IP. It requires a lot of concentration to avoid missing some details essential for the brand. It took plenty of calls digging through plenty of shared documents to make sure that, at the end of the day, the final product is as close to the original game as possible while adapting it to be a functional fun VR experience.
IP owners are very concerned about potential risks to their brand. They like to have full control over the production process including an extensive approval process on all major game assets and parts.This adds another layer of complexity to the already complex production cycle of VR and is quite demanding on the management and communication level. Then, we hadBloober Teamas an additional side, and we had to live up to the expectations on the gaming side of things. So, we were working directly on a brainchild, something very important for them and personnel to all variety of people. So, there was a lot of emotional discussions about details. It was tough, but we get it, of course.
This process will vary depending on the kind of the cooperation you have with other parties. For example, I can imagine with People Can Fly, it will be a bit different for the production of our adaption of their IP. As we are one group, we have very direct contact andPCF provides much more support to usthan completely external partners. So, now it’s different. It was different with Bloober Team, different with Creepy Jar, now is different, but we are very flexible and ready for any unexpected situation or processes.
Are there any games you hope to see adapted to VR some day?
That’s so difficult. Yeah, actually. I would love to see many adaptations for VR. It’s challenging to cherry pick the best, but if I had to choose only one, I would say The Witcher VR. Witcher would be awesome. I dream about the Witcher in VR. But you know, it’s a Polish company, so maybe, maybe one day. I believe it would be a game changer.
Are there any games or genres you think would be incredibly difficult or even impossible to make in VR?
In my opinion, everything can be adapted to VR, but it doesn’t make sense to put everything on VR. As an example,slow-paced strategy gamesthat result in long gaming sessions would be quite uncomfortable in VR and will not offer any added value in comparison to traditional platforms. Added value or uniqueness of experience is what the audience currently expects from VR games, which provides deeper immersion, but this is not what necessarily feeds every game on the market.
So currently, what is possible in terms of high-quality graphics in VR is limited by the hardware. So, when Incuvo looks for games to adapt for headsets like Meta Quest 2, we are considering this and choosing the games that we will be able to make truly visually immersive on the platform, but not at the expense of the experience or of losing too much of the visual appearance. The hardware has inherent limitations, so that’s always the problem right now.
How does Green Hell VR stand out from other VR Survival Games?
The main value of Green Hell VR over the competition is that you can journey to the Amazon rainforest for just 29 US dollars. It’s a very, very cheap journey, and you can experience it. But in all seriousness, in my opinion, Green Hell is unique because of its beautiful graphics, which allow you to delve deep into this world. There are many aspects of real-life jungle in this title, such as plants, animals unique to this part of the world, dynamic weather, a day-night cycle, and even very lifelike physical items. Players will certainly appreciate the immersiveness of new sounds added to the game, especially to enhance the experience in the VR environment. There is also a high value for the price when we take a look at the scope of the game. More than 20 hours of gameplay is something not often seen on the VR games market, and there is also an engaging story, which I personally love.
In all fairness, I must mention that there are not many games on the market that could be considered direct competition, especially when it comes to titles built from the ground up for VR technology. When it comes to survival games, we just of course have The Forest, but it is a straight port and not available for Meta Quest. We also of course have the Song in the Smoke on Quest, too. So yes, I think that the lack of strong competition in VR survival games is one of the reasons why theGreen Hell VR Meta Quest edition launch was very successful, besides the high production values we bring to the genre on VR platforms. I also feel that we’re inviting a lot more in with this title. We have worked hard to achieve this. And it’s great that it became another important selling point. We received very positive feedback, not only from the gamers but from the developers from Facebook.
Green Hell VR features over 60 gameplay mechanics, so I was curious if you could expand on how the team went about bringing all of this into the game in a cohesive manner?
Yeah, implementing that many mechanics was extremely challenging, especially in a game with an open world. These mechanics must both work together very well, as well as be intuitive and immersive in VR and beyond. In such a situation, that experience is what comes to help us. We have learned much while designing our former productions. We’ve spent an enormous amount of time on VR game design. And we also always invest in adapting the games that will provide us with a new know-how and new solutions to use further down the line. Thanks to this approach, we were prepared. We also played the original game excessively to understand its gameplay feeling, and it was very, very, very important. Of course, the process involved many iterations especially since we have different mechanics in the Quest and PC versions. All this gave us a big advantage in tweaking and polishing everything
As a developer, what’s the most exciting aspect of PS VR2 confirmed so far?
Yeah, I’m waiting eagerly for thenew PS VR2to arrive. When it comes to the current gen of consoles, I’m a big fan of Sony’s PS5 DualSense. I think of the features offered by this controller as a preview of the new quality we can expect from NGVR. New sensor features are promising to be very innovative. Sense controllers will be able to simulate the experience of deep immersion, which will be amplified by the headset feedback. A great promise lies though in features that support optimization and performance like eye tracking. These new solutions will be crucial to the progress of VR gaming, as they will allow developers to invent entirely new kinds of experiences. Also, I have an opinion that the role of sound in the process of making VR games is extremely underappreciated now. Sounds add a lot of immersion. The new Tempest 3D audio technology will allow gamers to be surrounded by realistic in-game sound. Sony claims that the audio dynamically adapts to the player’s position and head movement, which is another area where there will be new possibilities to enhance the immersion for them. So I really cannot wait for this. I think it will have a big impact. Big, big, big for this market.
From a developer standpoint, what are you hoping to see out of PS VR2 the most?
From 2016 to 2020, the PSVR sold 5 million units globally, which means that it made a big impact on the market. It was also a very comfortable solution, especially at the start. It brought a new quality to home VR gaming. I certainly hope that the new headset will repeat the success and will accelerate the market growth and bring new possibilities in terms of features, user experience, and a fresh dose of competitiveness which always stimulates technological innovation. It’ll also be good for developers. New platforms mean new sources of income, as well as the opportunity to raise the quality standards. So basically better games. I believe that Sony will succeed again, and NGVR will bring millions of new VR enthusiasts to the community.
Anything you’d like to add?
Oh, I hope that this interview will interest some people in ourwork at Incuvo and VR gamingoverall and that they will enjoy their time with Green Hell VR if they decide to pick it up. For all the gamers that prefer PCVR over standalone goggles, I encourage you to follow the news about the Steam version of Green Hell VR, which is scheduled for May.
Green Hell VRis available now on Oculus Quest 2 and releases on Steam in May.
MORE:Blair Witch Oculus Quest Edition Interview: Devs Talk VR, Movies, and Time Travel
