FIVARS 2021 Spotlight – Song in the Smoke

FIVARS: What lead to the creation of this piece?

An unbelievable intrigue in the new field of Virtual Reality, and the desire to create a self-sustaining beautiful world for players to make their own way through at their own pace.

FIVARS: What was the production process for you and your team? What did you learn?

Even for a (small) team of veterans, even with decades of experience each in making games, creating a VR world, and all the new lessons that come with that, were brand new. This was truly unexplored territory, and we were deep in the woods trying to determine which way was up almost the whole time. It’s an entirely new medium, with an entirely new learning curve

FIVARS: How did you become an immersive media content creator and why?

I’ve loved video games since the beginning and have always been completely consumed with the magic of creating these adventures, for players to enjoy at their own pace, engaging with the game and these worlds on their own terms.

FIVARS: What is the VR/AR industry like in your region?

All of the small studios in Kyoto have made good VR games at this point. There is a lot of interest in what has really established itself as a new branch of the video game medium, but it can also be so much more. Kyoto has a history of interesting, more experimental games, and VR was a natural fit!

FIVARS: What do you have planned for the future?

The next big 17-BIT game!!!

FIVARS: What would you like to share with fellow content creators and/or the industry?

This is a labor of love of everything we love about the best survival games, and the intimacy of the VR medium truly takes the adventure and the fear of the wilderness to a totally new level.

FIVARS: Do you think VR festivals like FIVARS are important?

Absolutely crucial. There are so many new games and experiences coming out these days, these festivals provide critical exposure to smaller developers who dare to delve into interesting experimental work that provides a lattice for the industry as a whole to grow onto.

FIVARS: Anything else you’d like to add?

We knew the new VR market would be a lot smaller, but the chance to make a world like this for players to completely dive into was too compelling, and we’re so happy the critical response has been so overwhelmingly positive!

FIVARS in FALL Runs October 15th to 17th in West Hollywood, and October 22nd to November 2nd Online.
Find tickets: https://bit.ly/FIVARSfallTix