Above: Raw Data from Survios is now on the Oculus Touch.
GamesBeat: What made you decide that this would be good in VR, as opposed to just a 2D game?
Burba: We started off with a basic 2D prototype. The key differentiator for VR is the fact that you’re standing up. You’re already moving a bit. You’re on your toes. Back at Harmonix, they used to say, “Rock stars stand up.” It’s true for this game. Part of the fun is in how you move your body relative the music you’re playing. You end up having a better rhythm, a better time, when you’re moving physically.
Originally the game was called Body Jam. That was the code name for it, because you’re jamming with your body. But that element, I think, helped us out a lot compared to just sitting down and playing with a controller. It helps you keep to a rhythm. The immersive aspect of it is also a big part of it. I’ve been going to music festivals with the game over the last three years, and there’s a very psychedelic, immersive, festival kind of experience. We’re trying to re-create that experience in the game itself. You’re very immersed in the visualizer. It hearkens back to an open music experience. If you’re a 12-year-old and you can’t go to Burning Man, this is your thing.
GamesBeat: When you’re holding these things, are you actually holding sticks, or is it just an HTC controller?
Burba: Yeah, it’s just the regular Vive controller or Rift controller. Your character doesn’t have animatable fingers, which is great, because it would have taken so long to do that. The character is holding sticks in the game. That’s another part of the design that made the game easier, the fact that you have this extra reach. You’re not grabbing items or anything like that. You just swing the sticks and press the trigger to do things with them. That’s the core set of controls.
In many ways this is the opposite of what we normally make here. We built it in Unity. It’s our only Unity title for the foreseeable future. It’s not an aggressive action game. It’s very laid back. The fun is the activity itself. It’s very much like a toy or a creative tool. We like to think of it as a Tilt Brush for music.
Above: Electronauts is available now for $20.
GamesBeat: Can you explain more about the multiplayer aspect?
Burba: When we put in multiplayer — there are not very many music games that you can play multiplayer and actually play music with someone else. Imagine the process of sitting down with a guitar, someone else is on drums, and you’re just jamming. Being able to internet-ify that process, for lack of a better word, allows people who are thousands of miles away to do that, just like talking on the phone together — that’s not really happened yet, because of latency and because of the tempo problem I mentioned.
You and I, on this phone call, probably have about 100 milliseconds of delay. That doesn’t affect our interaction too much. We don’t need to be synced up that closely. But when you’re playing music, you have to be synced really well. Otherwise you can’t jam together. Because of the quantization, we can simulate people playing music together even when they’re 100 or 200 milliseconds off. It feels pretty good. Similar to how you play an online action game and it still feels pretty good, even though you have lag.
This has been done in one or two other applications, the ability to go online and jam together, but they’re usually just little demos or tests that one person made. This is the first time it’s ever been done in something like a full-blown video game.
GamesBeat: Did you guys set up a studio to make this game, any separate space for making music?
Burba: Not too much? I don’t know if you’ve been down to our new space on La Cienega. We’ve been here about two years, in a 17,000 square foot hangar. Most of our people are in the bullpen part of it, about 80 out of 120 employees. The Electronauts team recently moved to an adjacent place so they could play music in there. But generally, everyone’s been able to play and test, primarily using the Oculus Rift. You’ve got headphones, and we could do multiplayer from desk to desk. We like to do everything in a space where everyone is co-located. It just doesn’t feel right for us any other way.
GamesBeat: Are you doing anything interesting to get the word out with the different musicians?
Burba: We’re working right now with a number of the musicians in the project to film videos of them. It’s really funny to have them play their music in the game and see it through new eyes, so to speak. We’re putting together some video packages with the musicians. We’re working through their social media channels.
A big part of our strategy here at Survios is not only to develop our original IP, but mix in other IP as well. The IP here is the musicians and the music we’re getting externally. They’ve been a big help. Several them are very engaged with us, especially the ones in the Los Angeles area. There are some great artists right around here, and they’ve been able to film in our studio.
