Thumper dev: 'VR works best as a simulation of reality, not film'

- Drool's Brian Gibson shares a lesson learned while adapting the "rhythm violence" game Thumper for VR.

This is the week that PlayStation VR officially launches, and alongside that debut a group of PSVR game devs have opened up to Gamasutra about what it's like to build games and experiences for Sony's VR headset.

But even if you aren't interested in the ins and outs of working with PSVR, there's still lots of notable takeaways about both the state of VR game development in general and the things you learn about the craft of game design from trying to make games in this new dimension.

For example, Drool cofounder Brian Gibson noted that in developing the studio's "rhythm violence" game Thumper (also out this week!) for VR, he gained new insight into just how deeply games are influenced by cinema.

"I think many developers are accustomed to simulating film effects in games. By adding things like noise, lens flares, camera shake. Those make games feel real because it makes them look filmed rather than just like a raw digital rendering," Gibson told Gamasutra. "It took a while to understand that VR works best as a simulation of reality, not film, and most of those traditional film effects only pull you out of the sense of immersion."

He goes on to note that Drool still used a bit of camera shudder in the VR version of Thumper, but more to simulate actual physical impact on the player's head than to create the impression that the world itself is shaking.

You can read more of Gibson's insights into VR game dev, alongside devs on everything from Superhypercube to RIGS to Wayward Sky, in the full Gamasutra feature.

If you'd like to read even more about how Drool retuned Thumper for VR, check out this deeper conversation with Gibson on the subject.