Job Simulator maker Owlchemy unveils Cosmonious High VR game

Owlchemy Labs, the maker of Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator, unveiled a new virtual reality game referred to as Cosmonious High.

The Austin, Texas-based studio, which also made Rick and Morty Simulator: Virtual Rick-ality, has been busy working on Cosmonious High for the previous couple of years, and it is the very first major game below its new leadership.

Alex Schwartz cofounded the corporation in 2010, and it saw uncommon accomplishment in the VR marketplace with games that had been hilarious and took benefit of the new generation of headsets. While several VR titles sank since the marketplace took off slower than anticipated, Job Simulator was a genuine hit, with more than a million copies sold.

Under Google management

Google purchased Owlchemy in 2017 and largely left it to its personal devices. Schwartz and studio leader Cy Wise left in 2018. They not too long ago resurfaced with a new startup referred to as Absurd Joy. Devin Reimer took more than as CEO at Owlchemy. Other leaders at Owlchemy consist of Andrew Eiche, COOwl (chief operating owl, who spoke with GamesBeat in an interview), and item director Chelsea Howe.

“We love the ‘simulator verse,’ as we call it internally. And it’s been really fun,” mentioned Eiche. “But I think that we wanted to branch out and do something different. And there’s a lot of stories to be told in high school as well as a lot of interactions. Our brand lends itself to building spaces where players can engage with a unique theme around them.”

Eiche mentioned that Google let the studio operate autonomously, and that enabled it to move on to Cosmonious High.

“We went heads down and have been working on this game now for the past three years,” Eiche mentioned.

During that time, the studio also released a big update for Vacation Simulator.

“For many of our owls, their day-to-day life has changed very little,” he mentioned.

And the group has about 30 folks now, about 50% more than just before Google acquired it.

Back to higher college

Cosmonious High is a VR adventure set in an alien higher college launching on SteamVR and Oculus Quest next spring.

Players take the function of an alien who has crash-landed at the college on the very first day of class. Using unlockable powers, players will aid repair the college and return Cosmonious High to its former glory. Along the way they’ll meet a quirky cast of characters, discover a colorful world, take classes, and more.

Owlchemy promises the game will have living characters. The newest level of VR interaction will allow the corporation to provide dynamic characters that respond to all-natural gestures. Players will be in a position to higher-5, fist-bump, and speak with a quirky cast of characters.

The world will also be a major “interactive playground.” And the higher college will be the most significant space Owlchemy has ever constructed. Players can hang with pals in the grand hall, carry out experiments in Chemosophy, and get inventive in Visualetics. And players will unlock new alien powers more than time. Players can resolve complications or just bring about more chaos at the college.

The group chose higher college as a shared knowledge that absolutely everyone could relate to. In reality, absolutely everyone at Owlchemy Labs has attended higher college, Eiche joked, a small weakly.

“It’s a story of evolving and changing as an adolescent, and we have this player character who is an alien and gets these powers that enable it to evolve and change,” he mentioned. “We call this common ground a swim lane, and high school had some really great creative boundaries for us to sink into.”

VR rebounds

Owlchemy’s view of VR is it should really be a welcoming medium that tends to make folks comfy about experimenting. And he mentioned the group is pleased that items like the Oculus Quest 2 are promoting nicely at last.

“We knew that was going to happen. We had the common hype cycle. We went through our trough of disillusionment. We thought about how we were going to grow and approach the market and we made it through to come out on the other side. We’re so excited now.”

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz