Poland-based Monologic Games might be newcomers to the development scene, but when they revealed their new platformer Ven VR Adventure back in February, it certainly piqued our interest.
[UploadVR regularly commissions freelance writers to review products, write stories, and contribute op-ed pieces to the site. This article is an Q&A transcript the author conducted with the game’s developer.]
Confirmed for launch on Oculus, Steam VR and PlayStation VR, you’ll be playing an intergalactic police officer working together with Ven, a fox-like creature looking to protect his home planet from Bruce Nelson, a criminal that invaded Ven’s planet. Home to an energy source called Runes, his planet has often been threatened by invading forces and this time around, we must help Ven stop them and save his little companions along the way.
Certainly, Ven’s gameplay seems reminiscent of old-school 3D platformers like Ratchet & Clank, Mario, and Crash Bandicoot. Rather than controlling a character personally like those games however, Ven VR Adventure lets players directly interact with the main character, reaching into this world with tracked motion controllers. It’s a similar approach to Moss and Astro Bot, two games that successfully proved how platformers can work well in a VR environment.
Since then, we’ve received a few developer updates about Ven and back in June, Monologic treated us to some further gameplay footage. It gave us a small teaser for what’s to come but news has been quieter these last two months. As such, we reached out for an interview with Monologic’s Community Manager, Łukasz Konieczny, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions.
Ven VR Adventure: Upcoming New 3D Platformer Exclusive To VR
Henry Stockdale, UploadVR: Firstly, thank you for joining me here. For those readers unaware of your game, could you please introduce yourselves?
Łukasz Konieczny, Monologic Games Community Manager: Hello! First of all, thank you for being interested in our game. It is a great pleasure for us to talk to you about Ven. Our team was established at the beginning of 2019 in Poland. At the moment we have around 8 members making sure that soon you will receive a fun to play VR platformer.
UploadVR: Ven VR Adventure is Monologic Games’ debut title. As a new studio, have there been any unexpected challenges during development?
Konieczny: Of course, game development is very challenging in general, especially for new teams. When it comes to Ven, we are very happy because our plan works pretty well so we can reach milestones without any serious problems. However, while making VR platformer you need to think really about everything because in contrary to 2D version the player can look in any direction.
UploadVR: Since making the reveal announcement, Ven’s been compared to Crash Bandicoot. Was this a big influence on gameplay or did you take inspiration from elsewhere?
Konieczny: It is an honor to be compared to such legend as Crash. This series gives you a picture of what well-crafted platformer is. It is also a favorite game from childhood for Damian, the founder and head of our team. The biggest inspiration from Crash when talking about Ven’s gameplay is that we want it to be challenging, dynamic and satisfying. On top of that is VR technology which is an amazing addition to platformer game.
UploadVR: Platformers are often known for their colourful cast of characters; can we expect to see anything like that here?
Konieczny: One of the most important characters is Bruce Nelson, our main villain who invaded Ven’s planet. During your adventure, you will also meet Teremy, a robot companion who will assist you in various ways. There are also many unique creatures inhabiting the planet, more robots (this time the baddies from Nelson’s army) and bosses.
UploadVR: How does virtual reality factor into gameplay, is it mostly that direct interaction with Ven or did other factors draw you to VR in particular?
Konieczny: As a player, you can be physically in this world, next to Ven’s character. What we try to emphasize whenever it is possible is that Ven notices you – he can look at you, blink to you and more. Those are very subtle interactions that build your bond with Ven. There are also various interactions that influence gameplay – you can use them to help Ven in combat or during traversal in the level.
UploadVR: Did you ever consider releasing Ven on traditional platforms?
Konieczny: For now, we are strongly focused on releasing the game on multiple VR platforms. Honestly, we didn’t make any plans or decisions about that but who knows what the future will bring 😉
UploadVR: Outside of the campaign and time trials, I can see other gameplay modes have also been promised. Can you tell us anymore about these?
Konieczny: What we can say today is that there will be a special game mode that will serve as the reward after completing the main campaign. It is a surprise so you need to wait till the launch of the game 😉
UploadVR: At this point, Ven has been confirmed for Oculus, Steam VR and PlayStation VR. Are there plans to support other major PC headsets or the Oculus Quest?
Konieczny: As to the Oculus Quest, it is the future of VR but we want to wait a little bit more before providing some official information.
UploadVR: Will there be a simultaneous release between these platforms?
Konieczny: It would be perfect to have it that way haha – cannot give you the final confirmation but we would like to do it.
UploadVR: Is there a release date in mind?
Konieczny: We plan to release Ven by the end of the year and we are working hard to make it happen.
UploadVR: Lastly, is there anything you’d like to share with the fans in particular?
Konieczny: We would like to say “THANK YOU!” for all of the kind comments and support that we can see in social media. We are making Ven VR Adventure to give you tons of fun and a good time. We do hope you’ll love it once the game is finished!
Ven VR Adventure is slated for release before the end of the year on PSVR and PC VR headsets such as the Rift, Vive, and Index on both the Oculus Rift store and SteamVR. An Oculus Quest version is not confirmed, but it sounds like it could be possible eventually.
Let us know what you think of Ven VR Adventure down in the comments below!
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