Bringing Satirical Factory Work To VR

The Last Worker brings the narrative adventure to Quest, PSVR 2, and PC VR on March 30th. To find out more, we spoke with Wolf & Wood founder Ryan Bousfield.

Oiffy and Wolf & Wood’s A dystopian adventure sees you playing cart (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), the last human factory worker of the megacorporation Jüngle, led by a ruthless, rainbow-haired CEO. Joined by your robot buddy Stew (Jason Isaacs), you are tasked with dismantling Kurt’s employer from the inside out and helping end the rise of automation. The cast is rounded out by David Hewlett, Zelda Williams, Claire Hope Ashiti, and Tommy Earl Jenkins. I recently attended a preview event for The Last Worker and got hands-on with the PSVR 2 version.

Due to Skew’s programming, your journey starts in the wrong place. Day one tutorial, despite Kurt being clearly a seasoned veteran. After completing this, the story segments are split up by Kurt’s day-to-day factory life. You have to make sure the packages are processed correctly and deliver as many packages as possible via his hoverpod within the time limit. That includes finding them throughout the impressive warehouse and grabbing them Use the gravity gun-style “Jüngle Gun” to assess if it’s OK, needs to be shipped, or recycled.All package details size and weight. The latter is evaluated after being placed in a pod. If the information does not match the package label, or if it appears damaged, please send it for recycling.

Warehouse work isn’t the most exciting prerequisite for a video game, but The Last Worker makes this tedious task surprisingly fun and encourages you to do a better job through a ranking system. If you fail, you’re fired, and if you pass, your boss can’t resist giving you “encouraging” feedback. It was especially satisfying to unlock his gold PlayStation trophy with his mark of the top on his third attempt. While the opening chapter depicts Kurt’s situation brilliantly, his style of hand-painted art adds character to these depressing halls. I was intrigued to see how writer/director Jörg Tittel handles this story.

I didn’t get a chance to try the stealth section, but I left the preview on a positive note after finishing Chapter 1. After a lengthy hands-on session, the Creative Director sat down with Ryan Bousfield to learn more.

Upload VR: First of all, thank you for speaking with me. First, how did the development and gameplay of The Last Worker come together?

boss field: So Jörg Tittel had an idea long before he met Wolf & Wood. That’s what we were trying to make, working with Mick McMahon (Judge Dredd, 2000AD) to do some testing on character ideas. That’s what he’s had in the background for years.brought into contact with [Jörg Tittel] “We were considering making this game, but something came to mind. We don’t have the capacity.”

“Would you like to talk to him and see what you think?” he said, since Wolf & Wood has a background in storytelling. So I chatted with Jörg. Organized the pitch for The Last Worker and created his ideas outlining this near-future dystopia. It’s also colorful, bright and weird. The idea of ​​these robots flying around this huge facility and having you as the last human in its setup.

It sounded funny and weird. That’s what we want to create at Wolf & Wood.we did terrible things Hotel R’n’R, destroying hotel rooms for demons. It’s not just about shooting and killing things. It always kind of scared people. We have always leaned towards stories. From there, we came up with some really great ideas. I thought, ‘Let’s get a publisher on board,’ and a year later I connected with Wired Productions.

I think everyone involved is taking their chances. It’s a pretty rare pitch. But at its core, it’s a narrative game that weaves together different types of gameplay as the player progresses. We were trying to get the gameplay going, so we didn’t want to make the player nervous. None of it is too much of a burden, and the stealth area turns around at checkpoints very quickly. You’re fired and you get a response from CEO Josef Jüngle.

Upload VR: I’ve seen it first hand while playing.i got an F [during a warehouse mission], was dismissed and got a B on the second attempt. Afterwards he told me ‘you could have done B better’.

boss field: Such a light, adventure game-like humor. We aim for great pacing where you always feel a sense of progress in everything that keeps you going. We call it Stealth Light. This is where you don’t delve into or map routes. .

Upload VR: Are you still in the car, even in the stealth section?

boss field: Yes, we have a full 6 degrees of freedom. In VR, of course, you can get out of space and do little things. This gives us some interesting situations even in stealth scenarios. Not many games are in flying pods. This is a new and unique challenge for this. You can’t just rely on the stealth flight rulebook.

Upload VR: Hiding behind a box with a pod isn’t what you normally think. Or like a Solid Snake hiding in a box.

boss field: Not really, given that it’s a game in a warehouse full of boxes. We certainly had ideas for some of the stages, but yeah. There are flat areas that move around boxes in a more traditional pattern…each one more like a small vignette of segments rather than a large open world.

Upload VR: you are evolving C-Smash VRS Alongside this, how have you managed to manage two projects of this size side by side?

boss field: We really needed to work on it. We all worked together to manage our time as best we could. Wolf & Wood is a team of just seven people, including musicians and concept his artists, who are involved in both projects. There’s been a lot going on since then, but the end is near, so we’ll have to make a full version after that. Both landings were so close together that I think I misjudged the timing a bit, but it would take years to scale a project. is. It would be nice to have a nice clean calendar, but the nature of these occasions shows up.

Upload VR: The Last Worker runs on all major platforms, was it always designed for VR first, or was it flat and then adapted for VR?

boss field: developed in parallel. During the development process, we knew that the VR version would be the first challenge to put the player in a vehicle and move around in a huge space. So I went there first and then went to the flat version. Initially there were these tank controls. Because this is basically how pods work. I tried it flat, but it didn’t translate.

Upload VR: W.what have you done to avoid it?

boss field: Back to traditional FPS control. Pods are almost always an extension of you. In first person, you don’t think about controlling your feet, you are controlling your head, and everything else follows. We’ve improved this to give snappy first-person controls. This actually translates nicely into a controller. I think the Switch, which has gyro controls, feels great. It’s crazy to see the different versions, control schemes, and all that you have to consider. But essentially it’s the same game. The look and feel should be very similar across all platforms.

Upload VR: Thoughts specific to VR. Works with Quest 2, Quest Pro, PSVR 2 and PC VR. Is there a big difference in how these headsets work?

boss field: The biggest difference is the performance power you have. Now with all the different headset controls and designs, they are very much in sync.Looking at the Quest 2’s controllers compared to the PSVR 2, they aren’t that different compared to the PSVR 2’s. [Vive Wands]From a design standpoint, I love how these controllers are becoming the norm. VR itself isn’t very standard anyway. There’s a lot you can do with your headset. You have to consider things like what happens if someone looks under the table. It’s something I didn’t care about before. What if someone puts their head in the corner? What happens if someone tries to play lying down?

Upload VR: People will try if they can.

boss field: that’s right. It’s great that hardware companies have agreed on a design standard. This is great for us as developers. The biggest challenge is how to get something that looks good on PS5 and PSVR 2 running on devices that don’t have the same GPU power.

Upload VR: Is that where stylized art comes in?

boss field: absolutely. That’s a big deal from a technical point of view, everything is hand-painted. Apply real-time lighting and shading to characters to give them a sense of depth. But the details, the scratches, the marks, the hair, the beard, they’re all hand-painted. This makes it perform great on all different platforms and continue between the high end and where it needs to be further optimized You can get sex.

Upload VR: Technical question since PSVR 2 has been a hot topic, what are The Last Worker’s refresh and framerates?

boss field: PSVR 2 currently does 60Hz with reprojection to 120Hz.

Upload VR: Regarding the Switch version, have you considered using Nintendo Labo and cardboard VR?

boss field: Well, yes, very early in the conceptualization of The Last Worker, we talked about Labo, but it was just one of many ideas floating around. JüngleGun’s cardboard representation still sounds fun considering that the game is all about dispatching cardboard boxes in one level!

Upload VR: Finally, you have a strong cast that you don’t usually see in a VR game, how did that come about?

boss field: So Jörg’s background is in comics and movies. He has a contact, so I got in touch and showed him a prototype.sent me a video of [Jason Isaacs] I tested one of the very early builds at his house. I was afraid to go public at such an early stage.when we were in lockdown [with COVID-19], sounded like they could make the schedule work.There were people working from or with the kitchen [Ólafur Darri Ólafsson]an Icelandic studio.

The last worker will arrive on March 30th. meta quest platform, PSVR2 PC VR is $19.99. A flat screen release for PC is also planned. PS5Switch, Xbox Series X|S.