Wednesday, 7 August, 2024 UTC
Summary
We spoke with Actuator Digital’s Sebastiaan Fehr about the 90s-inspired arcade shooter On Point and the risks of making indie games for VR. Read on for our full interview:
If you long for the giddy excitement of popping away at digital enemies in dusty arcades, you likely share a kinship with Brisbane-based developers Actuator Digital. After years of helping other developers realize their dreams, the team is finally taking an adventurous leap into the world of indie game development.
“We've taken on various game dev and software dev contracts, using our skills to earn enough money to take a shot at making our own game. If it succeeds, it could be the start of a life-long dream come true for the team: making a living, creating our own games,” explained Actuator Digital CEO Sebastiaan Fehr.
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On Point, which has just entered early access on Quest and SteamVR, embraces the heady nostalgia of 90s light gun games like Point Blank, dressing them in the modern trappings of virtual reality.
Inspired by other VR gun games like Robo Recall and Gun Club, Fehr and the team aimed to capture the satisfying feeling of shooting, ditching the violence in favor of vibrant cartoonish landscapes. “Imagine Warioware meets VR shooting,” Fehr advised. “You have to think, aim, and blast to compete with friends for a high score through heaps of classic arcade-inspired shooting minigames.”
Among On Point’s cavalcade of moreish minigames, you’ll tackle a variety of skill-testing challenges, like hastily avoiding bombs while hitting targets or using your blistering ammunition to blast patterns into boxes of harmless watermelons. In line with its inspirations, you’ll hold up your controllers and aim, feverishly unloading your cache at a smorgasbord of tactically placed markers. A leaderboard and accuracy-measuring statistics further engage your inner competitor, allowing for some healthy competition alongside the vibrant arcade fun.
Despite its high-octane veneer, Actuator Digital wants On Point to be approachable to all kinds of players, not just those who’ve earned their VR sea legs. “When I introduced VR to friends and family, some new players found the experience off-putting or overwhelming... Shooting should be the perfect introduction to VR—it's just point and squeeze.”
With a choice of difficulty modes, players can amp things up if they’re looking for a more frustrating challenge, too. “We've kept the hardcore competitive elements of games like Point Blank for the later levels, but we wanted to ease players into the experience,” Fehr said.
Still, Fehr explained that getting On Point across the finish line hasn’t been smooth sailing. “Making a game is a huge risk and can feel like a struggle, especially with our wishlist numbers. We face our own financial challenges as a studio and see studios around us facing similar challenges or even closing.”
Actuator Digital is well aware of the uphill battle smaller or unproven studios face. “Earlier, publishers and platforms had a huge appetite for backing VR games, taking risks on new ideas and supporting many projects,” Fehr continued. “Many of those didn't pan out, and today, we're faced with more risk aversion and a much more challenging pathway to securing backing.”
Despite the perils of navigating such difficult inroads, Fehr was keen to praise the work of arts agencies like Screen Queensland and the IGEA (Interactive Games & Entertainment Association) for their commitment to community building and advocacy for independent game developers across Australia.
“These efforts have made it feasible for Actuator [Digital] to take the plunge and focus fully on games. Without the games grant and support we receive, it simply wouldn't have been possible for us to make On Point what it is today.”
On Point is available now in early access on the Meta Quest platform and SteamVR.