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SUPERHOT was one of the earliest VR hits and the team partly responsible is steaming on with a new title that looks chuffing great.
It’s an exciting time for VR gaming, with PSVR2 and Quest 3 likely the biggest hardware launches of 2023 (pending the late arrival of the new Spectrum Next). Having worked on PSVR and Quest 2 hit SUPERHOT, the crew at Something Random could easily have created its spiritual successor for its breakaway debut, but instead has steamed off in a new direction with Toy Trains VR, which, unlike the stylistic time-rewind shooter, does exactly what it might say if it came in a tin. Nevertheless, we wanted to find out more…
Coming from some of the people behind SUPERHOT, gamers probably wouldn’t expect a game about toy trains. How did it come about?
The reasons for that are multiple. We didn’t want to lock ourselves into any genre. I.e. if we started with a shooter it would immediately bear a mark of “by the creators of SUPERHOT” and people would have certain expectations of it. They would probably expect a “spiritual successor” of some sorts and if we delivered it we would have an even harder time trying something new. Or Something Random… The company name has a deep meaning for us. We believe there is a lot to discover, not only in VR, but also in regular games. Submitting to any genre blocks you from making truly new things.
The game looks to build on charming PC game Tracks and do something similar in VR. Was that the main inspiration?
To be honest I’ve never heard about that game before. Toy Trains came about from two sources: Firstly we wanted to explore basic interactions and UI in VR that would feel good, be understandable and wouldn’t copy solutions from regular games. Then the theme came when I played with toy trains with my son and quickly ran out of space and track pieces. I thought “what if this was in VR and with unlimited tracks”. So that was our springboard, which changed and evolved thanks to many iterations and input from the whole team.
Making a relaxing sandbox VR game means getting the user experience just right. Has that proven difficult?
The game is not really a sandbox (yet) but it is quite open to players’ input and allows them to express themselves a lot. Regardless, the feel of playing with actual toys, systems of use and minimal “time to fun” were our top priorities. We did a whole lot of iterations to all kinds of basic systems from picking items up, holding them in certain ways, how they reacted with each other etc. We were never satisfied with it and still feel there is a lot to discover there. We also had to balance the “game” and “toy” aspects of the game at one point even throwing away all economy, points rating and wagon management systems in favour of just having fun placing the tracks and trains onto them. Toy Trains might look like a tiny game but a lot of love and effort was put into it.
With PSVR2 and Quest 2 releasing this year and Apple’s device on the horizon, what excites you about the direction that VR tech is going in?
I hope soon VR will open to regular people, not only power users and gamers migrated from PC and consoles. Don’t get me wrong – early adopters and people passionate about VR as a technology are the reason we are where we are now. However those same people bring with them a lot of previous knowledge and habits. That means they accept solutions such as aiming a laser pointer at a thing that you want to select (which is a direct copy of mouse pointing) instead of demanding new ways of interacting with VR space that is much more natural. In short – new people with less experience might force us, the creators, to make better stuff, more suited to VR.
Does Toy Trains VR make special use of any of the current or imminent headsets?
For now we focused on bare basics and interactions. We didn’t want to distract ourselves with anything else. That said, mixed reality and hand tracking seem like a perfect fit for Toy Trains and we have many ideas how to use them. Eye tracking would be useful too so we’ll definitely look into that in headsets that support it.
How do you hope to extend the life of the game after release?
We have more ideas for that than we could hope to make. Starting with sharing your creations, making challenge boards for other players to solve, playing in coop, building tracks on your furniture in mixed reality. Then traditionally adding new themes (Wild West anyone?), story campaigns and special tracks. Maybe expanding into licensed models if people would want that? The possibilities are plentiful and they all depend on our fanbase and support. If there is a demand for that we could release additions to Toy Trains for the next ten years!
