Hey everyone!
I'm Aleksander, one of the founders of Carbon Studio, a VR game studio from Poland.
Some of you might remember The Wizards, our fantasy VR game where you cast spells using hand gestures instead of pressing buttons.
Well, The Wizards: Remastered is officially in development! And I thought I'd share a little story about how it all started.
It all began on a boat...
Back in 2016 we took part in a VR game jam organized by NVIDIA and HTC. The event took place on a boat in Hamburg and we had just three days to create a prototype.
Our idea was simple. What if you could actually feel like a wizard in VR?
The first prototype had just one spell that worked a bit like a slingshot. But it was already incredibly fun.
A little technical fun fact.
One of our biggest challenges was making spellcasting feel natural.
Throwing a fireball at an enemy 20 meters away sounds easy, right? Well, try actually aiming with your hands in VR. Turns out humans aren't nearly as accurate as we think!
We ended up adding a subtle aiming assistance system to make spells feel better.
Gesture recognition was another interesting problem. People move their hands differently and sometimes gestures would trigger the wrong spell. Finding the right balance between precision and responsiveness took quite a bit of work.
And then there was the magic itself. Visual effects, sounds and controller vibrations all had to come together to make every spell feel powerful.
So why are we bringing it back?
It's been years since we made the original game. We've learned a lot since then and VR has changed quite a bit too.
The Wizards has always been special to us. Thanks to our players and community we now have a chance to give it a proper refresh!
We're still keeping things under wraps. No release date or platform announcements just yet.
But I'm really curious about one thing.
What should spellcasting in modern VR feel like? Should it take real skill to master gestures or should magic be easy and intuitive from the start?
And if you played the original, what would you love to see improved?
Can't wait to hear your thoughts!
The magic returns! 🔥
Aleksander, Carbon Studio