The VR gaming community is filled with indie developers looking to unleash the potential of the technology. Joining them is one of the stars of the flatscreen indie scene, Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid (2008). Having followed that up with The Witness (2016), Blow is now trying his hand at VR. The Braid creator plans on making a roomscale VR game that has no “concessions for seated or stationary play.”
Over on X (formerly Twitter), Blow posted a series of job openings including one for a VR Game Lead Programmer. He doesn’t mince his words when he says that the game will be: “made for untethered, roomscale play, with none of those game-ruining concessions for seated or stationary play.” Most VR titles nowadays tend to feature a variety of accessibility and comfort options. Mostly to ensure maximum reach across the player base.
Braid Creator’s First VR Game
As you can see from the job description below, it seems that Blow’s project will likely target mobile devices. Mostly likely Meta Quest or PICO devices to aid that ‘untethered play’.
“Lead development of a new VR game, starting the game from scratch, using our in-house engine. This game has a boundary-pushing design and is made for untethered, roomscale play, with none of those game-ruining concessions for seated or stationary play.
“Lead one other programmer and work with others at the company to build this game on a relatively rapid timescale. We’re looking for someone very motivated who can build high-quality technical systems without micromanagement.
“Experience shipping VR games is a huge plus. Experience with Android and Vulkan rendering are a substantial plus (but it’s not a dealbreaker if you are fluent in some other rendering API). No C# Unity programmers please (unless you just happen to know C# and are better in a systems language than you are in C#).
“Our engine and gameplay code are written in the in-house programming language created by Thekla. It is a modern systems language with high-powered features that do not cost runtime performance; we recommend looking into the language before applying.”
Speaking to Road to VR, Blow says that development with ramp up in 2024. As to why he’s now getting into VR. “It is just more about hardware having reached a certain threshold that is pretty good now, so it will only get better from here,” he said.
What do you think of this VR game from the creator of Braid? Let us know in the comments.
