VR Gaming, which was just a fantasy a decade ago is now the reality for gamers. And with the gaming world experiencing revolutionary changes in the past decade, game developers have new opportunities as well as challenges to adopting ever-evolving technology to stay ahead of the competition.
Fast Travel Games is one such VR exclusive game developer founded by the trio Oskar Burman, CEO and Co-founder, and the gaming industry veterans Erik Odeldahl, and Kristoffer Benjaminsson, focusing on creating games rich in world-building and storytelling.
Since its inception in 2016, Fast travel Games have released 3 award-winning VR games – Apex Construct, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, and Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency, the latter co-developed with another studio called Neat Corporation.
Now the company is set to create yet another milestone in the VR gaming space by releasing the first-ever VR game set in the popular World of Darkness universe, a horror title called Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife.
Every successful organization has a visionary leader and the hard work of the skilled team behind it. Oskar Burman shares his role in the success Saga of Fast Travel Games, “My role is mainly to lead the studio development and secure our financial support from investors and platform owners, making sure we pave the way for a successful future and can grow to the size we feel we should be at.”
Oskar shares the key aspect of the company’s success, the skilled team of Fast Travel Games with vast experiences from gaming studios like EA DICE, Avalanche, and Rovio, strongly focused on developing VR games.
“Developing for VR takes time and to become great at it requires a lot of testing and learning,” Oskar says, “At Fast Travel Games, our focus is to create games with worlds you never want to leave, highly immersive worlds with believable interaction to put the player inside the experiences,” he further shares.
Strong team spirit during the crisis
COVID-19 has impacted every sector more or less. However, the tight-knitted teams at Fast Travel games together pulled the company out of the crisis. Talking about his bond with his team Oskar says, “I love spending time with all our employees, so I think the pandemic is tough for us in that sense. Of course, the most important thing is the health of employees and everyone is doing all right from that perspective.”
As for developing the exciting VR games during the pandemic, Oskar shared how the company continued its operations, “We have all the tools and programs needed to keep momentum even while working from home and with the many ways to communicate with each other digitally, we are still in a good place.”
The company has also spent a budget to make sure all the home offices are optimized when it comes to workstation comfort and equipment. However, Oskar shares how working remotely has impacted the brainstorming of ideas or discussions. “This does not come as naturally these days, as compared to chatting by the coffee machine,” he says.
Ever-evolving gaming experience
When venturing into technology-related sectors like the VR games industry, keeping up with the latest technology is the key to stay ahead in the game. Especially in the VR Gaming industry, new headsets and peripherals keep popping up every year and game lovers have new expectations for enhancing the VR gaming experience.
Oskar shared an experience of how Fast Travel Games has managed to stay updated with the latest gaming technology. “Fast travel Games had recently released the game that was perfect fit for Facebook’s newly launched Hand Tracking technology to their popular headset Oculus Quest. This game from Fast Travel Games became one of the first games on the market that supported Oculus Quest technology,” he said.
Advice for the aspirants
Entering the VR gaming field might sound thrilling, but one has to keep learning to stay updated with the latest trends and technology. “Don’t give up and use your learnings from trying to build something unique that you strongly believe in,” Oskar encourages aspiring entrepreneurs.
“Creating games for VR is not the same as creating flat screen games, so make sure you build a foundation of insights and knowledge about the technology and the user expectations. We are still only in the beginning stages of what VR can mean for gaming, so there is bound to be room for many more studios and visionaries,” he shares further.
Arming for the future
Being the visionary leader, Oskar knows the need for a skilled team and knowledge of the latest technology to stay ahead in the VR gaming world. And his plans for the company in the year 2021 hint towards the same. “We are currently hiring for different roles and hope to become around 40 people at the end of 2021. We have also acquired a new office which we are moving into in April if the covid situation allows. Up until now, we have released an average of 1 VR game per year, but we are building for a future where we can have two launches every year instead,” he says.
Oskar Burman, CEO and Co-founder, Fast Travel Games
