The secretive and fantastical world of magic has long enthralled the public, with magicians like Penn and Teller, David Copperfield, Houdini and many more becoming famous worldwide for their acts of illusion. Now Samsung Gear VR owners can delve into that world of mystery now that Apelab has released its interactive story Break a Leg.
This initial release is actually a pre-cursor to a larger narrative and videogame due to release later this year, with players drawn into the world of Harry Edward Jonas Pablo the 15th, the titles host and former illusionist. Divided between puzzle phases and performances on a stage, players take on the role of an illusionist who has been kidnapped by an unknown species and forced to perform in front of a highly demanding audience.
Apelab created Break a Leg using its narrative tool SpatialStories which the studio built to create interactive animation Sequenced that premiered at Sundance in 2015. In a press release the team explains some of the development behind Break a Leg, saying: “The title started as a Google Project Tango prototype back in 2013 when the team was already exploring mobile interactions with 6DOF configuration. When mobile headsets started to get controller support the team jumped at the opportunity to build a full fledged adventure based on the initial premise.”
Ever since Sequenced was released Apelab has expanded SpatialStories functionality completely upgrading it to support high-end roomscale, mobile + controller and AR configurations. The team is also experimenting with voice commands and IBM Watson as a tool to bring more life to the characters and the environment, all of which will be available inside the SDK release roadmap.
Break a Leg is free to download now for Samsung Gear VR, and when further details are released regarding the videogames full story VRFocus will let you know.
via Mint VR