How can social VR experiences bring us together in new and playful ways? 

The social and creative potential of VR is something many have been exploring for years, yet 2020 shone a light on VR’s ability to bring us together in playful and digitally embodied ways like never before. In 2016 Simon Barratt co-founded Cooperative Innovations with a belief in these immersive technologies as the future of entertainment, work and life. Since then, they have gone on to release a range of successful games and projects including a VR port of the critically acclaimed chaotic co-operative game Spaceteam in 2020.

Join Simon as he discusses the challenges and possibilities of bringing playful co-operative experiences such as Spaceteam into the realm of VR as well as reflecting on the impact 2020 has had on the reception and demand for social VR.

 

Speaker

Simon Barratt, Co-Founder of CoopInnovations - www.coopinnovations.co.uk

BIO

Simon learnt to program, thanks to his Mum, at the age of 6 and joined the games industry in 1999.

He ran indie studio Four Door Lemon from 2005 to 2015 producing a large range of games across many genres and platforms including three early AR titles for the Sony PlayStation Vita.

In 2016 he co-founded immersive technology studio Cooperative Innovations to develop social VR / AR technologies, experiences, games and applications including the chaotic ‘Spaceteam VR’ released in 2020. Cooperative Innovations recently announced Curatours, a metaverse built for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

About Spaceteam VR

Assemble a team of up to six space cadets and work together communicating and completing increasingly complex instructions. Keep your ship hurtling through space, despite the constant threat of annihilation, with swift witted deployment of your essential space tools.

Above all else, it’s important that you keep calm in the face of imminent destruction. Remember cadets, in order to avoid your inevitable demise you need to work together… as a Spaceteam!