Unello Design are probably the most chilled out VR developers in existence right now. Aaron Lemke‘s approach to game design seems to start with throwing away anything that could traditionally be considered a game. From the meditative Waking Man through to the lucid dreaming of Lunadroid, his music infused work is designed as pure escapism with perhaps a touch of enlightenment if you’re lucky.
As such, Aaron’s work neatly illustrates the opportunities for ‘gaming’ to develop new genres that aren’t about objectives, missions and shooting people in the face. Eden River was a good example of a title where just being inside was enough. All you did was float down a river, surrounded by beautiful scenery rolling your head gently from side to side to glide in that direction – and in VR, it was pure relaxation.
Now, Unello Design are working towards an expanded version of Eden River and is engaging with the VR community to find out what they’d like to see in Eden River HD – a commercial follow up, to be sold via Steam.
Popular suggestions for added features are to have a more expansive world, control over your cruising speed most tellingly a new ‘endless mode’. Could we see people falling asleep adrift on an infinite river?
You can find more on Eden River HD over at Unello Design‘s website here. No release date has been announced as yet for the title, we’ll let you know as soon as we do.
