DEAN TOLEDANO
​GAME DEVELOPER
SKALD VR
5 MONTHS
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
“Have you ever wondered where stories come from? How poets and Skalds can come up with the most extraordinary tales. Well, while some claim it to be the mere outcome of raw talent, others believe it to be the Mead of Poetry..."
Skald VR is a calm and relaxing VR storytelling experience.
Sitting in front of a bonfire, underneath the stars and the northern lights, the player will be told a story of Norse mythology: The Mead of Poetry
"Our story begins
at the end of a war..."
PROJECT INCEPTION
SKALD VR was an original pitch I had for a partnership my school made with Liminal VR, a virtual reality experience studio.
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The experience was inspired by the God of War Jotrnar shrines, that would tell the player a bite sized story from Norse Mythology.
My pitch was approved by Liminal. I was given the role of project lead and I had to plot out, create, test, and deliver the completed project with my team, in 5 months.
(Slides from the original Skald pitch)
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
There were three core aspects of the experience to get right.
Environment Design
The environment itself was designed as a background to add a grandiose nature to the experience, and a foreground to hold the player POV within it.
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A campfire was chosen due to the historic connection bonfires have with storytelling, and the cosy/relaxing nature of sitting by a fire.
Effects and Soundscape
All aspects of the project were to be made from scratch so that we could learn the most from it. For that cause we needed an extensive list of all the effects and sounds we would include, and research how it would be best to construct them. (e.g. fire, snow, northern lights, wind blowing, etc...)
Voiceover and talent acquisition
One part of the project I was most excited for was the collaborative experience with talent. This was the first time I personally had to manage and structure auditions and voice recordings, so it was important to be detailed and goal oriented.
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The team and I worked closely with my school's audio design students, with collaboration from acting students who auditioned for the roles.
This flowchart demonstrates the stages of the experience's development.
It was important for us that, while each team member would focus on a different branch, we would all communicate properly with one another and make sure we were advancing at a proper pace respective of each other.
All three branches joined towards the end of the project when it came to putting it all together, in a polished manner we were all happy with.
My focus in this project was the writing of the script, audio and voiceover direction, and a general overview on everything so that the entire project follows a cohesive vision.
Early on in the project, my goals were to complete the script and acquire talent for the voiceover.
Once that was secure, I moved on to working and coordinating with the audio team, to better direct and record the talent for the finished product.
