Following the announcement made a few days ago, Tokyo-based developer UNIVRS launched the Kickstarter campaign for its anime-inspired game, Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing.
The game is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, a VR experience that lets you fly on a broom and take part in pitched races in the sky. It’s based on the popular Little Witch Academia anime by Studio Trigger.
The estimated delivery time is June 2020, and the target platforms are Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR, and SteamVR. The campaign will last 45 days.
The goal for the Kickstarter campaign is 5,000,000 yen, which translates roughly into $ 46,385. At the moment of this writing, 343,459 yen have already been pledged. If you want to contribute yourself, you can do so at the official Kickstarter page.
Here’s how the developers themselves describe the project:
“VR allows you to meet characters that are usually behind a screen and enter the world of that title. Many VR-related content like animations and games have been released in recent years.
We can truly meet Akko and her friends using VR Technology. However, Little Witch Academia is a story about growth. We grew along with the characters as they overcame many challenges. That’s why we decided to try something even harder for this project!
We want to make the best flying experience possible with Akko and co.!
While VR loosens the restriction of a 2D screen and allows for new possibilities, it does have one big problem: motion sickness.
People can get motion sickness from VR the way they can from vehicles because their body and vision are in discrepancy as their body isn’t moving even though their vision is making them feel like they are.
Because of that, many existing VR titles have limits, especially on the player’s movements. In the end, many contents that are mostly about seeing rather than moving have been made, and those that are about movement are rather passive and avoid intense action.
For this project, we want to break those limits and create a flying experience where we can fly around the sky freely on magical brooms with Akko and her friends.
We don’t just want to go beyond the screen, we want to create memories with Akko and co.after having a shared experience with them over there.
We here at UNIVRS have developed VR technology that prevents motion sickness and used it to create VR games. We’ve almost perfected the system that will let you fly in the air on a broom…! We’ll do our best to jump over the technological hurdles! However, just that won’t lead to huge growth for this story. We need your help and support to make LWA VR grow even more!
We’ll use this crowdfunding to bring this project not just to Japan, but to the world. We’ll exhibit at events both in and out of Japan, solicit opinions about the game, and share information throughout the process as LWA VR grows. We would like your help! Please let us know your opinions as we work on the game, what you would like to see, and more! We want to make this passion project with all of you, so please lend us your support!”
… and a few more details:
<The player will become a potential student at Luna Nova!>
You can freely create your own avatar and enter Luna Nova as a potential student!
<Tag team with another character!>
You can team up with an LWA character and try the Bonding Race!
Also, depending on your partner, the magic and items will change!
<A multiplayer mode where you can challenge your friends!>
There will be a multiplayer mode where you can race with other player’s team!
*You will not be able to team up with another player.
Last, but not least, a couple of pieces of concept artwork. For the first teaser trailer, you can find it at our original dedicated article.
