Jonathan: I’m a huge fan of John Carpenter and his music, so I instantly felt that working that dreadfulness into the music would give users this nostalgic feel to match our ‘80s and ‘90s setting. The pacing is a lot more action-focused, but when there’s no action in those moments between, we had to dynamically slow down and adjust the music as well.Ĭonsidering that VR is all about immersion, what goes into building that VR atmosphere rather than a flat game? Arizona Sunshine was a pretty big title for us, so we all sat together and asked “What can we do to take it to the next level and really innovate in certain aspects?” There were a lot of new things that we learned over the course of development, like Jonathan using dynamic music in the levels. TamTu: From a development standpoint, it was very interesting to keep innovating. Our background in VR gave a bit of a reassurance, but it still feels like every single project is going out there in the woods and making sure you come out alive. You get a sensory overload pretty quickly. It was a lot of trying different iterations on stuff to see if it would work with the game, because obviously VR is a very sensory-based experience. I hadn’t done music before for this adrenaline-pumping gameplay. The game is also a lot faster paced, which is reflected in the music. We were focused on getting a multiplayer title out.
Jonathan: Generally speaking, this game felt like starting all over again, because we were doing something different. How different was making After the Fall as opposed to your previous zombie VR game, Arizona Sunshine? People actually mentioned the soundtrack so much that I even saw a reviewer stop talking over his video just to showcase the music. It’s always super scary to read the first few reviews, but as the hours went by, I saw more and more positive responses. I always feel that music gets a spotlight of its own when it comes to game launches, and composers are always on the frontline. Jonathan van den Wijngaarden: I wholeheartedly agree with TamTu there. The response post-launch has been pretty amazing too. Seeing people react really positively to the trailers was really affirming for us, and it really motivated the team to keep going up to the release. Musically, we were able to sample some of the tracks in the trailers that we’ve released over time, so the response to that was really great. We’ve been talking about the game for such a long time - ever since we released a demo back in 2019 - and it was met with huge anticipation. TamTu: For the dev team, it’s been quite a roller coaster, and it was a huge sigh of relief to finally get it out there. SPIN: Now that After the Fall is finally out, how does it feel to see the fan reaction?
Inspired by John Carpenter, the veteran composer delivered arguably his finest work to date on the new title. Of course, no ‘80s-themed zombie spectacular would be complete without a soundtrack straight out of a classic horror film, and that’s where Jonathan van den Wijngaarden’s score comes into play.
#ZOMBIE QUEST GAME HOW TO#
Perhaps it’s because the Vertigo Games team didn’t have to focus on how to do VR zombies, so they were able to put the emphasis on how to make squad-based VR gameplay that’s actually fun to play and works like it’s supposed to (most of the time). Hell, the title’s Dutch developers at Vertigo Games have even already released one of the genre’s earliest defining games with 2016’s Arizona Sunshine.īut in (virtual) reality, After the Fall is greater than the sum of its parts.Īside from providing an action-heavy blizzard-filled festival of violence that feels straight out of your favorite ‘80s action movies, After the Fall provides one of the rarest commodities in the entire gaming industry: a fleshed-out VR co-op experience. On paper, After the Fall is yet another zombie apocalypse-based virtual reality game.