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Interview : THE BELKO EXPERIMENT – VR ESCAPE ROOM With David Yarovesky
Have you ever found yourself suddenly enveloped in a nightmare? You must be dreaming, right? Either that, or you’re in an immersive VR escape room, trying to save your own life while a friend fucks with you from the sidelines! That was the fun, panicked predicament I found myself in when I headed to The Microsoft Lounge to play THE BELKO EXPERIMENT – VR ESCAPE ROOM EXPERIENCE created by my talented friend, David Yarovesky.
The game, co-created by Dan Clifton, is an interactive puzzle which puts you in the middle of The Belko Experiment. You have fifteen minutes to solve the clues in order to save your own life. It’s designed for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets through the Steam Platform, so you have a bit of a choice. Did I mention that it is FREE? As someone who has experience with both headsets, I was glad to experience this world with the Vive! Within seconds of putting the headset on, you’re completely unaware of the outside world, leaving you to focus on the game. I will refrain from the majority of details, since I don’t want to spoil things for you. Instead I will tell you a bit about my experience.
One of the first things I noticed was a familiar voice when I put the headset on. Comedian Steve Agee is your guide throughout the game. The best way to explain this is if Jiminy Cricket and Milton from Office Space had a baby, and that baby was just dropped in the center of BATTLE ROYALE… Yarovesky created a perfect balance of fun and fear that leads players through the game.
Taking all personal feelings out of this, because I am friends with Yarovesky, and quite a few people involved with the film, I found this to be a ton of fun! You are locked in your office, and have fifteen minutes to search for clues in order for you live. As the clock ticks down, the voice of your co-worker (Agee) is reminding you, with growing intensity, that you’re about to die. There are a ton of different places to search, and you can’t be afraid to think outside the box. As I played, I found my anxiety level increasing slightly, while finding joy in every puzzle solved or clue found. The game is designed to keep you moving. I found myself on the floor, running back and forth, opening drawers, moving boxes, and reaching all over the place in search of clues. Who doesn’t love that?
Because I was playing in the Vive, which is extremely clear, and easy to get lost in, there was one little surprise in particular that scared me half to death! I’m the type of person who can walk into a haunted house by myself, but this… nope. I squealed like a little girl. Despite knowing completely that I was in a video game, that it was not real, and in no way could it hurt me, I panicked! Don’t worry, you can watch me freak out over the “surprise” below.
Warning: I SWEAR A LOT!
After playing the game, I sat down with Yarovesky for a little chit-chat. Check that out here:
One of the first things that I noticed, and it’s something that I noticed when I played ‘Lollipop Chainsaw,’ is that it completely changes your experience when you recognize a voice or two, or know people in it. You heard me as I yelled “Steve! Be nice!” How has your experience been working with friends?
YAROVESKY: It’s great! Working with James [Gunn] is always great. I think James and I like to work together. Working with Steve [Agee] is great. He’s a close friend of mine. It’s nice to have that shorthand, and comfort where you can go “Yo, that wasn’t right. Do it again.” You just know each other so well, so it’s more like hanging out, and it’s less intense. There’s so much in this industry that’s intense and tough, and you have to think hard to navigate choppy waters. When you work with your friends, it’s simple.
I’ve seen a lot of your projects… from music videos, to even writing and directing THE HIVE. We’ve played VR games a million times, but we’ve never actually talked about you going in and creating a game or world. How do you even start something like this?
YAROVESKY : Sure! It’s funny how it happened. Let me break it down…
Break it down for me…
YAROVESKY: I’ll break it down for you, ok? Everyone out there is looking for directors to shoot 360, and you know that I’m a big advocate of VR. I love VR. A lot of these companies don’t understand VR, and all they know is that they want to do “whatever that is.” The simplest way in is 360 video. The problem with that is that 360 is not the future of VR. It’s just not. It’s not interactive enough. So, every time I meet with these companies I tell them “I’m not interested in shooting a 360 video, but I would love to make a game that is fully interactive… a room scale experience that is designed and created by me, that I can kind of control.” I don’t need to go into all of the specifics the ideas, but I wanted to make something totally immersive, and totally interactive. Meeting after meeting, they would go “No thanks. We’re just going to make a 360 video.’ and that’s fine. That’s what they want to do, but Blumhouse Tilt was awesome enough to hear my pitch, and kind of forced me to put my money where my mouth was! I had pitched it a lot, but I hadn’t really ever made a game before, ever. I partnered with Paper Crane Games, I partnered with Top Right Corner, and a ton of people who worked on the film in terms of sound and music… and we cranked out this really cool, unique experience.
This is, with the exception of the surprise because you’re an asshole [laughs]… intense. It’s crazy how much pressure you feel as the clock ticks down, yet Steve adds humor to the game. How did you find the balance between pressure and fun?
YAROVESKY: I think that was just in-game balancing and tweaking. I think that you approach it like a director, in that same way where you look at how much audio people can take, and balance it. How much abuse people can take before they just shut down… I warn people that it’s a fifteen minute panic attack, and when they get in there, they don’t believe me. Then, in the last three minutes they are soaked in sweat and they are freaking out. It’s so funny to see how people completely buckle under the pressure of that ticking clock… to see people stop thinking at all, and start doing things that are completely nonsensical.
If you had to enter THE BELKO EXPERIMENT with all of or friends involved in the film… throw James [Gunn] in there, and Greg [McLean] in there too…
YAROVESKY: Oh, I’d kill them first!
… who would survive, and who wouldn’t?
YAROVESKY: Me. I’d survive. First of all, I’d kill James.
Just like Mafia [the party game]…
YAROVESKY: People listen to James. He’s got a voice that people follow. He’s that alpha dog in the room, so you’ve gotta kill him immediately. You’ve gotta kill Greg…
We should just throw [Michael] Rosenbaum in too.
YAROVESKY: Rosenbaum’s gotta go. Those are all the people who you have to kill first. Anyone who is loud, that can command a group of people… I would kill them first.
What about [Michael] Rooker?
YAROVESKY: Rooker, I would recruit on my side. I’d slash his throat last…
Wouldn’t you be afraid that he’d turn on you first? Let’s face it, he can be unpredictable? [laughs]
YAROVESKY: Rooker’s the real threat! I’d be the most scared of Rooker. [Stephen] Blackehart’s threatening… I don’t know. I’m enjoying this fantasy. I’d like to think that… do I have to keep people? [laughs]
You have to keep one or two people?
YAROVESKY: I’d definitely keep James…
You said you would kill him first!
YAROVESKY: Well, if I got to keep someone. I’d just keep James. James and I, we could run it.
Belko VR – The Escape Room Experience VR Game is available NOW available for FREE for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets through the Steam Platform.
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