Walkabout Mini Golf VR is one of the most successful VR games

Image: Mighty Coconut

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Lucas Martell, head of developer studio Mighty Coconut and creator of VR hit Walkabout Mini Golf VR, talks about the future of his VR game.

Walkabout Mini Golf VR is one of the biggest surprise hits in virtual reality lately. It impresses with excellent gameplay, creative worlds and a great multiplayer mode. Meanwhile, Walkabout Mini Golf is one of the most popular premium titles for the Meta Quest 2, with about half of all players spending more than two hours in the game and draining their headset battery.

Lucas Martell is the lead developer and mastermind behind Walkabout Mini Golf VR. With his studio Mighty Coconut, he is constantly releasing new content for VR mini golfers and always breaking new creative paths. Mighty Coconut, along with the Jim Henson Company, recently released DLC for the 1980s movie Labyrinth. Next up is a mini golf world in the style of the Jules Verne novels.

In an interview with MIXED, Lucas Martell provides insight into the development of Walkabout Mini Golf VR, future plans and the metaverse ambitions of a mini golf game.

Walkabout Mini Golf appeared when people needed a distraction

MIXED: How did you get the idea to develop a mini golf game for VR headsets?

Luke Martel: During the early part of the pandemic lockdown, when everything stopped, I decided to use the time to try something I’ve always wanted to do: develop something for virtual reality. I had already made an augmented reality prototype of a mini golf game for the phone, based on the ‘Walkabout’ engine we developed for Mighty Coconut’s previous phone game Laser Mazer, so I adapted that.

Mini golf for VR made sense to me because it is an activity that almost everyone understands. You can do it with one controller and one button, and the physics of the ball, putter and obstacles was something that can be used to create endless gameplay possibilities.

MIXED: Is simplicity the reason for your success?

Luke Martel:Mini golf is something that just about everyone of any age has tried. It’s an activity you can take seriously, work to study and master it, or you can just show up and hang out.

Plus, it’s a very social experience. A big part of the fun of mini golf is chatting with your friends, teasing each other with their strokes, checking out the crazy course designs and just escaping into a fantasy land for a bit together. It turns out that virtual reality is ideally suited for mini golf and vice versa.

We came at a time when people were looking for a relaxing, visually appealing and fun way to escape alone or connect with others, and we’re grateful that players embraced the game as they have around the world.

MIXED: Is there another sport you would like to bring to virtual reality?

Luke Martel: Without commenting specifically on future plans, I will say that there are several studios that do great sports-related games. I see no need to duplicate or compete in those areas. That said, if we see an opportunity, we’d love to offer players something new and fun.

The power of Walkabout Mini Golf is its multiplayer

MIXED: Was it difficult to get your team excited about the mini golf in VR project?

Luke Martel: Since I was largely designing and developing this on my own, I didn’t have to buy or get permission from anyone. Meta Quest showed enthusiasm for the idea early on and encouraged me to implement multiplayer, which naturally became a killer feature of sorts. After the launch, I expanded the team and we are having a great time planning features and courses over the next few years.

MIXED: How helpful was your animation studio experience developing a VR game?

Luke Martel: Very. We had been an animation studio for several years before Walkabout Mini Golf came out, so building immersive worlds around storytelling came naturally, as was the episodic production.

That televised discipline and cadence proved to be crucial as we’ve set a steady course since launch, adding lasting value to players and keeping them engaged in what we’re building.

With courses like Walkabout Mini Golf: Labyrinth, which we designed and developed with The Jim Henson Company based on the classic 1986 fantasy film, we started animating creatures, something that people seemed to really enjoy – both here in our studio as in our studio. player community.

MIXED: Were there any hurdles during development?

Luke Martel:Probably the biggest challenge for us was adapting an animation pipeline to a gaming pipeline. A lot of the individual skills are similar, and by coming to game design from a different angle, we’ve done things in a way that really makes the game stand out, but I’ve also learned some basics that could have made things easier.

Mini golf and the metaverse

MIXED: In terms of the current metaverse hype, could you see Walkabout Mini Golf VR becoming a similar platform to Horizon Worlds or Fortnite, with virtual events like VR concerts or a virtual open-air cinema?

Luke Martel: What we see is players using Walkabout Mini Golf as a place to meet people they know or others who simply share interests. Some people get together regularly for discussions, tournaments, to speak another language, or simply to interact with people they can identify with.

There are professionals who use the game for business meetings and team outings, and we have used the game for an interview platform, which we call ‘Walkabout Talkabouts’. I certainly expect this to expand in terms of how people are using the platform, and we hope to be one of the ways people are collecting and launching their ‘metaverse’ experiences.

MIXED: Will there ever be full-body avatars in Walkabout Mini Golf?

Luke Martel: Could be? But probably not. The reason is that even as body tracking improves, we don’t want players to fuss or think about their bodies in-game, nor do we want torsos and legs to get in the way visually as people try to play and watch. how others shot theirs. We just answered a common request to expand the private gamerooms to eight people. Can you imagine trying to get your shot with sixteen legs in the way?

MIXED: Will Walkabout Mini Golf be released on Playstation VR 2?

Luke Martel:Our goal is to be available to develop and support on as many headsets as possible. We want our players to be able to invite their friends regardless of their platform preferences.

MIXED: Would a 2D version of Walkabout Mini Golf for mobile devices or consoles also be interesting?

Luke Martel: Ever since Walkabout Mini Golf started out as an AR phone game, we’ve always wanted to offer it as a complementary experience for players. I am pleased to say that we are making steady progress in that area and have to announce something in the coming months.

Jules Verne DLC comes with new content

MIXED: Are there any other projects in the pipeline besides Walkabout Mini Golf?

Luke Martel: We have a dozen courses in active development, a list of a hundred more we want to create, we’re talking to several licensors about potential partnerships, and we’ve got plenty of other ideas behind miniature golf. But we are focused on giving our Walkabout Minigolf players the very best experience right now.

MIXED: How did the idea of ​​developing a Jules Verne DLC for Walkabout Mini Golf come about?

Luke Martel: I loved to read several Jules Verne novels as a kid, I even tried to take a trip to the center of the earth Adventure game when I was a teenager so it’s something that has always been on my mind. Plus, Jules Verne’s novels have such a unique tone and sense of place, which is exactly what we look for when we create courses.

MIXED: What was the big challenge in implementing a new world versus implementing a movie world like Labyrinth’s?

Luke Martel: Each course we design offers its own set of fun surprises and formidable challenges. With Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, there’s a much-loved slice of film history and an ardent fandom to please, as well as our partners at The Jim Henson Company. We had to decide how to bring a linear story to life as a fully explorable place while still hitting those narrative beats in a satisfying way – and making sure the mini golf would still be a lot of fun.

For our Jules Verne trilogy, we’re big fans of the novels and knew that these epic adventures would make for fantastic worlds to explore, but because of their size, the challenge is to select the right elements and scenes to bring to life. bring. Our low poly aesthetic is not only artistic, but also for performance across the different platforms where the game is available. That also means that when we tackle something like “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea”, we want the details to feel compelling and surprising, even with such a classic story. And the mini golf should still be a lot of fun.

MIXED: What can we expect from the upcoming Jules Verne DLC?

Luke Martel: In each Walkabout mini golf course, we hide eighteen themed lost balls and a scavenger hunt (“fox hunt”) to earn a special playable putter. And players can certainly expect at least one new gameplay mechanic with the Jules Verne trilogy of courses!

MIXED: Will there be animated NPCs like in Labyrinth?

Luke Martel: We will continue to build on things that have worked in other lanes and players can definitely expect some creatures to be on the move amid these mini golf adventures.

MIXED: Will there be narrative elements such as quests in the game?

Luke Martel: In our game, the player is really the protagonist, so you can bring that story to life. That said, we organize the courses with a suggested story to give hints of what could have happened there moments or eons before you arrive.

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