Interview: Making TRIANGLE STRATEGY in VR
TRIANGLE STRATEGY has become more immersive than ever before! A new VR version of the game is out now on Meta Quest!
Everything that was great about the game is present and correct – the mature story, morally complex decisions, unforgettable characters and, bien sûr, the strategically satisfying battles – but with new VR features that make the game thrillingly fresh to play.
That includes 360-degree movement that lets you see the conflict from various viewpoints, and intuitive controls that let you physically pick up and place characters, take actions and define strategies in a really tactile way. It even supports Meta Quest’s Passthrough feature on Meta Quest 3 which lets you mesh the game’s environments with real-world surroundings. It’s a genuinely cool effect.
To mark the launch of the game, we spoke to Ippei Tokuchi (Producer, TRIANGLE STRATEGY in VR) and Yasuaki Arai (Producer, TRIANGLE STRATEGY on PC and Switch) to find out how they brought the world of TRIANGLE STRATEGY to life like never before!
For those who might not have played it, what is TRIANGLE STRATEGY?
Ippei Tokuchi (Producer): TRIANGLE STRATEGY is a tactical RPG that uses the HD-2D art style, which blends pixel art and 3D graphics.
It’s set in the war-torn continent of Norzelia, and features a story with a large cast of compelling and turn-based battles with a huge amount of depth.
How does the VR version of the game differ from the PC and Nintendo Switch ones?
Tokuchi-san: Premièrement, the surroundings are all represented in 360 degrees! The player can enjoy an immersive experience that feels as though they’ve actually stepped foot in Norzelia.
For cutscenes, we wanted to create them in a way that makes full use of VR, which gave us the idea of showing them as if you were watching a film on a cinema screen. A screen is displayed in front of the player, and we’ve made it so that the time of day and weather in the cutscene is reflected on the player’s surroundings.
How did the collaboration with Meta begin and were any other titles considered?
Yasuaki Arai (Producer, TRIANGLE STRATEGY on PC and Switch): Someone at Meta really liked the game and reached out to us saying that they would love to see it ported it to Meta Quest. That led to this collaboration.
What did you do to make playing Triangle Strategy on Meta Quest feel different and unique to the original versions of the game?
Tokuchi-san: The most important aspect for us was immersion.
There are many things in this version that cannot be experienced in the original, such as being able to pick up and move characters, and of course the way we show cutscenes and battles as mentioned earlier. We’re excited for players to experience them!
How did you retain the graphical style of the game but adapt it to VR?
Tokuchi-san: One of the defining characteristics of the HD-2D style is how it uses depth of field to make elements we want to emphasise stand out and give the environments depth on a flat screen. Cependant, in the Meta Quest version, the player can freely rotate the camera 360 degrees, which makes it difficult to control the effect – so we decided it wouldn’t be a good fit.
So then we faced the challenge: how do we create the same beautiful atmosphere without using depth of field in this way?
How did you overcome that challenge?
Tokuchi-san: We made a lot of tweaks to make sure the overall impression remained as close to the original as possible. Par exemple, we remade some of the graphical assets and made minute adjustments to the lighting
The first time I saw the game come together on the actual headset, it was a completely unique and immersive experience – so much so, that I felt like I needn’t have worried at all about the depth of field and other differences to the original.
This game was realised thanks to the collaboration between the development studio, the team at Square Enix, and everyone at Meta – but in particular, it was thanks to the technical support from Meta and the full cooperation of the IDD team at Square Enix, who are in charge of VR research and development.
We really learnt a lot from this project.
What element of the game are you most proud of?
Tokuchi-san: I’m repeating myself, but I really think it’s the level of immersion and the mixed reality that uses the pass through feature to blend the game with the real world.
It’s an experience that’s only possible thanks to the Meta Quest, so I think it would be a great first game to play after buying a Meta Quest. Similarly, it would be a fresh, new way to experience the game for people who have already played the original TRIANGLE STRATEGY.
Finalement, do you have any suggestions for new players of the game?
Tokuchi-san: Premièrement, in the battles of TRIANGLE STRATEGY, you can deal more damage by attacking from higher terrain, or from behind the enemy. If you have two allies on either side of a single enemy, you can perform a follow-up attack and deal even more damage. These are all ways to turn the tide of battle in your favour.
You may also be asked to make some difficult decisions along the journey, but for your first playthrough, I would encourage you to follow your heart, without looking at a walkthrough or strategy guide. When you reach the ending as a result of your own choices, I’m sure it will make it all the more moving.
Finalement, one particular aspect that’s unique to the Meta Quest version is the way you can move the board horizontally and vertically. This means you can look at the scenery from lots of different angles during exploration or look out across the battlefield from different perspectives during combat.
Try taking your time and really thinking about how best to play!
Many thanks to Producers Tokuchi-san and Arai-san for their time and insight.
TRIANGLE STRATEGY is out now for Meta Quest:
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