Dreaming of VR in Qualicum Beach
It’s not too difficult for Denny and Tracey Unger to disconnect from a lifestyle that often involves working on virtual reality gaming close to 14 hours a day. They just have to take off their goggles, open their door, and go for a stroll in the nature that surrounds them.
Cloudhead Games’ offices in Qualicum Beach are vastly different than the crammed spaces of Vancouver’s tech incubators.
The Ungers’ company, whose game The Gallery is already being hailed as one of the top VR experiences available on devices such as the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, is located in an 8,000-square-foot office. Real estate is much cheaper out on the island than it is on the mainland, and that was one of the reasons the Ungers decided to relocate.
Founded in 2013, the company has grown from a staff of three working in a garage to a team of almost 20 people. Many came from big name studios including BioWare, Electronic Arts and Disney.
“They were looking for that balance they didn’t have in a city environment,” says Denny Unger, Cloudhead’s creative director and CEO.
“We’ve been very fortunate. Part of that is because we’re in a very unique place on the planet.”
Tracey Unger, the company’s general manager, says “The island is affordable. You can buy a house here for under $500,000 still. It’s a great place to start a family.”
The Ungers have two children, ages six and nine, and they’ve been involved in the gaming world for a long time. Denny was an early adopter of VR technology in its infancy in the ’90s. “It was terrible,” he says. Still, he saw a future in the technology and came in contact with Palmer Luckey, the inventor of the Oculus Rift who famously sold the device to Facebook for $2 billion. The Ungers saw a window of opportunity to innovate and create their own VR tech and content.
They raised $85,000 via Kickstarter, gathered the assistance of friends and family, and collected a total of $2 million over the course of three years.
The provincial and federal governments helped through various tax credits and incentives, and regional business driver Innovation Island in Nanaimo provided funding in conjunction with the B.C. Innovation Council.
Through programs such as Canada’s Industrial and Research Assistance Program (IRAP) and Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED), Cloudhead Games was instrumental in developing some of the inner workings of the systems — locomotion, motion control and performance capture — that are now industry standards in VR.
“Vancouver Island is trying to find a new growth industry and the tech sector really makes sense here,” Denny says.
“It’s not about mining resources or supporting an aging population. It’s something new and exciting.”