Interview: Signal Space Lab – The Developer Behind Human Within

Human Within Review Interview Signal Space Lab

Developer and publisher behind the new interactive VR experience Human Within, Signal Space Lab is a Canadian studio with a strong lineup of titles, whether it is publishing or development. Their latest title Human Within has been developed alongside development studio Actrio Studio, and it is easily one of the best VR games you can play today on a VR headset. In this interview with Signal Space Lab, we dig deep into the design philosophy behind Human Within and what were the challenges during its development. Answering our questions is Avi Winkler, Creative Director At Signal Space Lab. Without further ado, let’s jump into the interview.

Q#1: Please tell us about your development and publishing studio, Signal Space Lab. How was the studio formed and what sort of titles has the studio released?
A#1:

Avi: Signal Space Lab is an interactive creation studio specializing in video games, immersive XR entertainment, and audio production. Starting as an audio house in 2015, the studio established an interactive unit to develop commercial XR content. Signal Space has built its reputation as one of the leaders in audio for interactive media having worked for some of the biggest brands in the industry, such as Sid Meier’s Civilization Series, and Universal’s Jurassic World.

Having worked closely with development teams from smaller indie developers, Signal Space has gained valuable experience in the development process, while building a network of colleagues and mentors that continue to support the company’s growth.

Signal Space has been securing its position as one of the most innovative studios in the XR space. We developed We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR, a critically acclaimed hybrid CGI + Live Action Interactive experience. My Paper World, an iOS AR game for kids used Origami and eco-friendly messages as part of the gameplay. And Afterlife, an award-winning interactive live-action VR film showcased our proprietary Seamless Interactive Cinematic VR gameplay, resulting in notoriety and critical success.

The studio has evolved its early prototype lineup from indie projects to AA caliber releases, capitalizing on the latest trends in gaming and entertainment. With our upcoming early access release of Every Day We Fight, we look to redefine the rapidly growing turn-based tactics genre. And of course, Human Within is a groundbreaking VR project merging live-action and 3D gaming.

Q#2: We did some research on your previous titles and found that you have a diverse portfolio of titles. Normally, VR game developers tend to focus only on VR titles. How does this diversity work for the studio? Are there any challenges when you switch to a non-VR title after releasing a VR title and vice versa?

Avi: The team at Signal Space is made up of people from diverse backgrounds with experience working on VR and non-VR titles. While VR is certainly a unique platform, there are many similarities between it and more traditional game development. The biggest challenge lies in the fact that the player’s perspective of the game and how they interact with it is completely different in VR vs a flat screen. There is also the aspect of motion sickness, where some players are more sensitive to it than others. While this can still be an issue in traditional gaming, the issue is of greater importance for VR titles. Being a studio that works on a wide variety of titles, genres, and platforms, helps to keep things fresh for the team members, while at the same time establishing Signal Space as a studio that is capable of more than just one specific type of experience.

Q#3: How did the concept of Human Within come into existence? What was the initial thought behind the title when the studio started working on it? Was it something that was already in the studio’s mind or the final version of the game changed course throughout its development?

Avi: Our goal was to tell a unique story about technology, using technology. We also wanted to create an experience that incorporates the user as an active participant in the story. VR is a technology that immerses players in ways that are otherwise not possible. A great deal of inspiration was taken from movies like Lawnmower Man and Transcendence. And with a focus on technology, we wanted to explore the concept of ethical concerns behind technological advancements, especially at a time when new tech is being developed at an exponential rate with each passing year. However, we also made sure that the story didn’t solely focus on the risks, as technological advancements have their benefits as well.

Q#4: There is a lot of information on the human brain, its functionality, and how technology affects it in the game. How accurate is this information and was a specialist hired for this reason to work alongside the developers?

Avi: Some research on the human brain and its functionality has already been weaved into the original script of the project. But when the project entered the production stage for the live-action phase, Film Director, Anne Weigel, and her team researched the current technology of brain-computer interfaces and consulted experts in this field of research. This influenced the look of the headset Linh wears, as well as the information displayed on the monitors in the lab. It was important for them to showcase real EEG data they received from the BeMoBil lab in Berlin. That said, while the technology had to be believable, Human Within is still a fictional story – so we kept things a bit abstract to leave room for the player’s imagination.

Q#5: The gameplay combines a lot of elements together like 360-degree video, 3D graphics, and 2D film. What was the biggest challenge to incorporate everything to work together and make it look seamless in the game?

Avi: Consistency was something very important to us when making Human Within. In creating a long-form narrative experience we wanted to make sure that our scenes didn’t run stale after a while. Because of this, we knew we wanted to have a variety of scene types to keep the experience fresh for players. With the changing of environments and visuals, it was important for the scenes to have a consistent throughline, when progressing from one type to another, and back again – while also maintaining the immersion of existing within a digital space. One specific challenge that this scene diversity brought was the fact that the full 360 scenes are not capable of supporting six degrees of freedom. To account for this limitation, the internet space and point cloud scenes were crafted in a way that does not require the player to physically move about.

HUMAN WITHIN - Launch Trailer | VR, Interactive Experience

Q#6: The block puzzle sequences look completely different from the rest of the game. Was this coincidental or were they designed specifically like this from the start?

Avi: The visual aesthetic of the internet space and point scenes is based on square and cube shapes. If you look closely you can see that the edges of the 2D panels before you within the internet become separated into square bits of data. The platform you are standing on and the “ground” surface surrounding you is made up of square columns. This visual aspect was carried over into the cube puzzles as well, where you are physically transported into the data cubes that make up the progress bars, so you can complete a code sequence and progress. The walls around you are made up of cubes and the cubes in the puzzles themselves have patterns on them that are made up of interconnected squares. So, while the surrounding visuals for the cube puzzles may be striking in nature, they have a visual treatment to them that provides a sense of consistency throughout.

Q#7: What was the design philosophy behind the 6DoF 3D environments? It is one of our favorite aspects of the title because it makes you feel like you are in a futuristic world with plenty of information sources just feeding information to you. Was this something hard to achieve during the development phase?

Avi: The full 360 memory flashback scenes make up a large portion of the Human Within experience, where you are immersed in the scenes with things to look at all around you. It was important for us to carry over that aspect for scenes within the internet space as well. Rather than just having a single large panel in front of you, showing the present-day events, we focused on having multiple panels with various bits of information. This includes having multiple perspectives of what happens in the real world, so no matter which panels the player looks at, they get a view of what’s transpiring. That said, it was very important for us to not overwhelm casual players. Because of this, the 360 and internet space scenes do not require players to look more than 90 degrees to either side. We originally positioned panels all around the player, but it very quickly became clear that this was uncomfortable for most users. For that reason, we focused on having content only within the player’s forward-facing hemisphere.

Q#8: User engagement is vital for a video game experience and Human Within tones down this considering the genre. Do you think that the gameplay mechanics and player interaction should have been more, or is it okay for the genre?

Avi: We designed Human Within not to be overwhelming on purpose. We wanted to create an experience that embeds the player into the story and allows them to interact with the scenes and the flow of events. But, knowing that a large portion of our audience would be casual players, we were careful not to make the interactive aspect too overwhelming. Human Within’s playtime is roughly one and a half hours, depending on which character’s backstory branch is followed and on how quickly puzzles are solved. It was very important for us to make sure the scenes were not bogged down by too many interaction points, as that can have an impact on the energy and pacing of the scenes.

Q#9: How would you describe Human Within to someone new to the genre? Do you think that Human Within is a good entry title for someone who has just purchased a VR headset?

Avi: Human Within was designed as a long-form narrative experience with new and casual players in mind. It was very important to us to provide an engaging and thrilling storyline that they could play an active role in, as opposed to being an outside observer. It allows players to interact with the story in several ways, but in a manner that is not overwhelming. The aim is for players to be a part of the story and to enjoy the ride.

Q#10: What particular mechanic of Human Within is the development team most proud of?

Avi: Typically, with VR experiences that incorporate live-action content, these experiences are relatively short and linear in flow. Being able to bring a branching long-form narrative experience to the format is something that we are definitely proud of. For the branching aspect in Human Within, there is a great deal of carry-over from traditional games such as the use of telegraphed interfaces that inform the player that a choice needs to be made. But unlike games with virtual characters made of polygons and animations, live-action content requires a different approach to avoid sudden popping in the actor positions when going from one choice outcome to another. In traditional 2D-based experiences that can simply be avoided by cutting from one camera angle to another. However, in VR camera cutting is not typically done. We developed a way for the camera to change to new positions that feel organic without being disorienting.

While in VR, the player can look in any direction they wish, we know which character is being looked at when a choice needs to be made. Once the choice is made, the updated camera angle, after the cut, has the player looking at the same character from a new perspective of the room. Or at least has the character within view. This technique serves as a visual anchor for the player – making camera cuts something that feels natural.

Q#11: Game development is hard, and this is why we ask every developer this question regarding their title. What was the biggest challenge for the development team during the development phase of Human Within?

Avi: There were many challenges we faced, but one in particular was fitting the entire experience on the headset, untethered. VR video content requires a very high resolution to look good in a headset. And the more content you have, the harder it is to fit onto a device.

Human Within uses a proprietary software, called VREX. It was initially developed by Signal Space Lab while working on the project Afterlife and has been improved upon during the development of Human Within. VREX has a user-friendly interface similar to most timeline-bound editors (such as Premiere or FinalCut). The technology allows for seamless branching interactivity that immediately reacts to user choices across a variety of stimuli (eye direction, screen interaction, and even sound), it also enables the development of rich experiences that include live-action footage.

Without VREX, fitting a long-form narrative experience like Human Within on a device with limited data capacity would not be possible. VREX addresses these issues in ways that offer greater content quality while also saving space. It considerably reduces the video size needed to render the content, while maximizing the resolution of the media it renders to provide a “perceived” higher resolution.

Q#12: Human Within already feels like a complete experience with a decent amount of endings to hunt down and branching paths. Can we expect any sort of post-launch content for Human Within?

Avi: While there is certainly room to expand the story or continue it in a sequel, at the moment the team is focused on the release. We will be releasing an update for the game soon to improve certain elements, and we are currently working on getting a build of Human Within ready for a Steam VR release.

Q#13: A lot of players cannot play VR titles due to some problems like experiencing dizziness or other medical issues. Do you think that a non-VR version of Human Within could be a possibility in the future for players who want to experience the title without the need for a VR headset?

Avi: We are aware that VR, in general, can be challenging for certain users. It is for this reason that Human Within was designed to be an experience that does not challenge a player’s tolerance for motion sickness or dizziness. Furthermore, the experience can be played with both controllers, as well as with just the left one or just the right. So those with limited mobility or who are unable to use one hand or the other can still play. At the end of the day, Human Within was designed to challenge conventional narrative forms in VR, so it first and foremost had to be built and optimized for headsets. But if offering a non-VR version means the story can reach a wider audience, we would look at that as a secondary application.

Q#14: Was there any gameplay mechanic or element that was cut out of the game due to time constraints or other development conflicts?

Avi: In the earlier stages of pre-production, we originally had the intention of including a total of 8 endings. However, during the scriptwriting phase, we began to realize that the differences in the endings were becoming blurred – drastically reducing the impact that one had over another. We ultimately settled on 5 endings as being optimal. So, we could focus on making each of them feel distinct. Subsequently, this decision also benefited the film production’s shooting schedule and budget.

Q#15: Human Within already feels like an interactive movie with a real cast and everything. Would the studio consider making a series or a movie in the future?

Avi: We certainly hope that Human Within inspires studios to create more content like it in VR. While our goal was to push what’s possible for the medium, there is certainly room to expand on things even further. As long as there is demand for it, we will consider pushing the envelope even more. However, high-quality scenes in full 360-degree video take up a great deal of space, so the day for feature-length movies in VR will only come once the data capacity of headsets is increased. That said, our Vrex software was created to help address some of these issues moving forward.

Q#16: Is the development team currently working on another project or are they taking a well-deserved break after Human Within’s release?

Avi: Signal Space has several projects in the works at the moment. The Human Within team has been spread out to help with their individual developments. Our next title is a turn-based strategy game, called Every Day We Fight. We look forward to its early access release, later this year.

Q#17: Is there a genre that the development would love to dig into and develop a game, but certain challenges are preventing the studio from pursuing that particular genre?

Avi: The studio is made up of team members with years of experience, working on all different types of games. We challenge ourselves to work on titles that are different from the last so that our expertise and knowledge continue to grow. The only real challenge, which is true for any indie development studio, is securing the funds to create new titles. That said, we’d love to develop a game in Mixed Reality. The idea of blending your real-world environment with that of a game experience is exciting.

Make sure that you check out our review of Human Within and if you want to give it a shot yourself, head over to its official Meta Store page and experience this amazing cinematic experience yourself. Signal Space Lab is also working on a Steam VR release however the details are still in the shadows so check back later for a confirmed Steam VR release date for Human Within.

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Have you played Human Within and what do you think of our exclusive interview with Signal Space Lab, the developer behind Human Within? Let us know in the comments section below.