Welcome to our weekly feature where we ask some of the industry’s leading developers and personalities 20 questions.

This week we feature Justin Pappas the lead developer of upcoming game Albino Lullaby.

State your name

Justin Pappas



What is your current Job / Role ?

I am the Founder of Ape Law and the Creative Director of ‘Albino Lullaby‘

What are you most famous for ?

I was the Level Design Lead for Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, though the biggest internet splash I ever made was for a UT3 mod called ‘GfG#2‘ The Sound Director on that, Ryan Buckley is also doing the sound for ‘Albino Lullaby‘.

What is currently on the desk in front of you ?

An empty beer bottle, a baby monitor, a skull shaped shot glass, a wrist brace, a newspaper article, a spoon…. we could be here all day…

What was your first VR experience ?

The first time I used VR was at a cyber cafe’ in Boston called ‘CyberSmith’ They had Nintendo 64’s set up in the lobby so you could try out the mind blowing (at the time) Mario 64 while you waited to get into the upstairs. They had this giant, clunky headset that felt like it weighed over 100 pounds… and you had to stand still in a ring. The objective was to shoot missiles coming at you all directions. The missiles looked like bleached french fries. In the 90’s VR was not living up to the promise… but I still blew allowance after allowance for another five measly minutes in that thing.

Did you feel any sim sickness or do you ever feel any sim sickness ?

I don’t remember sim sickness back in the day but when I got my Oculus, yeah, I was mega nauseous. It was the kind that really stuck with me too, long after I took the headset off! I soldiered through it… it was just too awesome to not. You really have to train your brain to deal with it. Now I don’t get seasick at all. I’m fully ready to walk the rift.

What’s the longest amount of time you have spent in VR in one play session ?

Three hours in Half-Life 2

What’s the strangest experience you have had with VR ?

We are hoping to dominate this category with ‘Albino Lullaby’ That said, there are some really out there VR ‘experiences’. There was one where you are sinking down into the ocean, and you see something giant slowly move under you.. that part was awesome… then you continue to sink… and stare at an eyeball for about five minutes.

What’s the funniest experience you have had with VR ?

A buddy of mine who doesn’t play games strapped on the Oculus and jumped into ‘Albino’. He was so disoriented and scared he would scream at anything. “OH MY GOD!! WHERE AM I?! WHAT IS THAT? AHHHHH!’ ‘That’s the floor, your in a corner staring down and spinning in circles, dude.’

What game or hardware device are you currently working on ?

I work on my PC. Win 7. Unreal 4.

Do you have a release date in mind for your project ?

We would like to release episode one in the first quarter of 2015.

What is the biggest surprise you have had since you started to work in VR ?

Just how totally viable it is. VR is going to change everything, not just games and it’s hard to really know that before you put on the headset. When I first put the Oculus on, and saw that it worked better than I had hoped with graphics far beyond bleached french fries… I was pretty surprised.

If you could only choose one game from your childhood to be remade for VR what would it be ?

RIVEN (Myst 2)

Besides games what do you think will be the most useful application for VR ?

Probably something like second life, once the planet is in tatters and we all live in pods.

What advice would you give to people on how to get into VR development ?

Get an Oculus, they are affordable. Get Unreal 4, it works like magic with the Oculus. Start building! Try different things in your level design. There are a lot of ways to make a player feel sick, even if they have their VR legs, so try stuff out and see how they make you and your players feel.

What is your favorite VR related movie ?

Cronenberg’s ‘eXistenZ‘

If you had a crystal ball and could see 10 years into the future what developments in VR do you think will have happened?

I think by then we’ll have full, wireless, haptic body systems ala ‘Ready Player One’.

Outside of VR what do you do to relax ?

I love to Kayak. Kayaks are great cause they can maneuver into the small brooks and tributaries that spread out from the river. I love tributaries that are too narrow for the paddle, and require me to use the shore or overhanging trees to pull myself along.



What’s your current favorite VR experience that you have not developed your self ?

Half-Life 2 by far. To actually BE IN city 17 is a dream come true. It’s like they built a Valve theme park or something.

Sum up how you feel about Virtual Reality in 6 words or less ?

Sky brown? Trees gone? Oculus escape.

View Kickstarter details here

More details at www.albinolullaby.com

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