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

We start this series with Drash VR the developer of Titans of Space.

1. State Your Name:

Drash

2. What is your current Job / Role ?

Enterprise business software engineer, using C# and SQL Server database daily. Also, daydreamer.

3. What are you most famous for ?

Titans of Space and TNG Engineering demos. Rift Demo Round-ups.

4. What is currently on the desk in front of you ?

It’s a standing desk so there’s multiple levels. On the top level in front of the monitor is a crumpled Powerbar wrapper, a microphone, my work laptop with the lid closed (because it’s the weekend). On the lower level is an Oculus Rift, a Razer Hydra, and an Xbox 360 controller. To my left is another standing desk, which has another work laptop, a bottle of water, my tablet and phone, and a bunch of envelopes I probably should open.

5. What was your first VR experience ?

Tuscany! A euphoric moment that compelled me to literally LOL.

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

I did, for about two weeks. Headbob was fine, going up and down virtual stairs was fine, turning my virtual body with a thumbstick was not fine at all. I learned to just close my eyes for that. I’m grateful for the VR community’s early Rift efforts, especially the Rift Racer demo, for providing fun ways to acclimate.

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

Probably only a couple hours. I’m too busy to actually spend several hours straight in any given experience just yet, and am hoping that will change at some point.

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

A certain part of Senza Peso is probably the strangest. Strange is memorable. 🙂

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

I’ve had plenty of these, but most recently I stumbled on something called “Zombie Shooter Demo” on the Oculus Dev Forums, which definitely qualifies.

10. What game or hardware device are you currently working on ?

Titans of Space updates, and a few others that I’m not at liberty to discuss just yet.

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

Some of the Titans of Space updates will be available when I make the DK2-compatible version available soon, but will probably be working on it (and its sequels) right up to CV1 availability.

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

My priorities in life have been reshuffled, and I found a purpose that is meaningful to me. Some of the other things I used to worry about seem so incredibly minor now. I suspect this is true for many others in the VR community as well. It’s a great time to be alive for so many reasons, and I hope everyone finds that thing that drives them forward.

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

Hard choice, but I’d definitely go with Phantasy Star II. The story, themes, battles, music, monsters, and landscapes make this a game ripe for a truly epic VR re-do.

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

I think most VR applications, games and all, can be unintentionally educational when dipped in good VR. So, I think education will benefit a lot, but overall there will be a lot more education going on without people really feeling like they’re in school. Other than that, I look forward to worrying less about how far I live from my friends and family as communication is taken to deeper and more intimate levels in VR.

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

Check out Unity and Unreal. Plan on learning something new every day. Start with extremely small project goals and challenge yourself to make complete end-to-end experiences. Don’t burn out. First impressions are everything – find playtesters and put yourself in your player’s shoes in order to refine your experiences. Hide the mouse cursor.

16. What is your favorite VR related movie ?

The Matrix.

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

Despite the rapid leaps the hardware is making today, I think progress will actually be pushing harder on the software side, as the world collectively brainstorms solutions to longstanding human problems using VR as a medium, and at the same time finds brand new things for humans to do on a daily basis (I’m optimistic that these will be productive things, not purely mindless distractions). I also think that a lot of companies we think will be around in 10 years won’t be, and we’ll start to see some unforeseen VR-driven economic issues that hopefully will see clever solutions by the same people that were indirectly responsible for the upheaval in the first place.

18. Outside of VR what do you do to relax ?

The usual stuff: Hang out with my wife. Go on hikes. Chat with friends. Drive around in my Honda S2000. Zone out while watching stupid TV shows. It’s important to unwind and relax!

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

This really is an impossible question as there are so many varied experiences to choose from, but one that I think is meaningful and well executed is “Ask Socrates”, created by Tamulur.

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

Fundamental human concepts will be questioned.

You can visit Drash’s website by going to www.drashvr.com

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