Eighties game nostalgia leads to big future in development
Space Pirate Trainer goes from demo to Windows Developer Award winner.
What’s a developer to do when he has a dream to work in virtual reality, but virtual reality (VR) makes him sick? Dirk Van Welden had to wait — first to recuperate, then until the technology improved. His patience was rewarded having recently won the Windows Developer Award for “Reality Mixer of the Year” for the Space Pirate Trainer application.
“The first time I tried an early virtual reality headset, I got really bad motion sickness,” says Dirk. “I had to lay in bed for a couple of hours recovering. I thought, ‘I’m never going to make a VR game.’”
A few years later, he tried again. And, to his delight, the positional tracking had been fixed, and he didn’t experience any nausea. In fact, Dirk was so impressed by the technology that he spent the next two months making a VR demo in his spare time. Unbeknownst to him, that demo would change his life.
VR wins the end game
“I posted it [demo] on the forums, and received a lot of attention,” Dirk says. “The game company Valve contacted me and said I should work on a fully-fledged game. So I stopped all my other projects and started focusing on Space Pirate Trainer.”
The player takes the role of a space pirate in the mould of the Star-Lord character from Guardians of the Galaxy. The world has been taken over by droids that come at the player in wave after wave. The aim is to shoot as many as possible and protect the ship. The concept is simple, but the execution sets Space Pirate apart from so many other space-based games.
“When I was a boy, I used to play all the arcade machines at the fair when it came to town,” says Dirk. “My favorites were Out Run and The Simpsons — I’d be lost in them for hours. We wanted to achieve that same immersive feeling.”
Inspired by the 80s
In fact, the game is something of an homage to the games of Dirk’s childhood. “We definitely tried to re-create that 80s feeling, right down to the colors of the lights and all the neon. It looks like those arcade games crossed with Star Wars and Blade Runner.”
Unlike most games, players don’t unlock anything; almost all items are available from the start. “You start with an arsenal and pick different strategies,” says Dirk. “That way you can show people the coolest parts from the beginning.”
This has led to Space Pirate Trainer becoming an icon for VR. “A lot of people use it to show off their VR experiences,” Dirk admits. “It’s gotten us a lot of publicity.”
One might assume that having no unlockables would take some of the challenge out of the game, but that’s not the case. The game contains end-of-level bosses, but a lot of people have never seen them because they don’t make it that far. Giving the enemies artificial intelligence also keeps the game fresh. “It’s a different game each time you play,” Van Welden says.
The stylish setting and fiendish gameplay is what helped win the award, which celebrates applications that blend digital and real-world content in creative ways and demonstrate the potential of the Windows Mixed Reality platform. Dirk is honored to add to the game’s accolades.
From side hustle to career success
This is all a far cry from Dirk’s previous career as an engineering consultant, and then working in the non-profit sector of the music industry. A lifelong gamer, he’s always made games in his spare time. The first time his hobby translated into a paycheck was with a mobile game he created.
“That’s when I started to think maybe I could make a living from it,” he says.
His next project was the game Elemnt4l, which he spent two years on. It met with some moderate success, and he started working on other games. But once VR came along (and didn’t make him sick), it became his main focus.
Space Pirate Trainer’s success is all the more unusual because it was Dirk’s first game in VR, though he had made prototypes before. All those hours spent programming have paid off.
“I programmed most of Elemnt4l during weekends and evenings, trying to get it right to show to employers, hoping they would hire me,” he says. “So now, to be running my own company, doing something I love — it’s worked out better than I expected. It’s pretty cool.”
Learn more about Space Pirate Trainer in the Microsoft Store.
