During this year's Anime Expo, UNIVRS animation director Junichi Yamamoto told us with his new Kickstarter campaign for Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing, there were a lot of challenges involved to make sure that the game was still fun and intuitive on a VR device. We sat down with Junichi Yamamoto to talk about his involvement with the direction of the project. Read on for the full interview!

_{Interviewers: Ken Dubois, Theodore Mak
Photographer: Roger Lee}

 T-ONO: Tell us how the idea for Little Witch Academia in VR came to be?

Junichi Yamamoto: The idea for Little Witch Academia: Broom Racing VR was created by a company called UNIVRS, and I was assigned to figure out how to make that concept something people can enjoy and have fun with.

I used my skills as an animation director to incorporate my knowledge of movies with the different design elements to create a good flow while also integrating sound in ways that enhance the animation.

Think of it as if you were making a meal and all the ingredients are laid out in front of you. I am the chef preparing the food to be delicious and presentable.

T-ONO: Can you tell us some of the challenges bringing a 2D world into a 3D environment?

JY: There are a lot of differences between 2D and 3D. Creating a 3D world from Little Witch Academia required us to reproduce the beautiful colors that are a part of an animation.

We had to think about how to create the characters in a 3D space since they look quite different when you compare 2D to 3D. We had to calibrate them to fit in the third dimension. An example of that is figuring out how to create their moves and gestures to match their 2D counterparts and still look cute.

One other big difference is that in VR there are no borders. With 2D animation, you have a frame that you are working in but with 3D you have this 360-degree view. We had to learn how to guide our players towards areas we wanted them to look at. We have Akko, the protagonist of Little Witch Academia, pointing at things that are of interest to the player.

T-ONO: In the online trailer we get to see Akko flying through the forest. Can you tell us about some of the environments that might appear?

We do have other courses in mind like the mushroom course and others which we cannot reveal yet. We are trying to leverage interesting terrain and have different things you can see like the school, giant trees, and other landmarks. We want you to feel immersed in a new world.

In the trailer, there are rings in the sky and we figured they would be the best indicator of a path. We want things to be intuitive without explanation to make it easy for our players. We want to master the feeling of traveling. One great thing about VR is that you feel like you are traveling even though you are not physically leaving the space you are in.

We are also creating a free roam mode where you can fly around and feel refreshed by exploring the world. This is my first time in the United States and being here is interesting and exciting. I want to recreate that feeling in the game.

T-ONO: Do you keep tabs on other VR video games and have there been any recently that have excited you or that you’ve learned from?

JY:  In Japan, there's the game Tokyo Chronos which is an incredibly advanced VR title but the player is more of an observer to the story. With Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing, the player is not just an observer but an active participant moving around and being involved with the world around them.  UNIVRS is a company that specializes in technology that prevents motion sickness so with that experience, we are trying to strike a balance between observing the story and participating.

I also used 007 Goldeneye as a reference.

T-ONO: Can you tell us what platforms this will be supported on?

JY: Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing will launch on Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR, and SteamVR.

T-ONO: Lastly, do you have a message for our American audience who have never heard of Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing?

JY: Everyone goes to different schools and work at different companies. Everyone has a different day-to-day life. I want Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing to be a place where people can escape to and take a break from the daily grind.

Maybe it can be a way to motivate you to work harder and enjoy your life more. I love movies and I think one great thing about them is that you find new things about life within them that you can take home and keep with you.

I hope that this game inspires people to think about new philosophies and incorporate them into their actual lives.

You can find out more about Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing by going to the official website here.

Check out the official Kickstarter campaign here.

_{Images: © 2017 TRIGGER / Yoh Yoshinari / “Little Witch Academia” Committee
©?UNIVRS, Inc.}