England-based VR developer nDreams received $3 million from Mercia Technologies to fund expansion and “grow their self-publishing capabilities.” The developer behind relaxation title Perfect Beach on Cardboard and Gear VR as well as turret shooter Gunner on Gear VR is also building The Assembly for the first consumer wired VR headsets next year.
At E3 this year Upload went hands-on with the first-person game, which is set in a secret science lab filled with questionable experiments. Here’s the trailer:
nDreams also plans to use the cash to help independent studios publish their titles and recently hired a number of experienced game designers. Several of them are outlined in the same announcement as the funding:
VP of Development Tom Gillo, who joins the team from PlayStation’s multi-award winning London Studio where most recently he led development of PlayStation VR titles.
Lead Designer Jamie Whitworth, previously of Rocksteady Studios where he led the development of the exterior locations and cities across the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham trilogy.
Code Dept. Manager Richard Fabian, previously of Frontier Developments and Rockstar Games, who has been programming videogames professionally for 15 years and is the author of the Data-oriented Design website.
Senior Audio Designer Matt Simmonds, who has worked in games audio for over 25 years and whose higher-profile credits span from Chuck Rock and Micro Machines to Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
While nDreams is also working on unannounced titles as well, here are trailers for the two VR experiences they’ve launched so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yVJYCk7-SY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgvXeNbeTm8
The money for nDreams comes from Mercia Technologies, which previously invested $2.75 million the company in January.
