The Park Playground is a leader in the immersive virtual reality (VR) experience sector. And their latest offering pushes the boundaries to a whole new level when merging technology with entertainment: The Park VR Tournament.
In an exclusive interview with InterPark, The Park’s CEO, Peter Vindevogel, discusses in-depth the new tournament gameplay. “At The Park Playground, we’ve been creating location-based entertainment (LBE) VR experiences for a while now, having started these developments mainly by focusing on the B2C market.
“We’re always considering how we can address the current market needs while simultaneously meeting guest expectations for social entertainment-led experiences. The emergence of hybrid work-from-home models post-pandemic has meant companies are placing more importance on forming social connections between their colleagues.
“We noticed a gap in the market where our business-related contacts wanted more engaging group activities for their colleagues to partake in. We saw an opportunity to unite different company departments through a competitive and inclusive VR tournament for teams to come together and release pent-up energy. We created The Park VR Tournament for team-building events and large groups suited to companies that want to connect with their colleagues through entertainment-led social experiences.”
For added context, The Park VR Tournament is a unique, all-inclusive VR experience that blends competition, strategy and collaboration for large groups. In The Park VR Tournament, teams of 4 to 8 players are transported to an interactive battle arena to compete against each other in the esports-inspired VR experience, NanoClash Focus.
And its technology is of the cutting edge, as Vindevogel explains: “Players are equipped with HTC VIVE’s Focus 3 headsets, meaning the experience is fully mobile and allows those unable to experience VR with heavy equipment to participate. The headsets feature 5K visuals, a 120-degree field of view, a 90Hz refresh rate, and 6 degrees of freedom tracking. This allows our company to deliver entertainment happening in real-time to guests with zero latency, enabling a natural feel and eliminating the risk of motion sickness.
“This experience marked the start of The Park Playground’s journey of experimenting with new and emerging technologies to improve user experience and engagement for the future. Triangle Factory used artificial intelligence (AI) in the development phase of NanoClash Focus to streamline their workflows, generating a variety of high-quality avatar options for players using AI-powered image generation.”
Each team plays two three-round games across a four-hour period, with the top-performing teams going head-to-head in a tense final. But how did the VR experts create an engaging and entertaining concept which maintains and satisfies interest over the four-hour period? “The whole event is a mixture of competition and refuelling points, with regular breaks from the games for food, socialising, and drinks,” points out Vindevogel.
“Each team plays two games across the four hours. The games are 20-25 minutes long, and within every match, you have three sets, like in tennis. This means those who initially think they aren’t so good at the experience can try again in the next set to improve. The varied nature of the competition means that players can switch between immersing themselves in the games and having a break from this environment to relax and socialise with friends and colleagues.”
Creating the tournament naturally presented important challenges, which Vindevogel defines: “Once we overcame the technological aspects of creating the VR tournament, the challenges focused on creating a total proposition that works for customers. We faced collaboration challenges around bringing our commercial team, marketing team, hosts and the customer-facing venues together to build the complete package and ensure that it met customer needs and delivered value.
“With the tournament, we’ve aimed to solve a headache for everyone who wants a team-building activity, from planners to players. We’ve encapsulated the whole experience – so you’re not just going to a venue to participate in a VR experience. Instead, you will be involved in a multi-layered group experience where you can have drinks, eat, and play a competitive game together. It’s a complete off-the-shelf solution for team-building events and larger groups of up to 48 players that provides great guest satisfaction without all the planning hassle.”
Adding all the ingredients together, The Park Playground has developed a sophisticated, engaging and well organised tournament. For interested parties trying out the tournament, Vindevogel stressed, “the games have a competitive element, but you don’t need to be a VR or gaming expert to take part.
“We chose NanoClash Focus for the tournament as it allows players to hone in on their strengths and has appealing elements for those who don’t enjoy shooting. A core element of the experience that teams must execute well for success is the tactical re-evaluation of the team’s strategy. For example, one player may take charge of steering the platform whilst other focus on shooting the enemy. This role division promotes teamwork and competitive gameplay, making it a more inclusive experience. The more strategically minded are as crucial as the talented shooters.”
In the leisure industry, evolution is a constant. And The Park Playground is no different, striving for the next entertainment attraction. “We’re looking to implement a feature never seen before in free-roam VR. We will be adapting The Park VR Tournament so that different teams can play against one another in the independent free-roam fields in various locations. For example, in the UK, you could have one team based in Birmingham and one in Leeds playing virtually against each other despite being physically in two different cities. We see this as an excellent opportunity for larger companies with offices across numerous locations to enjoy a company-wide team-building event – without needing to leave the country,” concluded Vindevogel.
Images: The Park Playground
