Above: Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time logo from an earlier trailer.
An Inside Look At The Brand New Doctor Who VR Game
One sunny August evening, Product Manager Quin escorts me to the Maze Theory London headquarters. Through the high-end secure entrance and the lobby which exudes comfort, we make our way to the bright, spacious Maze Theory office. Dedication, hard work and positive energy in the air, ingredients of the new Doctor Who VR game “The Edge Of Time”.
At this stage, the game development is still in progress. Nevertheless, the game that I test is extraordinary. When I put on my VR headset, I am immediately transported to another world. I feel the nature around me, the tension of hurrying to save the day and the fear of monsters. As far as I am aware, there is no screen separating me from this captivating, time-sensitive world. This time, I am living in an episode of Doctor Who.
The Maze Theory team had taken us through their work on the game, on a widescreen TV. They were also keen on feedback from the eyes of avid Doctor Who viewers. This, an illustration of the passion, drive and painstaking detail they were putting into launching Doctor Who into the world of VR in perfect fashion.
The Edge Of Time is the first VR game to enter the Doctor Who universe.
With Monsters and threats to confront, Doctor Who fans take charge of defeating Daleks and Weeping Angels alike, by stepping into an adventure of their own.
Given some guidance at intermittent points in the game by The Doctor herself (voiced by Jodie Whittaker), players essentially become The Doctor as they are put in charge of their own destiny.
Released in November, the immersive experience filled with thrills, puzzles and tension is available worldwide to all owners of a VR headset via Steam, Oculus and PlayStation store at An RRP of £20 or $25 USD.
Above: Neil Millstone, Lead Developer at Maze theory, pictured here at the Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time stand at London Comic Con MCM Expo in May 2019
Players should “come out thinking they’ve just had an adventure through space and time,” Neil Millstone from Maze Theory tells me.
As a fan of the show, he described working on The Edge Of Time as feeling “like a responsibility… Games based on movies and TV don’t have a great history and… we all wanted to make sure that we did right by the fans. We didn’t want to make a generic game that just happens to have the Doctor Who branding on the top. We wanted to make something that fans and people who knew the series, would identify with and see as part of the Doctor Who world.”
Above: A Dalek from Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time.
In the initial planning stages, Maze Theory made sure to centre some vital elements in the world of the game. When considering which famous Doctor Who monsters to feature, the Daleks reigned supreme.
Having selected the Daleks as iconic monsters to include and Weeping Angels, they knew they needed to consider the types of environments that would be good to explore next.
“The plot mostly came first and then the gameplay fitted around that.” Neil tells me about the game development process. The balance of the plot and the environment was a key component of constructing the worlds in the game. Neil got an insight into the sheer scale of the game when he was asked to join the project, by being shown a demo of the game featuring the Weeping Angels.
“I was amazed by the Weeping Angels demo,” he told me. “The environment, the look and feel of it. There was something about the demo they showed me that made me think ‘If we can make something Doctor Who that looks like this, then we’re gonna do very well out of it.’”
Above: Don’t blink. A Weeping Angel, as seen in Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time VR game
This really emphasised that Maze Theory had put a lot of work into crafting every detail to build up the perfect fan experience. I very quickly learnt that this has been consistent over the course of the project, which started with a request sent out by the BBC. Since Maze Theory is a recent addition to Output Group, which had worked with the BBC before, this helped them get on the list when the BBC sent out a request for who would be interested in producing a VR game. Marcus Moresby (VR Director at Maze Theory) put together the demo which landed them the project. Project landed, they set to work!
Above: Marcus Moresby, Creative Director at Maze Theory created the demo which landed them the project.
“We worked very hard to make sure that everything felt Who-y and it felt like something that would appear in the series,” Neil told me. He described every detail the team kept in mind while making the game, to make that world feel authentic.
“The intro sequence is designed to look like the intro to the TV series and getting elements like the TARDIS and the Daleks to be super accurate. All of these things are very important to us. Every module on the Dalek and every dial on the TARDIS is exactly where it should be.”
It is clear that the team knew just how important it was to get every detail right to create the perfect world. Maze Theory enlisted the help of some very knowledgeable Doctor Who cast members to get this spot on.
“Obviously, we enlisted the help of Nicholas Briggs and Jodie Whittaker to do the roles that they’re famous for in the series. As soon as we got the voices in, it felt much more like a part of the Who Universe.”
The game development process took about 14 months to complete, from building the team to the final completion stage.
This 14-month process led Maze Theory to an authentic Doctor Who game, in which players will find references to the Whoniverse throughout. This includes the laundrette representing the Totter’s Lane Junkyard and the time cabinet referencing Classic Doctor Who episode Talons of Weng Chang. It is no secret in the worlds of fandom, how dedicated fans are to the show, and how important this accurate detail and authenticity, which remained a constant theme throughout the game’s creation, can be to them. It strikes me that Doctor Who: The Edge of time is not only a chef d’oeuvre and labour of love. It is a love letter to the show itself, to the fans. VR headset firmly in place, I’m sure that fans can only be filled with joy and a sense of adventure.
Time Made Of Strawberries - Un Temps De Fraises 