The founder of VR studio nDreams, Patrick O’Luanaigh, has launched a new studio referred to as Atmospheric, described as “a new unbiased leisure firm creating unique mental property across games and music.” O’Luanaigh stepped down from nDreams in Could 2025 after 19 years as CEO, and eighteen months after the studio was acquired by Aonic. Prior to founding nDreams, he held senior roles at SCi, Eidos and Codemasters.
Atmospheric will “discover new methods of bringing games and music collectively, creating immersive worlds during which narrative, interactivity and audio are conceived as a part of a single artistic imaginative and prescient,” the agency mentioned in a press launch, including that its strategy “centres on constructing distinctive worlds and tales that may prolong naturally across games, music and different codecs.”
Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, O’Luanaigh says this doesn’t imply the studio was making “a music-based recreation like Guitar Hero, Beat Saber and even PaRappa the Rapper.
“I suppose a film like Child Driver is likely to be a more in-depth analogy, really,” he says. “We’re exploring how music can have an effect on gameplay and particularly the emotional response that gamers get when taking part in.”
“I like highly effective tales, twisting narrative, flawed but lovable characters and games that make you’re feeling issues. I liked the Telltale games, and indie games like Firewatch. However I’ve additionally been a part-time composer and audio engineer, so it is an opportunity for me to give you one thing a bit of totally different – a recreation that doubles down on stress, storyline, music and audio, however nonetheless very a lot indie.”
O’Luanaigh says he’s at present the one worker, working with freelance contributors for artwork, writing, and some coding, and doesn’t foresee recruiting any workers till the corporate’s first recreation is signed. The studio has taken no funding and is at present self-funded. “Our plan is to get a publishing companion on board on the proper time – most likely the beginning of subsequent 12 months – to assist fund the total recreation,” he says.
He described the impetus behind the studio’s founding as being how a lot he’d missed being hands-on with coding and artistic improvement. “I began as a coder and artistic director, however for my final eight years at nDreams, I had to step away and spend my time managing individuals and traders. I am fortunate sufficient to have the prospect to get again to what I actually love, and attempt to make one thing totally different – one thing I am actually pleased with – with the assistance of some good individuals.
“I liked my time at nDreams, and I am very pleased with what we achieved. However my very happiest time there was when the crew was small, engaged on one thing actually modern and totally thrilling, as opposed to after we had been 250-people robust constructing large initiatives. There may be a lot much less stress this time, and I am going to make sure that the journey stays extremely enjoyable.”