#1489: “Gorilla Tag” Design Philosophy & Embodied Gameplay Deep Dive with Kerestell Smith

Voices of VR

I interviewed Kerestell Smith, Chief Creative Officer at Another Axiom and original solo creator of Gorilla Tag, at Meta Connect 2024. Another Axiom announced in June that Gorilla Tag has surpassed $100 million in lifetime revenue. We talk about the journey into creating Gorilla Tag, the underlying design philosophy of emphasizing embodied gameplay and proprioceptive consistency, as well as what's coming next in their follow-on title of Orion Drift. See more context in the rough transcript below. Since this is the last episode in my series from Meta Connect 2024, then here's a list of all 20+ interviews and 12+ hours of my coverage from this year: #1468: Kickoff of Meta Connect 2024 Coverage with Orion AR Glasses Hands-on Impressions with Tested's Norm Chan & CNET's Scott Stein #1469: Analyst Anshel Sag on Meta Connect Announcements & Orion Glasses Impressions #1470: Meta's Hyperscape Serves Cloud-Rendered, Photo Gaussian Splat Captures #1471: Tyriel Wood & Zimtok5 on Oculus Quest 3S Tradeoffs with Quest 3 #1472: VR Training Trends Using AI with Virti's Courtney Harding #1473: Learn XR's Dilmer Valecillos on Teaching XR Development & Meta Connect Announcement Impressions #1474: Teaching Immersive Storytelling at ASU's Narrative and Emerging Media Program with Nonny de la Peña & Mary Matheson #1475: A-Frame's Diego Marcos on WebXR Momentum and Integrations with Open Source AI #1476: UploadVR Editor Ian Hamilton's Deep Reflections: AR vs VR, Ethical Dilemmas, & Future of Meta's Algorithmic Realities #1477: Flat2VR Studios' Journey of Bringing 2D Games to VR with Eric Masher #1478: Agile Lens 2018: The Intersection of Architecture, Theatre, & Storytelling with Alex Coulombe #1479: Agile Lens 2023: Selling High-End Real Estate with VR, Unreal's Meta Humans. Pixel Streaming, & AI Experiments #1480: Agile Lens 2023: Hands on with Four Seasons VR Demo & A Christmas Carol VR 2023 #1481: Agile Lens 2024: Context on Boz's Apology to VR Devs, Orion AR Glasses Impressions, & Unreal Engine Mediation with Apple/Meta #1482: Mixed Reality Gameplay Innovations & Design Insights from "Starship Home" Co-Directors Mark Schramm & Ashley Pinnick #1483: Dimensional Double Shift Combines Multi-Player Co-Op, "Job Simulator" Gameplay, & Hand Tracking #1484: Cas & Chary on Meta Connect Announcements & Using Ray-Ban Meta Smartglasses to Stay Connected #1485: Fitness Flow States with "Starwave" Design Innovation Leads & Finding Love within VR #1486: Going All in with Gaussian Splats: Gracia's Viewer, AI Training, & Photoreal Capture with VR Fund's Tipatat Chennavasin #1487: XR Evangelists JoyReign & JDun on Horizon World Trends & Meta Connect Announcements #1488: Nima Zeighami on Delivering WebXR Content with Infinite Reality's Ethereal Engine Acquisition #1489: Gorilla Tag Design Philosophy & Embodied Gameplay Deep Dive with Kerestell Smith Here's the launch trailer for Gorilla Tag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwQ2DUjcHI Here's a developer snapshot preview of their next title of Orion Drift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xjnw_skc9g This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality