Star Wars: Trials On Tatooine

Today ILMxLab revealed the Force is strong with the HTC Vive by unveiling the Star Wars: Trials of Tatooine, the first VR experience set in the popular sci-fi universe during this most recent wave of technological innovation.

This interactive cinematic experience gives fans a glimpse into the period between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Players assume the role of a young, as of now nameless Padawan Luke Skywalker has recruited to join his new Jedi Order. We got a chance to see the interactive project firsthand during an exclusive event at the Presidio.

The demo begins with the player standing in a barren homestead on the desert planet. Soon I see the Millennium Falcon roar overhead and land nearly on top of me. Since the HTC Vive allows you a virtual space to walk and move around, I step away from the towering ship as much as I can. As the landing thrusters of the fastest ship in the galaxy guide the ship into place a fan in the room blows my hair back, cementing my place in this virtual world. The door drops and everyone's favorite astromech droid emerges, with Han Solo (voiced by an actor whose first and last names are not Harrison Ford) saying that Luke has requested he drop off R2. 

No sooner than R2-D2 skates onto the sandy floor, TIE Fighters emerge from the horizon and barrel down on our position. The blaster fire misses me, but judging from the scorch marks on the Falcon it has done some significant damage to Han's baby. He and Chewy growl over the intercom about the situation, but eventually the repair task falls to me as they drop the platform holding the damaged convertor. A couple of button button presses later it appears the ship is back in working order, just in time for an approaching Imperial Shuttle to land and deploy a legion of Stormtroopers.

Seeing the armored menaces moving toward my position, R2 opens his domed compartment to reveal a lightsaber. I grab it using the HTC Vive's wand controllers and walk over to cover, assuming a battle position. The Stormtroopers concentrate their blaster fire on me, and the beams come in at a rapid pace. I do everything I can to move my lightsaber into position to return the laser blasts to their senders, knocking off a few troopers before Han gets his battery back online and finishes the job.

The demo concludes here, but for a brief moment I felt I was actually on the planet I have learned so much about over the course of three decades plus of storytelling. 

After the demo I sit down with Lucasfilm chief technology officer Rob Bredow, who is spearheading this interactive cinematic experience. While the demo was constructed with the HTC Vive in mind, he says Lucasfilm is ultimately platform agonistic, and already has this demo working on a couple of other VR platforms. "It makes sense for us as LucasFilm to be looking at multiple platforms, especially in the early days," Bredow says.

When I ask if this demo is a part of a larger experience Lucasfilm is building out, Bredow says the team at ILMxLab has already prototyped some experiences that are much bigger than this, but that doesn't mean the Trials on Tatooine demo is a throwaway project. "One of the fun things is we got to work with the Lucasfilm story group and Pablo Hidalgo, who many people know. He knows the whole storyline and where this could fit in the storyline, even with a little experience like this."

The promise of virtual reality experience certainly extends into living rooms, but another untapped area where this technology could thrive is in dedicated spaces created with VR in mind. As a part of the Disney family, which has build out a series of state-of-the-art amusement parks across the globe, Lucasfilm is in a prime position to capitalize on this opportunity, When I ask if ILMxLAB is investigating this space, Bredow admits they have considered the potential. "We love working with Walt Disney Imagineering and exploring all options," he says. "And as you know, Imagineering has had virtual reality experiences in the park for more than 20 years. They are not strangers to this kind of entertainment, so it's a really interesting place to explore."

Lucasfilm hasn't decide when or how Trials of Tatooine is coming to the HTC Vive and/or other platforms quite yet, but we expect it to garner a lot of attention when it touches down.