Unsettling noir mystery Virginia arrives on PS4 today

Hello, this is Jonathan Burroughs from Variable State. I’d like to talk to you about Virginia, the mystery thriller that I recently co-directed, developed by Variable State and published by 505 Games, which will be available to play on PlayStation 4 today, with a 10% launch discount for PlayStation Plus members.

Virginia is an unsettling FBI noir, set in the titular state in the early 1990s. It centres around Anne Tarver, a recently-graduated FBI special agent and her partner, Maria Halperin, as they seek to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Lucas Fairfax, a young boy and resident of Kingdom, VA – a small town with a secret.

The game is published by 505 Games, and it is thanks to their support that we’ve been able to bring Virginia to PlayStation 4. 505 Games have been fantastic to work with and have afforded us remarkable freedom, protecting the creative process and our decision-making at every stage.

In addition to myself, Virginia’s other director is Terry Kenny, who also produced many of the game’s animations and lead the game’s art:

“The philosophy we tried to apply to the art and animation design was to keep everything as simple and clear as possible. We aimed to avoid any unneeded visual clutter so that the user could read and understand the point of every scene no matter how brief.

“Adhering to this sort of pared-back visual language required endless problem solving. We were lucky to have a team of developers who always searched for what seemed the most elegant solution.”

Virginia is unusual amongst games in that it makes use of real time film editing – such as cuts, dissolves and montages – which occur at appropriate moments during play to heighten the drama and propel the story forward. The editing is complemented by Virginia’s soundtrack, written by composer Lyndon Holland, graduate of the National Film and Television School:

“The music is broadly scored from the subjective point of view of our protagonist, and so in many instances it reacts and transitions in real time to reflect her state of mind – similar in many ways to how a typical film score functions.

“We often marry up cuts and specific details in animation events to precise time codes within the music so that these moments are punctuated for dramatic effect. The end goal was to create an organic sounding score that felt like it was being written as the story unfolds with the player.”

The cinematic editing requires scenes transition seamlessly and instantly. Kieran Keegan is the game’s lead engineer:

“Virginia uses editing and other cinematic techniques to tell its story. To support this, scenes are constantly being loaded and unloaded invisibly in the background. Nobody likes loading screens and I’m happy to say that these systems also allowed us to remove them from the game completely.

“Variable State is a small team so people’s time was precious and making the most of it was a high priority. We chose to use the Unity engine as it got us up, running and iterating on ideas quickly while at the same time helping us to take advantage of the PlayStation hardware.”

For a small title, Virginia features an unusually large cast of characters, all of whom deliver a physical performance. The animation requirement for the game is comparable to an animated feature film. The workload was made achievable thanks to the support of Niamh Herrity and her animation company Pink Kong Studios:

“We were delighted to work with Variable State on their new game Virginia. It was a great experience, when we first spoke to Terry and Jonathan it was very apparent what they were going for in regards to the storytelling within the game.

“We loved the premise and the use of music throughout, it was certainly a new and innovative way of telling a great story for games. It meant that animation and in particular the acting in the animation had to be pushed which was challenging, but certainly rewarding when you see the final product.”

A member of Pink Kong’s animation team was Abby Roebuck. Virginia was Abby’s first video game project:

“Animation for Virginia was quite a challenge. The characters needed to be able to tell a story without uttering a word. Each person was a possible suspect, and it was their subtle animations that made you question their motives again and again. I found myself having to go over certain animations a number of times to get this right.

“My favourite part was timing the animation to the music; having to wait for a certain audio transition to time your animation to really added suspense and excitement to the game. It was great fun and very rewarding.”

In addition to the large animation workload, the use of film editing means the story rapidly moves between a variety of different locations and different times of day. Artist Stephen Brown was responsible for producing the majority of Virginia’s scenes and props:

“In addition to the excellent music and animation, much of the storytelling is told by the spaces you explore. Every bit of clutter filling the rooms of Virginia was thought about both from the character’s perspective and how the player might interpret it.

“It’s a big place, Virginia; each environment seemed to be more daunting than the last, and many of which are only shown for a passing moment. Each one though had an awful lot of care and love put in and I hope that shows. Take your time to snoop around. I’m sure there are a few details even the other devs may have missed.”

Virginia achieves its distinct, painterly look through the use of bespoke post-processing, carefully-considered lighting and the use of modern shader techniques. Matt Wilde lead the game’s technical art:

“I wanted to make sure the game had a visual treatment that complemented the style of the characters and environments – although appearing quite simple at first glance, there’s a real depth when you look more closely. Similarly we have a unique lighting model that incorporates complex techniques and effects before being processed into the semi-flat-shaded result you see. The effect is that hopefully everything feels solid and grounded in the world, despite the apparent simplicity of the style.

“The use of colour is an important part of the feel of the game. We have bespoke shaders to recreate Virginia’s famous autumnal foliage, scene lighting ranges from the subtle to the extreme, and key moments are tied together with the use of bold colourful effects. I hope this all serves to heighten the players’ experience of the game.”

In addition to the 3D art, the title features original illustration and graphic design by artist and independent game developer Conor Mccann, who took time away from his own projects to collaborate on Virginia:

“A game like Virginia doesn’t come around often and the chance to work on it was a rare treat that I couldn’t pass up.

“For the illustrations I pretended I was a middle aged aspiring painter that just landed a commission from the city council to paint a map of the town. The fine folks at Variable State went along with it and gave me one of the finest moments of my career.

“The menu illustrations were treated as a means to help support the story and setting in a fun way, instead of just being eye candy. I really appreciated the thoughtful approach the team took with that decision.”

Virginia is Variable State’s first PlayStation 4 game. It is the culmination of almost three years of work, involving developers from around the world, including England, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and the United States.

It’s a game which combines the contributions of many individuals, only a few of whom I’ve been able to call out here but who each have left their own personal mark on the game. When Terry and I set out to make Virginia, we did so wanting to make a game which was a reflection of its creators and where, by working as a small team, the end result would be a work which still bore the brush strokes of its makers.

It’s been a challenging game to make, one which wouldn’t have been possible without great luck, without the support and patience of family and friends and the goodwill of fellow game developers and game enthusiasts. It is through the assistance of 505 Games that we’ve been able to bring Viriginia to PlayStation 4. And I’m very grateful for how the publisher has taken a risk with an unusual game and done so without compromising our creative freedom.

Virginia is an unconventional mystery thriller. And an experiment in game storytelling. I look forward to sharing it with the PlayStation audience.