Ypsh Chats With Veemee's Managing Director, Caspar Thykier

[VEEMEE is a creator of branded and original content for games platforms and virtual worlds, with offices in Edinburgh and London. VEEMEE currently operates the virtual retail outlet called The Original V-Store in PlayStation® Home with brand partners including Billabong, Monty Python, Island Records, Joystick Junkies, 8Ball and Worn Free. VEEMEE is also responsible for the Audi AG space in PlayStation® Home.]​

YPSH : Thanks for visiting with us today Caspar! Can you tell our members who you are and what you do at Veemee?

VM : Not a problem. Nice to be invited! So I'm one of the founders of VEEMEE and managing director alongside by business partner and good friend Kirk Ewing who's creative director.

YPSH : Who started Veemee? When and how did Veemee become associated with PlayStation Home?

View attachment 3639 VM : It was Kirk and I along with two great people that Kirk's known for a long time - Craig Hunter (our head of production) and Dr. Jonny Dobson (our CTO). I'm delighted to say that Kirk and I had been discussing PlayStation Home with the team at Sony prior to the platform launching and thinking about the possibility and potential for a good while.

YPSH : Veemee is a British company?

VM : It certainly is. We've got an office in London but are very proudly a Scottish company with our studio in Edinburgh. Scotland's got such a rich heritage in video gaming and we want to continue that tradition. We're in spitting distance or Rockstar's offices (Edinburgh's other developer of note!)

YPSH: I know Veemee has developed a lot of things for Home. Let's start with the popular Audi space and apartment in EU. Tell us how that all started and where it might be going in the future.

VM : So my background is a marketing and advertising one. One of the things Kirk and I have always been interested in exploring is the role of brands as games publishers, how to make entertainment with them, not just talk about the products.

Audi is such an innovative company and culture and have been involved in gaming for some time. So PlayStation Home was really a natural fit to see how they could make an experience for gamers and bring the brand to life in a relevant way. We didn’t want to fall into the cliche of creating a virtual showroom and trying to sell products, so the Audi space is about telling interesting stories about the brand through games - be that Vertical Run, Audi Piano or Audi Sled. There's so much to draw on from what they do already and you can expect some great new gaming experiences coming through in the next few months.

YPSH : The Billabong store in EU, one of my personal favs, has some of EU's best female clothes designs. Can we expect more of same and do you foresee Billabong coming to the US or Japan?

VM : Really glad you like it. Always good to get positive feedback! Getting the Billabong catalogs and new designs through is always a fun time in the studio. The range and styles across the seasons for different adventure sports means we've just go so much great stuff to chose from winter through to summer. We were keen to push the female clothes lines as they seem under-served in Home. So there are new collections coming through, we're pleased to say there's great new video content to look out for and other great things to come. Watch this space for the US....

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YPSH : Will Billabong be adding more men's fashions as well?

VM : Absolutely.

YPSH : Your London Pub space added London Pub Radio. How is that project going? Any other future plans for The London Pub?

VM : The good ol' London Pub. We're so pleased it's been well received. The London Pub radio really is a labour of love for us and all those great people who have sent in tracks. It's nice to finally have some music playing in Home! We do want to do more with the pub and have a few ideas up our sleeve but are always keen to hear if people have things they'd like to see. What do you reckon would be good?

YPSH : Will Vemee be developing for other platforms besides the PS3?

VM : We do work on iPhone (Bear Grylls app for instance) and Android shortly. We're currently working in partnership on a really fantastic piece of handheld AR technology which will be out soon but if I said any more I'd have to kill you!

YPSH : OK, please, don't say any more! <grin> Has Veemee developed anything that Home users might not realize came from Veemee?

VM : I don't think so. I guess people know we did Super-fun-roabo-goalie-time, Oscar's Lobster Mania and we've got a really fun new fishing game coming out shortly in SCEE.

YPSH : What perosnal or public spaces can we expect to see from Veemee in the future?

VM : That really would be telling! All I can say is the studio is buzzing and we've got a full calendar of projects all the way through to 2012. It's just such an exciting time for Home and with 1.5 updates on the way and great content from people like Lockwood and nDreams it's just getting better all the time. There's a great community of developers building up around Home. The next 12 months is just going to be great for the platform in my opinion.

YPSH : What hardware limitations have you run into when developing ideas for the PS3 platform?

VM : Our guys have been working long enough on console games to know that there are always limitations. So we don't spend any time thinking about them. Only how we get round them and still make great games. It's part of the challenge and fun of working on any platform.

YPSH : If Sony asked you what you would like to see in the PS4, what would you ask for?

VM : I’d like if it was all just built into one device. No separate box for the console, just one big awesome TV!

YPSH : How many hours a week to you or your staff spend in Home?

VM : It would be easier to count the number we don't

View attachment 3641 YPSH : What are you favorite features in PS Home? What would you like to see added or changed?

VM : I like the fact that there's really nothing quite like it. Where else do you go for such a variety of gaming experiences in a virtual world? I'd change the little things - the seated animation, the running and probably play around with the cameras a bit more.

YPSH : Lastly, can you gives us a hint of any possible exciting future projects that veemee is working on?

VM : If I said to watch our for a massive angry pink bunny would that be weird?! OK, how about gnome curling? The possibilities in Home are just endless.

YPSH : We appreciate your taking time out to talk with us today Caspar! We look forward to seeing new ideas from Veemee.

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