Fact Sheet:

Studio: Paper Crown Interactive

Founding Date: November 2017

Based In: Santa Cruz, California

Website: http://bookendvr.com/

Press/Business Contact: bookendVR@gmail.com

Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

Supported OS: Windows

Supported Hardware: Oculus Rift

Available On:  Oculus, Steam, Itch.io, Game Jolt, Indiexpo.net

Platforms: VR, PC

Release Date: June 9, 2018 (VR); March 8, 2019 (PC)

 

 

 

Description:

Bookend is a VR title in which the player harnesses their imagination to interact with their favorite pop-up book, The Little Witch.

Explore the book's world and help the protagonist, the little witch, Abigail, as she's pursued by an angry mob trying to stop her mission that could either mean saving the world -- or ending it.

 

• Guide Abigail along her quest as an external influence in a unique second person perspective.

• Directly interact with the story and solve puzzles by using pop-up book items such as tabs and trees.

• Re-imagine your childhood through The Little Witch coupled with an enchanting score and whimsical artwork.

 

 

History:

Bookend is the capstone project of a team of students at UCSC. We wanted to play with the expectations players have in VR by taking away what they think they can do; therefore we deliberately limited the amount of interactions the player has with the world of The Little Witch, only allowing it through use of items in the pop-up book. Guiding the protagonist Abigail along her story, but not actually controlling her, lends a second person perspective to the game we really liked. Our presentation of the game's idea received a high amount of interest at a later recruitment fair, resulting in one of the largest 170 teams in 2018 at twenty members. Our work since January 2018 has earned praised from players and professors alike, such as earning a place on the head of the Computation Media Department "Games of Distinction"; list, which are "Games that provide an engaging gameplay experience, and exhibit one or more forms of novelty in their design." We also received the Peer Choice award and placed second on the Visual Art Award from the Sammy Showcase, UCSC's game showcase.

 

The team has been incredibly dedicated to this project from the very beginning, and we're looking forward to players enjoying our world.