WHEN Jamie Campbell and Stephen Powell go to work every morning they step into tomorrow's world.
The pair, who set up the software development company d3t, work on technology that most people do not know exists and now they are helping to launch a product that is set to revolutionise gaming.
Jamie and Stephen, who met at former studio Rage Games in Sankey Street, are working with Sony on a game for PlayStation VR which hits shelves next Thursday.
The work-for-hire team have been working on launch title, Super Stardust Ultra VR, which will see players don a headset and immerse themselves in virtual reality.
They had to keep it a secret for two years until June 2016 due to the confidential nature of the games industry.
"We're pretty fearless when it comes to working with new technology," said Jamie, of Rockford Gardens, Chapelford.
"Everyone’s expectations of visuals in games now means everything has to look absolutely magnificent and run at a very smooth frame rate.
"But when it comes to virtual reality you’ve got to draw everything twice – once for each eye.
"It is a real challenge but the results can be fantastic. It’s very immersive. You very much want to reach out and touch what you see. For most people it is a real wow moment."
Stephen, whose first job in the games industry was at Digital Image Design at Tannery Court in 1995, added: "One of the most impressive things about a good VR experience is that after a few minutes of play you forget where you really are and you become part of the game."
d3t works across all sectors of the technology industry and Jamie and Stephen reckon there is a lot of crossover between video games and the digital tools of the workplace.
Stephen, 46, said: "Working on games you’re always pushing the boundaries of technology so you’ve got to be on the cutting edge and learning new systems.
"We take all that expertise and push that into other sectors. It’s all about people and what they learn and what they’re good at doing.
"It’s the same skillset we apply to the business customers and the games stuff."
Jamie, whose favourite game this year is Inside, added: "You might be talking about leaderboards in games and have 10,000 people all playing at once and uploading their high scores to servers.
"That’s not really any different to having a fleet of a thousand engineers out there in the field uploading information."
Where the crossover is more obvious is with d3t's work with museums.
The company developed an award-winning 30-player game for the Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre in Scotland.
"It’s really famous in Scottish history because they beat the British," said Stephen.
"It’s basically a massive strategy game that can be played by 30 people at once."
Jamie and Stephen also helped preserve important memories for future generations when they became part of the National Holocaust Centre's Forever Project.
They filmed Holocaust survivors answering around 900 commonly asked questions before making them appear as life-sized 3D holograms for future visitors.
Jamie added: "The Holocaust survivors are getting very old now and there are fewer and fewer of them to do this.
"So the National Holocaust Centre wanted a way of capturing their knowledge and experiences.
"Now if you visit the centre you can don some 3D glasses, listen to an hour-long story told by a life-sized projection and then you’re able to ask the questions.
"It’s unbelievable. You get shivers and goose bumps when you listen to the testimony but it is such a worthwhile thing to be involved with."
d3t was set up with just three people in 2011 when THQ closed its Warrington studio.
The team, based in Runcorn, has now grown to 35 and recently won a European industry award for their work on CD Projekt's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the most acclaimed games of 2015.
d3t won the Creative Outsourcer Visual Development category at the Develop Awards in Brighton.
Stephen said: "I like role-playing games so that was an ultimate dream project to work on."
Jamie added: "CD Projekt are based in Poland and I think that is really key in showing we don’t just work with UK companies.
"We export our services abroad and fly the flag for British tech companies, especially in the north west."
DAVID MORGAN
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