Meow Wolf Enters Mini-Golf Metaverse

Walkabout Mini Golf, one the most popular. The best multiplayer apps VR headsets can now access a course by Meow Wolf art collective, which is based on the group’s work. Real-world experience. It is Meow Wolf’s first major plunge into virtual reality and will arrive later in the year.

It’s not as bizarre as you might think. Meow Wolf is the group behind House of Eternal Return.Omega Mart Convergence station in Denver, Las Vegas 

Maybe it is.

However, in a VR/AR landscape where people still don’t know what a “VR” is, meta This collaboration is what it should be. It could indicate that creative teams are actually working together to solve this problem before a new wave of users. New headsets Coming later in the year.

Let me clarify. VR experiences that are custom-built and well-constructed are what I love. I love immersive spaces and theater experiences that are similar in how they allow groups to explore new worlds together.

However, VR and AR’s metaverse push over the past couple of years has attempted to create large open social tools without any real guidance or superstructure. These are the places — VRChat, the soon-to-be-closed AltSpace VR, Meta’s Flailing Horizon Worlds, Rec Room — seem to either be spots where fun stuff emerges, or confusing and poorly run experiments that feel empty or alienating unless you know who you’re meeting with and where you’re going.

Sometimes, it’s the real-life experiences that I find more powerful than the virtual. Meow Wolf’s in person, multilayered, maximally dense experiences Art collective spaces It struck me that this is the kind of way to help create more complex social virtual worlds in the future. The Meow Wolf–Walkabout collaboration sounds like a bizarre and whimsical mirror-world experience that’s also a foot in the door for Meow Wolf’s future explorations in VR and AR.

Golf with a twist 

“We’ve been dreaming of making mini-golf since forever,” Caity Kelly, Meow Wolf’s cofounder and senior creative director, told me during a Zoom conversation. “Mini-golf is funny because a lot our exhibits are big things that are broken down into a bunch of small things. Mini-golf makes it very easy to understand.”

Vince Kadlubek was another Meow Wolf founder. He had been playing in VR experiences and games for many years. This led to the partnership with Walkabout Mini Golf. Meow Wolf had created its AR companion app years ago for the House of Eternal Return, but translating some of those designs to a VR mini golf course is a different kind of crossover experience.

Kennedy uses Gravity Sketch to create designs for Meow Wolf’s virtual installations. Gravity Sketch was also used for collaborative purposes to create the VR course. Kennedy said, “We have VR artists and VR developers that work on things,” suggesting that Walkabout’s more contained structure may be a good starting place.

Walkabout Mini Golf, if you haven’t noticed already, has quickly become one of the most popular. social VR destinations If you are a small group of people. Demeo and this casual game are where I often join old friends for an hour. We can chat and then stop. It’s like going on a walk, getting coffee, or visiting a museum. Playing mini-golf. It’s a great alternative to more intense VR games. It works.

Kennedy spoke of the collaboration, saying that it was “very compatible with our senses of humor.” You can be great at golf or you can be terrible at it. But you don’t have to play golf and not go exploring.

Golf as a strange entranceway

Walkingabout’s courses have become more immersive over the years, and are now more like walking-through stories or theme parks than just a few holes. The course, which is based upon the classic Jim Henson film Labyrinth, offers a glimpse into the story and includes a side-labyrinth that you can explore. There are Jules Verne programs. There is also a Myst program.

Meow Wolf’s course is based upon the Numina living, non-dimensional jungle environment. It’s part Meow Wolf’s in-person Convergence station experience in Denver.

Kennedy suggests that Meow Wolf’s course will be a lot more bizarre and whimsical than previous Walkabout courses. This excites me. The experience will be enhanced by Numina’s presence as a character, who will “live in a living universe curious about the simple animals that wander around and fall down stairs.”

Kennedy stated that the VR Numina was not a copy of the actual physical Numina. It will offer a familiar experience, but it will be altered and liberated by virtual reality. Real-life Numina users will be able to share their experiences. [at Meow Wolf] People who have only seen photographs will see more than they did in real life. However, many people who have never seen anything will find something that is similar to what they’ve seen.

“But, there are lots of differences. I mean gravity doesn’t exist VR. You can slip. You don’t need to have wires or speakers to make things happen. We can create animations that are impossible to achieve. It’s possible to have fluidity that is only possible in VR at the moment.

Both virtual and real winking at one other

Disney explores crossovers between the real and virtual. Star Wars Tales From the Galaxy Edge VR game has been created by Disney. It is set on the outer realms, Batuu, of the real-life Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge parks. The virtual park could inspire you to visit the real one, or it could serve as a living souvenir. 

Future plans for metaverse-ish explorations might have a similar vibe. Meow Wolf has his own physical space that communicates with one another via telephones. A lot of merchandise already expands the stories into take-home souvenir directions. For example, you can purchase Omega Mart merchandise at the alternate-universe gift shop or buy books and artifacts just like you can in Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge stores. Meow Wolf’s virtual space may be trying to do the same.

Kennedy stated that Mini-golf is not an interactive world so live feeds can’t be established. However, having connections between them, where people can see one from another or use what they find in one to effect the other… this will be our test case.” “This is our first venture into connecting real world exhibits with virtual reality.”

Lucas Martell, director of Walkabout Mini Golf said that the Meow Wolf course will be “much more of an experience.” He also admitted that the company is trying out more innovative designs that are more like one-hour excursions for small groups and not just casual golf. 

Walkabout is a VR gaming experience, but the company has released a mobile version. This will use augmented reality to sort of show you the courses and allow you to swing your phone just like a real putter. This phone version will be available before Meow Wolf’s course. More people will have the opportunity to try it.

Martell stated, “The irony of it is that a lot people playing probably haven’t even been to a actual Meow Wolf.” Meow Wolf is still a relatively unknown organization. Walkabout, a mini-golf game, could help spread awareness. As someone who has been lucky enough see the Meow Wolf spaces in person, I look forward to visiting a small virtual one at home.

Meow Wolf’s course won’t be available until later in the year, but it’s something I’m eager to share with some friends. You could explore these strange places together in VR and talk just like you would do in real life.

First published March 10, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. PST.