Cy Wise

VR/AR expert

Tweets / Musings:
@cyceratops

VR and Gaming Projects

I'm madly in love with VR. My first time in an HMD was a catalyst, a call to action, an invitation to infinite possibilities of storytelling and communication. After over a decade in AAA gaming and MMOs, I table-flipped my life to focus entirely on ushering this medium into the world. At Owlchemy Labs, I helped build, grow, and eventually sell the studio to Google. Now I'm on a whole new adventure-- co-founding my new company, [NAME REDACTED]! Here are some of my previous projects.

Job Simulator

Owlchemy Labs launch title for the HTC Vive, Oculus Touch, and PlayStation VR. I helped with design, writing, team scaling, voice over work, testing, interaction design, marketing, promo, and just about anything that doesn't involve shoveling assets into an engine. The first and only time I fell over in a VR experience was washing dishes in the Gourmet Chef job. Very important VR career milestone.

Rick and Morty VR

Owlchemy Labs title created in collaboration with Adult Swim Games and released for all 6DOF VR systems. I helped write, design, market, test, did voice over work, run events and worked directly with the Turner and Adult Swim Games teams to bring this puppy to life. I wrote fanfic that became canon, and sent it to the creator for edits. All of us still respect each other.

Chronos

Gunfire Games launch title for the Oculus Rift. I focused on testing, writing, early promo, and all the surprising elements that pop when working with a headset that is being actively developed. I discovered VR legs were a myth on this project.

A ton of AAA games

I spent over a decade in AAA games. Predominately MMOs, these projects helped refine my interest in digital communities and culutre, and develop my absurdly robust understanding of the industry, from dev and support to PR and even manufacturing. Highlights include: NCsoft's Lineage and Lineage II, Aion, City of Heroes Tabula Rasa, and Wildstar, Kingsisle's Wizards 101, and stints at Bethesda and Sony.

Community

I can't help myself-- I love VR and the development community. So when I'm not professionally managing communities, I'm casually managing communities. I've spent time running VR Austin, as well as advising XRDC, AIAS, Boston VR, Casual Connect, and the VR Awards.

Worldwide Speaker

I say a lot of words. People keep allowing me to speak and keynote conferences around the world on VR, gaming communities, interactive design, and studio culture, so I have clearly successfully bamboozled them all. Here are some of my more recent talks.

Casual Connect '19 | London

"Designing with no known best practices" - Moderator
VR Track advisor and MC

PAX East '19 | Boston

“You Either VR or You VRn’t” - Moderator

GDC ‘19 | San Francisco, CA

“How to Make VR for Everyone” - Panelist
Video: GDC Vault

DICE Awards ‘19 | Las Vegas, NV

“VR Technical Achievement” - Presenter
“VR Game of the Year” - Presenter
Video: YouTube

OC5 ‘18 | San Jose, CA

“Accessibility: Build, Influence and Grow Adoption Over the Next 5 Years in VR” - Panelist
Video: YouTube

GDC ’18 | San Francisco, CA

“Accessibility in VR: How It Can Be Better” - Speaker
Video: GDC Vault

“Developer Q&A (Presented by Fair Play Alliance)” - Panelist

SXSW ’18 | Austin, TX

“Falling Flat: Can VR be Funny?” - Panelist

Capital Factory ‘18 | Austin, TX

“Digital Communities: How apps, gaming, and VR can create inclusivity” - Moderator

PAX South ’18 | San Antonio, TX

“Either VR or VRn’t, Y’all” - Panelist

VRDC ’17 | San Francisco, CA

“Building VR Communities: Asymmetry, Asynchrony, and Abuse” - Speaker
Video: YouTube

PAX West ’17 | Seattle, WA

“Manners in the Metaverse: A Social VR Story” - Panelist

“You Either VR or You VRn’t” - Moderator
Video: Twitch

GDC ’17 | San Francisco, CA

“A Year in VR: A Look Back at VR’s Launch” - Speaker
Video: GDC Vault

“Winning at VR: Developer Success Stories (Presented by HTC Vive)” - Panelist

VRDC ’16 | San Francisco, CA

“Lessons in Building VR Motion/Touch Experiences at the Leading-Edge” - Panelist
Video: GDC Vault

Meaningful Play ’16 | East Lansing, MI

“Playing in a New Reality: The Virtual Landscape” - Keynote
Video: YouTube

Austin Game Conference ‘16 | Austin, TX

“Moderation In Virtual Reality” - Panelist

PAX West ‘16 | Seattle, WA

“The Reality of Virtual Reality: A Look at Consumer-Ready VR” - Panelist

“You either VR or VRn’t” - Moderator

Austin Game Devs ‘16 | Austin, TX

“Marketing Panel: Breaking Through the Noise and Building Loyal Fans” - Panelist

University of Texas at Austin ‘16 | Austin, TX

“UT3D Presents: ‘Immersive Media: Changing the World with VR, AR & 360 Video'” - Panelist

Austin Music Video Festival ‘16 | Austin, TX

“Future of Music Videos in Virtual Reality” - Panelist

University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX

Guest Lecturer

Get in touch

I'm on Twitter the most so reach out at @cyceratops