Dimensional Double Shift Dev Talks Going Free to Play, An Upcoming Expansion, and The Current State of VR Gaming

Owlchemy Labs first gained recognition with 2016’s Job Simulator, a virtual reality game that was easy to pick up and play and focused on funny, playful humor. For almost ten years, the studio has been a leader in VR gaming, and their newest game, Dimensional Double Shift, is designed to help them stay there.

I’ve been following Dimensional Double Shift since it launched into early access back in September 2024, and I’m really excited about it! It’s a co-op multiplayer VR game, and what’s cool is that it really focuses on hand-tracked gameplay – something you don’t see a lot of. I recently read an interview with Andrew Eiche, the CEO of Owlchemy Labs (they call him Chief Executive Owl, which is fun!), where he talked about the game’s humor, the upcoming New Joysey expansion, and what he thinks the future holds for VR. The interview was edited to make it shorter and easier to read.

How Dimensional Double Shift Differs From Past Owlchemy Labs Games

Game Rant: Can you provide a general introduction to Dimensional Double Shift for readers who are unfamiliar with the game?

Dimensional Double Shift is a multiplayer VR game for 2 to 4 players, using hand tracking. You and your friends work together to run a diner and garage that travels through different universes. You’ll visit amazing dimensions and help the people who live there. We started with Treeattle, then released Hexas, and now we’re excited about New Joysey. Expect lots of silly and unexpected tasks! The game focuses on teamwork, but it’s also about the fun of just relaxing and pretending to be a low-paid worker at a roadside gas station.

Game Rant: Owlchemy Labs’ previous games weren’t free, but Dimensional Double Shift is launching as a free-to-play early access title. Can you explain the reasoning behind this change in business model?

It took us some effort to reach this point, but once we examined the market, the right course of action became clear. Virtual Reality gaming has a dedicated and reasonably large community of players, however, it’s considerably smaller than the audiences for PC, consoles, or mobile gaming.

We were launching a VR multiplayer game and needed to figure out how to ensure there were always enough players online. We didn’t want players to have to spend $80 without knowing if they’d enjoy the full experience, especially if they wanted to play with friends. So, we decided on a more flexible approach: everyone gets one dimension for free, and as long as at least one person in your group owns a dimension, everyone can access it. It’s also customizable – you could have one dimension and I could have another, and we can play together that way.

These days, traditional game demos are rare because most stores don’t offer them anymore. So, our approach to free-to-play isn’t like many recent examples with complex in-game economies. We’re essentially reviving the shareware model – think back to Doom. But instead of mailing a check to get a physical copy, players can simply try the game, and if they enjoy it, they can purchase it directly from the store.

Humor Is At The Heart of Dimensional Double Shift

Game Rant: Owlchemy Labs is well known for its funny games, and Dimensional Double Shift continues that tradition. Can you explain how the studio develops its distinctive style of humor for virtual reality experiences?

When it comes to virtual reality, humor isn’t just one thing – there’s a sort of ranking. The best humor comes from what you and your friends create together. Ideally, our game provides the setting for that kind of playful interaction. I believe that’s what sets our game apart and makes funny games genuinely enjoyable. If a game’s humor doesn’t land, it’s usually because it doesn’t really invite you to participate and contribute to the fun.

It all begins with that central idea, and everything else builds from there. That’s where the humorous supporting character comes in. We wanted people to love to hate ALICE. Everyone can relate to having a boss they dislike. That was precisely the intention behind creating ALICE – we wanted you to dislike your boss, so we made that a key part of her character. Then, we refined the details, like the posters and appliances, always considering how a terrible corporate parent would try to improve things, making you think, “Oh, they’re just trying to make this job better, but they don’t understand.”

As you develop and expand upon everything, ideally you’ll reach a stage where players are more relaxed and understand that the experience isn’t meant to be taken too seriously.

Game Rant: Were there any key points of inspiration for Dimensional Double Shift‘s humor?

We’re most effective when we have something to push against – a clear opponent. For us, that was these huge, impersonal companies and the employees you’re often required to deal with. It’s a strange feeling, thinking, “I work for them, but… I don’t really identify with them… they just pay me.” It feels a lot like the old system of lords and vassals – corporate feudalism, really.

Exploring that was really interesting. It’s a key idea that keeps coming up. Conglomni Corp is the main company, and it’s owned by Conrad Glomni III, who inherited it from his grandfather – the company’s founder. There’s a well-known business saying: grandparents build, parents expand, and grandchildren ruin things. Unfortunately, we seem to be in that third, destructive generation.

Traveling around today, you see strange things happening – choices being made simply because of what a spreadsheet says. There’s something harmful in relying on those numbers so much. No one intentionally tried to ruin Joann Fabrics, but in their attempt to improve efficiency – to satisfy the spreadsheet – they essentially emptied it out. That’s what we wanted to challenge – this whole trend of businesses becoming corporations focused on finance and merging into larger groups.

Game Rant: Do you have a favorite joke in Dimensional Double Shift?

I really like certain characters in the game. These characters are hilarious and constantly make me laugh. They’ll often say something when you finish an order or a car-related task. Usually it’s just a simple “haha,” but sometimes their lines are genuinely funny. In Treeattle, my favorite is ‘Wife Guy,’ a character who is a bit overly obsessed with his wife. And in Hexas, I really enjoy ‘Pestilence Demon,’ who is just plain gross.

In the upcoming dimension, New Joysey, there’s a character named ‘Woman Who Thinks She’s In a Relationship With You.’ She constantly shouts things at you, like, “I bet your wife likes it!” She’s very angry, and you just think, “I don’t even know who you are!” Honestly, everything she says is hilarious to me. It’s just so funny.

How Dimensional Double Shift Grew From a Vacation Simulator Update to its Own Fully-Fledged VR Experience

Game Rant: Am I right in saying this is the first hand-tracked game Owlchemy Labs has made?

We’ve created hand-tracked games before, but Dimensional Double Shift is our first game designed specifically for hand-tracking from the start. We initially tested hand-tracking in Vacation Simulator as a trial run, and that experience gave us the confidence to develop Dimensional Double Shift.

Game Rant: Can you explain the reasoning behind developing a complete game centered around hand-tracking, after initially testing it in Vacation Simulator?

I really loved how we handled controls in Vacation Simulator. We took the gestures people were making and mapped them to the buttons, and it just *worked*. But honestly, what’s been amazing is seeing how much people enjoy hand-tracking. Look, the hardcore gamers – and there’s nothing wrong with that at all – they’re perfectly happy with controllers. But a huge chunk of VR users *aren’t* regular gamers. You’ve got younger kids who are used to interacting naturally with things like iPads, and then you’ve got a lot of older players. Seriously, go ask the folks behind Puzzling Places what their average player age is – you might be surprised, it’s actually pretty high!

For people who aren’t used to controllers – those who didn’t grow up with them – using hand-tracking feels very intuitive. That led us to wonder: what if we created a game specifically designed for hand-tracking from the start? We included many small interactions, such as being able to pinch an object and rotate it. Pinching isn’t possible with traditional controllers. Or, you can gently grab something and then squeeze it firmly – that level of nuanced control isn’t available with controllers either.

All of those experiences were made possible by hand-tracking. Since then, we’ve discovered that many players who don’t typically use controllers are really enthusiastic about it. For us in VR, the main challenges we’re facing now are about reducing friction. The technology itself is fantastic-we have a completely self-contained headset that works on its own. We can always improve the graphics and continue working on that, and we will. But the biggest issues are things like hair getting messed up, or needing to wear something on your face. Controllers are just another thing players have to manage.

When you simplify things by removing things people have to manage – like controllers or batteries – it makes them more likely to think, “I can just put on the headset and not worry about all that other stuff.”

Game Rant: Who would you say Dimensional Double Shift is for?

We’re aiming for people who enjoy socializing but get motion sickness easily. In terms of overall goals, we’re very much aligned with other VR games. Games like Gorilla Tag and Animal Company are all about spending time together, while Walkabout Mini Golf offers a different way to connect.

Our game is designed to be stationary; players don’t physically move around. It focuses on creating a sense of presence in a nearby virtual reality. The environment is filled with enough activity that people don’t realize they aren’t moving. This is different from other VR games that emphasize physical movement. We’re developing this game for people who want to enjoy social VR without needing to make large, potentially disorienting gestures – like hitting the floor or flipping upside down.

Dimensional Double Shift Is Opening The Portal to an All-New Dimension

Game Rant: The upcoming Dimensional Double Shift expansion will be the second paid addition to the game New Joysey. Can you provide a general summary of what this expansion adds to the gameplay?

Purchasing any paid add-on, including New Joysey, unlocks the room browser feature. New Joysey specifically alters the food production process and the equipment you use. The garage will feature a brand-new collection of modules, along with updates to existing appliances. These appliances will receive new visual themes-for example, an electrical station will be redesigned as an arcade instead of a computer.

We aim to maintain a degree of familiarity as you switch between these different worlds. You’ll consistently be working with cars and preparing food. However, the specifics – like what kind of food you create, the equipment used for cooking, the orders you receive, the character’s personality, and their backstory – will all vary.

Game Rant: What’s your favorite thing that’s been added with the New Joysey expansion?

I really like the pizzolo we serve in the diner. It represents a significant change for us in terms of the food we offer. Previously, we focused on garden-style dishes, then something similar in Hexas, but this is a completely different direction. I enjoy a lot of the diner food because we stopped trying to make it appeal to everyone. We now have gabagool, Jimmies, and Rippers.

When it comes to the garage area, I like that it presents more of a challenge – things aren’t always straightforward and require a bit more figuring out. The main dimension is designed for beginners, representing the lowest skill level, and we aim to increase the difficulty from there. Of course, we don’t want to make the game too hard for anyone; we’re not trying to create Silksong.

The Future of Dimensional Double Shift and Owlchemy Labs

Game Rant: Does Owlchemy Labs have a timeline for supporting Dimensional Double Shift? Or are they planning to release a specific number of additional content packs?

Our intention is to support this game for a long time. As long as players continue to enjoy it, we’ll keep developing and maintaining it. However, if the player base disappears completely, we won’t continue to work on a game that no one is playing! This project was always envisioned as a long-term commitment, something we could support over an extended period.

Regarding the amount of extra content and variety, that’s a key reason why we’re still in early access. We’re working to understand what our players enjoy most. We’ve already planned several dimensions, and we’re actively developing them. Ultimately, it depends on what our community responds to and requests. If you have any favorite ideas, please share them on our Discord – we’re always checking in there!

I can’t say for sure what the game will become. We recently implemented matchmaking because our players asked for it. That’s generally our approach – it’s a truly collaborative process between our team and the community.

Game Rant: Is there a planned date for when Dimensional Double Shift will leave early access?

We’ve identified a specific set of features and capabilities that we believe will make up the finished product. Once we reach that point, we’ll consider it version 1.0. However, that doesn’t mean we’ll stop improving it. We’ll definitely continue to make changes and updates. We initially had a defined scope, but we’ve been continually adding new features that weren’t originally planned, which has changed things.

The Current State of VR Gaming, According to Owlchemy Labs’ CEO

Game Rant: It seems like some people think virtual reality (VR) hasn’t become as popular as many predicted a few years back. What are your thoughts on how VR gaming is doing right now?

I believe those who claim otherwise simply aren’t paying attention. It seems like both the tech industry as a whole, and the gaming world specifically, are overly focused on millennials. There’s this attitude that if millennials aren’t interested, it doesn’t matter. That’s the core issue. If you were to ask high school students, they’d probably tell you that VR is going to dominate everything. I even have to avoid wearing my Owlchemy Labs shirts in public because I get swarmed by fans.

I keep hearing from people that virtual reality is becoming really common for kids. It seems like about half the students at school have VR headsets, and the other half don’t. A lot of them are playing Gorilla Tag specifically. Parents are even buying multiple headsets to keep up. What’s surprising is that these aren’t necessarily wealthy families – it’s just ordinary people making these purchases.

Okay, yes, if you consider it a success only if a 35-year-old HR person uses the headset and gets work done, then you’re missing the point. Why focus on trying to appeal to someone who isn’t interested, when you’ve already captivated an entire generation? I find it funny, because it’s similar to saying in 1985, “The Nintendo Entertainment System is a failure because people aren’t using it to do spreadsheets.”

VR has millions of players, it’s just not doing the things that big companies really want.”

Game Rant: Would Owlchemy Labs ever go back to making flat-screen games?

We are a fully owned subsidiary of Google, and we’re collaborating with the Android XR team. Currently, we are most enthusiastic about virtual reality as a platform. There are many fascinating developments happening in VR. I do enjoy playing traditional, 2D games – I think they’re great, and I wouldn’t rule out returning to them in the future.

Are we making any plans for the future, or even thinking about it? Not currently, because this technology has so much untapped potential. As I’ve been saying, a whole new generation is growing up and will naturally expect VR to be available and to continue developing. Looking ahead, there’s still a lot of foundational work to do and a great deal of progress to be made.

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2025-09-30 19:24