REWIND Develops Inside the Hacker Hostel Experience for HBO’s Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley: Inside the Hacker Hostel, the immersive VR experience inspired by the Emmy-winning comedy series from Mike Judge and Alec Berg, created by the visionaries at REWIND, is about to be released.

Starting Sunday, March 25, 2018, fans can download the VR experience via Viveport, HTC Vive’s global platform, and app store.

The VR release coincides with the premiere of Silicon Valley season five. 

Silicon Valley: Inside the Hacker Hostel brings fans into the incubator where the show’s main characters, Richard Dinesh, Gilfoyle, and Jared live and work in HBO’s hit comedy series Silicon Valley. This captivating, interactive VR experience provides fans with one-on-one encounters with Richard (Thomas Middleditch), Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr), Big Head (Josh Brener) and Jian-Yang (Jimmy O. Yang). Visitors to the Hacker Hostel can see how many times they get “always blue”, demo the Not Hot Dog app (and snack on the test food), find a secret message from Jared, and help Richard out of a coding crisis. 

The experience was developed in Unreal Engine 4, and built for the HTC Vive. The REWIND team worked tirelessly to create an authentic virtual version of the Hacker Hostel, a central part of the HBO show. 3DS Max & Maya were used to faithfully recreate the Hacker Hostel environment from top-down blueprints of the actual set, and photo references were used to replicate the materials for all of the assets in Substance Designer and Substance Painter. The team also had the opportunity to visit the show’s set, taking HDR 360 Captures of each of the rooms, in order to replicate the lighting as authentically as possible. The result is a vast playspace, providing a perfect 1:1 replica of the house, with multiple rooms to explore.

The VR experience also features a whole host of interactive elements; from table football with integrated AI to a fully playable piano. Visitors can even get ‘drunk’ on tequila and ‘stoned’ -  with the screen becoming full of distortion effects - to simulate the feeling of the room spinning. And if that’s not enough, you can don a VR headset... in the VR experience. In fact, the experience is jam-packed with objects - over 750 of them! This phenomenal number was made possible using forward rendering; this technique improves the overall performance (framerate) of the experience allowing it to be packed with items. 

With season five of Silicon Valley just starting on HBO, the Hacker Hostel VR experience is the perfect accompaniment to the latest episodes. The attention to detail, references to in-show jokes, and sheer explorability makes this the ultimate fan experience. 

Currently, Silicon Valley: Inside the Hacker Hostel is only available in America, but those attending VRLO on 25th April in London will get the chance to explore the Hacker Hostel in VR. For updates on where to download the VR experience visit SiliconValleyVR.com.