VR game ‘Wet Dog Corp’ made by Ringling College students - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The game, set for release Monday, was a partnership between the college and Flight School Studio, headed by Oscar-winning alum Brandon Oldenburg.

After a two-year production process, a virtual reality game developed by students at Sarasota’s Ringling College of Art & Design will soon see the light of day.

“Wet Dog Corp” will be available on Steam as a free-to-download release on Monday. The game, which requires a HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or Valve Index VR headset, sets players in a corporation where they must race against the clock and clean a stream of dirty dogs rolling in.

The game is the first project in a partnership started in 2018 between the Dallas-based Flight School Studio and Ringling College, after the college introduced a virtual reality degree. Flight School Studio’s chief creative officer is Brandon Oldenburg, a ’95 Ringling alum who won an Oscar in 2012 for the animated short “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.”

“Our company had been using virtual reality and augmented reality for many years, and it can be a hard thing to wrap your head around,” Oldenburg said. “Certainly, we were there to not only help the students, but faculty and everyone embrace this in a new and exciting way for the art school.”

The game’s personnel includes 19 Ringling College students, graduates and staff, with Flight School Studio’s team providing mentorship. MaKayla Hensley, Cain Hopkins and Anelise Mize, three Ringling College game art majors who graduated in 2019, created the art for “Wet Dog Corp.”

The students were provided a core mechanic for the game then brainstormed story ideas, eventually devising the dog-washing corporation concept. (Ironically, Mize said all three of them are cat owners.)

Along with building levels and environment art, each of them focused on individual components. Hopkins worked on the dogs, Hensley on visual effects like suds and sparkles and Mize on the cleaning blasters and bath bombs.

“I was really excited to get the opportunity to be able to make a game before I’m even out in the industry,” Mize said. “Because for as long as I can remember, one of my biggest dreams growing up as a kid and playing video games was just having the opportunity to make something that gave me the same feeling of joy and having a great time.”

A demo version of “Wet Dog Corp” appeared at last year’s South by Southwest in Austin, Texas with a carnival-style setting that Ringling College students also helped design, including a pug petting zoo.

The next collaboration between Flight School Studio and another set of Ringling College students, the VR game “Glitch Out,” was also set to launch at South by Southwest until this year’s event was canceled due to COVID-19. Morgan Woolverton, head of game art and virtual reality at Ringling College, says another launch will be planned for the project, perhaps at next year’s South by Southwest.

Since graduating, Hopkins has worked at video game developers Bioware and 343 Industries. Hensley has a job at Obsidian Entertainment and Mize works for Booz Allen Hamilton. They’re excited to finally see the release of “Wet Dog Corp,” which was both a formative professional experience and a creative collaboration among college friends.

“I think that just speaks to Ringling as an institution, allowing us to have this opportunity and experience,” Hopkins said. “Because for me personally, working alongside all of these people and my two teammates, has both shaped me as a person and as an industry professional in ways that I couldn’t describe.”

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