Kung Fu Panda VR

Night Heron Entertainment Debuts Game & Lynx VR System at IAAPA

There’s a new unattended VR arcade game maker on the scene – Night Heron Entertainment – and the Utah-based company made a strong debut at last month’s IAAPA Expo, showing off their first title, DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda: The Warrior’s Gauntlet. Produced in collaboration with Univer­sal Products & Experiences, the game is played on Night Heron’s proprietary Lynx VR cabinet platform and was exhibited at the AVS Companies booth. (The dealer leads the distribution efforts across North America for Night Heron products).

This game was inspired by Dream­Works Animation’s beloved Kung Fu Panda franchise, which made its debut in 2008, and the company says it delivers an exhilarating 4D experience for players of all ages. In DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda: The Warrior’s Gauntlet, the title character, Po, guides players through a series of challenges on their quest to become a Kung Fu Master during immersive gameplay that runs a bit over two minutes.

Leading up to the IAAPA Expo, Night Heron CEO Landon Christensen said they were excited to give people in the industry their first chance to experience the game and system. “With the support of our partners at Universal Products & Experiences, we’re pushing the boundaries of arcade gaming. We can’t wait for players to dive into the innovative gameplay and visual quality that bring this experience and more to life, showcasing our vision for the future of immersive games.”

The Game & More

The cabinet is about 8’ tall (10′ with the marquee), featuring an expansive, 85” spectator screen. The Lynx has a haptic floor, adding to the player’s immersion, and can also serve up wind effects. There’s also a smaller display on top, serving as the marquee, and colorful lighting around the edges of the cabinet and floor, helping it stand out on the arcade floor and advertise the game inside.

The unit’s hand controllers connect to the cabinet with steel cables; the company intentionally steered clear of retractable systems and reported in-the-field reliability. Said Christensen, “While we know a lot about hand tracking and marker-less tracking, those make it difficult to do trigger pulls for effective first-person shooter type games. While this isn’t pertinent to the Kung Fu Panda game, Lightsaber Dojo does utilize it while players throw their light sabers.” You read that right: Night Heron is debuting their system with a second game, having secured the Star Wars Lightsaber Dojo VR license.

Regarding headsets, they are using the HTC Vive Focus 3, though distributed units will use the new Vive Vision. “That said, our system overall is agnostic with respect to other VR headset hardware. Over time, we’ll adapt it to support other VR headsets,” Christensen said.

With a lot of prior experience with licensing, Christensen said that they’re already talking to IP holders about the next title to come and plan to introduce games regularly.

“Where we think we can add a lot of value to operators is that our cabinet fully supports digital distribution, extending the life cycle of the machine itself,” Christensen told RePlay. Updat­ing the game software is simple: the operator logs into their portal on their PC, and downloads the new content. When operators have purchased more than one game, like The Warrior’s Gauntlet and Lightsaber Dojo, they can control which game is available for players. Christensen said they can adjust this to, for example, different days of the week or even day parts.

Their distributor, AVS Companies, is excited about the product, too. VP of Sales Tony Shamma said, “As their official distributor, we’re very pleased with our relationship with Night Heron Entertainment, whose innovation in VR aligns well with our commitment to providing quality attractions to operators and location owners. They’re a collaborative and responsive partner, which we value greatly as we work together to bring cutting-edge experiences to our customers.

“The debut of Kung Fu Panda: The Warrior’s Gauntlet is a particularly exciting development.” Shamma continued. “The game’s broad appeal with the Kung Fu Panda license and the immersive VR cabinet make it an instant attraction that we expect will draw a diverse audience and encourage repeat engagement. This game will be a strong addition to our lineup, offering operators a unique and memorable experience for players.”

The ability to digitally update game content was another key selling point for Shamma: “The downloadable format enables operators to keep their cabinets updated with additional new titles and content, ensuring long-term relevance and enhancing its value. This approach allows for flexibility and cost-effectiveness, which are key for our clients’ success.”

Night Heron

While the company might be new on the scene, it is headed by two seasoned veterans, each bringing a skill set that complements the other, providing a lot of significant depth.

First, there’s CEO Christensen’s 14+ years’ of interactive development experience spanning mobile, console, VR, AR and PC applications. His extensive resume includes leading developer and IP partnerships and production at The Void, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Games, and Nomadic. He also has vast expertise in securing licensing for major IPs such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, James Bond, Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Netflix and Pixar properties (Toy Story, Cars and others).

The company’s chief technical officer, Geoffrey Blotter, brings over 10 years of experience in the entertainment and tech industries. His skill set spans that side of operations, from writing code to running teams of engineers. Also a veteran of The Void, Blotter helped the company build a world-class offering of their LBE VR experiences by revolutionizing how operational support staff brought the virtual experiences to life for guests. Additionally, he’s led software development teams to deliver products in the web, mobile, VR and cloud.

Christensen, Blotter and their team have already accomplished a lot relatively quickly. “We saw an opportunity and got started in early 2023,” Christensen explained. “A key part of our decision to move forward was already having a hit license under our belts. We’re super excited to pitch our vision to operators, investors and IP partners. It was a big boost to our confidence to know that Universal believes in what we’re doing and was willing to jump on board.”

The team is excited to bring the game – and the platform – to market. “We’ve had it on test here in Utah and have been using our development time to finalize both software and hardware. We’re now excited to launch this innovative platform and let people experience its surprising immersiveness. People love Kung Fu Panda, and they already know Lightsaber Dojo is a great game. So, we want to start selling some units!”

Christensen added that development continues on the title’s play depth. “The original scope of the game was much longer but we decided to go with a game experience that’s about two minutes long. However, we are designing the next phase of the game, including adding other characters from the Kung Fu Panda universe and pretty extensive boss fights, where skilled players can ‘tap to continue.’ We want to make this update available to buyers at no additional cost and it can be digitally delivered to cabinets in the field.”

He continued, “The game plays very well – and is already more interactive and immersive than what you typically see with VR arcade games – and the additional depth of play under development will help increase replayability.”

DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda: The Warrior’s Gauntlet and the Lynx system will be available in Q1 2025. Interested operators should contact AVS Companies with orders and inquiries (avscompanies.com). Night Heron is online at NightHeronEntertainment.com.