Goliath: Playing With Reality is a 25-minute animated virtual reality experience exploring schizophrenia, gaming and connection.
“The universe is revolving around me in a bad way.”
Through animation and interaction, Goliath explores the limits of reality in a true story of so-called ‘schizophrenia’ and the role of online gaming communities in creating connection.
Guided by Echo (voiced by Tilda Swinton), the experience moves through the realities of Jon, a man who spent years isolated in psychiatric institutions before finding connection in multiplayer games. Combining dialogue, symbolic interaction and shifting environments, participants move between worlds to build a deeper understanding of his experience.
Process
Goliath was developed with Jon, whose voice and experience shape the arc of the piece. The team gathered material through interviews, phone conversations and live recordings of Jon playing online with his gaming community, using the contrast between raw documentary audio and heightened virtual worlds to move between isolation, fear, humour and connection.
During prototyping, we iterated through multiple versions of the narrative, interaction design and headset experience. The work was developed both inside and outside the headset, combining VR with physical space, spatialised sound and live performance elements to create moments where participants question what is real and what is not.
To support this process, the team developed bespoke tools, including a real-time “stagemaker” system, allowing the experience to be designed intuitively across disciplines such as sound, animation and interaction. This enabled rapid testing and refinement of how the story could be felt, not just seen.
Alongside this, we worked with mental health charities, researchers, people with lived experience of psychosis and medical professionals to refine the language, sensitivity and impact of the work. Workshops helped shape both the experience and its wider purpose: to challenge stigma, build empathy and explore how VR could become a meaningful tool for mental health education.
Download GOLIATH: PLAYING WITH REALITY on Meta Quest here
Visit goliathvr.io to learn more
SILBERSALZ Science & Media Awards - Immersive Science
20222022Bolton International Film Festival - Best VR/360
2022Guanajuato International Film Festival - Best Use of Virtual Reality
2022Brazil's Independent Games Festival - Best XR/VR
2022Annecy Festival - VR Work (Jury Distinction)
2022PRIX NUMIX - Best XR International Documentary
2022Luxembourg Film Festival - VR Award
2022Adelaide Fringe Festival - BankSA Best Film & Digital, Interactive Award
2021Red Sea: Immersive - Golden Yusr Immersive Award (Nominated)
2021FilmGate Miami - Best of Festival Project
2021Geneva International Film Festival - International Immersive (Nominated)
2021Festival du Nouveau Cinema - VR competition (Nominated)
2021The 78th Venice International Film Festival - Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Work
May Abdalla & Barry Gene Murphy
Thanks to Goliath for sharing his story
Anagram
Floréal
Oculus VR for Good, the British Film Institute awarding funds from the National Lottery, Creative XR, Digital Catapult, the Arts Council England, CNC, and StoryFutures Academy.
thanks to La Biennale di Venezia - Biennale College Cinema VR
Tilda Swinton