Project Details
Genre Speculative Zoology
Type VR Experience
Plattform Standalone VR
Playtime 30 Minutes
Engine Unreal
Development & Design:
Cornel Hillmann
THE FUTURE IS WILD VR (FIW VR)
The Future Is Wild (FIW), the award-winning TV series that captivated a global audience through the fascinating lens of speculative zoology, is making a return, this time in virtual reality. What began as a tech demo for FIW founder Joanna Adams evolved into a mobile VR app for standalone headsets, and later, into a pitch for a larger-scale production.
The standalone version debuted at MIPCOM in Cannes and the Frankfurt Book Fair, and has since been showcased at FIW events and exhibitions. This VR experience introduces entirely new creatures set within both original and newly imagined ecosystems, expanding the timeline into periods not previously explored in the series.
Speculative zoology, now a recognized field, continues to grow in popularity among creature enthusiasts, educators, and science fiction storytellers. It invites us to stretch our imagination while staying rooted in scientific principles, asking bold questions: What forces will shape life 20, 50, 100, or even 200 million years from now? How might organisms evolve over these vast timescales? What role will cosmic events or climate change play in biodiversity’s distant future?
The Future Is Wild VR brings these questions to life, placing you in the role of a scientific explorer tasked with collecting, studying, and investigating the surreal ecosystems of tomorrow’s Earth.
(FIW VR images copyright: © C. Hillmann. The Future is Wild, Copyright: © The FUTURE is WILD Australia Ltd.)
The standalone VR version was produced using the Unreal Engine, incorporating assets recreated from the original TV series and expanding the universe with newly conceptualized creatures. This included modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, and sound design.
It was a true honor to collaborate directly with Dougal Dixon, the legendary author and creator of After Man, whose groundbreaking work established and shaped the genre of speculative zoology. His influence continues to inspire a global audience and has even led to cult status in Japan, where After Man has been adapted into manga and other derivative works.
One of the creatures featured in the VR experience, the Titan Dolphin, originates from an early concept Dixon developed for The Future Is Wild. With his kind permission, we reimagined this evolutionary offshoot: a peaceful dolphin species, forced onto land by extreme environmental pressures millions of years in the future, that adapts into a powerful predator to survive.
Each creature in the experience is designed with a unique evolutionary identity and placed within a coherent biological context, enabling a believable simulation of future ecosystems. In its completed form, the VR title integrates a detailed dataset of biomechanics and behavioral patterns, governed by natural evolutionary principles, framed by a storytelling narrative that brings each species to life.
Concepts © Dougal Dixon, CG © Cornel Hillmann.
Dougal Dixon info:
A “Speculation Built on Fact”: On Dougal Dixon’s Zoology of the Future (Springer Nature Link)
Speculative Zoology and the World of After Man; an Interview With Dougal Dixon by Darren Naish
Wikipedia
Gallery: Unreal exhibition level design, concepts for the exploration vessel “Aeon II”. Image insets: a) Bridge and teleportation area, b) Time engine room, c) Evolutionary biology laboratory. Environment concepts thumbnails (left to right, counterclockwise): Fire World, Giant Bengal Swamp, Northern Forest, Global Ocean, Tidal World. Titan Dolphin visual, Unreal interaction mechanics using Blueprint visual scripting, presentation at the Frankfurt book fair, snapshots of Unreal levels in standalone version.
Left: The featured creature concept was first sketched, then sculpted in ZBrush. After rigging and animating the model, it was brought into Unreal Engine for environmental testing and reviewed in VR using a headset.