Embrace Your Cozy & Creative Side with ‘Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery VR’

Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery has been enchanting casual gamers and puzzle enthusiasts alike since its original launch in 2021. And now, you can step inside the Studio Ghibli-inspired world of this vivid interactive fiction like never before with the launch of Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery VR on Meta Quest 2 and Pro.

“As an artist, I often think about how to tell and paint a story through imagery,” explains Silver Lining Studio’s Weichen Lin, who’s credited with the game design, game direction, story, and art of the original Behind the Frame. “While we’re painting, we often adjust, add, or erase some elements in the picture to perfect the composition and content placement—which got me thinking: What if these adjustments came from emotional needs and regrets instead of aesthetic sense? What personal experiences have occurred while the painter is designing the composition? What secrets is the painter trying to hide? I found these questions puzzling and interesting. After I wrote a short story, the development process of the original Behind the Frame game began.”

In the game, players take on the role of Amber, a passionate artist putting the final touches on a gallery submission. As you play (at your own pace), you’ll seek the missing colors that will bring your paintings to life—all while remembering to take the occasional coffee and breakfast breaks to keep you going.

Motivated by the desire to play a game they loved in immersive 3D, the team at Akupara Games decided to translate the experience of Behind the Frame to VR.

“We wanted players to be able to experience this beautiful game from a different perspective,” says Akupara Games Head of Development Nat Montero, “to walk around Amber’s apartment, the lavender fields, the cafe.”

“Our goal was to make an almost 1:1 recreation of the game in VR,” adds Akupara Games Junior Programmer Saran Krishnaraja, who was brought on board as a result of his capstone university game development project: a Bob Ross-inspired painting game in VR with a similar look and feel to Behind the Frame. “We had to compromise and adjust a lot during development because some things just weren’t possible to recreate from a 2D environment to a 3D VR environment.”

Over roughly 18 months (plus or minus some time spent prototyping to learn what would work well in VR and what wouldn’t), the team lovingly recreated the environments and puzzles of the game in 3D. Because the original game was developed in 2D, that meant recreating most of the art assets, animations, visual effects, and systems from scratch and redesigning some areas of the game, including how the cinematics are shown.

The end result is a beautifully crafted cozy game with intricate detail that players will love to explore.

“We had a demo of Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery VR during PAX East, and the reception was mind-blowing,” notes Montero. “The demo consisted of only the first chapter in the game, which has Amber’s apartment and a handful of puzzles. We saw that most players enjoyed walking around and having a lot more freedom in the area, being able to be even more hands-on with the activities and puzzles around the apartment.”

“We thoroughly enjoyed working on this title again, and we can’t wait for players to be able to play this game again—but now in 3D,” Montero adds. “We learned a lot of lessons when bringing Behind the Frame to a 3D space, and we plan to carry that knowledge forward into our other unannounced VR projects. Stay tuned to our social and community channels, so you can learn more when that time comes!”