“Doctor Who” VR game challenges fans to avoid obstacles and reach the future

To keep fans engaged during the run of “Doctor Who” season 10, BBC launched the interactive ‘Time Vortex 360’ experience on BBC Taster, which lets fans navigate the TARDIS through a space-time vortex.

As of May 17, 2017, fans of BBC’s popular sci-fi drama “Doctor Who” can embark on a journey through a space-time vortex with the TARDIS in the interactive 360-degree game ‘Time Vortex 360′. In the fast-paced game, players have to avoid obstacles and reach the future before the TARDIS’ energy levels run low. It can be played on mobile devices as well as desktops and is available on BBC’s experimental Taster platform until November. The experience was released to keep fans engaged during the run of season ten, which premiered on April 15 and ends on July 1.

Players must navigate the Time Lord’s time machine through three time zones, which represent different levels. As the game progresses, the levels get faster and more difficult. The time machine is navigated by click-and-drag or by moving the mobile device in a certain direction. Colliding with meteorites will drain energy levels, while collecting orbs will recharge them.

The game makes full use of the 360-degree environment when players have to turn around and fight against threats from the past which appear behind them. A warning flashes up before them during the flight towards the future, advising them to turn around. After successfully evading attacks from behind, players have to turn back and continue their travel towards the future.

After the game has ended, users see their final score and are invited to share their results on social media. Fans can replay ‘Time Vortex 360’ multiple times in order to reach a higher level and/or boost their score.

Lana Zöllner is a research analyst at VAST MEDIA, a media research and consulting company based in Berlin that provides international television industry leaders with qualitative competitive market analysis of digital entertainment and content marketing. These posts are based on their platform VAST BUZZ which contains thousands of these cases studies.