Pearl Abyss’ upcoming open-world RPG appears to run solidly on Sony’s beefier home console
Crimson Desert Console Gameplay Finally Released, But Only Of The PS5 Pro Version
The Bizarre ‘Churn Butter While You Run’ Trend Is Actually Sort of Profound
Running gives you a lot of things: Stress relief, personal records, chafing—the list goes on. In fact, you can add “butter” to that list right now.
Running content creator Libby Cope has gone viral not for her pace or mileage, but for what she makes along the way. Her video showing how she churns butter on a train run has racked over one million likes across Instagram and TikTok. Let’s dig into the science of how this works, and why this is my favorite kind of running influencer content right now.
How to churn butter while you run
In her viral videos, Cope pours heavy cream and salt into double-bagged Ziplocs, tucks the squishy dairy parcels into her running vest alongside her boyfriend, and heads out onto the trails. By the time they’re done, so is the butter. They spread it on sandwich bread and eat it right there. So, how crazy is this feat exactly?
As the Center for Dairy Research explains it, this sort of makes perfect sense. Milk is an emulsion—a mixture of fat and water molecules that don’t naturally want to coexist. Left alone long enough, milk will begin to separate, with the fattier molecules floating to the top. That fatty layer skimmed from the surface is cream. And cream, it turns out, is one aggressive trail run away from becoming butter.
When cream is agitated—like with all the shaking that comes with a trail run—the fat molecules suspended within it start bumping into each other. Eventually, they begin to stick together, clustering into larger and larger clumps and pushing the remaining liquid (buttermilk) to the outside. What’s left in the center of that shake-up should be butter.
The key variables are time and intensity of agitation. A casual stroll probably won’t cut it, since the movement needs to be sustained and vigorous enough to keep the fat molecules colliding. A trail run, with its constant up-and-down impact, its jostling vest pockets, and its 30-plus minutes of continuous movement, is more likely to get the job done. Essentially, your body is doing the work a wooden churn or a stand mixer would otherwise do.
There are plenty of other variables to consider, of course. Cold temperatures can slow the process, while too much heat will melt the whole production. Quality and amount of ingredients, the intensity of the run, and the weather outside all play a role in refining this run-churn process.
Cope’s videos aren’t the only examples of runners using their workout to make food. Running influencer TrailswithZach posted a tutorial last fall of how he makes chocolate ice cream while running, garnering over 137 thousand likes. Here’s another example from runner Irene Choi, who took things in a more creative direction with a corn juice honey butter recipe.
Why this social media trend matters (beyond the butter)
At a time when the online running community feels plagued by unrealistic expectations, this micro-movement is a breath of fresh air. It could be easy to write all of this off as a quirky internet moment, but there’s a deeper takeaway here. Cope told Runner’s World that the experience has been a grounding reminder of why she runs in the first place, and all the joy it brings her.
That’s the part that sticks, much like butter on bread. Online running culture gets daunting and discouraging, with all the pressure to buy the right shoes, post the fastest times, sign up for all the trendiest races, and so on. Churning butter while you run is a joyful reminder that running can also be playful and weird. Even if you don’t get down and dirty with buttercream yourself (something I have zero plans to do), these videos are a great way to reflect on why you run in the first place.
Qt Creator 19 Open-Source IDE Released with Minimap for Text Editors, MCP Server
The Qt Project released today Qt Creator 19 as the latest stable version of this open-source, free, and cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) software for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Bumble is the latest dating app to add an AI assistant
Bumble is testing an AI dating assistant called “Bee” that it hopes will get users on dates without them having to swipe through profiles, Bloomberg writes. The company announced the AI assistant during its fourth quarter earnings, and intends to use the AI in a new experience it calls “Dates.”
When a user opts in to Bumble’s Dates feature, Bee performs an onboarding chat where it learns about the users’ “values, relationship goals, communications style, lifestyle and dating intentions,” and then attempts to find other users who share some or all of those traits. Once Bee finds someone compatible, both users are notified in the app that they could be a great match, and receive a summary generated by Bee explaining why. From there, they can chat and see if things lead to a real-life date.
As is often the case with pie-in-the-sky AI features, Bumble has even bigger plans for how Bee could be used in its app, including as a tool for collecting anonymous feedback from user’s previous matches or as a way to receive suggestions for dates ideas. AI will also apparently enable Bumble to move away from binary yes or no swipes on profiles and towards a system where users connect over “chapter-based” profiles that are more reflective of their life story.
Bumble is testing Bee internally and plans to launch the AI and its Dates feature in beta soon. The company is far from the only dating app experimenting with integrating AI recommendations and summaries. Tinder uses AI to recommend profile pictures to users, and now offers another feature called “Chemistry” that combines insights gained from personal questions and access to users’ Camera Roll to make more informed matches. Meanwhile, Grindr’s “Edge” subscription tier offers AI summaries of past chats and connections, and stats on whether a user is actually compatible with a new match.
It’s too early to tell whether AI makes a meaningful difference in the dating experience for users, but if it keeps them using an app or paying for a subscription, it’s likely a worthwhile experiment for Bumble, Tinder and Grindr.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/bumble-is-the-latest-dating-app-to-add-an-ai-assistant-181729994.html?src=rss
Soundcore Nebula P1i projector review: An affordable option with accurate color and loud sound
Anker’s Soundcore projectors have become an attractive option for buyers thanks to models like the P1 and Nebula X1 that combine performance and portability. Now, the company has added “affordability” to that equation with its latest model, the $369 P1i. Instead of being detachable like on the P1, its speakers fold out toward listeners, promising better and louder sound than most cheap projectors.
The P1i also delivers 1080p video, Google TV for streaming and the same easy screen fit setup as other Anker projectors. However, unlike some portable models, it lacks a built-in battery for true portability. Overall brightness is lower as well at 380 lumens compared to 650 on the P1. Despite those issues, the P1i is an outstanding budget projector that’s ideal for impromptu indoor screenings and outdoor party use.
Features and design
With its relatively small size (8.9 x 7.2 x 8.0 inches) and slight five pound weight, the Soundcore Nebula P1i can be perched nearly anywhere and is easily toted around by the soft handle on top. It’s almost too light, as even a slight bump can displace it and ruin the picture. It does have a tripod mount, though, which makes it easy to set up outside or install on your ceiling.
Fortunately, the P1i is perhaps the easiest projector in this price range to align with your wall or screen. It has Anker’s Smart Instant Setup that automatically adjusts the autofocus, keystone correction, screen fit and obstacle avoidance. For my 120-inch roll down screen, I just had to set the P1i about 11 feet from the wall, make sure it was fairly level and then tilt the stand so it pointed at the screen. Then, I just ran the smart setup which instantly gave me a correctly set-up image.
The P1i is not a laser projector but its LED light source lasts even longer, rated for over 30,000 hours. It runs fairly cool compared to a bulb or laser model, but it still has a fan that kicks on from time to time. One annoyance is that the fan seemed to engage even when the projector was turned off, so I found I had to unplug it to stop that.
Steve Dent for Engadget
Connectivity-wise, the P1i has a single HDMI 2.0 port with ARC (Audio Return Channel), along with a USB-A port for external media and a 3.5mm auxiliary audio output. The projector allows for a maximum input of 4K at 60 fps (it outputs 1080p at 60 fps), so it’s only good for light gaming. Plus, you’ll want to keep in mind that if you do any keystone correction, gaming latency quadruples from 20ms to 80ms. It also supports Wi-Fi 5 for streaming and Bluetooth 5.1 to connect extra speakers.
Google TV is built in for streaming and projector control, which is a nice feature for a projector under $400. It provides a large library of apps via Google Play along with a familiar interface. You also get Netflix’s official application with support for 4K Dolby Vision without the need to plug in a streaming device, plus there’s Chromecast support and Google Assistant for voice control. The downside is that the interface can occasionally be sluggish. As for those foldable speakers, you can aim them up, down, forward or backwards, and they support Dolby Audio at 10 watts each.
Image quality
Image quality is decent but not outstanding, about what you’d expect for a projector at this price. While it’s very sharp in the center, the edges are fuzzier, particularly if you’re tilting the projector up or down and using plenty of keystone correction. With just 380 lumens of brightness (I measured it at just over 300 lumens in standard mode), it’s best to use the P1i in a dark room or at night — if there’s any ambient light, you won’t be able to see much detail.
The P1i offers multiple picture profiles, including Standard, Vivid, Sports, Movies and Games, along with a Conference mode for maximum brightness. I found that the “Vivid” setting gave me the best mix of color accuracy and brightness.
Steve Dent for Engadget
Color accuracy is a strong point, with natural looking, nicely saturated hues. Surprisingly, the P1i supports 10-bit HDR to help improve color accuracy and max out what little brightness there is, though it’s a gigantic stretch calling a 380 lumen image (around 50 nits) “HDR.” I tested the P1i on my usual roster of content, including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Andor, Dune 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and found the colors to be pleasing and realistic. If they’re not quite to your liking, you can make fine adjustments manually.
Sound
The primary selling point of the Nebula P1I is those fold out speakers. However, considering Soundcore’s reputation for solid audio performance (take the Nebula X1 Pro for example), sound quality was a bit disappointing. It’s relatively tinny with very little bass, providing a less-than-theatrical experience. Those speakers can go pretty loud, though, and midrange sounds like voices are very clear.
Fortunately, there are a couple of solutions. The P1i has multiple EQ settings, including Movies (with enhanced bass and treble), Music for the most natural sound and Outdoors to ensure clarity in open and noisy spaces. The best of those, I found, was Movies, as it mildly improves the lows and highs. There’s also a “custom” mode that lets you fine-tune the equalization. I was able to get acceptable sound quality when I boosted the bass to nearly the maximum level.
The other option, of course, is to pair the P1i to some Bluetooth speakers. I did just that with Soundcore’s external speakers sold as an option with the Nebula X1 and the sound quality was much improved. Of course, that would remove much of its convenience and increase the price for better sound.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent for Engadget
Anker’s $400 Soundcore Nebula P1i is an excellent option for buyers looking for a portable projector to use outdoors or in the place of a second TV, though it suffers from subpar sound and picture quality. Competitors like XGIMI’s MoGo 2 Pro offer similar brightness, built-in speakers and Google TV. And if you have a bit more in your budget, Anker’s $800 Nebula P1 is brighter and easier to set up. Finally, for those looking for battery portability for camping or other activities, take a look at XGIMI’s $500 Halo+ or the $530 Anker Nebula Capsule.
The P1i is great for simple nighttime movie screenings outdoors. If you feel like watching a movie or series in bed, you can bring it into your room, project the picture onto a wall and enjoy your streaming service of choice. You may not be disappointed with the overall picture quality, though you may wish for slightly better sound.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/soundcore-nebula-p1i-projector-review-an-affordable-option-with-accurate-color-and-loud-sound-180034925.html?src=rss
Anthropic’s Claude AI Can Respond With Charts, Diagrams, and Other Visualschat
Anthropic updated Claude so it can automatically generate charts, diagrams, and other interactive visualizations directly inside conversations, rather than only in a side panel. The new visualizations are rolling out now to all users. The Verge reports: As an example, Anthropic says a conversation about the periodic table could lead Claude to generate a visualization of it, featuring interactive elements that let you click inside the table for more information. Another example shows how Claude can generate a visual related to a question about how weight travels through a building. Though Claude will automatically determine whether it should generate a visualization in your chat, Anthropic notes that you can also ask the chatbot to generate a diagram, table, or chart directly. […]
Anthropic already allows you to create charts, documents, tools, and apps through Claude’s “artifacts” feature, which opens in a side panel where you can interact, share, and download the AI-generated creation. But, as noted by Anthropic, artifacts are persistent, while the visualizations created within Claude’s conversations will change or disappear as the conversation progresses. You can also ask Claude to make changes to the visualizations it creates.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tiny Race Series – March 14 Routes – Danny’s Crit Week
See zwiftinsider.com/tiny for current Tiny Race details.
6 Affordable Windows PCs To Buy Instead Of Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo
The space of budget laptops has seen continuous improvements thanks in great part to AMD and Qualcomm’s efforts, but the announcement of Apple’s MacBook Neo for just $599 has proven one of the biggest disruptions in years. Even while writing up this article of alternative picks (four cheaper, two more expensive), it’s hard to outright downplay
Lucid announces midsize EV platform, says profitability lies with SUVs
Lucid’s entry into the highly competitive, high-volume midsize SUV market will be key to achieving profitability, the company told investors today. And it’s going to do that with a trio of electric SUVs that will use its new midsize EV platform, which it says has been engineered to deliver a starting price below $50,000.
“Today, we’re keeping the same Lucid product and technology DNA intact, while applying increased scale, capital efficiency, and cost discipline, and materially reduced costs, to enable a great business with a clear and credible path to profitability and free cash flow, supported by what we are executing now and what we are building for the future,” said Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO at Lucid.
The company has provided a few details about the first two SUVs due on the new midsize platform. The Lucid Earth is aimed at “trendsetting achievers” and will be the more spacious one. The Lucid Cosmos we expect to be sportier—this one is targeting “upscale nurturers.” The unnamed third SUV will likely be something a bit more off-roady, filling the same niche that Rivian has gone for with its R2.
Another longtime Microsoft executive is retiring
It’s already been a busy year for high-profile Microsoft departures, with longtime Xbox chief Phil Spencer bowing out last month alongside his expected successor Sarah Bond. Today it’s the turn of Microsoft’s head of Experiences + Devices, Rajesh Jha, who leaves after more than 35 years at the company.
Jha, who oversaw some of Microsoft’s most important products and services, including Windows, Office and Teams, said in a press release that he’s been planning for his succession alongside CEO Satya Nadella for a while. Rather than bringing in a direct replacement, four members of his team will be promoted to executive vice president and report directly to Nadella.
Taking up these new more senior roles are Office EVP and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslanksky, Windows and Surface president Pavan Davuluri, president of business and industry Copilot (BIC) Charles Lamanna, and Microsoft 365 Core chief Perry Clarke. The outgoing Jha, who said his long career at Microsoft had been “an incredible privilege,” will officially transition out of Microsoft on July 1, after which he’ll remain in an advisory role.
“When I think about the pantheon of leaders who have truly shaped this company, Rajesh stands firmly among them,” Nadella said in a statement, adding that Jha had been a “constant” during his own time at the company. “He embodies the commitment that helped build and transform Microsoft into the company it is today, and it is on the strength of that foundation that we will continue to move forward.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/another-longtime-microsoft-executive-is-retiring-174453788.html?src=rss
Perplexity’s “Personal Computer” brings its AI agents to the, uh, Personal Computer
Last month Perplexity announced the confusingly named “Computer,” its cloud-based agent tool for completing tasks using a harness that makes use of multiple different AI models. This week, the company is moving that kind of functionality to the desktop with the confusingly named “Personal Computer,” now available in early access by invite only.
Much like the cloud-based version, Personal Computer asks users to describe general objectives rather than specific computing tasks—an introductory video shows Personal Computer’s questions in a sidebar asking things like, “Create an interactive educational guide” and “create a podcast about whales.” But Personal Computer, running on a Mac Mini, also gives Perplexity’s agents local access to your files and apps, which it can open and manipulate directly to attempt to complete those tasks.
That should sound familiar to users of the open source OpenClaw (previously Moltbot), which similarly allows users to let AI agents loose on their personal machines. From the outside, Personal Computer looks like a more buttoned-up, user-friendly version of the same concept, with an easy-to-read, dockable interface that can help users track multiple tasks. Perplexity users can also log in remotely to their local copy of Personal Computer, making it “controllable from any device, anywhere,” Perplexity says.
LEGO’s Classic 1979 Computer Brick Reborn As A Working Mac Mini With Touchscreen
If you’re reading this right now, there’s a very good chance that you were one of many millions of children to grow up with LEGO as one of your favorite toys. The Danish plastic connecting bricks are a timeless classic, and no doubt many of you, like me, spent countless hours pretending that our Lego minifigs were in fact working on very important
Resident Evil Requiem Fans Keep Modding Leon’s Porsche
Leon Kennedy doesn’t need a license to drive a sandwich
systemd 260-rc3 Released With AI Agents Documentation Added
The first release candidate of systemd 260 arrived in late February with the new mstack feature, dropping System V service scripts support, and other changes. A week after that systemd 260-rc2 released with a few more changes and now another week later is systemd 260-rc3…
Microsoft To Turn Every Windows 11 PC Into A Console With Xbox Mode Next Month
Microsoft has had a big presence at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference, providing fans with a glimpse of the future of Xbox with a sneak peek at a potential Xbox Development Kit alongside detailing its partnership with AMD. However, the company hasn’t forgotten about the legion of gamers that call a Windows PC home, who will soon be seeing
Xbox Quietly Erases The Worst Marketing Campaign It Ever Launched
Also: Teardown gets multiplayer, Silent Hill 2 hits five million players, and Valve reveals new Steam hardware info
Alexa+ can now swear, thanks to a new personality style
Amazon just unveiled a new personality type for Alexa+. The “sassy” option is reserved for adults and the company claims it will throw out censored curse words from time to time. Amazon describes this option as a combination of “unfiltered personality” and “razor-sharp wit, playful sarcasm and occasional censored profanity.”
We aren’t yet sure how the chatbot handles the censoring. Does it use a garden variety bleep or a replacement word like fudge or something? I managed to get it to say “damn” and “hell”, but couldn’t force anything more profane than that.
In any event, adult users have to jump through a couple of hoops to activate this mode. It won’t work if there’s an enabled Amazon Kids profile on the account and it requires additional security checks, like face scans. The company also warns people upon being selected that the new tone could contain “mature subject matter.” I’m more afraid of the bot using “clever comebacks” to absolutely shred my buying habits. Yes, I buy bagged popcorn when I have plenty of uncooked kernels in the pantry. I’m working on it.
This is still Alexa+, despite the ability to drop colorful language every now and again. It’s not an adult AI companion like the anime-inspired weirdness Grok recently trotted out or whatever erotica-infused nonsense OpenAI has been working on. Also, Amazon says the bot won’t get involved with hate speech, illegal activities, personal attacks or anything that could cause harm.
Amazon
This is just the latest personality type that the company has introduced for the chatbot. Users can also choose from sweet, brief or chill, with the last one resembling a surfer archetype. Alexa+ is an updated version of the company’s long-standing chatbot that prioritizes natural-sounding conversation. It’s fine, more or less, but I still use it primarily for alarms and weather.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-can-now-swear-thanks-to-a-new-personality-style-172106310.html?src=rss
Behind The Scenes of Walkabout Mini Golf’s New Passport Hollywood Course
Mighty Coconut’s Don Carson and Shane Rhodes take us on a tour of Walkabout’s ode to the golden age of filmmaking.
Walkabout Mini Golf Will Visit Tinseltown With Passport Hollywood DLC Course
Walkabout Mini Golf’s next DLC course, Passport: Hollywood, will take a trip back to the golden age of filmmaking.
UploadVRMike Johnson
We previously reported that Walkabout Mini Golf’s new Hollywood DLC, the third in its Passport series, was inspired by Mighty Coconut’s origins working in effects and animation for Hollywood productions. We had a chance to tour the course with Mighty Coconut Senior Art Director Don Carson and 3D modeler Shane Rhodes. That video from our Youtube channel is linked here:
After the tour, I sat down with Don to get more in depth about Passport Hollywood and Walkabout’s overall process for building courses. The following is a full transcription of that discussion:
UploadVR: So, multiple people, yourself included, talked about Mighty Coconut’s background in the film industry, including some people who are still currently on the team have backgrounds working in animations and special effects on Hollywood films. So, given the personal connection that some of the team has, did that make this course easier or harder [to build] because of their personal connections and their backgrounds?
Don Carson: I think easier. I think initially the idea of doing the Hollywood course was it seemed like a kind of an obvious one that was sort of a wish fulfillment location to hang out in. But I think as soon as we started scratching the surface, we realized that we all had sort of deep connections to that business and those places, especially Lucas Martell and Laura Krauss, both of them have had offices on backlots at Hollywood studios in their careers. So everything from the lot cats that wander around and keep the rodents down to the commissary and being able to sort of sneak around and look inside of soundstages. All of that sort of created this long wish list of things we wanted to make sure that we included when we were designing out all the places you visit.
UploadVR: Have you ever had to, in this course or any other, scale back some of the production design specifically because the hole had to be reconfigured?
Don Carson: Yeah, the place often happens before the hole. We usually start in Gravity Sketch as all the design team will meet up in VR and start scribbling to scale. And we have sort of placeholders for all 18 holes. And so we know there’ll be a hole here, but the placeness will start to sort of come together. And then we’ll have to move the furniture around a bit to make sure that the hole fits as opposed to the other way around.
UploadVR: Okay. So, that happens pretty often after you get the okay?
Don Carson: Yeah. Yeah. There’s no room or there’s an opportunity we hadn’t thought of. Like especially on the Hollywood one, we wanted the holes to sort of represent the departments that are part of the film making process. So there’s the model shop and there’s the props department and there’s the the Foley sound department. So, uh, the the places were designed first and then the holes came to sort of support the theme of the places.
UploadVR: Was there an element in the overall design, like music design, art, or whatever, that was easy that came together fairly quickly? And conversely, was there one that was like a pain to get right?
Don Carson: I think the coming up with the style of the we call it a shape language. You know, what’s different not only about the gameplay, but what’s the what what do the borders look like? And I know we wanted to do sort of an art deco look for the the the edges of the holes. So, there was a lot of back and forth trying to get that right. I think we did a good job, but I think it it went through a lot of iterations before we we hit on the style that we have in that course now.
UploadVR: Timeline wise, was this in line with your usual 15 to 18 month turnaround?
Don Carson: I think we came up with this January of last year, so it’s a little over a year to do it.
UploadVR: Wow.
Don Carson: Yeah.
UploadVR: Is there anything that you can say there was an idea that just hit the cutting room floor? Like you really wanted it in or there was like an idea for a hole that just didn’t make it in.
Don Carson: I think we crammed it all in really. I don’t think we missed a thing, which it tends to be true of all the courses that we inevitably have a list that we are constantly pushing the limits as to how many polygons we can get squeezed into an environment and so we rationalize, especially with a course like the Hollywood course, is that luckily a lot of those props exist in a building, so that when you leave the building, we don’t have to render those anymore. So, like the props department is just full of objects that are great when you’re in there, but you don’t want to have to be rendering them all the time.
UploadVR: One of the things that came up when we were taking our tour was we were in the film projector room that’s over the screening room and you said that someone on the team chimed in and said when they saw it, “This looks kind of dull.” And then someone else came back and said, “No, that’s pretty much how this room looks.”
Don Carson: That’s right.
UploadVR: How do you straddle that line between authenticity and still like making it aesthetically pleasing and entertaining?
Don Carson: Well especially with the passport courses, our first one was Venice, is we desperately wanted to make sure that it fulfilled people’s sort of bucket list idea of what it would be like to go to these places in the world. So for people who haven’t been, it needs to represent what they think it’s going to be like. And for the people who have been and love it, we wanted to make sure we hit all the high points. So they felt like they had “oh you caught everything that I love about Tokyo or or or Venice.” So we did the same thing with Hollywood. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t leave anybody out. And then I think because of our own personal experience and this is true of Venice, Tokyo, and Hollywood. There’s enough people on the team that have have lived in that world that they could make sure that not only were we being honest to the design, but also we were able to put little anecdotes and little personal experiences. Like I mentioned during our walkthrough, I think that Laura really wanted to make sure that the art department was really rich because that was the world she lived in. But also the fact that the art department is usually the unloved cousin who always gets shoved in some, you know, unwanted building. So those two things are represented and I think that really adds a level of sort of human touch to the courses.
UploadVR: Even in that specific room you talked about lowering the ceiling. It was too high. Like no, no art department has had a ceiling this tall. They feel like they’re in a closet basically.
Don Carson: Exactly right. Exactly.
UploadVR: Do you have a specific section that you specifically are proud of? Like you really pushed for an idea and they made it?
Don Carson: Probably my absolute favorite part of the process is the research part and I tend to research by drawing it and so I got to do a lot of research on the sort of vintage equipment that was used. So the editing machinery, the Foley and sound props. That was my favorite bit is the you know what are we going to fill this with? Always with this sort of keeping in mind what the audience is going to experience. You want to give them something that’s going to be interesting. Kind of make them want to go find out more about it, but also you don’t want to to be wrong. You don’t want to foolishly recreate a Venice that doesn’t exist. You want it to be something that people go, “Yeah, that’s how I felt when I was there.”
UploadVR: Did that play into your decision to make it more of an older studio feel as opposed to the more modern digital lots?
Don Carson: We talked about doing sort of silent era. Then we talked about sort of musical era and then we talked about the 70s and the 60s and then we decided we were just going to sort of do our greatest hits of what we remember was wonderful about the uh the Hollywood system and a lot of that’s going away. I mean certainly with the digital content and also the idea that Hollywood is the place where is the only place where movies are made is kind of out the window. They’re being made everywhere.
UploadVR: I’ve got to ask this. Who has the best score on the course right now on the team?
Don Carson: I pretty much would guess it’s Lucas. Lucas and Henning are the are the top players. I’m sort of neck and neck with Emma as the worst players, I think. But I think that the thing is that we’re not doing it for the high score. We’re just doing it for the good conversation.
UploadVR: Do test sessions ever get competitive?
Don Carson: No, no. We’re often willing to sacrifice good shots for just to see what happens if we knock it against that wall and see if it bounces off the ceiling.
UploadVR: What was your first course with the company? You joined in I think it was 2021?
Don Carson: Yes. Yes. About four and a half years now. My first assignment was the nautilus for the first Jules Verne course was working on that. But we simultaneously work like on at seven at the same all at the same time. We’re constantly working on stuff at various stages. So I think I was doing Around The World right next to doing the drawings for the nautilus. I personally love, you know, pile it on just give me more diversity and then I love to draw, but sometimes I love to stop drawing and build stuff and sometimes I want to stop building stuff and go back to drawing. So I get to jump back and forth between those tasks.
UploadVR: Is there a course that kind of precedes your time with Mighty Coconut that you personally looked at and went, “Man, it’d have been really cool to work on that one.
Don Carson: Yeah, it was when Bogeys Bonanza came out and mutual friends it was during Covid we’re playing it and we just saw the connection between our work in the theme park industry and what Mighty Coconut was doing and so we just we had to tell them like you guys are rocking it. There’s something really special happening here. And then I was lucky enough to get hired to get to play with this team. And at the time I think there were six coconuts at the time and we blossomed from there.
UploadVR: From a guest column you wrote on Upload in early 2025, you said, “First impressions matter. Establishing shots set the tone and align with what players expect when they step into a new course.” How quickly did you land on that entryway in the water tower as like the gateway to the Hollywood course? And were there any other ideas that you kind of played around with?
Don Carson: No, that was it. That was we knew that you had to end. You had to There’s always sort of a where am I question as soon as you touch down like okay, where am I? How do I relate to this? And is it fulfilling my expectation? And so someone getting to go to a studio is going to do have any experience that actually anybody’s been to a studio, you’ve got to go through security and security is inevitably beyond a gate. And sort of that that Paramount arch although it’s been replicated in at other studios is the perfect establishing shot for “I get to go into this sort of magical place that not everybody gets to go to.”
UploadVR: You said building the course start to finish takes anywhere from 15 to 18 months. Recently, unfortunately Mighty Coconut went through a staff reduction. We, of course, wish everyone affected well in their future endeavors. One of the notes in that announcement was that there was going to be a reduction in courses from seven down to six. Is that just to give each course a little bit more breathing room because of the tightly compacted schedule?
Don Carson: Well, yes, that’s one of them. I mean, unlike a game company where you’re in crunch mode until the the game ships, ours, we ship seven times a year. So, we’re constantly crunching. So we are good about our own personal time, but when we’re working, we’re it’s nose to the grindstone all year long. I think the other thing too is that we wanted to make sure that people weren’t going crazy, but at the same time, we wanted to make sure that we had the luxury to be able to to go through what we call the icing phase, which is for all intents and purposes, everything is done except wouldn’t it be great if we could add this one extra detail or this one extra effect. And I think that sometimes those little extra bits uh get left behind if you’re completely slammed to get something done. And when when they are added often those are the things that the players notice as being the kind of magical like “I can’t believe you went so far as to add this detail because it just makes it for me.”
UploadVR: Have you ever worked on your part of a course and thought “I don’t know if this going to work.” And then when you see the finished product with the sound design and everything coming together, you’re like, oh, okay, now now it’s magical?
Don Carson: Yeah. I think every every single course is like that because I tend to work on the front end. So I’m doing the drawings and building the first versions of things. Then it’s handed to the art team and I think we mentioned is as part of the conversation um after our walkthrough that it’s always better than you expected it because it’s gone through so many hands and each of them have been sort of anointed with the permission to make it as good as they want to make it and so everybody brings their own perspective and so I’d say that the final bake where the shadows are all baked in and everything’s come together happens at the 11th hour, so even a couple of weeks before we launch, wandering through it, I’ll go this is nice, you know, this is good. I think it’s a good example of what we can do. And then we release it and it’s like, oh boy, like, oh, this is way better. And it’s all those pieces coming together. The tech art team is especially good at making sure that we cross all the Ts and dot all the Is to make sure that we’re producing the best possible finished product.
Walkabout Mini Golf Passport Hollywood Concept Art provided by Mighty Coconut
UploadVR: That’s got to be a great feeling though, because you put this thing to bed, you’re working on, like you said, six or seven other courses, then you come back to this thing you worked on months ago and you’re like, “Oh, wow.”
Don Carson: Yeah. Yeah. This really came together. Also there’s another thing and I’m sure this is true of all of us at the on the team is that you’ll go well this one little thing isn’t isn’t working for me, but do I make a fuss about it or do I trust that it will get it will get seen to sort of magically as that quote from Shakespeare In Love is that you know it’s a mystery. I don’t know how it all comes together, but you go in and sure enough someone came in and not only did they do the thing you hope would happen. They did it better than you thought it could have been done. Then when you walk around when it releases, you just go, I am just so proud of the collective choices that were made that made this as nice as it is.
UploadVR: Last one. We’ll end on a lighter note. Are there any Easter eggs or hints you want to give to the players to look out for while they’re playing through the course?
Don Carson: So whenever we work on a new course, we understand there’s going to be a specific heavy lift for that course. Like when we knew we were going to do Tiki Coco, we knew it was going to be populated with lots of animated characters. We knew that animation job was going to be a hefty job, but it was worth it because we felt that the whole the success of the level was going to be based upon how charming those characters are. And so when it came to doing the Hollywood course, we thought this will be a piece of cake because we’ll just use all the stuff we already have to populate, you know, like the prop room is all stuff from our other courses. We ended up, of course, building a whole bunch of stuff. Shane, who was part of the walkthrough, built a lot of the vehicles and a lot of the hero props. It is packed full of things from um, past courses, but there are a couple things from future courses in there, too. Things we haven’t announced yet.
UploadVR: That’s a nice little hint for the future. All right. Anything you want to say to the audience as we wrap up?
Don Carson: Well, thank you for continuing to play it. Each DLC purchase allows us to build the next DLC. So we are really really dependent upon delivering the best we possibly can, but in the end it’s people voting with their with their dollars. We’re really lucky because people love the courses, not just for the courses, but also our main intent is to create a place for people to be together in. And I think that people acknowledge that that some of the quality time they have with friends and family have been happening inside the courses we produce. And that’s just makes getting up in the morning and doing more of them all the better.
Walkabout Mini Golf is available on Steam, PSVR2, Quest, Pico, Samsung Galaxy XR, and Apple App Store. The game is also available as part of Meta’s Horizon+ subscription service. The Passport Hollywood course is available now for $4.99.
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