Clueless about virtual reality but curious about how to create an immersive experience to tell a news or feature story? Dan Archer offers a simplified guide that explains what VR is, how it works and what game and animation tools are available to journalists.    

“It’s meant more as primer than a definitive, comprehensive guide – but enough to sate those who can’t tell their Oculus from their elbow, while providing tidbits to those who already can,” Archer, a graphic journalist, writes in his post on Medium. 

Archer used the experimental storytelling technique when he was a Reynolds fellow 2014-2015. He used VR to recreate the scene where Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. The virtual interactive piece, hosted on Fusion’s website, is made up of a series of Web comics and 3-D simulations. 

The primer is divided into three sections. The introduction provides a VR overview. Part I World Building tells about how to recreate the site of the news event, buildings and character. Part II The Game Engine covers “gamifying your story.”

Archer’s guide is helpful for keeping up with storytelling techniques even if you may not have the resources in staff and time to actually experiment with VR.