Vortex's Founder is a Yale University graduate and experienced game programmer from Mississippi. His attention shifted to the medium of virtual reality when, in the Computing and the Arts cohort at Yale, he took a groundbreaking course instructed by Justin Berry wherein lectures would be held inside virtual reality worlds including those created by the students. At least, this was his first spark.

While working a dishwashing job one summer, he frequently surmised that the occupation "felt like a video game". He began to imagine his kitchen sprayer represented by a virtual reality controller, and virtual dishes being grabbed, racked, rinsed, and slid into a virtual dishwashing machine through a series of physical gestures tracked by a headset's computer vision.

His next year on Yale's campus, it was time for his senior project and he already knew what he wanted to do. After months spent working in his own dedicated, VR-outfitted office space at Yale's Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM), at the 2024 Yale Senior Art Thesis Show You Are Now The Host, he exhibited & demoed an early prototype of Dish Pit Bubbleblast. This VR game immerses players in a simulated restaurant dishwashing experience where they have realistic interactions with a hose-dangled water sprayer, 3D dish racks, and an automatic dishwasher. The player must utilize these tools to reduce the amount of "substance" (ketchup, cheese, etc.) on a given plate before shelving it on a clean stack of dishware. 

Though simple, this formed a basic gameplay loop that received enthusiastic feedback from attendees who playtested the game, which was configured to run on a Meta Quest 2 headset attached to the wall of the exhibit space.

But here's the kicker. While working on Dish Pit Bubbleblast and its unique, unexplored mechanic of turning a controller into a kitchen sprayer, he came up with several other ideas for unique-to-VR mechanics that could be turned into separate games of their own.

But he knew he couldn't create it all alone. Time was slipping.

After graduating Yale, our founder understood the crucial value of business & marketing skills for developing his games further, so he enrolled in an Entrepreneurship Technology Career Certificate program at a local institution, a study entailing college courses related to business, financing, marketing, and entrepreneurs.

During this time, he began searching for venture capital & investors and reached out to Mississippi's SBDC, which utilizes federal SSBCI 2.0 funds to offer free advisors to entrepreneurs. He was connected with Mr. Flint Brent, a Tulane University Professor who helped him draft and refine a data-driven business plan and prompted him to consider a sound business model start-to-end.

Vortex Corp. is being prepared for various pitch competitions, including Venture Atlanta 2025. We've also reached out to several studios and are in discussions with Brave Zebra, a video game development company based in Spain, regarding a partnership.

We've gotten the ball rolling on professional & investment connections and plan to increase the momentum as 2025 progresses.