Peaky Blinders – Page 2 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 7, 2019

Maze Theory to Train Writers in VR, Offering Peaky Blinders VR Work Opportunity

London, UK-based virtual reality (VR) studio Maze Theory has a couple of big-name projects in the works including Doctor Who: Edge of Time and Peaky Blinders VR. The latter is still in its early stages and so the team has announced a partnership with StoryFutures Academy, the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling jointly run by the National Film and Television School (NFTS) and Royal Holloway, University of London, to train writers in the art of writing for VR, with one being selected to help pen the upcoming Peaky Blinders VR experience.

Five participants have been chosen to take part in a two-day writers’ room this past week: Jenna Jovi; Melissa Iqbal; Berri George; Robin Taylor and Catherine Skinner; who all have at least two screen credits or a commissioned script to their name.

Adam Ganz, StoryFutures Academy’s Head of Writers Room led the endeavour, supported by Maze Theory and immersive theatre company, Punchdrunk. Participants learnt the principles of writing for VR as well as seeing Maze Theory’s proprietary AI technology that will make Peaky Blinders VR a unique experience, allowing the characters to respond to player gestures, movement, voice, sound and body language.

“We are delighted to be working with Maze Theory to help established writers discover the art of writing for VR,” said Ganz in a statement. “Maze Theory are an incredibly innovative company who are really pushing the boundaries of what is possible in immersive and it’s fantastic that they are offering one of our writers’ room participants the opportunity to work on their new Peaky Blinders VR experience. These kinds of collaborations that bring together established film and television industry professionals with VR specialists are vital for the growth of the immersive sector. We need to tell stories together.”

Peaky Blinders

One of the participants will then be able to take the writers room a stage further and given the opportunity to work on the Peaky Blinders VR experience for up to 10 weeks over the coming months.

Peaky Blinders VR is scheduled for release in 2020. When further details are released VRFocus will let you know.

April 26, 2019

UK Studios Are Working On AI To Make VR Characters More Believable

A consortium of UK-based VR developers are coming together to solve one of VR’s most important sticking points: believable virtual characters.

VR brings virtual worlds to life. We can explore alien planets and become superheroes. But creating authentic, realistic virtual characters is another matter. Top studios can create models near indistinguishable from real life and even fuel them with thousands of lines of dialogue. But we’re far from bridging the gap between scripted characters and dynamic beings that react to our every action. UK studios Maze Theory is looking to bring us much closer.

Maze Theory was one of a group of studios to be inducted into the UK government’s Audience of the Future programme, which is sharing out £4 million to a range of immersive teams across the country. As we reported earlier this week, the company is working on a Peaky Blinders VR game that will be the first to leverage this technology.

The team wants to create an experience where characters don’t just react to pre-determined dialogue options but your every gesture and movement as well as voices and sounds. To that end, it’s also enlisted the help of Arca’s Path developer Dream Reality Interactive and Goldsmiths College.

“Our ambition for the system is to allow the VR actor to respond directly to the player, but to also be aware of the micro interactions taking place between them, for example gestures, movements, body language etc,” Russ Harding, Executive Producer at Maze Theory tells me over email.

“We’re fascinated and hugely excited to see how these micro interactions may change the VR actor performance. So, we’re looking towards the subtleties of the player’s position, how they may face an actor, their proximity and mimicking of behaviours.”

Technically, you could spend a long time in a performance studio to capture a long list of reactions to different types of player actions. Harding says the team wants to “go beyond” that route, though. “Our ambition is far greater than just switching between lines of dialogue, it’s to explore the performance of the character and empower players to be able to persuade and influence the characters’ beliefs and intent,” he says.

“For example, players might need to bring an object of desire or more subtly show empathy to encourage an actor to carry out an action.”

Harding won’t give away specifics as to how you might actually do that, adding that the group is still in the prototyping stage. The company does plan to make its work available to other developers and universities, though.

For now, Harding says the Peaky Blinders universe gives Maze Theory the chance to explore a wide range of possibilities. The game’s due to release next year but, hopefully, we’ll have some idea of how its AI works in the nearer future. If Maze Theory and co crack the code, this could be an important new step for the entire VR industry.

Tagged with: AI, Dream Reality Interactive, Maze Theory, Peaky Blinders

The post UK Studios Are Working On AI To Make VR Characters More Believable appeared first on UploadVR.

April 26, 2019

Maze Theory is Working on a Peaky Blinders VR Experience Arriving in 2020

British indie virtual reality (VR) studio Maze Theory emerged last year, announcing its first project, an original IP called The Vanishing Act. Today, the studio has revealed a second project, this one based on the successful TV series Peaky Blinders, which is scheduled for release in 2020.

It’s a two-fold announcement today, as Maze Theory has been awarded funding from the UK Government’s Audience of the Future Programme to develop the Peaky Blinders VR experience using cutting-edge AI technology. This will allow the characters to respond to player gestures, movement, voice, sound and body language, ensuring each person should receive an individual experience.

“Success stories like Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit and BAFTA-winning Peaky Blinders are part of the reason why our creative industries are truly world-leading – attracting audiences both here in the UK and internationally and helping create a sector already worth some £100 billion to our economy,” says Government Business Secretary, Greg Clark in a statement. “This backing will also give our home-grown talent the opportunity to lead the way in creating and using virtual and augmented reality technologies, remain at the cutting edge and create thousands of highly-skilled jobs.”

The BAFTA award-winning drama was created and written by Steven Knight, owned and produced by Caryn Mandabach Productions in collaboration Tiger Aspect Production for the BBC. Distributed by Endemol Shine International across more than 180 countries, Peaky Blinders has a worldwide fan base. When the VR experience arrives they’ll come face-to-face with new and well-known characters, infiltrating the underground criminal world to undertake a covert and unorthodox mission to defeat a rival gang.

“This is Maze Theory’s first AI enhanced immersive drama and we are incredibly excited about the unrivalled and entirely new experience this gives players,” says Russell Harding, Executive Producer at Maze Theory. “They will literally be part of Peaky Blinders’ world and be able to interact with characters in ways no one can predict. Fans of the cult show have been calling out for this type of experience and we’re honoured to be giving it to them. This is future of entertainment!”

As production continues and more details are revealed, VRFocus will keep you updated.