Whispers in the Night: Fable Studio kündigt neuartige KI-Erfahrung an

Das Fable Studio wurde vor knapp einem Jahr von Edward Saatchi und weiteren ehemaligen Mitarbeitern des Oculus Story Studio ins Leben gerufen, mit dem Ziel VR-Storytelling mit kreativen VR-Erfahrungen auf ein neues Level zu heben. Nach ersten Veröffentlichungen präsentiert das Content-Creation-Studio nun die neue einzigartige KI-VR-Erfahrung Whispers in the Night und richtet sich damit auf einen völlig neuen Weg aus: Zukünftig möchten sich die Verantwortlichen auf die Entwicklung “virtueller Lebewesen” konzentrieren, um eine natürliche Interaktion mit den Zuschauern zu ermöglichen.

Whispers in the Night – Fable Studio kündigt neuartige KI-VR-Erfahrung an

Das Team rund um das Fable Studio konnte bereits langjährige Erfahrung im immersiven Storytelling sammeln, bevor sich die Mitarbeiter vor knapp einem Jahr mit ihrem Studio selbstständig machten. So arbeiteten sie an beeindruckenden Projekten wie Dear Angelica und Henry mit und veröffentlichten selbst den ersten Teil der VR-Fabel Wolves in the Walls mit der Protagonistin Lucy.

Diese Arbeit sollte den Grundstein für die zukünftige Ausrichtung des Studios legen, denn die Verantwortlichen sehen heute interaktive Charaktere als den Schlüssel für erfolgreiches VR-Storytelling. Deshalb hat das Team seinen Fokus abgeändert und sich auf eine völlig neue Richtung ausgerichtet: Ab sofort spezialisiert sich Fable auf die Entwicklung “virtueller Lebewesen”.

So soll Hauptcharakterin Lucy zukünftig plattformübergreifend agieren und in verschiedenen VR-Erfahrungen auftreten. Dabei soll sie mit einer KI versehen werden und natürlichen Input erhalten, um eine einzigartige Interaktion mit den Zuschauern zu ermöglichen. Jeder Betrachter soll eine andere Erfahrung mit ihr haben und die Möglichkeit erhalten, Teil von ihrem Gedächtnis zu werden. Dies soll sich wiederum auf zukünftige Erlebnisse auswirken.

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Dadurch soll die Kunstform des immersiven Storytellings völlig neu erfunden werden und wirklich einzigartige, individuelle Geschichten entstehen. Erstmals soll die neue Ausrichtung in der kommenden KI-VR-Erfahrung Whispers in the Night zum Einsatz treten, in der Lucy die erste Lernerfahrung mit Zuschauern erhält. So soll sich die interaktive Geschichte rund um das Thema “Gedächtnis” drehen und die Zuschauer in die Lage versetzen, mit ihr in den Dialog zu treten, wie Jessica Shamash, Leitern des Projekts, beschreibt:

In Whispers in the Night geht es um das Thema Erinnerung. Während der gesamten Zeit sollen die Zuschauer feststellen, dass Lucy ein Gedächtnis besitzt und sich an etwas zurückerinnern können, was die Zuschauer am Anfang gesagt haben. Außerdem sollen diese Erinnerungen in Wolves in the Walls eingewebt werden.”

Entsprechend soll die Geschichte von Lucy über viele verschiedene VR-Erfahrungen erzählt werden, während sich das virtuelle Mädchen an frühere Treffen erinnert. Der Charakter erhält also seine ganz eigene Persönlichkeit. Ein interessanter Ansatz, welcher für einmalig immersive Erlebnisse sorgen könnte und immenses Potenzial besitzt.

Um das Thema weiter in den Vordergrund zu heben, veranstaltet Fable seine eigene Virtual Beings Conference im Sommer 2019 in San Francisco, um mit anderen Storytelling-Experten und KI-Entwicklern neue Ansätze und Inspirationen zu gestalten. Der zweite Teil von Wolves in the Walls wird derzeit auf dem Sundance Film Festival 2019 vorgeführt.

(Quellen: Road to VR | Fable Studio | Videos: Fable Studio YouTube | Fable Vimeo)

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Whispers in the Night Will Introduce Fable’s Virtual Being Lucy to the World

While you may not have heard of Edward Saatchi before, if you own an Oculus headset then it’s more than likely you’ve come across his previous projects which include Henry and Dear Angelica, as a founder of Oculus Story Studio. When the studio closed Saatchi went on to open Fable Studio as a new avenue for his storytelling. Today, the company has announced a rebranding of sorts, simply called Fable, it is now a virtual beings company ready to reveal its first experience, Whispers in the Night.

Whispers in the Night

Whispers in the Night is merely a platform for Fable’s AI-powered character Lucy, with whom you can build a two-way relationship. Lucy first appeared in Wolves in the Walls, but this time you’ll actually get to have a conversation with her.

Fable sees the creation of virtual beings like Lucy as the next step on from normal virtual reality (VR) content, being able to converse with the audience through natural language processing. This isn’t just about a one to one conversation, Lucy will be able to track your movement, offer and receive objects, and probably most important of all remember who you are and what actions you’ve taken, changing her response accordingly.

As the synopsis explains: “Whispers in the Night transports you into a memory where you and 8-year old Lucy share an emotionally connected moment through a conversation. It is part of a collection of interwoven chapters. Audiences will discover and grow alongside Lucy as she shares her deepest thoughts and imaginations, completely unique to their personal exchange.”

“A fable entertains while teaching about morals and life lessons. They can be deeply philosophical and deliver lessons about love, friendships and being a good person. We are taking the same approach with our characters that a fable takes with it’s stories. We’re excited to set this precedent with Lucy in Whispers in the Night,” comments Jessica Shamash, Whispers in the Night, Creative Director.

Whispers in the Night

“We are living the “Experience” generation, which supplanted the “Things” generation. Whispers in the Night is our first experiment that will drive towards the “Unique” generation. We see a future where media is aware of who we are, and adapts to create something that is uniquely ours,” says Pete Billington, co-founder, Fable.

Today’s announcement isn’t solely about Whispers in the Night and Lucy. Fable has also revealed a new event taking place this summer, the Virtual Beings Conference, bringing together 200 entrepreneurs, investors, immersive storytellers and machine learning engineers. This will be where Whispers in the Night will make its first official debut.

For those at Sundance Film Festival this week, Fable will be hosting a VIP premiere of a new never seen before Lucy scene on Oculus Rift. As further information regarding Whispers in the Night is released, VRFocus will keep you updated.

Whispers In The Night Is A Groundbreaking AI Experience From Fable

Whispers In The Night Is A Groundbreaking AI Experience From Fable

Fable is a content creation studio founded by Edward Saatchi and other alumni from Oculus Story Studio. After working on projects like Henry and Dear Angelica, then moving on to Fable and working on Wolves in the Walls, Saatchi was satisfied with the revelation that VR is already being taken seriously as an art form through various awards and other recognition.

Now, it’s time for the “next great art form”: artificial intelligence. Fable’s debut effort on that front will be an “AI Experience” according to Saatchi dubbed Whispers in the Night.

Coinciding with this announcement Fable is also pivoting the entire company to focus on storytelling with virtual beings. According to Fable, a virtual being is defined as, “an AI-powered character with whom you can build a two-way relationship” or in other words an extremely smart and powerful AI that’s personified in a digital space that you can interact with. To showcase this new form of storytelling, Whispers in the Night Saatchi described to me as “living” inside of a VR experience in which you have a conversation with a small girl named Lucy and share secrets with her.

One of the most striking things about Wolves in the Walls, Fable’s last project, that stood out to me the most was just how emotive the little girl’s eyes were when she spoke with me. She was reactive to me and what I did in ways that few VR NPCs have been and now they seem to have taken that feeling and ran with it. Anyone that has tried a VR experience in which the characters seem aware of you and respond to your interactions can attest to just how amazing it feels. It’s unlike anything you’ll have experienced before.

Specifically, according to a press release from Fable:

“Whispers in the Night transports you into a memory where you and 8-year old Lucy share an emotionally connected moment through a conversation. It is part of a collection of interwoven chapters. Audiences will discover and grow alongside Lucy as she shares her deepest thoughts and imaginations, completely unique to their personal exchange. What will you say? What will Lucy remember? When does a moment become a memory?”

The most intriguing part about Whispers in the Night to me is the notion that Lucy will actually remember things you tell her for future encounters. Using Natural Language Processing she will be able to understand you and respond realistically, as well as track your movement and offer you objects inside the digital world. Then what you do and say in Whispers in the Night will actually carry over into Wolves in the Walls since she is the same little girl. If that actually works as described, that’s pretty amazing.

The first chapter of Wolves in the Walls is what we saw last year and now the second chapter is finally releasing this week at Sundance as well. This new snippet contains an entire Quill animation inside. And finally, Fable is announcing the first ever conference dedicated entirely to immersive AI interactions called The Virtual Beings Conference. It will be held this summer in San Francisco, CA — exact dates and location to be determined.

Fable cites other AI experiences and companies as inspiration and peers such as Mica from Magic Leap, Artie, and Lil Miquela among others.

Whispers in the Night is being officially announced today by Fable to coincide with Sundance but it won’t be available for people to try first-hand until the debut Virtual Beings Conference in San Francisco later this summer. For more details on the Virtual Beings Conference, you can check out the official website here.

Let us know what you think down in the comments below!

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