Agence is a new immersive experience coming to VR, mobile and desktop platforms that uses AI to create an interactive and dynamic story about little characters that inhabit a floating planet.
The project is being co-produced by Transitional Forms and the National Film Board of Canada, and is neither a movie nor a game — it’s somewhere in between. We just debuted some new gameplay from Agence in our UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition, along with some new info from Transforms developer Pietro Gagliano. You can watch the full segment below.
Speaking about the experience, Gagliano said that it’s “a new form of immersive storytelling that uses artificial intelligence and user agency to drive a real-time narrative.”
It features little creatures living on a floating planet, with whom you’ll be able to interact. Each character has a mind of its own, developed with AI learning systems, so the story will be a dynamic experience shaped by your actions and the brains of each character.
“What’s super cool about it is that we’re developing brains for these characters using reinforcement, learning artificial intelligence, allowing them to think and act for themselves within our dynamic story world,” said Gagliano. “Even though it’s early days in our training efforts, we’re already seeing brains developing that lead to interesting behaviors and different kind of story patterns. We often joke that Agence is becoming an experience that literally has a mind of its own.”
The experience won’t be exclusive to VR headsets — it’s also coming to mobile and PC platforms as well. We don’t have an exact release date at the moment, except that the experience will be launching “soon.” Keep your eyes peeled for more to come.
