Flood: Combining XR technologies with immersive storytelling

Project partners: Megaverse, Stare at the Wall and the University of York

Sheffield-based digital experience agency, Megaverse, have produced an immersive storytelling experience, Flood, with XR Stories funding.

Click here to view the video with audio description.

Megaverse is an internationally acclaimed creative studio who harness digital technologies to craft unique user-centric interactive experiences. The project was co-produced with Paris-based extended-reality (XR) production studio, Stare at the Wall, with R&D support from the University of York.

Flood is an innovative XR adaptation of an original production by British playwright, Rory Mullarkey. Engaging with themes of climate change, displacement and exclusionary politics, the project is influenced by Greek mythology and biblical texts.

Live actors drive the narrative through the use of motion capture technology. Made up of four distinct chapters, the audience will use VR to navigate through the treacherous world of Flood, overcoming challenges of courage, morality and tests of cooperation and faith.

The project focuses on live interaction between the audience and actors and how they communicate verbally and physically with one another through tracking technology and live audio feeds. Flood is highly participatory and the audience is able to change elements of the story during key moments, such as freeing a beached boat by moving cargo which is digitally mapped to lightweight physical props.

Megaverse have developed a working prototype experience that they plan to turn into a full, touring theatrical production.

This project was funded through the OpenXR funding call.

Categories: Arts, Technology