Realtime Stagemaker Toolkit

This proposed project involves two components. Firstly, the development of the Realtime Stagemaker Toolkit, a Unity plug-in which will enable a more streamlined production process for creating dynamic and nuanced narrative experiences. Secondly, the first phase of an artistic VR experience, produced with the Freud Museum, called “The End is the Beginning”. Combining a simple physical set with room-scale VR, participants lie on a virtual version of Freud’s couch to explore their own personal response to the unconscious – and the idea of the couch itself. The prototype Toolkit will be developed, iterated, and tested using the first elements of creative development on this project.

The Realtime Stagemaker Toolkit is a Unity plug-in, allowing the full creative team to manipulate the assets within a scene in real time from within the virtual world. This is currently not possible; assets must be tweaked while in ‘edit’ mode. The Realtime Stagemaker Toolkit will enable members of the team to adjust the scale, pace and distance of assets from a library while a draft scene plays. This is intended to lower the bar of engagement so that all members of a creative project – from the director to the composer – can be involved in ‘blocking’ a scene in VR, removing the need for complex verbal communication between team members and the skilled developer.

While this prototyping phase will involve the creation of some assets for the VR experience, the bulk of the work will be on building a first version of the Toolkit.

About the Team

Anagram are a multi-award-winning female-led creative company, specialising in interactive storytelling and immersive experience design. Their work typically combines expertly crafted experiential storytelling that blends fiction and documentary, rigorous research, and an ingenious approach to integrating recently possible technologies into the heart of an experience.