This research began by exploring the influence of the traditional ritual, Guān Luò Yı̄n, on contemporary virtual reality storytelling. Subsequently, we developed a new narrative experience system that harnesses the potential of new media.
In this presentation, we will introduce our system design, where performers serve as mediators between artificial intelligence and the audience. This interaction facilitates the creation of personalized narratives and adaptive soundscapes within a virtual reality environment. This triangular co-creation framework transcends the limitations of pre-written scripts, allowing for deeper explorations of inner realms and providing a more personalized storytelling experience.
In our current development, we use frame-by-frame AI-generated images as visual content. This creates a unique sense of time, simulating participants’ internal visual experiences as they explore the subconscious. Performers guide the audience to share their own stories, using the audience’s verbal descriptions as prompts to generate real-time animations that facilitate the exploration of their subconscious.
This project has been publicly presented in Taiwan and France, with over a dozen showings. It has enabled participants from diverse cultural backgrounds to have transcendent experiences. Additionally, it offers new insights into audience interaction and the emotional impact of immersive technologies. Compared to previous mainstream VR projects, this new form more effectively guides real-time personalized storytelling, providing audiences with unique and unreplaceable spiritual experiences.
Our future studies will optimize the real-time conversational narrative system and gather extensive feedback to improve and validate its applicability and effectiveness across diverse artistic and cultural contexts.