Ever thought about visiting a parallel universe or wished you could see sounds? Pretty soon you’ll be able to do just that and more, as these are just two new games currently being developed as part of a program focused on immersive digital technologies.
In The Guest: Ethereal Guardian, a player with magical powers visits a parallel universe, where a multisensory fantasy adventure unfolds in which they have to guard Alush and Dara and aid them in their menacing quest. Mutaz Basharahil envisions the game as a multi-episodic virtual reality short series that uses hand recognition to interact with the environment and cast spells. Sensing Beyond the Frame, meanwhile, takes a different approach as Jumanah Saklou and her team present a VR experience that immerses the user in a living perception of synesthesia, allowing them to visualize sounds. Users get to travel through Kandinsky’s theories to experience art beyond the frame with a full synesthetic experience of the painting Impression 3.
The titles form part of the Creative Solutions program, aimed at boosting Saudi Arabia’s creative economy by empowering digital content creation in immersive technologies. The program, spearheaded by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), focuses on building an ecosystem of innovators working on haptics and VR, AR and MR, as well as immersive audio. It features inventor and tech consultant Simon Benson as its chief mentor, and he brings his experience leading multi-million-dollar AAA game projects, pioneering stereoscopic 3D console gaming and founding the PlayStation VR project, in addition to being a former director of immersive technology at Sony.
Creative Solutions’ international panel of judges is led by Bafta- and Emmy-winning immersive storyteller Kim-Leigh Pontin, whose credits include Marvel’s Eternals AR adventure, and includes Anne McKinnon, Cofounder and CEO of metaverse platform Ristband.
Launched in 2021, the program’s inaugural participants pitched their prototypes to UK investors at London’s County Hall in March 2022, where they explored how the UK’s established tech industry can be harnessed to support the IT sector development in emerging markets.
“Our mission goes beyond supporting talents to develop their own prototypes,” said Miznah AlZamil, Head of Creativity & Innovation at Ithra. “Through our showcase events and participation in events and festivals, the participants benefited from connecting with industry leaders and building collaborations around their projects.
“The gaming industry is one the fastest-growing industries globally,” she continued. “The kingdom’s consumers are the highest spenders on games, with revenues exceeding $1 billion in 2020 – an increase of 41 percent from 2017. In contrary, local games represent less than 1 percent of downloaded games. This is a key indicator that through the Creative Solutions initiative we can flip the coin from being number 1 consumers to become leading producers in the industry.”
AlZamil said the Saudi government shares this goal. “The crown prince has announced plans to develop the country’s gaming and esports industry, aiming to boost GDP by $13.3 billion (SAR50 billion) by 2030.”
Fitting then that local producers are stepping up and eager to not only develop gaming projects but also to have it distributed beyond the kingdom’s borders. Ithra’s Creative Solutions program is designed to boost Saudi’s creative economy by empowering digital content creation in immersive technologies. It focuses on building an ecosystem of innovators working on artificial intelligence, haptics and virtual, augmented and mixed reality, as well as immersive audio.
Fatima Nammi is working on Trace, in which users join Mira on an adventure and travel through paintings curated from history to solve riddles. It is based on an interactive, collaborative and narrative multi-user platform using VR and immersive audio. For avid travelers, Virtually There: A Saudi Tourist Experience offers an immersive experience into one of Saudi’s natural wonders – AlUla, while Hejaz Railway: A Witness of Time offers a narrative recreation of a monumental train journey from the 1900s, where players take Mazin on a journey to a new life and unravel his personal story through letters and recollections. Atheer Alharbi and her team plan to expand the game to feature multiple characters, which would enable players to see the train from different perspectives.
While medical professionals wouldn’t recommend playing with your health, Abdullah Alosaimi believes gaming could hold the key to addressing nursing shortages. His multiplayer VR game Syringe and Pandemic is designed to motivate the next generation of healthcare workers, with players immersed in different emergency settings from ambulances to operating theaters where they perform life-saving tasks.
“Ithra’s Creative Solutions program is unique because of the intersection between the gaming and cultural industries,” AlZamil explained. “There are a lot of initiatives, funds and accelerators that focus on the production side but this program fucuses on the creative thinking process, taking participants on a journey from ideation to prototype.”
Creative Solutions Season 3 commenced recently, and 15 projects qualifying for the masterclasses stage where participants will embark on a learning experience to help them develop their ideas into prototypes.
