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David S. Goyer — the screenwriter behind big-budget franchises like The Dark Knight trilogy and Foundation — has unveiled a massive metaverse-storytelling project called Emergence that wants fans to participate in worldbuilding.
The Big Picture: Emergence isn’t the first metaverse project attempting to mix blockbuster storytelling, fan crowdsourcing, and Web3 monetization… but none have had someone of the stature of Goyer behind it. If the project takes off, it could develop a new way to build IP for Hollywood.
Behind the Scenes: Emergence — which “centers around a white hole known as the ‘White Fountain’ that ejects thousands of mysterious relics throughout the galaxy that possess incredible power” — is coming out of beta after six months in the writers’ room.
- The project, built on the Story blockchain and backed by a16z, is the first from AI storytelling platform Incention and allows every user to contribute to the world — from crafting narratives to developing characters and relics to adding to the musical score.
- When creators garner enough votes for their contributions to be officially included as canon, their creations are given a digital watermark, so they can earn money when people engage with them, purchase them, or share them across other mediums.
- There are also a number of tools to get people started, including a guide called the “World Bible” and a proprietary generative AI tool dubbed “Atlas” that’s billed as a “creative partner.”
End Credits: Atlas seems to be the truly novel element of Emergence. The tool will continuously expand the boundaries of the world. It can also generate images and videos that are autonomously shared to social media to drive engagement and reach new users, manage the community of Emergence, and “gauge online sentiment to refine its creative process,” per Incention.
Goyer, who says he falls somewhere in the middle of “AI doomsayers and AI adopters,” believes the ultimate value of Emergence will be in its eventual ability to become a massive choose-your-own adventure. That could give emerging storytellers an opportunity to find an audience… and maybe capture Hollywood’s attention.
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