Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab sets its sights on their first VR/AR animated sitcom using virtual cinema technology.
With a second screen AR experience, a multiplayer SlimeZone VR game, and a live Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles VR Interview Experience at Comic Con, Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab has been working overtime to develop VR & AR experiences centered around the networks most beloved shows.
Now the popular children’s entertainment brand is utilizing cutting-edge virtual cinema technology, including real-time full body and facial performance capture, to bring an entirely new animated sitcom not only to television, but VR & AR as well. Currently in development under the working title Meet the Voxels, the animated TV sitcom was created using the Unreal Engine game engine and will include companion virtual reality and augmented reality episodes.
The series will follow the behind-the-scene antics of a colorful video game family, known as the Voxels, as they go about their business performing the duties of their respective games.
The family (all names currently in development) consists of Hunter, a 13-year-old star of a laser-tag game, Maude, a 16-year-old girl fighting to pop as many digital bubbles as she possibly can, younger brother Cody, who has yet to find his video game destiny; Mom, a famous street fighter in her respective game world; and, finally Dad, a ’90s-era classic console game character who exited the gaming scene years ago.
“Our vision is to take the real-time technology we’ve been exploring in the Lab and marry it with a creative concept that connects with kids and their passion for video games,” said Chris Young, Senior Vice President of Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab and Meet the Voxels series creator. “We designed this next-gen animation workflow and filled it with characters who can exist naturally across multiple platforms from day one.”
“Chris is helping lead Nickelodeon animation toward a transformation into a wholly new content creation studio,” spoke Chris Viscardi, Senior Vice President, Animation. “Meet the Voxels marks a significant development in turning that content dream into a production reality.”
The ambitious series is being written by Jana Petrosini and Sean Gill of Henry Danger, Kid Danger, Game Shakers fame.
No word yet on an air date for the multi-platform project, but we’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date with any new information as it becomes available.
Image Credit: VRScout / Nickelodeon
