With the program CIIIC: Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition, we aim to increase the capacity to realize immersive experiences, and empower the industry and its creators to capitalize on opportunities. But what are we really talking about? In this series, we dive into inspiring case studies.
A dome on a frozen planet. 12 passengers. A pulsing sound, an invitation to explore movement as the ice seems to begin to melt. That's how the Saga of Sage begins. The Saga of Sage is one of the first music projects in the metaverse to allow a global audience to participate in a metaverse concert, both with and without VR glasses. How does such a concert work for a larger audience? And what was it like to create such a project together with all kinds of parties?
The Saga of Sage is produced by M31 Foundation and WeMakeVR. During the concert series, you will follow the character Sage. Sage travels from planet to planet, where new encounters occur each time. The recurring theme is being at home; not just in a place, but with yourself. Sage's exploration of what it means to belong somewhere takes the audience through a virtual and tactile experience.
The experience comes alive thanks to various contributors and special collaborations, such as for the first edition during Amsterdam Dance Event, where Berlin band Brandt Brauer Frick composed the music. Robin Coops is the project director of the Saga of Sage from M31 Foundation. He explains, "It is special to explore ways of collaboration with such a new medium. Co-creation is a big focus for us: we want to involve new composers and artists in every new concert, and therefore every new planet. This is sometimes a quest, because many parties have not worked with these techniques before."
A world hop; we explore different worlds together with a headset in the metaverse
Avinash Changa is the project director from WeMakeVR, he says accessibility remains a recurring theme when using these techniques. "When you work as an immersive creator, you have to deal with technical barriers that are intimidating for many people. This is challenging. You see a lot of questioning from people when explaining the technology. We tackle this at the beginning of a collaboration with a "world hop. Together with a headset we explore different worlds in the metaverse. Just experiencing for a moment what this entails is a nice solution - and crucial for understanding."
Reaching a wider audience with the Saga of Sage is a wish of the developers: "Many VR experiences are currently 1-on-1 experiences. This is beautiful and intimate, but is it sustainable? It often costs a lot of money and time to set up an experience for one person. Which also makes it available to too small a group: VR for the people who know VR. What we want to achieve is that you only need a headset and not a computer. This has real consequences for certain things, such as graphics, but that's not our priority either. In the end, our goal is to create an experience. So we can bring the project to stages and present it in front of a physical audience. We also make it accessible to the community of VRChat. So we are working on allowing the audience to interact remotely as well. That can be done in many ways." Thus Robin. This interaction, and the sense of influence and agency is very important, according to the developers. Tactile elements are also a big part of the experience. The traditional roles of director and visitor are reversed, with the goal of engaging and connecting people.
This is also the developers' dream: "It is an ongoing process. Not everything will be perfect right away, but questioning this medium together is a wonderful opportunity. It's an honor to share and pioneer together in this special field."
The premiere of the Saga of Sage was on Oct. 18 at the Melkweg, in collaboration with the Melkweg and Amsterdam Dance Association.
More about the co-creation in this project Avinash Changa (WeMakeVR) explains in this video. The trailer of the overall Saga can be found here.
