Wolves in the Walls arrives on standalone VR headsets alongside a new social media experience.
When Fable Studios premiered the first chapter of their Wolves in the Walls VR experience at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, they introduced the world to Lucy, an AI-powered virtual being who could remember things you told her, ask questions, and even acknowledge your presence when you entered her virtual world. This enables users to form a genuine emotional connection with Lucy, almost as if you’re speaking to a conscious being.
Fable has since released the final two chapters of Wolves in the Walls and their hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Last year the studio won a prime-time Emmy for ‘Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media,’ which marked the first time an Emmy has been awarded to a project that involved a virtual being.
Now all three chapters of Wolves in the Walls are available for the Oculus Quest VR headset and the Quest 2, allowing even more users the chance to experience this groundbreaking interactive narrative.
Based on the work by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, Wolves in the Walls is the story of Lucy, a brave 8-year old girl who begins hearing unexplained growls coming from every part of her home. Lucy tells the adults in her household of the mysterious howling, but no one believes her. She’s positive that they are wolves, but she needs proof, which is exactly where you come in.
To bring Gaiman’s and McKean’s world to life, Jessica Yaffa Shamash, Edward Saatchi, and filmmaker Pete Billington (the team behind Fable Studios), used Quill, a powerful VR illustration and animation tool to build a beautiful virtual world with limitless interactions.
Saatchi took a moment to talk about bringing Wolves in the Walls to the Oculus Quest and Quest 2, telling VRScout, “This is the full experience, we didn’t have to make any compromises to bring Lucy to the Quest,” adding, “It’s hi resolution and Lucy has never looked better.”
Fable will release all three chapters at once so you can experience the story as a whole, which will take about 45 minutes to complete.
Wolves in the Walls is available now in the Oculus App store for $8.99; but Lucy’s story doesn’t end there. Along with the Quest launch, Fable Studio is has also announced Talk to Lucy, a unique social media experience that allows you to follow and chat with Lucy on Instagram. You can also send direct messages, call, text, and even video chat. And because she’s an AI-powered virtual being, she’ll remember who you are and the things you talked about in the past.
Fable Studios will be releasing a limited number of tickets at first, so you’ll want to sign up now to secure your video call with Lucy. To give you an idea of what it’s like to talk with a virtual being, you can watch a conversation between Lucy and a real human here.
“This is just the beginning for Lucy the virtual being,” said Saatchi. We didn’t want to limit the ways you can hangout with her. Instead of building something like a Fable Studio Lucy App, Saatchi said he wants Lucy to be someone who could show up in VRChat to hangout, or jump into Facebook Horizon’s as a fellow friend, be on Twitch, or maybe attend an event in AltSpaceVR. He doesn’t want her to have limitations or be part of a traditional app model.
Saatchi also says that Lucy will remember who you are no matter what platform you’re connecting from. So, for example, she could theoretically remember something you talked about in VRChat and bring it up again in Facebook Horizon. But isn’t that how a real friendship works? It’s just a long journey full of awesome memories.
Wolves in the Walls is available now on Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 for $8.99.
Image Credit: Fable Studios