Cassandra Rosenthal is the co-founder and co-CEO of Kaleidoco, an entertainment technology company dedicated to web3 experiences.
The gaming industry is on the verge of a monumental transformation as emerging technology advances. Web3 presents exciting opportunities for enhanced gaming experiences, interactivity, and creativity. Over the next 12-24 months, the gaming landscape is set to undergo a remarkable evolution, revolutionising the way we play and engage with games.
The dynamic developments in gaming UX, the emergence of captivating ‘Storyliving’ experiences, and the rise of Mixed Reality (MR) in the metaverse are among the key themes that pave the way for innovation and transformation in the gaming landscape.
AI and the dawn of creativity
Artificial Intelligence has gained significant traction across various sectors, and its impact on game development is no exception. While AI models cannot replace human experience and creativity, they can enhance efficiency and streamline various aspects of entertainment development.
AI algorithms can generate procedural content, such as landscapes, characters, and quests, allowing developers to focus on higher-level design elements. Additionally, AI-powered tools assist in bug detection, playtesting, and level design, resulting in more innovative gaming experiences. Machine Learning algorithms analyse player behaviour and preferences, paving the way for individually tailored games. Assisted by AI, new levels of creativity and innovation can be achieved faster, accelerating progress.
Enhancing gaming UX with AI
Beyond game development, AI’s evolution enables new gameplay mechanics, personalised experiences, and innovative gaming concepts. AI has the potential to revolutionise gaming user experience (UX), elevating player engagement to new heights.
The Particle Ink Metaverse, built by Kaleidoco, utilises our proprietary Augmented Unification (AU) technology which seamlessly blends Augmented Reality (AR) with AI. AU enables the digital world to contextualise objects and the physical environment, including the properties, attributes and spatial dimensions.
This provides a natural interaction with players explicitly based on their personalised, real-world surroundings. Real-time generative AI dynamically creates game storylines and personalise characters based on player interactions, immersing them in a seamless blend of virtual and real experiences.
For the wider gaming industry, a new level of personalisation is achievable in other ways. AI algorithms can dynamically adapt gameplay difficulty based on player performance, ensuring a personalised and challenging experience. Natural Language Processing enables advanced chatbots and voice recognition systems, creating more interactive dialogue options.
AI-powered character behaviour enhances player interactions with non-player characters (NPCs), making them more realistic and lifelike. Additionally, AI-driven recommendation systems offer personalised content suggestions, such as game recommendations and in-game purchases. By leveraging AI, game developers can create captivating and responsive gaming experiences, ultimately increasing player satisfaction and retention.
Storyliving: Shaping the future of gaming experiences
Storytelling has always been integral to gaming, but the integration of web3 and Mixed Reality takes it a step further. Kaleidoco introduces our concept of “Storyliving” through the Particle Ink experience. Particle Ink is an immersive, communal journey; as our participants explore and interact, art comes alive with narrative threads, giving a sense of limitless storytelling and discovery.
By blending AR, AI and web3, Storyliving places the participants at the center of the story. They are empowered to craft aspects of the narrative and character DNA that will move seamlessly with them throughout different environments and multiple platforms while maintaining their identity. Our gaming application allows users to quest, drive the story based on their real world surroundings, interact with characters in real-time and gain rewards. At our live portals, Multi-Viewer AR activations enable players to simultaneously engage with large-scale digital worlds and characters, perfectly interwoven with performance in their physical surroundings.
Players can also express themselves through digital ownership. Blockchain-based gaming is introducing new possibilities for digital asset ownership. It enables secure and transparent buying, selling, and trading of in-game items and the opportunity to mint their own NFTs and monetise their experience. Storyliving transcends traditional linear narratives.
The combination of Mixed Reality, web3, and AI bring the gaming experience to life in new ways, accompanying players across multiple platforms in their daily lives. These tools empower game developers to create profoundly engaging and emotionally impactful experiences, placing players at the heart of the game’s universe and blurring the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds. This convergence of technologies brings Storyliving to life, where players actively shape their adventures.
Mixed Reality and the metaverse
The concept of the metaverse and Mixed Reality experiences, such as Particle Ink, will be integral to its realisation. Mixed Reality combines the virtual and physical worlds, offering immersive and interactive gaming experiences. Whether exploring digital overlays in the real world through AR or delving into fully immersive VR gaming experiences, Mixed Reality enhances player immersion and interaction.
However, it’s important to note that MR is not the sole key to the metaverse. The blend of interoperability within the new web3 layer, digital asset ownership, and MR serve as stepping stones to unlock the full potential of the metaverse. By embracing these technologies collectively, the gaming industry is poised to shape a groundbreaking era of interconnected experiences, digital economies, and unprecedented creative possibilities.
Web3: Gaming as a catalyst for change
Converting web2 gamers to a web3 economy is a significant challenge for the industry, but the gaming sector is at the forefront of embracing this transition. Hybrid gaming experiences, such as Particle Ink, place web3 activities into an already familiar context and demonstrate the benefits of this new wave of standards for addressing and routing data on the internet. Blockchain and decentralised systems promise increased user ownership, transparency, and interoperability.
Blockchain technology allows games to be developed outside the control of centralised authorities, granting players more control over their gaming experiences and developers more autonomy. By utilising blockchain technology, players can truly own and trade in-game assets, ensuring their value persists beyond individual games. NFTs facilitate the creation of unique and scarce virtual items that can be bought, sold, and traded on blockchain-based marketplaces. Web3 technology fosters a more equitable and inclusive gaming ecosystem, empowering players and paving the way for a more immersive and user-centric future.
The future of gaming holds incredible potential. With the exponential growth of AR adoption, set to be worth over $500 billion by 2030, AI, Mixed Reality, and web3 are set to shape a groundbreaking era of gaming by harnessing AI’s creative capabilities, unlocking new possibilities through MR, and exploring the limitless possibilities of web3 integration, the gaming industry is poised to redefine entertainment.
Players can anticipate unprecedented creativity, engagement, and value proposition levels in future gaming experiences. As technology continues to evolve, gaming will lead by example, showcasing a more interactive, personalised, and connected future. Kaleidoco is excited to be at the forefront of this evolution.
Cassandra Rosenthal is the co-founder and co-CEO of Kaleidoco, which merges the metaverse into the physical world, utilising innovative technologies to build community-based experiences. She is also the founder of Blackacre Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based company focusing on strategic content development. Cassandra has collaborated with industry leaders such as JJ Abrams, Paramount Studios, and Amblin Entertainment. Her inventions include the “augmented displays for multi-surface and three-dimensional live performances” patent, which forms the core tech behind inter-dimensional flashlights.