Brothers Philip and Andrew Oliver are stalwarts in the games industry. The twins have worked in games for nearly 40 years and are best known for creating Dizzy the Egg, as well as founding Blitz Game Studios and now PANIVOX. The duo also runs the consultancy Game Dragons to help other developers bring their ideas to fruition. We caught up with Philip Oliver at Develop:Brighton to discuss their new venture RichCast.

Throughout their careers, the Oliver Twins have pioneered new technologies and techniques within games and interactive media. RichCast is the next generation of narrative audio experiences. RichCast lets players talk to the stories they’re listening to, influencing events and choosing their own path. “RichCast is a different interface and voice is a brilliant form of communication” said Oliver. “Computers today are so powerful that they can take in unprocessed natural speech.”

When Siri came out it could write text messages and find things but it didn’t really move on which frustrated the Oliver’s as nobody seemed to be taking it forward. “We wanted to create an app that targeted artists and creative writers, and was as easy-to-use as the software they're used to, like Word or Google Docs. We wanted it to be easy to create these experiences. We wanted to remove barriers to entry and provide creative’s with the intuitive tools, route to market and rewards they need to focus on what they do best – making great entertainment.”

It's not just the skill of creating interactive narratives; RichCast writers will need to learn how to predict what the player may say and guide them to using the correct voice commands. The Sherlock game uses keywords to identify what the player means. For example murder would also include keywords such as dead, corpse and death.  A scene happens and you are asked for a response. It then decides which way the story goes. “Its still early days but there is no reason why in the future we can’t walk into the cantina on Tatooine and have a conversation with the people in the bar. This can also be interesting to those working in TV as you could talk to the TV!”

Current story telling games on mobile have text where you have to touch a button to play, but this doesn’t need that. You can however have subtitles on with buttons if you are in a place such as a train and don’t want to be heard. But this limits input. The voice as a natural input opens up more choices.

There are around 200 AI voices of different styles and characters implemented into the app. “We are excited by the AI voices and as they sound pretty good and allow for tweaks to the story without the costs and time associated with VO recording.  However, when listening to AI for long periods of time our ears get tired, so how can this be managed? “Everything is in evolution, it may be that what happens is you get the first 200 players through it then you go back and tweak and tune then go back and get the VO actors in. We will build the tools so the character will have emotion in its voice as we know that gamers like to build relations with characters.” 

The content doesn’t stop at games; it could be anything from high-end productions with voice acting, to quizzes or health experiences and training courses.  This equates to rich, immersive, challenging and captivating experiences that blur the lines between literature and entertainment. “We were approached by a consultant working with the NHS to create a mental health app.  People with mental health issues usually don’t want to talk a psychiatrist as their health usually prevents them from wanting to talk in the first place. An app which is not a human but allows you to talk through how you feel and ask questions within your own environment and own space makes it easier to open up and can allow the healthcare person in the background to understand what is going on and make a diagnosis or plan care.” 

Going forward, RichCast will only enrich VR as you don’t need to use your hands so much when interacting with another character as you can just speak to them.  Oliver believes that the Games industry, especially VR, needs to embrace voice led interaction. “We firmly believe RichCast will become the ‘go to’ app for voice-driven interactive content. As we like to say: Your voice... Your choice.”

For now, Panivox is focusing on its own app for PC, Mac, Android and iOS, rather than other platforms. To learn more about RichCast and register for Early Access visit www.RichCast.com