FAIRYSCAPES is the first immersive game of an ongoing VR franchise, inviting players to generate their own contemporary fairytales, by choosing the landscape, weather, protagonists, antagonists of the fictional world. Towards the end, a custom fairytale is unleashed. If classic fairytales are driven by fairies and monsters, the current immersive world has a contemporary twist. Antagonists are seen sometimes as non-human creatures (such as an unfolding pandemic or a worrying amount of deforestation), while protagonists are mostly consisting of human moral values, rather than physical ones (endurance or patience). How would ancient bohemian stories be modified now, in cities confronted with pollution, extreme poverty or unbearable traffic jams? The goal of the project is to create awareness on one hand on healing our contemporary worlds and on the other hand debating multiple perspectives in connection to iconic stories. The project was initiated by Ioana Mischie, transmedia artist/futurist.
The project is highly innovative, proposing new frameworks for VR storytelling where players and artists are co-creating playful fictional worlds. In subsidiary, there is an awareness-driven note to make us conscious about the dangers that we can overcome together. At the moment, the game is single-player, aiming to release a multi-layer version by the end of 2022. A public version of the immersive experience will be accessible in the spring of 2022.
“Modular immersive storytelling, or better said storyscaping, is perhaps the most intriguing tool offered by VR nowadays. Our goal is to create a new narrative structure that blends fiction and real-ness in a meaningful manners. Customizing the real world into greener, more equitable spaces could be at least just as fun as customizing playful virtual worlds. For example, if a player wants to have a bohemian forest in a chosen fairytale, a first step would be to plant a tree in the real world in order to unlock the visuals and their interactive layers.” mentioned Ioana Mischie, writer/director of the VR game.
As in the previously released VR projects, Tangible Utopias or DreamNA, Fairyscapes promises to enchant players with state of the art visual grammars and to push further boundaries of audio-visual storytelling.
The VR experience is produced by Storyscapes, known for its transmedia projects, in collaboration with Noe-Fi Studios and Studioset. The art direction and 3D artistry is signed by Sebastian Comănescu, while the interactive design is signed by Emil Drăgan. The sound design was created by Ina Bozdog, while the music is signed by Andrei Nechifor. FAIRYSCAPES is a project co-financed by AFCN, the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
Ioana Mischie is a Romanian-born transmedia artist and futurist. Fulbright Grantee Alumna of USC School of Cinematic Arts, advanced the transmedia storytelling field as part of her doctoral study thesis completed with Summa Cum Laude. Her cinematic projects as writer/director have traveled to more than 200 festivals worldwide and were developed in top-notch international programs (Berlinale Talents, Sundance Workshop, Cannes Intl Screenwriters Pavilion, Locarno Academy Meetings, MIDPOINT), receiving awards from The Webby Awards, Golden Drum, South by Southwest Hackathon, The Steamer Salon. Co-founder and Head of Storyscapes, Noe-fi Studios and Omniversity. Envisioning the world as a neo-creative playground, she deeply believes that storytellers are "the architects of the future" (Buckminster Fuller).
