VR veterans Aldin, the indie studio behind Waltz of the Wizard and other early and innovative VR titles, has announced the closure of a $1 million Seed investment. The money will be used to support the studio’s next project which aims to create “believable virtual realities” by fusing VR and AI to push the boundary of interactive storytelling.
Based in Reykjavik, Iceland, Aldin is an indie VR studio which has been an early innovator in the VR game development space with its first two titles, Trial of the Rift Drifter and Asunder, developed well before the first major VR headsets were launched in 2016. The studio’s latest and most successful title is Waltz of the Wizard, launched in May 2016, which is a magical playground of sorts, with lots of satisfying item interactions to experiment with. The title is one of the top rated VR games on Steam, and Aldin says it’s seen more than 250,000 downloads—a success in the world of VR, though certainly helped by the fact that the game is free.
But beyond content, Aldin has also worked on underlying VR technology, like the studio’s ‘Ghostline‘ VR analytics suite, which distils players behaviors into useful data that can aid in improving VR game design. The studio has also developed its own VR locomotion technology called Telepath, which it describes as a “more immersive substitute for teleporting.”
Today Aldin announced that it has raised a $1 million seed investment, led by Crowberry Capital, with participation by Investa and the Icelandic Technology Development Fund.
The studio says its next step is to “develop believable virtual realities” by fusing VR and artificial intelligence to create new levels of character interaction and storytelling. As part of the investment announcement the studio is teasing a forthcoming, but still unannounced, VR title.
“Aldin’s next title will let users step into a fantastical world and become acquainted with a character in ways that could only happen in VR, powered by XR AI systems that help form personal connections with characters beyond what’s possible with screenbound entertainment,” the studio writes.
Aldin plans to reveal the new title by the end of 2018.