blog Labyrinth

This is a project that has had Over 100 demos and posts over the years, and is now going into production. Its one of three products slated for release using the Save Point hybrid CG/AI pipeline.

In all previous articles I've been discussing the technology, design, and art of the project. And this blog I'll instead be showing the final product as it develops. I'll still post significant milestones independently for feedback, But this seems like a good time to have a central blog that explains and showcases the project.

For those unacquainted with the project the core concept is actually fairly simple.

1. It's an interactive film available for free on youtube.
2. It's a vast labyrinth that's very difficult to solve.
3. It has a story and many potential challenges, but focuses around finding a path to a distant tower at the center of a surrealistic multiverse of interconnected worlds.
4. The labyrinth shifts each time it is reset, with many portals leading to different locations than they had previously.
5. Each time the labyrinth is reset, the first player to reach the end is awarded a cash prize.
6. Both the labyrinth and the prize will start small, and increase in size as the audience grows.
7. There is no randomness or chance involved. The tower is hidden somewhere within the labyrinth and the first person to find the correct path will locate it.

The story is as follows, minus spoilers.

The cat awakens in a strange and unfamiliar world, and discovers that its collar is missing. It encounters a strange oracle which tells it that its collar and the way back to its home is located In a great tower at the center of the world. The Oracle gives the cat cryptic directions to reach this tower, and the cat sets off on its grand adventure to find its way back home, aware that it must avoid all humans until it finds its collar for fear of being captured and imprisoned. The longer story centers around the cat coming to understand what the world around him actually is, using that knowledge to reach the center of the labyrinth, and eventually his home.

This blog will basically serve as a labyrinth wiki, allowing newcomers to quickly understand the project. The first release of the labyrinth is slated for early 2025.

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After writing a new python program to handle aesthetic grading and sorting tasks (they are immense with this project), I've also advanced the core visual pipeline from 8.4 to 8.5.

This new pipeline advance improves visual detail with a focus on eye lighting and background detail. It also moves from upscaled 4k to Native 4k, but causes a jump from 25 seconds per frame to 145 seconds per. Note that this is not an upscaling module, but actually adds considerable refinement and detail, improving many small details intelligently.

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I've also done considerable work on the soundtrack, which includes a variety of bespoke styles designed specifically for the project. This month's new custom genres include "Shamanistic Slide Guitar ambient cinematic techno ethereal" and "Dissonant Cinematic Fractal Orchestral", creating a variety of pieces centering around futuristic delta blues and atonal symphonic music respectively. I might throw together a quick 10 track album of the Sci Fi slide guitar style if I feel like taking a break one day. Choirs and Bass Guitars have also been significantly improved lately, with better sound quality and signal to noise performance.

Chapter 1: "Outside of the Box, or The Dangerous World of Outdoor Greggs" is underway, with development on writing and voiceover style complete.

Even well into production of the visual side, it took some time to settle on a style and tone for the narration. While the core story was ready to go several years ago, the nuance of presentation was elusive to nail down. Right now there is about 25 hours of raw footage shot, but final cuts of cells with voice performance, music, foley, and mix are a slow manual process requiring significant time and effort. The current number of scene designs (source frames for extrapolation into shots) is at around 80,000. Each 10 seconds of footage shot requires a unique source frame.

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While the new 8.5 frames are too large to upload here in their native format, I'll likely compress some examples and add them to the gallery soon.

Who are these mysterious "Outdoor Greggs", and what role do they play in the surrealistic multiverse of the Labyrinth? Viewers around the world can tune in to find out when the first incarnation of the Labyrinth appears in early 2025.


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