The New Renaissance
Late last year, Jake “virt” Kaufman left WayForward to strike out on his own. Since then, he has hinted about a big project he envisions. It looks like Nuren: The New Renaissance is that project. A collaborative project between Kaufman and Jessie Seely, Nuren is described as a “feature-length [virtual reality] music experience.”
It intends to be not quite a game, not quite an album, not quite a movie, but an amalgamation of all three. Kaufman and Seely are composing and recording tracks for the project and working with various artists and programmers to build environments unique to each track. Each track is experienced on rails, but the viewer has full control over where to look at any given point.
Nuren is up on Kickstarter now, seeking a base funding goal of $70,000. Due to the nature of the project, there are currently no stretch goals. If it reaches its goal, Nuren is expected to release on Linux, Mac, and Windows, for use with standard displays or Oculus Rift.