Every season of Twitch's Emmy Award-Winning live interactive sci-fi series Artificial has become more innovative every season. That's thanks in large part due to the creator himself, Bernie Su.
Bernie Su paved the way to Artificial by winning awards for his creations Emma Approved and The Lizzie Bennett Diaries - the latter of which earned Youtube its first Primetime Emmy award, though Bernie went on to receive two more afterward. He has used Twitch as a platform to channel his innovative ambition to an interactive streaming platform, and it has been the perfect recipe for Artificial.
After winning an Emmy in its first season, Artificial went on to have a meta podcast alongside its sophomore run, Artificial: Next, called Artificial: Uncovered, run by cast member Justin Lee. Season 3 rolled with the punches of the pandemic by evolving to Artificial: Remote Intelligence which allowed the cast to be live from their remote locations and simultaneously integrated Life Score, which offers an interactive experience musically.
As you can see in the trailer above, Bernie is stepping up to outdo himself yet again, this time utilizing motion capture technology to virtually animate two live AIs, which will split the audience into two factions, hence the title of the new season taking on the moniker or Artificial: Factions.
We wanted to learn more about how the new technology is being integrated and exactly what the deal is with the two factions and the AIs - Ember, and Kai, so we exclusively chatted with Bernie himself to help us better understand. You can find the full video interview below, and don't forget to share your thoughts in the usual spot!
The inimitable director, writer, producer, and innovative creator Bernie Su stopped by to promote Artificial Season 4 - Artificial: Factions - which sees the audience steer two motion capture created virtual AI's, ultimately splitting the viewers down the middle and forcing fans to pick a side.
Bernie walks us through the ways each prior season stepped up the interactivity, and he helps talk us through all the ways he's managed to outdo himself in the newest installments of the series. He talks about how LifeScore will continue to be used to make the music interactive and reactive to the tone the audience sets in the chat.
We also learn that Artificial: Factions will see the return of characters played by Dante Basco, Stephen A. Chang, Jennifer Field, and more, as well as the chances of encountering others from past seasons. Bernie broke down the new currency method which will allow twitch streamers to team up and combine the points they gain from viewing the show to influence how their faction's AI will function and respond, even going so far as to providing upgrades such as "fire hands".
Obviously, we dug in to find out how extensive the motion capture is and how the businessmen played by Basco and Chang will face off in the new episodes. We learned about the virtual AI and what the intent is behind each of them and how they are represented as well as how they represent different members of the viewing audience.
Artificial: Factions premieres tomorrow, September 9th, at 5 pm PST on Twitch.