Acolyte, an innovative alternative reality game (ARG) by Superstring Ltd., uses ReadSpeaker’s text-to-speech (TTS) technology to give its AI-driven digital assistant, Ana, a voice — immersing players in a unique and interactive narrative.
Superstring Ltd. aimed to create an ARG experience that blurs the lines between game and reality, positioning players as QA testers for a fictional tech start-up. The player’s guide through this corporate conspiracy is Ana, an AI assistant essential to the narrative.
However, the non-linear, text-based format of the game made it impossible to pre-record custom voice overs for Ana’s countless, dynamically generated responses.
This text-only approach limited immersion, making it difficult for players to connect with Ana on an emotional level. Superstring sought a way to give Ana a voice that would deepen player engagement and support the game’s interactive design.
To overcome these limitations, Superstring integrated ReadSpeaker’s TTS Unity plugin into the game. This AI-powered, real-time TTS solution automatically generates speech based on player input, enabling Ana to respond to questions and interactions with an expressive, humanlike voice.
The plugin allowed developers to implement TTS within twenty minutes, giving Acolyte a fully voiced AI assistant that could handle infinite lines of dialogue.
ReadSpeaker’s TTS not only matched Ana’s corporate assistant persona but also added subtle emotional nuances, giving her responses an added layer of realism. The solution brought previously unachievable depth to Ana’s character, capturing the complexity and humanity behind her AI-driven interactions.
ReadSpeaker’s TTS technology transformed the player experience in Acolyte, providing a meaningful connection with Ana and enhancing game immersion:
“Acolyte went from a text-only experience to a fully-voiced game – with almost infinite lines of VO – in less than half an hour.”
— Jamin Smith, Director and Lead Designer at Superstring
With ReadSpeaker’s TTS, Acolyte set a new standard for natural language projects in gaming, helping Superstring bring its unique design philosophy to life and paving the way for future innovation.
Discover Acolyte here.
London-based game studio. Dedicated to abusing the boundaries of game genre. The studio’s second release, Acolyte, was released in June of 2022. Superstring is currently working on its third – and largest – project to date.