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Earplay Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryEntertainment
FoundedMassachusetts, United States (2013)
HeadquartersBoston, Massachusetts, USA
Websiteear-play.com
This page is about the interactive story app. For the radio program, see Earplay. For the musical ensemble, see Earplay (new chamber music).

Earplay is an entertainment startup from Boston, MA that produces interactive audio stories. The Earplay library, accessible from voice platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant as well as a standalone iOS app, consists of interactive audio narratives released in chapters. The primary form of interaction is voicing the player character's decisions at predetermined points, and the story branches towards a number of different outcomes accordingly [1].

Xconomy described the medium as "a cross between radio dramas of the early 20th century, 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books, and new voice recognition technologies." [2] Fast Company and the Amazon Developers Blog both credit Earplay as the first platform to turn broadcast audio, a traditionally one-way medium, into an immersive and responsive entertainment format. [3][4]

Earplays are accessible to the blind and visually impaired, as its virtual assistant platforms are voice-operated and the iOS app is compatible with VoiceOver. [5] The user experience involves both audio engineering and directed voice acting, and the stories are developed in collaboration with script writers and intellectual property owners. [6]

History

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Earplay was first co-founded as Reactive Studios in May 2013 by Jon Myers (CEO), Bruno Batarelo (CTO), and Matthew Albrecht, a shareholder and advisor [2]. The prototype for an interactive radio drama dubbed "Codename Cygnus" was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in March 2013,[4] followed by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $13,943 on its $11,000 target.[7] With the funds for professional sound effects, technology licenses, and necessary plug-ins, Cygnus was released as a standalone application for Android and iOS that September at PAX Prime. [3]

Dave Grossman, known for his work at Telltale Games, was hired in 2014 as Chief Creative Officer to expand upon the medium of voice-activated storytelling. [8] The company went on to participate in the 2015 MassChallenge startup accelerator with the goal of developing a cross-platform library for interactive audio stories. [9] The accompanying change in name to "Earplay" reflected their new focus, and is a derivative of the radio drama series broadcast on NPR between 1972 and the 1990s.

The first edition of the Earplay app, which supported multiple demo-length stories and a content creation pipeline, was released in August 2016. [4] August also saw the release of an Earplay "skill," a voice app for the Amazon Alexa platform. [10]

Titles

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  • Earplay Demo (2016)
  • Half (2016)
  • Codename Cygnus Reactivated
    • Mission 1 (2017)
  • The Orpheus Device Teaser (2016)
  • The Orpheus Device Full-Length (2017)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Edgerly 2016.
  2. ^ a b Engel 2017.
  3. ^ a b Lumb 2013.
  4. ^ a b c Collier 2016.
  5. ^ Brauner 2016.
  6. ^ Adobe XD Team 2017.
  7. ^ Kickstarter 2013.
  8. ^ Wawro 2016. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWawro2016 (help)
  9. ^ Mass Challenge Team 2015.
  10. ^ Kirsner 2016.

References

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  1. Adobe XD Team (October 2016). "Earplay and the World of Voice UX Design". Adobe Creative Cloud Blog. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  2. Brauner, Diane (December 2016). "Earplay: Interactive Audio Stories iOS app". Perkins Paths to Technology Blog. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  3. Collier, Zoey (November 2016). "Earplay: An Interactive, Audio-Only Storyteller, Made Even Better by Alexa". Amazon Developer Blog. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  4. Edgerly, Len (October 2016). "Earplay: Alexa Hosts a Transformative New Way to Tell Stories". Len Edgerly's Medium Blog. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  5. Engel, Jeff (March 2017). "Amazon's Alexa Opens New Path for Earplay's Interactive Audio Stories". Xconomy. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  6. "Codename Cygnus - an Interactive Radio Drama". Kickstarter. August 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  7. Kirsner, Scott (December 2016). "'Alexa, what local companies are working to make you better?'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  8. Lumb, David (July 2013). "Is Siri Paving The Way For Immersive Audio Gaming?". Fast Company. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  9. Mass Challenge Team (November 2015). "Earplay Profile". Mass Challenge. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  10. Schonenberg, Fred (January 2017). "5 Ad Startups That Lit Up the Strip at CES". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  11. Wawro, Alex (October 2016). "Day of the Tentacle & The Division devs unite to write World of Darkness audio drama". Gamasutra. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  12. Wawro, Alex (October 2016). "Why veteran game devs are now creating interactive audio dramas". Gamasutra. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  13. Wilcox, Greg (October 2016). "World of Darkness Wants You to Enjoy Some Earplay For Halloween". Destroy All Fanboys. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  14. Zingsheim, Karsten (March 2017). "Not just listening, but participating - interactive radio plays - Wraith: The Oblivion". Teilzeithelden. Retrieved 16 February 2017.

External links

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