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NCSOFT, a global premier game developer and publisher, unveiled its digital human technology together with Project M’s trailer at the Game Developers Conference 2023 (GDC), currently being held in San Francisco, CA.

On March 22, NCSOFT revealed the video at State of Unreal, Epic Games’ opening session at GDC held to introduce new Unreal Engine tools and technologies in collaboration with its partners. Here, Songyee Yoon, chief strategy officer (CSO) at NCSOFT, was on stage to introduce the company’s latest project, Project M, and its trailer.

In this trailer, a digital human version of NCSOFT’s chief creative officer (CCO), Taekjin Kim, appeared on screen and guided the viewers through Project M’s world and core gameplay.

This digital human was developed utilizing NCSOFT’s own AI technology combined with its advanced art and graphics technological capabilities. The digital human’s speech voice in the trailer was generated from the company’s AI text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis technology. It is used to translate text information into natural human speech reflecting a certain person’s voice, speech accent, and emotions.

The digital human facial expression and lip-sync were generated with the help of the company’s voice-to-face technology. It is an AI-based facial animation technology that automatically produces facial animation, matching the given text or voice. The AI technology, combined with the company’s visual technologies, created the digital human’s realistic facial look.

Songyee Yoon, CSO of NCSOFT, said, "Project M is our latest innovation, harnessing the power of cutting-edge AI and graphics technology to an unprecedented level." She added, "With the help of Unreal Engine, we have achieved our vision for Project M with seamless integration of our foundational AI technology, resulting in breathtaking detail."

“We are excited to see how NCSOFT is pushing Unreal Engine 5 for Project M, and the high-fidelity digital humans they have created is truly impressive,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Epic Games.

Project M is one of NCSOFT’s latest projects – an action-adventure title designed with immersive interactive elements, under development for consoles. Project M’s world comprises of informational particles, and the players can simulate the momentarily provided time and space. The core gameplay is designed to expand and change the story with the information the player obtains throughout their play.

Running in Unreal Engine 5, Project M is dedicated to integrating lifelike graphics based on its advanced technology in 3D scanning, motion capture, and VFX (Visual Effects).

The trailer is available on NCSOFT’s official YouTube channel.