This post officially kicks off my Venice Immersive 2025 coverage, see links to all 38 episodes and 30+ hours of interviews down below. We’re starting off with the interview that I did with Doug Liman (co-founder of 30 Ninjas), Julina Tatlock (co-founder of 30 Ninjas), & Jed Weintrob (co-founder of 30 Ninjas), & Max Spear (Product Lead of Android XR at Google) about Asteroid on Saturday, August 30, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy.
Here is the story synopsis for Asteroid:
- “Asteroid is an immersive film and interactive story extension made for the launch of Google’s new Android XR platform. The 180° immersive short film is a high-stakes action thriller about a group of strangers who take an old Russian Soyuz rocket to mine a near-earth, treasure laden asteroid for a chance at unimaginable wealth. After the film, the experience continues and the audience enters the world of Asteroid when they receive an SOS from one of the characters, DK Metcalf, who was left for dead. The viewer becomes a player when they are invited to aid in DK’s rescue. Through speaking with an AI-generated version of DK — played by the NFL player as himself — the user determines the truth about what happened on the asteroid and sends his exact location to NASA for rescue.”
Here are the contextual domains that are explored:
- Long distance travel [9] where someone is left behind (de facto exile) [12], and there is a rescue mission where you as a character [1] help out the protagonist [7] in the second half, but also a lot of mystery [12] to figure out and investigate [9]
Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity:
1st Center of Gravity of Emotional Presence: cinematic Virtual Reality thriller that begins as a film and continues as an immersive story game. Combination of live-action 180-video along with CGI-driven animations also in 180-video |
2nd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Worldbuilding of sci-fi extraction of asteroid, you embody a character in story in the last part, and you break the fourth wall in the onboarding talking to the actor who plays a character via AI |
3rd Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Conversational-driven AI Story Extension – You talk to the actor DK Metcalf at the beginning and with the character at the end. A bit of puzzling together of the myserious aspects of the story |
4th Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: continues as an immersive story game – Improv convo + slightly nudged and directed exploration |
Archetypal Themes and Character Explored:
- Everyone are anti-heroes archetypes – Power and Greed vs Limitations, constraints, boundaries, death. Doug Liman says there aren’t many anti-heroes in space movies, Han Solo is an exception. What if all of the characters were Han Solos? What drama would ensue?
Artist Statement:
- “I’ve always thought of myself as an immersive filmmaker. The goal was to put the audience in the action, not to be sort of passively watching it. Now that the technology has caught up with us, I really can put the audience in the rocket. Asteroid is the story of a ragtag group of astronauts who booked a ride on a used Soyuz spacecraft. An asteroid passes near Earth. It’s laden with precious metals and gems. If you can get there, you can become insanely wealthy. It’s a modern gold rush.“
Trailer:
You can find links to my 30+ hours of my coverage from Venice Immersive 2025 across 39 episodes. I’ve categorized the experiences according to these “elemental genres,” which is looking at the top two elemental centers of gravity. You can watch this talk on “Blending the Elements on Experiential Design” for more details.
- #1650: Sneak Peak of Venice Immersive 2025 Selection with Curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac
- #1750: Doug Liman’s “Asteroid” Short Immersive Film with Google Gemini Story Extension + Kickoff of Venice Immersive 2025 Coverage
- #1751: “Ghost Town” Narrative Integration in Puzzle Adventure with Exquisite Worldbuilding
- #1752: Blending Embodied Game & Narrative Genres with “One True Path, Part 1”
- #1753: Mixed Reality Town-Building and Sim Game “Wall Town Wonders”
- #1754: Screen Life Thriller “LILI” about Surveillance Fuses Game Design, Film, and MacBeth Adaptation
- #1755: Hand-Tracked Sign Language as Story Beat Triggers in “Eddie and I”
- #1756: Exploring Narrative Potential of Generative AI in “8pm and the Cat”
- #1757: Embody a Geranium in Immersive Comedy about Boredom in “The Great Escape”
- #1758: Reckoning with Mental Health Taboos in Japan with “If You See a Cat” Immersive Animation
- #1759: Mother-Daughter Team Explore Personal Challenges with Depression and Anxiety in “Mirage” Immersive Animation
- #1760: Immersive Fairy Tale about Automation with “The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody”
- #1761: Unpacking the Immersive Orchestral Mix of “1968” with Massimiliano Borghesi
- #1762: Fusing Experimental Immersive Animation with Cutting-Edge Orchestral Spatial Audio Mix in “1968”
- #1763: Blending Theater and 360 Video in “Re-Launching-Luigi-Broglio”
- #1764: Mixing Hand-Drawn Animation with 360 Video in “The Time Before”
- #1765: Immersive Action Thriller “Mulan 2125” Pushes the Edge of Graphical Fidelity
- #1766: Formula 1 LBE Experience “Black Cats & Chequered Flags” is an Immersive Biopic of Alberto Anscari
- #1767: Immersive Journey through Special Effects Pioneer Carlo Rambaldi’s Paintings in “Alien Perspective”
- #1768: Symbolic Journey through Lithuania’s Artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’ Paintings in “Creation of the World”
- #1769: Mixed Reality Musical on Avatars and Identity in “First Virtual Suit”
- #1770: Eastern Philosophy-Inspired Fusion of Theater and XR with “Mnemosyne”
- #1771: Environmental Storytelling in “The Great Orator” VR Diorama with Generative AI Experiments
- #1772: Climate Change Spatial Montage “Out of Nowhere” Aspires to Move Towards Rewilding Prevention
- #1773: “Collective Body” Assigns Elemental Avatars Based Upon Archetypal Dance Movements
- #1774: Combining Live Dance and Music in Immersive LBE Performance “L’ombre (The Shadow)”
- #1775: The Continuous Spatial One-Shot of Backlight’s “La Magie Opera” LBE
- #1776: The Spatial Grammar Innovations of Dialectical Contrasts and Abstraction within “The Big Cube”
- #1777: Active Imagination, Associative Dream Logic, & Embodied Interactions in “Sense of Nowhere”
- #1778: Collaborative Social Game and Story of “Happy Shadow”
- #1779: “Heartbeat” Immersive, 1-on-1 Biometric Synchronization and Involuntary Collective Agency
- #1780: Recap of VRChat Worlds Gallery at Venice Immersive 2025 with Mike Salmon
- #1781: Winner of Venice Immersive 2025 “The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up” Innovates on Gaussian Splats & Spatial Storytelling
- #1782: “A Long Goodbye” Wins 3rd Place Prize at Venice Immersive with Emotionally-Moving Story on Dementia and Spatial Grammar Innovations
- #1783: “Less Than 5gr of Saffron” Wins 2nd Place Prize at Venice Immersive with Spatial Poem Quill Animation
- #1784: The Incredible Spatial Transitions of “Dark Rooms” with Radical Consent Innovations
- #1785: The Landmark Achievements of “Blur” in Fusing Theater, Montage, Mixed Reality, and LBE VR
- #1786: Collective Reading Experience of “Constantinopoliad” Provokes Discussion on Defining “Immersive”
- #1787: Blending the Elements of Experiential Design & Process-Relational Foundations of the Elements
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Music: Fatality
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