Game developers and publishers are burdened by labour-intensive tasks that are time-consuming and financially demanding. Florida-based NPCx, a pioneering startup dramatically reduces the labour-intensive manual tracking. Its cutting-edge motion capture processing tools leverage AI and neural networks to automate character post-processing of motion capture data.
Now, NPCx, which uses AI to revolutionise the creation and animation of non-player characters (NPCs), has secured $3 million in a seed round led by Kakao Investment. This strengthens NPCx’s position in the gaming and entertainment industry.
Before securing this investment from Kakao Investment, NPCx successfully raised over $540K on the crowdfunding platform Republic.
How it plans to use the funds?
In March 2023, NPCx launched its flagship product, TrackerX, a state-of-the-art motion capture processing tool. The seed round funding will fuel the development of NPCx’s future-focused product, BehaviorX. This unique technology enhances gaming experiences by capturing and employing real-time data from players to create lifelike behavioural clones in NPCs.
Additionally, as part of the company’s trajectory, NPCx will launch two new products: RetargetX and AIMX. These products will use neural networks to retarget motion capture animation and predict the next animation frame, resulting in smoother, more realistic character movements.
“We are honored to have Kakao Investment lead our seed round. As a prominent startup investor in Asia, securing Kakao Investment’s investment during these challenging times in the capital markets is a tremendous vote of confidence in our team, technology, and product roadmap. This partnership marks a significant milestone for NPCx and will greatly expedite the development of our AI-powered products that will revolutionise the industry.” said Cameron Madani, CEO of NPCx.
Revolutionise creation and animation of NPCs
NPCx was founded by Cameron Madani, Michael Puscar, and Alberto Menache in 2020 in Florida. It is a global team of video games developers, designers, data scientists, and animators dedicated to making NPCs more human-like, not god-like!
They are building the next generation of AI for Non-Player Characters (NPC) in Interactive Entertainment, including Video Games, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Its AI allows gamers to replay their favourite titles time and again by providing more reactive and unique NPC encounters.. Also, it allows partner developers and publishers the ability to deliver richer and more satisfying gameplay, giving partners an edge in growing their player base and revenues.
Its AI system can be plugged directly into existing mobile and hardcore games, allowing older titles to bring back past players as well as grow brand-new fan bases.
Its flagship product – TrackerX disrupts the costly manual process of tracking the raw 3D point cloud data, by allowing for any type of optical or sensor-based motion capture system files to be put straight onto the TrackerX character skeleton.
“TrackerX disrupts this costly manual process that’s been around for nearly thirty years by cleaning raw motion capture with AI and proprietary biomechanical models, saving companies thousands of labor hours and significant financial resources per project,” said Madani.
