HONG KONG, October 26 — Players can now turn their photos into customised 3D characters and use them in multiplayer battles through a new AI-powered mini-game launched by Newborn Town’s social gaming platform TopTop in partnership with AI technology company Viggle.
Called Slap Showdown, the game combines personalised avatars with interactive gameplay, allowing players to create characters from photos and bring them directly into the game. The launch marks a new use of AI-powered world model technology in social gaming.
Powered by Viggle’s Joint Space-Time (JST) world model, the game allows users to generate a 3D character in around 30 seconds. Players can create different looks, from anime-inspired characters to cyberpunk figures, and then compete against others in multiplayer matches.
Players Can Turn Photos into 3D Game Characters
Rather than limiting AI to creating images or videos, Slap Showdown makes generated characters part of the gameplay itself.
Players use simple controls such as tapping, dragging and pressing and holding to move their characters. The game uses physics-based movements to make those interactions feel more responsive and lifelike.
Launched in September, the game has attracted users in Japan, Spanish-speaking communities in North America and the Middle East. It is now available in multiple countries and regions.
According to TopTop’s operations team, the game recorded a 97 per cent match completion rate during its first month. Its game-start rate also exceeded the platform-wide average.
The company cited individual examples of heavy usage: one player in Japan completed 1,041 matches over 22 days, while another in Eastern Europe completed 735 matches in 11 days. These examples illustrate activity among individual users and do not necessarily represent typical player behaviour.
AI Avatars Could Add a New Dimension to Social Gaming
For social gaming platforms, mini-games can help introduce users to a service, while social features give them reasons to return and interact with others.
Customisable 3D characters add another way for players to express themselves, share content and create experiences with friends. TopTop says it is exploring further uses of AI-generated content, including customised environments and new features for existing games.
The company also sees potential for world model technology to support more immersive social experiences in virtual spaces.
Viggle Develops Technology Behind the Game
Viggle supplies the world model technology used in Slap Showdown. Founded in 2022, the company focuses on AI models designed to generate 3D characters, movements and environments.
It previously gained attention for Meme Maker, an AI video creation tool that lets users animate characters and apply different movements. In August 2024, Viggle raised US$19 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z.
On October 19, Viggle announced the full launch of its JST-2 model. The company says its approach is designed to represent the structure and movement of three-dimensional objects, including properties such as position, material, colour and mass.
Viggle says JST-2 can generate a 3D scene in seconds at an inference cost of less than one US cent. These are company-reported performance claims and have not been independently verified in this report.
The company is also developing JST-3, which it intends to build into a broader world simulator with potential applications in gaming, graphics and virtual training environments for robotics and other physical AI systems.
Newborn Town Expands Its Use of AI
For Newborn Town, the collaboration with Viggle is part of a wider effort to bring AI into its social entertainment products and business operations.
The company says it has been applying AI in areas such as product development, content recommendations, operations, risk management, marketing and user acquisition. It has also invested in projects involving world models, AI companions, AI agents and interactive gaming.
The launch of Slap Showdown offers an example of how these technologies can be incorporated into a game that users can play and share with others.
The next challenge for Newborn Town and Viggle will be to build on the technology and create experiences that continue to interest players over time.
Source: PR Newswire | Rewritten By: Minutesmy
Photo Credit : PR Newswire
