A London game-technology start-up building AI and physics tools that let game characters move and react in real time.
Latent Technology makes software that helps game characters move. In most games, animators draw or capture thousands of fixed movements and the game plays the right one at the right moment. Latent's approach, which it calls Generative Physics Animation, uses AI together with real physics so that a character can respond to what is happening around it, such as stumbling on a slope or reacting to a push, instead of playing a pre-made clip. Its website says that all character animation emerges in real time as a result of interactions with the environment, and that it is not a ragdoll: the physical rigs drive their own muscles.
Its stated mission is to bring magical experiences to the fingertips of players and game creators. On its About page the company says it believes what was once magical in videogames stopped being magical a long time ago, that big-budget games have converged on the same designs because of how they are made, and that new technology can change this. Its main product is the Latent Behaviour Engine, built on a model it calls Phoenix, which was still in development when press coverage was written. It plans integrations with Unity and Unreal Engine and runs a closed beta with selected studios.
Latent is a London-based company founded in November 2022. Its co-founders are Jorge del Val, chief executive, and Jack Harmer, chief technology officer. The company's site says Jorge has been a deep-learning research engineer across videogames, enterprise and academia for a decade and has also lectured, and that Jack has a PhD in Physics and has worked as a research engineer in several known videogame studios. Both worked on early reinforcement-learning movement systems in games at EA and Embark Studios.
In early coverage the company had two people and was hiring. An investor describes the team as deeply technical. Its site has a careers section looking for passionate engineers, and a blog where the founders explain their ideas, including a post on why next-generation games need affordable next-generation interactivity. Reports we found were from 2023 to 2025, so current team size and office details should be checked directly with the company.
If you like both maths and games, this is a good example of the research-led side of the industry, where people with computer science, physics and engineering backgrounds help make characters feel alive.
Website: www.latent-technology.com
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