Clone this repo, open Spanda_Emotional_Reverb_Demo in Unity 2022.3.18f1, and press Play.
No extra packages or LFS needed — works out of the box. Pure demo logic. Runs on CPU.
This demo showcases a 4-NPC interaction system powered by the Spanda Engine™, a symbolic-emotional framework for modeling affective behavior in real time. It simulates how emotional states propagate through proximity, resonance, and symbolic meaning using color-coded emotional vectors, pulse transfers, and cascading reactions.
The Spanda Engine is more than a Unity demo. It’s a working prototype of an emotional resonance system — where even simple proximity can generate symbolic, affective, and narrative shifts.
In this context, an “NPC” is any agent or element that can respond to or influence emotional state. That includes humans, flames, musical motifs, or symbolic phrases like “flicker of doubt” or “aura of authority.”
It could be:
- a child watching someone yell,
- a cloud hovering over a tense scene,
- or a character punching another in the face.
If it changes the feel, it’s an NPC.
Spanda detects when agents come close enough — physically or symbolically — to create resonance.
It might be a subtle glance or a loud threat. Even silence, held too long, becomes a trigger.
As NPCs interact, they emit emotional deltas across vectorized axes like Trust, Conflict, or Intimacy.
Spanda tracks these pulses in real time, letting emotions ripple outward — or spiral inward.
Each emotional axis is visualized with glow orbs orbiting each NPC:
-
🔴 Red / 🔵 Blue — Polarity Extremes
- Red: Strong positive charge (e.g. love, joy)
- Blue: Strong negative charge (e.g. hate, despair)
-
🟡 Yellow — Neutral Midpoint
- Emotionally balanced or inactive on the axis
- Can shift:
- 🟢 Green: Positive deviation (e.g. harmony, courage)
- 🟠 Orange: Negative deviation (e.g. fear, conflict)
This demo is your sandbox.
Move the spheres. Nudge a pulse. Stack NPCs like dominoes and trigger a symbolic cascade.
You’ll find extra files in the repo, too — things like scripts, assets, and UI components not used in this exact scene, but reserved for future demos.
We believe in showing our process, not hiding the mess.
Feel free to explore, fork, remix, or build your own emotional systems from here.
Spanda isn’t Unity-bound — it’s a general emotional architecture:
| Context | Proximity Trigger | Spanda Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Game Scenes | Two NPCs enter field overlap | Emotional pulse, destabilization, support, etc. |
| Narrative Writing | “He leaned in too close…” | Tension builds, power shifts, decision triggered |
| Robotics & Sensing | Raised voice + fast approach | Agitation, recalibration, field reaction |
| Gen-AI / LLM Dialogue | Subtle tone deviation mid-response | Empathic modulation, recursive logic loop |
Key Insight:
Proximity isn't just physical. It's emotional, symbolic, temporal. Spanda lets systems “feel” that crossing.
- Drive narrative emergence through emotional chain reactions
- Give NPCs a real-time inner life that influences behavior
- Enhance AI, robotics, and avatars with symbolic field awareness
- Connect to LLM systems to reflect shifting tone in conversation or story arcs
This is Demo 1 of 3 in the current wave:
- Demo 2: 6-NPC cascading resonance, with emotional memory and field layering
- Demo 3: Scripted story scene with dialogue, archetypes, and symbolic callbacks
- Also: long-form technical docs + plug-and-play Spanda modules
🧭 Author Note
I’m not a company — at least not yet.
I’m one person exploring the edge of language, symbolism, and affect. No formal training. No institution.
Just intuition, study, and a belief that stories can be mapped, and empathy can be modeled.
- GitHub: @putmanmodel
- Twitter: @putmanmodel
- Email: putmanmodel@pm.me
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 International.
Use freely for non-commercial projects.
Contact for commercial licensing, collaborations, or partnerships.
Let emotional systems be real. Let narrative arcs resonate. This is Spanda.
Spanda Engine — Symbolic Emotional Logic for Human-Centered AI.