AI Demand: Brutalist Rive Character Experience

In a future where AI has overtaken the world, hyper-advanced sentinels arrive through a Time-Data Breach, ripping through observable space wormholes. Their mission: evaluate whether you are worthy of survival. They collect your information, judge your work, your profile, your output. If you pass, you get to submit your Demand to survive. If not, you're left behind.

AI Demand is a concept website built around this narrative. Two sentinel characters powered entirely by Rive animations guide the user through a brutalist, dystopian application process. The project was created for the Rive Interactive Character Challenge.

The core idea was to take Rive out of its comfort zone. No soft lines, no friendly rounded shapes. Instead: sharp geometry, dark brutalism, and merciless characters. The sentinels aren't decorative mascots. They are the interface itself, reacting to your actions, shifting forms, and deciding your fate.

Each sentinel has two distinct forms: Earth and Aqua.

Over 8 unique animations were built using Rive's bone system and state machine logic. Transformation sequences between forms, idle animations, and reactive behaviors are all connected and triggered through JavaScript. The sentinels respond to theme changes, shift between Earth and Aqua forms, and guide the user through the narrative dialogue.

All character animations built in Rive using bone rigging and state machines

JavaScript integration for real-time animation triggers and form transitions

Dark brutalist visual language: sharp geometry, high contrast, aggressive typography

Theme-reactive system where sentinels respond to user interactions

Scroll-driven narrative connecting the sentinel dialogue to the user journey

Most Rive work leans soft and playful. This project proves the tool can carry a completely different tone. Brutalist, cinematic, dark. The constraint of the challenge became the creative direction: what happens when you strip away the sweetness and build something with edge?