Multiverse getting some hugs
Multiverse - the MMO middleware company - is getting a lot of attention, as well as developers signing up to be part of their development network. 100 so far, and counting:
Multiverse, which plans to open up its public beta this fall, is the talk of the Austin Game Conference here, an annual confab dedicated to the development of online games and virtual worlds.
In the year or so since publicizing its platform, the company has become seen as one of the best choices for small development teams seeking to build virtual worlds but who lack the tens of millions of dollars it can often take to create stand-alone titles.
I can't wait to see some of these examples up and running. Here's an image for one of their own showcase games; the graphics certainly aren't WoW standard, but then again, I'm sure the development cost wasn't $50m either. It's definitely got legs:
Interestingly, the folk behind Multiverse aren't game developer stalwarts but .. Netscape vets. Curious!
Multiverse was mentioned prominently in the keynote by John Landau, because James Cameron is an investor in it and because they are using it for Avatar. But for my money, the HeroEngine by Simutronics was more impressive for asset pipeline work. And Emergence seems technically to have the best offering for scale.
Posted by: Tide | September 12, 2006 at 17:08
I think the BigWorld model is pretty interesting, and it sounds like they have a handful of MMO's already announced using their stuff.
However, following Raph's talk at AGDC, I wonder whether making cheaper/faster dinosaurs isn't a sound strategy at the end of the day.
Posted by: Kim Pallister | September 13, 2006 at 05:53
I'm working on two Serious Games projects with Multiverse right now. I love it and I love their business model - it's entirely friendly to my academic'ish budget.
I did stop by BigWorld's booth at GDC. Summary of conversation? "Fascinating project, but..." Unsaid message being, "you have no money so we are not interested."
I also stopped at Multiverse booth and got, "Fascinating project, let's talk." And we did. And we still are.
Posted by: Tim Holt | September 14, 2006 at 07:45