Procedural Magic Behind Zenith: Infinite Realms
Today we’re unveiling some of the tech and design behind Zenith: Infinite Realms that was inspired by the design pillars: Always Something New and Time to Fun = 0;
Infinite Realms is our new free to play action-adventure game mode coming to the Zenith universe. It’s a co-op session based VR RPG that emphasizes action and social play.
Always Something New
Our goal is to frequently provide fresh updates to the game so you always have new levels to experience. How can we accomplish cranking out high quality content as a small team? Introducing the magic of Procedural Generation:
Early demo of procedurally stitching a level
We built a procedural generation system that speeds up design while maintaining that human touch. The system uses hand-crafted level components (events, parkour transitions, islands, etc) and procedurally stitches them together. The layout combinations are countless and only gets better with time as our content pool grows.
As a past example, the Skyland zone in The Last City was entirely handcrafted. Every mob spawner, point of interest, and piece of geometry were placed one by one. Building content for The Last City was an uber manual process we learned a lot from.
Now we’re able to reroll levels with a couple clicks, speeding up development time like crazy! It empowers designers to iterate faster and craft the best experiences possible.
Seamless Instancing
We're tightening the gameplay loop so Time to Fun = 0; and you’re getting to the action much faster. We're making instancing as seamless as possible so when you join a session it's instantaneous. When you finish a session, returning to the city is instantaneous. Imagine stepping through magic portal and instantly landing in the city plaza. Goodbye loading screens!
Social Playground Built for VR
In Infinite Realms we’re building the city plaza to be the nexus 😉, the central hub for players to return to after a co-op session.
Evolution of an early blockout of the city
We intentionally placed vendors, upgrade stations, and exit points (gates) all within easy reach. The round-shaped plaza allows you to see what your friends are up to across the way. Beyond the gates, various challenges and session types await.
The playground-like activities and spacious open air design invites friends to hangout. Friends can grapple across the city, shoot hoops, or race each other up a climbing wall.
What’s Next?
Building a vast open-world VR MMO was undoubtedly an ambitious feat for a team of our size. It has challenged us to innovate! We can’t wait to show you more of the learnings and exciting gameplay coming to Infinite Realms.
Soon we’ll talk about how the game makes you Feel Like A God. Until next time!
From,
Kristani, with help from Voxlap, Sam, and Rob 🙂
