Visual excellence for the Metaverse

 It's flattering, yet ironic. Everyone is talking about the Metaverse now: Microsoft are adding avatars in Teams, Facebook is renamed Meta, everyone makes avatars... Yet, we have been building the Metaverse for many years, and what we did years ago was so ahead of its time: for reference, this article is an eye-opener, it put things in perspective....  https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/10/30/playstation-home-in-2009-looks-better-than-meta-facebooks-horizon-worlds-in-2021/?fbclid=IwAR0Whp6cY7FcG6ySxkQJFFVFf8HV83QvGvc3zVoz3U5pcB_LqycYXyZ8d4k&sh=1162d571d98f

PlayStation Home started in 2007! And see the screenshot below: that was Atom Republic's first release, 9 years ago! What we did in PlayStation Home did look a lot higher fidelity than most of today's attempts at the Metaverse, at least in terms of photo-realism. 

Find here a 2012 blog post from PlayStation, showing the variety and the quality of what was proposed at the time on the platform: https://blog.playstation.com/2012/12/17/ataris-40th-birthday-winter-holidays/comment-page-2/

As an artist, I fell in love with virtual worlds when I saw PlayStation Home, it inspired me to create Atom Republic, to be a developer for PlayStation Home.Then in 2014, I created Atom Universe to become the most realistic virtual world ever made! 

Striving for photo realism, I tried to make Atom Universe the most beautiful Metaverse experience possible; this is a screenshot of what Atom Universe looked like back in 2015 on PlayStation 4: yes, this was over 6 years ago. This image below is a real in-game screenshot, not a mock-up:

In stark contrast, this is what Facebook propose in terms of visual fidelity, to me it feels like a step back in time by 20 years:

Arguably Facebook's Meta, VR chat, Roblox etc are going for a cartoony/stylised approach. Still: I think we can do a lot better with today's awesome technologies, like face scanning and the Unreal Engine.

Please understand: I am not here to diss the competition. I just want to stress how ahead of its time PlayStation Home was back in 2007, and how it inspired me to strive for visual excellence. I must insist: with Atom Universe -some call it PlayStation Home's spiritual successor- I wish to perpetuate the push for high standards of visual quality. I hope it will show!

The Metaverse genesis

The world has changed forever.

We will not quite return to how things were before. Social interactions don't feel safe in the physical world: social distancing is the norm; the current troubled times we live in exacerbate the vital need for a safe social app: even the World Health Organisation now recommends to "play online games to maintain a safe social link". We all need human contact, and we are too scared to get it in real life. More than ever, we need to be able to meet people digitally, as real-life encounters are unsafe in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even when the lock-down measures are lifted, we will stay cautious of social interaction in the real world: we will think twice before shaking hands or hugging people.

I always wondered how humans would communicate remotely in the future. Everyone uses social media platforms today, but they are very limited: all you can do is share images and text. Wouldn't you like to be able to talk to your loved ones face to face in virtual reality, instead of just exchanging text messages, to feel connected? Ever since reading "Ready Player One", I have been wanting to create my own "Oasis". This is what I am trying to achieve with Atom Universe.

Steven Spielberg's movie adaption of Ready Player One

Charlie Fink and Neal Stevenson call it the Metaverse. I think we are now witnessing its Genesis:  why do you think Mark Zuckerberg bought Oculus? The next level of social media is an immersive experience where you can see your friends in front of you, as you interact with them in a virtual environment, through you Virtual Reality (VR) headset. Follow closely what becomes of Facebook's Horizon: "a VR world where users will be able to establish a presence, and connect with others virtually." I suspect they are trying to build their own Metaverse.

Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Horizons last year

You can even play virtual worlds on mobile phones these days: the success of social apps like Avakin Life or Club Cooee prove that the social, casual nature of a virtual world lends itself perfectly to the pace of mobile usage: frequent but short bursts of gameplay.

Avatars dance and chat in Avakin Life

There used to be a negative connotation in the heydays of Second Life, when in the early 00s a lot of people would be quite judgemental of virtual worlds fans: isn't it sad to spend so much time immersed in a virtual reality rather than in the real world? Unhealthy even? There was a stigma attached to virtual worlds. Linden Lab shut down its VR virtual world Sansar. Sony abruptly terminated its own virtual wold, PlayStation Home, though it was hugely popular and beautifully executed.

PlayStation Home: ahead of its time? 

But the world has changed. The global pandemic only made more obvious what I have been believing since I started working on PlayStation Home content, and then when building Atom Universe: people need a safe digital experience for human interactions, to make up for the impossibility to get these human interaction in real life.

Users dress up, play, chat, dance and make friends in Atom Universe


Finally people will see that VR not as an isolating experience but on the contrary, as a social experience, where you can see your interlocutor, and look into their eyes as you dialogue with them.

Long live the Metaverse!


Bibliograhy:
Ready Player One
Snow Crash
Charlie Fink's Metaverse

Funding your journey

After setting up 2 companies I spent quite a while looking for finance. I wanted to share that experience with indie game devs who need to fund their game projects.

This is for all game developers in need of finance, to fund their game project. You can get a variety of investment from the 8 sources I identified below. The first question is: what stage are you at? Probably start with Crowd funding for a small amount, and VCs will give you the biggest investments:

1.Crowd funding

2.Tax breaks

3.Angels

4.Loans

5.Match-funding

6.Revenue-share

7.Grants

8.VCs

Crowd funding

For advice in crowdfunding, refer to my previous blog post on our successful Kickstarter campaign. But if you want only 1 advice: always ask less than what you actually need. This way you increase your chances of success and you get good PR. These days it's hard to get a lot of funding out of crowdfunding, but it's still a great way to put you on the map for future investors and partners.

Tax breaks

I would advise you get help from professional accountants to speed up this process as it can be tedious.

As a rule of thumb (in the UK) you are entitled to 40% of your R&D related expenses (e.g. programmers' salaries)

and on other development expenses, a 20% tax break from the Video games Tax Credit. For more info on the

latter, contact the British Film Institute.

Business Angels

There are many ways you can get in contact with business angels:•Startup accelerator (in the UK: Ignite 100, Seedcamp)

•Pitch to angels, attend angels events (South East England: OION, Surrey 100...)•Ask fellow game developers to introduce you to their angels

Angels are more than investors, they add value to your business:

•Follow their advice, they have good common sense.

•Keep them informed, meet up regularly.

•They are more likely to invest than any new investor.

Match-funding

Once you have an investment, consider if you can find match-funding from:

•Creative England

•Angel groups (Syndicate room)

•Equity crowd funding (Crowdcube, Invesdor)

Loans

•Preserves your equity.

•You have to pay it back no matter what: make sure you

have regular revenue before contracting a loan. 

•Personal loan is better: investors will be put off if the

company has debt.

•In the UK you can approach organisations like Outset Finance or the FSE group.

Grants

•Hard to get

•Get help from experts (Moore Stevens, Tenshi Partners)

•Innovation?

•Competitive advantage to the UK?

•Social benefits?

•Partnership with university?

Revenue-share

•Negociate a holiday period.

•A bad deal will not only hinder your profit, but it will also harm your chances of raising further rounds.

VCs

•It is actually easier to raise more with VCs. Don’t ask for £250k form a VC, it’s not worth their investment.

•VCs will only invest in companies they know. Otherwise they observe the studio for months.

•Start by just asking feedback on your pitch before you are investment ready; build up a relationship.

Mistakes and learnings

•Don’t have overly optimistic forecasts in the hope to impress. Investors will see through your bluff.

•Know your numbers. Be prepared to be grilled by finance experts: know the revenue predictions off the top of your head for the next 3 years.

Tips and advice

•Send your pitch for proof-reading to investors, consultants and entrepreneurs. They will give you valuable feedback for free, and can introduce you to potential investors.

•Attend networking events.

•buy a coffee, pick their brains.

•Pitch to as many people as possible to practice and improve.

•When turned down, ask why.

•Surround yourself with people you trust: non-exec directors can advise you, for free or for share options.

•Say no if the offer isn’t good enough, it’s better for the long term.

•Get funding when you don’t need it, so you are not desperate

•Give yourself time: the more you raise, the longer it takes (up to 6 months with VCs).

•In the UK: Get SEIS and EIS certificates in advance.

•Have a road map : it helps investors understand what you’re doing with their money.

•Think of the exit: where will you be in 3 years? Investors want a good ROI in 3 to 5 years.

•Show you have a long term vision.

•Show ambition.

I hope you find it useful!

Diary of a successful Kickstarter

Quite a few people asked about our Kickstarter campaign, so I thought I would write a blog post about it. This will also inaugurate my personal blog. I hope you will enjoy!

I run a game studio called Atom Republic. Earlier this year, we successfully raised £25k via Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/882445008/atom-universe-a-virtual-reality-theme-park-on-pc-a?ref=card) to make a VR virtual world build around a theme park, for PS4 and PC. We learned a lot in the process. Here are some tips if you would like to run your own crowd-funding campaign:

Before the campaign

-decide of a launch date and duration

-tell your social media community a few weeks in advance, announce the date. You need most of your donations in the first few days to create a momentum. Consider Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Linkedin groups etc...

-tell your friends

-tell your family

-get people you trust to proof-read your campaign page

-seek advice from Kickstarter themselves, they're really helpful

-seek advice from people who attempted a Kickstarter campaign before you

-choose the right PR agent, that won't be the cheapest.

-build up your Kickstarter page with animated gifs to attract the viewer's attention, and clearly explain the rewards for each pledge level.

-add subtitles to your video trailer, to make sure everyone understands what's being said.

Diary of the campaign

15th March: launch!

24th March: Moments of doubt

-The typical funding curve should reach 30% in the first couple of days: normally this can predict that is when you know you'll succeed. We looked like we'd fail...

1st April: April's fool?

We went from 39% to 72% funding in 24 hours! In 1 day we doubled what we earned in 2 weeks... Why? All this happened:

-PlayStation Home ended that day, prompting its users to look for an alternative virtual world.

-Youtuber "Casey Likes Games" featured us

-a PS4 demo got released

3rd April: False alarm

We attained the goal for a few minutes... Then our biggest backer withdraws his £4,000 pledge !

4th April: goal attained again !

This is when we had to publish an update with our stretch goals

5th April: stretch goal

8th April: stalling again

-People withdrew their pledges as new backers pledged! One particular “backer” pledged then withdrew £2,000, 3 times.

-unpopular and unclear stretch goal?

16th April: rollercoaster ride

We did it, got 125% of our funding! But it was a rollercoaster of a ride, and very stressful: until the very end, we were far from certain we would succeed, for fear of another big backer withdrawing their pledge at the last minute.

Lessons learned

#1: Statistics are just statistics

-Typical Kickstarter curve:

Take those statistics with a pinch of salt, every project is different. For us the timing was crucial, the 1st April was when everything happened half-way through due to external circumstances, but we knew they would happen, that's why we timed our campaign around the 1st April.

#2: Educate your audience

-Some people don’t always read all your updates, you'll come across misinterpretations rumours. The worst part of the campaign was having to fight the avalanche of misinformation spread through the comments (we got no less than 615 comments in a month)

-most backers don’t understand how Kickstarter works: the fact that if the project fails, they keep their money for instance.

-Use the updates and social media to patiently respond and explain (community management).

-explain your stretch goals: people don’t understand why you ask more after getting what you wanted. In retrospect, this is one thing I think we could have done better.

Was it worth it?

What did it cost us?

2 man-months off our project development, to inform and respond:

-Twitch broadcasts

-Posted 38 updates

-6 Youtube videos

-posts on Google +, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, forum, blog

-Live Q&As in PS Home

-50 extra daily emails to respond to

What we gained:

-crowd validation

-media exposure

-investors contacts

-New partners (architects, musicians, game studios...)

-tripled forum members (300 to 800)

+50% youtube subscribers (300 to 430)

+200 Facebook fans

+ 20% Twitter followers

A few tips

-Ask for less than what you really need, and add stretch goals later

-We couldn't do this, but would have if we could: set up your account in dollars if you have a US bank account: A lot of Kickstarter donors are US based, and they will trust US-based campaigns more. Also some US bank accounts are not allowed international payments.

-Cross-promote with other crowd-funding campaigns (Indie gogo, Kickstarter...): in an update, add a link to crowdfunding project that is relevant to yours. they will do the same for you. For us, we linked to other interesting staff-picked videogames, and VR hardware manufacturers.

-Boost Twitter and Facebook posts, this will cost you $5 to spread your posts to friends of your friends.

-Timing: pick the right date, it was crucial for us.

-find the sweet-spot for pledge levels: check similar projects, see what are the most popular amounts (typically around $20) and have many pledge levels around those sweet-spots.

-Use regular updates to keep community engaged

-Have something to show (a playable demo, preferably)

-No physical rewards: no shipping, no expense

-Propose a Paypal option. You are allowed to have a link but not a logo. If unsure check with Kickstarter. It's better if people pledge via Kickstarter, as Paypal donation are not visible and don't contribute to the success of your campaign. So encourage people to use Kickstarter preferably. But some people don't have a back account or can't make donations abroad: for those the only option is Paypal.