Kickstarter

Are you tired of the same game being built over and over again by different companies, with each new generation just having prettier graphics. VoxelVerse is a new kind of game, its a game that is created by users, changed by users, evolved by users.

VoxelVerse is not an just idea, its real! Give VoxelVerse a try by clicking on this link! You will need Flash 11.3

VoxelVerse is a revolutionary new kind of game. A game where anything and everything can be created, moved, modified, and destroyed. A game where everything you find can be used in crafting, and what you craft actually makes you, your vehicles, and your fortress stronger, faster, and more powerful. VoxelVerse ties together exploration, adventure, building, crafting, and socialization in a way that has only been imagined up until now. And of course it's all free to play in a web browser on PCs and Macs (and eventually on handhelds).
So what makes VoxelVerse different then other Voxel games?

• First off VoxelVerse uses a next generation Voxel Engine, which I call an Oxel Engine. Oxels are a combination of Voxels and Oct-Trees. What does this mean for the user? It means that users are no longer limited to one size block. Now blocks have a huge ranges of sizes. They can be as large as the moon, or as small as grains of sand. This gives users the ability to create models of anything they can imagine.
• VoxelVerse utilizes and encourages users to create Independent Voxel Models (IVM). For example IVMs are the islands, ships, and creatures. IVMs can be linked together to form groups of objects, so your zeppelin can add cannons, engines, and accessories. IVMs can be items that have been crafted by user, or just a convenient groups of oxels in the shape of an arch or statue. IVMs allow users to create their own unique vehicles like zeppelin's, which can fly around the VoxelVerse. IVMs allow users to create and share anything they can imagine.
• Crafting - VoxelVerse has a totally new approach to crafting. In VoxelVerse you will find a wide variety of metals, woods, and others items. Each material has attributes which contribute to the items stats.  A sword made of copper and oak will have basic attributes such as speed, weight, damage. Whereas a sword made of titanium, elder wood, with a gem in the hilt will be faster, and do more damage. Items that have been crafted can be re-crafted, for example to upgrade the blade, or add a gem. Also engines, cannons, boilers, and rudders are all crafted. You will find things that make your engines faster, guns more powerful, and rudder turn faster.
• IVM's can have scripts attached to them. For example a door has an open script, this allows users to create their own kinds of doors. For content creators, think of this as Second Life meets Minecraft.
• No downloadable client, no local content, so you can play anywhere! Sharing the world you have created is as easy as sharing a URL.

This is an ambituous goal indeed. And if there is one thing I have learned after designing, creating, and delivering commercial MMO's for 12 years it's to proceed in baby steps. So I am splitting VoxelVerse into three phases.

• Phase 1 - Massively single player. A story driven game where users can explore, build, and fight. And with a simple click of a mouse, you will be able to visit the worlds created by your friends and by other users. Think of phase 1 as a mashup of Minecraft/Second Life/Skyrim.
• Phase 2 - Massively multiplayer. Multiplayer will bring many new aspects to the game: Cooperative building, selling of minerals and IVMs in the auction house. PvP combat, fights over control of key mineral assets, multi-user first person combat on user built/crafted ships. Raids on fortresses. Add in aspects of Eve Online and LoL to the mix in this phase. But in this combat, you design the ship, craft the guns, engines, boilers. You can watch your opponent's ship get obliterated, and watch him desperately trying to repair it in combat. I am dying to see the first full scale model of the death star.
• Phase 3 - User generated missions, make the game within the game. Since VoxelVerse is free to play and all the content is server based, all your friends can come try out your adventure. No more downloading and installing mod's. VoxelVerse has been designed from the start to be all about user generated content.

Phase 1 is what I am going to talk about in the rest of this story. I have been working on phase 1 for 10 months now. The Oxel Engine is ready for alpha content creators. Ready to put into hands of users.

There is a game too? I have seen thousands of people come into Sandbox worlds and the first thing they ask is "What’s there to do?". Story is a critical element that adds context and purpose to every starting players experience. The story behind VoxelVerse is that your colony ship that  escaped from the dying embers of Earth but was destroyed just before reaching its destination. You escaped in a 1 person life pod, but the crew and passengers were scattered across the VoxelVerse. Your job is to survive long enough to reunite with the other colonists and start a new civilization! a.k.a Phase 2.

Why use Kickstarter? Crowdfunding is the future of indie game development, but you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know that already. Users know what they enjoy and have shown an amazing willingness support it. Early on in this project I spent a few month trying to get VCs, angel investors and game publishers to understand why a next generation Voxel Engine like VoxelVerse could unlock a whole new type of gameplay, a whole new generation of user generated content. But after hearing “Why use Voxels” for the 10th time, I realized this was a losing battle. So I decided to self fund the project for as long as I could.Raising money is a full time job, and when I do it, I don’t get to design or code. I have raised millions of dollars in the past, I have the business plan, the pro forma, and market studies. But when it comes down to it, I love to create, and make tools for others to create with. Spending months and months of my time raising money, might have been a better long term strategy, but I had an idea that wanted to burst out of me like the creature in Alien. So I decided to do it on my own dime. To be beholden to no one but the users. Well, that dime and my wife’s patience have worn a very thin, so my choice is raise some money, or make this project a part time project. The result of this effort is the basis for what you see in the demo. It still needs work on some major area’s like lighting, but the overall result is just what I imagined. I think you will find VoxelVerse is on the path to becoming the ultimate Voxel game and creation tool. What you see in the demo is just a tiny glimpse of what VoxelVerse will ultimately deliver.

What will I do with the money that I raise? Any money earned through kickstarter will be used to make VoxelVerse even more awesome. These funds will give me the freedom to finish VoxelVerse, to bring up the server on AWS and be able to pay for the artwork VoxelVerse needs, rather than asking for favors. To be able to add the sounds and music that VoxelVerse needs. For the past year I have been in designing, planning, and coding VoxelVerse. VoxelVerse is the fifth generation of virtual worlds platforms I have designed and architected. What it took to make VoxelVerse happen was a new type of 3D graphics engine on a new platform Flash Stage3D. And, after working on this for 10 months I am just starting to unlock the power that it holds. I love working on this project and I want to keep working on this project full time. What happens if I don't raise the money? Then VoxelVerse will turn into a nights and weekends project and take longer to finish. But it will get finished regardless. One thing I hope to gain from Kickstarter are some passionate content developers who want something more then current Voxel Engines can deliver. So please support VoxelVerse if you can. And even if you can't afford it, come explore the power of Oxels, IVMs, and User Generated Content. I hope to get to know many of you well over the coming months and I look forward to collaborating with you on this exciting project..