IMGDC: A Look at Multiverse
While at the Indie Game Developers Conference, Managing Editor Jon Wood had the opportunity to sit down with Ron Meiners from Multiverse to talk about their Technology Platform.
When an indie developer is looking to start a project, there are a number of questions that he (or she) has to ask themselves. What kind of game do I want to make? How much time and money can I invest in this? Who is going to work on it with me? Will it be PvP or PvE? Class or Skill based?
These are some of the questions that come readily to mind when you ask what questions developers have to ask themselves when they start a project. The question that doesn't necessarily rear its head is "what technology platform am I going to use, and how much will it cost?"
The technology behind MMORPGs is as diverse as the games themselves. Technology platform, in this case, refers to all of the tools that the developers will need in order to bring their game from design to shelf. This includes the engine, dev tools and the like. Some companies choose to create their own technology in-house. For an indie though, this is often not possible. When that is the case, the developer has to look at the commercial options that area available to them. Often this involves paying a flat fee, sometimes a very large fee, to license the technology.
While I was attending the Indie Game Developers Conference, I had a chance to sit down and talk to Ron Meiners from a company called Multiverse that is supplying their technology platform to a growing number of developers.
"Our goal," said Meiners, "is to remove barriers for people to be able to create original games in virtual worlds."
Indeed, Multiverse seems to be an appealing choice for an indie developer / startup looking to get into making an MMORPG. The licensing model differs from the norm. Most licensing models see money change hands before development on a project beings, requiring money up front. Multiverse tries to be more adaptable, and allows developers to use their engine and tools completely for free until the devs start to make money. At that time, Multiverse charges 10% of the market share.
When I asked him about the customer service for a product that is supplied essentially for free, he told me that, "our success is dependent on the success of our developers." This encourages good communication between Multiverse and anyone using their product.
The Multiverse model allows developers the freedom to experiment without having made a huge technology investment.
"We want to enable [developers] to create their vision."
I asked Ron what effect Multiverse would have on the average player of MMORPGs. He said that they are looking at technology with a universal client that is looking to break down the gaps between virtual worlds and gives players games that don't need the financial backing of a multi-million dollar title like World of Warcraft.
Ron told me that game play in today's MMOs is limited in terms of what it could be. Multiverse allows developers the freedom to create new experiences and encourages them to communicate and to share discoveries and ideas. The very active developer community (at least 9,500 developers have signed up on their website) gives help and support to the people who need it.
Although the platform is still in the Beta testing phase of its development, we are already beginning to see the results of the project here on MMORPG.com. Yesterday, I ran an article about a group that is creating a game out of Georgia Tech. Led by Celia Pearce, the game is called Mermaids, and run on the Multiverse Technology Platform. Multiverse has allowed teams like Pearce and co. to work on their game on a much smaller budget than might have otherwise been necessary.
Recently, MMORPG.com added a game called Force of Arms to our Game List. Force of Arms is a mech-based MMORPG that uses, you guessed it, the Multiverse Technology Platform. At the Game Developers Conference, Multiverse was showing a number of different games, all at various levels of completion. There were two Mars-related games being developed, and even a Shakespearian-based MMO called Arden.
Obviously, Multiverse is already making an impact on the MMO world. To wrap up, I asked Ron if there was anything else that he wanted to add to the conversation. He said that he was happy to see "how inspired and passionate indie developers can be." After a moment's thought, he added that "they're creating their dreams."
As time rolls on, I would suggest that people keep an eye out for games created using the Multiverse Technology Platform. It could just produce some of the most innovative and interesting new indie MMOs.
Indeed Multiverse has opened up a lot of doors and possibilities for Indies who want to make MMO's of various types (serious, entertainment, educational, social, action, etc). We (Wardog Studios) are an example of people like you, reader, that have always wanted to make a world of their own and to be in control of that world, as well as to use innovative and creative processes. No longer is there a need to go a publisher and sign away one's life work of IP to a company in hopes of getting their title released to the public.
You can check in with our progress of Force of Arms, listed on MMORPG.Com and/or at our website.
Yes, creating an MMO of your own can be done and it only takes one person with one idea to start it.
Never give up on your dream.
Links:
www.forceofarms.com
www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setView/overview/gameID/286
Thanks!
Shava
So in the end you give Multiverse between 13% and 20%.
Of course, it sounds a lot, but engines are expensive to create. If you look at other engines, you end up very fast in the hundreds of thousands dollars.
When you look at it closely, will our games ever do hundreds of thousands of dollars? I don't know, I hope, but it might not be before long and Multiverse offers us the chance to create something for free. If you decide to make your game free to play without any revenue, well, you pay nothing.
If you happen to make money, it's normal Multiverse wants some money for helping you and invest in your game. Because it's really an investment they do by giving us the tools for free.
I think this is great news for small developers looking to invest in their big idea. There seems to be some talk to people wanting to produce their own mmo's in the devs sections of this grand sites' fourms, along with other groups around the net ( http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=12 is just one i stumbled onto today). Am i right in thinking that this package is available to anyone even individuals?
Naturally creating a MMO takes a great deal of time a effort, much more than a single person can realistically put into it, but i take it getting hold of the Multiverce package isnt as easy as say the XNA suite for Xbox 360. It perhaps offers more? perhaps what i am wondering is the Multiverce product also aimed at individuals or small groups of people looking to develop their own game independant of game development studios or would it be more advisable for them to get a job in the industry before getting any grandiose ideas?
You are correct on several things you mentioned. It takes a lot to create an MMO more then what I thought when we started. Multiverse is open to single persons to create as well as teams. It's flexibility allows for multiple levels of knowledge to be leveraged but it is versatile enough to allow seasoned developers to use and modify as needed. There are man small teams and 1 game Doomsberg entertainment started as a one man band (so to speak) and has now grown. Most are smaller indie teams though. It's a great package and license deal for any indie though, single or team, professional or hobbiest.
The 10%-20% fee is not bad at all, you can run it on their server which is a huge relief from buying the very expensive equipment to set up in a datacenter or at your own company location. I’m looking to spend thousands to get my project up on a server next year after moving from a rental server and having the ability to scale up the server at a whim is practically unthinkable in my situation. So big plus in that department with MV.
Other than that, for those new budding developers, do yourself a favor and spend a year or two actually learning how to develop a PC game before you try to start an mmorpg project yourself, it is just to funny to see so many people with now idea what they are doing to get started and then vaporware their game because they botched it so badly. Just with modelling and texturing, if you don’t do it the way it’s suppose to be done you can wind up with a game that delivers 1FPS on even the most intense computer systems yet look low quality; I’ve seen it happen, no joke. But for those that have been working with game development or moding for a good amount of time, MV is definitely worth checking out imo.
The 10% revenue split is from software/platform related transactions. This would cover subscriptions, in-game purchases, etc. Basically any financial transaction that is conducted within the platform, there is a 10% cut (and billing % not included). Revenue that is generated externally of the platform, for example, selling T-shirts on the game's website is excluded from the 10% split.
So for example:
$5000 is made during one month from subscriptions and another $300 from website sales; total of $5,300.
Multiverse will take 10% of the $5,000; in this case $500. We'll say Billing is at 5%; so that's another $250 that needs to be handed over. Thus Multiverse takes $750 from the $5,000.
This leaves the developer/owner $4,550 remaining ($4,250 + $300) to cover expenses, continue development, payroll, taxes, etc.