Translation of an article by Mark Laursen, founder and CEO Bright star studios.
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2022 has been a year of change and evolution for the gaming and technology industry. The gaming sector continues to show tremendous growth, and the technology industry seems to be evolving day by day due to the explosive development of artificial intelligence. The booming blockchain and digital currency industry is… well… it can be hard to navigate. While there was a lot of white noise around us, we remained laser-focused on our core values and mission: to create the best experience for players, developers, and partners. It has been a good year for our development, a lot has been achieved and we are heading into 2023 at full speed with a lot of positivity and anticipation.
I want to talk about what we did in Bright star studioswhere we're headed and why it's important to create the best experience for players, developers, partners and more. Of course also Ember sword – why it will be fun, why our team and systems are focused solely on fun gameplay. And finally, I wanted to reveal our little secret that we kept secret.
For the uninitiated from the start
In 2018, we embarked on an ambitious journey to create an MMORPG that will revolutionize the way people experience online gaming. As avid players ourselves, we knew that accessibility, long downloads, tedious installs, patches, and the black market were major pain points for developers and players alike – and we knew we could do better.
Initially, we started working with a well-known engine company that promised us to have the technology ready to fulfill our vision of affordability and high performance within a maximum of 2 years. Unfortunately, when it came down to it, they realized they couldn't do what they promised. They would have to start from scratch, which they did not want to do. So... that's how we were left alone. Were we upset? Of course. But we never doubted for a second that our vision of improving the experience for everyone, no matter where they live or what technology they have access to, was right.
This is how the Project SERIUS engine was born. This was not our first engine, as a team we developed and worked on a total of 5 engines, but none of them could do what this one does. It solves a TON of problems with the current stagnant model, it's faster, it's stronger, and it will create a huge impact on the market.
By developing the SERIUS project for Ember sword, we found that its capabilities go far beyond games. It has the ability to change many industries and create a smoother and more enjoyable experience for users all over the world.
We are incredibly excited about the opportunities that Project SERIUS opens up and we can't wait to share them with the world. We will talk more about this later, but now I want to talk about our flagship game. Ember sword.
As we set out to revolutionize the world of online gaming, we are excited to announce our latest game: Ember sword An MMORPG that really pushes the boundaries of what's possible. The game offers an immersive, fast-paced experience that can be accessed instantly from any device. With stunning graphics, highly customizable options and intense real-time combat, this game offers a truly unique gaming experience. Players can explore a vast world full of adventure, mystery and danger, joining forces with friends and allies to achieve victory.
This is a gaming experience that, no joke, can be played on any device around the world within 10 seconds, up to a 3G+ connection. It's a mix of fast-paced aRPG combat combined with an isometric look and skill-based abilities, a MOBA, set in a persistent MMORPG fantasy universe. Like most great ideas, it was born out of strong frustration. We are tired of long downloads and patches. We're tired of playing for thousands of hours and seeing large corporations, the behemoths, reap all the value that we, the community, have created, or worse, being stolen by shady characters on the black market. And finally, we were annoyed by the fact that although games have great peak moments, most of the game loops are still uninteresting cramming.
What if we could create a fun and highly social game with all the features we love and make it accessible to anyone in the world, no matter where they are?
What if we could create our own engine - one that really simplifies game development and the entire player experience?
What if we could help eliminate the black market and bring everything to the surface with complete transparency, giving players complete control over their own digital assets?
So, we started construction in 2018 with the vision of “addictive gameplay above all else”. We have created an ever-changing world where players can control individual parts of the game such as capitals, cities, towns and villages. Games these days are formulaic, a bit callous, and the gaming world never changes. You can play any popular MMO, and the capitals where everyone gathers remain the same for a decade, and sometimes several decades, with little or no change.
Having player-owned land keeps the game feeling fresh and dynamic at all times, and we share the profits with those who help keep the game alive, the way it should be. We also use artificial intelligence to create events on the fly, something like AI-GameMaster, which always tries to make it difficult for you. It uses machine learning to learn from the players in the game by studying their behavior to try and give them an epic experience, or just relax if the player is aiming for it.
Emphasis on addictive gameplay
В Ember sword there are several continents in one big shared world. It is very social, with a lot of features based on communities and guilds. For example, if you are a streamer, we use integrated streaming methods, which saves you bandwidth because we will be streaming the game directly to the platform of your choice, such as Twitch or YouTube, instead of you having to stream the game and your own channel at the same time. You have to explore different types of biomes in a fantasy world where nothing is forbidden, so you have to be constantly on the lookout.
The game is classless, meaning you don't have to stick to any particular physique or ability to have fun, join a guild, etc. How you play and your style of play is entirely up to you, and what matters is how you apply yourself. We know this style of play is very difficult to achieve as a class-based system greatly simplifies the development and balancing of the game, which is why the developers prefer it, but we believe that it also limits the creativity of people. This limits their participation in events, and not to mention the fact that it limits their enjoyment, because who wants to be forced to play a certain role or have only certain abilities. This also means that you cannot buy your way to the top. To get there, you need to have great skill and talent.
The game will have many opportunities for PvE and PvP. From an open world full of challenging quests, creature encounters, crafting and crafting, to cavernous dungeons for parties and co-op raids. We want our players to communicate with each other, which we will achieve through competitive content across a huge world - which will be large, 16x16 km² to be exact.
Of course, all this will be done in the browser - but make no mistake, this is not just another browser game. This is a full fledged highly competitive MMORPG. Browser access to the game is made possible by our proprietary Project SERIUS engine, which provides much greater accessibility, allowing hundreds of millions of users to enjoy the game rather than a few million.
Priority of a transparent in-game economy
As gamers ourselves, we've taken all the best features from all the games we love and brought them to life. Ember sword. Combat, quests, raids and in-game economy will be epic. The entire economy is built in such a way that we do not care, pardon the expression, for the state of the world economy, cryptocurrencies and markets. We have been developing from the very beginning Ember sword as its own self-sustaining ecosystem. First of all, we care about fun.
It is impossible to buy progress or victory in the game
Based on the positive experience of players in the economy, we will release a certain number of digital collectibles into the game every month - depending on the number of active players (which will be minted on a chain), and then distributed by game meetings and other achievements. This allows for maximum scarcity and the transparency mentioned earlier, as everyone can see what and how much is minted, and can even see the individual mint number of collectibles. For example, a player might have the first #1 hat out of maybe 1000 hats.
This means that we, as developers, don't have to spend time worrying about what is selling and what will be profitable in the future. We only need to provide fun for everyone.
We also thought about the dangers of bots and bot farming when we initially developed the strategy and concept of the game - after all, if you have easily attainable collectibles or items, as in most MMORPGs, you will attract a horde of bots and farms of players who will use these methods to making a profit. However, by making items less labor-intensive, with more focus on gameplay and personal playstyle, we are significantly limiting the use and need for bots, as no one will buy these items on the black markets when they are not needed. What about collectibles? Well, bots won't be able to mine them as they require you to actively participate in the gameplay. On top of that, we also use artificial intelligence to monitor the game to keep bots to an absolute minimum.
Blockchain. Is it necessary? And what will he give?
Ember sword is a Free To Play game that uses blockchain technology to provide transparency and legal ownership of digital collectibles. This is not a game created because of the blockchain, and you do not need experience with this technology. You won't need to know how to manage your digital wallet, and you won't be asked to buy anything in advance.
We use blockchain because it gives us the benefits of an open ledger where we and our users can track everything transparently and openly, creating much more trust between us and the end user. We cannot fool our community by recreating old collectibles and re-release them because players will be able to see how they were minted. In addition, the economy of the game is contained in the token, where, again, everything is transparent. It's not really that different from any other MMORPG with its own in-game premium currency and an auction house or item market. The only difference is that we allow players to trade if they so desire, we make it easy to track, we create a reliable system in which everyone feels like a true member of the community.
In addition, we use a chain to record your item's unique in-game history. This means that when you attach one of the collectibles to your character, it starts generating a story of what has been achieved with it. From epic moments when you defeat monsters, bosses and encounters, to special occasions. Say goodbye to boring old memories, say hello to share these epic moments forever.
SERIUS. Why does this engine change everything?
The technology behind Ember sword, our own proprietary Project SERIUS engine, is a next-generation technology that enables significant improvements in a number of different sectors - not least gaming. What sets this game engine apart from others on the market is its speed and scalability. Our engine is able to process large amounts of data quickly and efficiently, allowing developers to create complex and immersive game experiences with less time and cost than other engines.
This allows you to simplify and reduce the cost of development, which is fully accessible in any browser or device. This means that any player in any region, up to a 3G+ connection, can now play an AAA game without delay and without having to wait several days for download and installation. This allows Project SERIUS to penetrate markets that were previously untapped due to lack of capacity or other technical constraints. Game change.
Today, there is still a lot of stigma around games delivered via the browser, because in the past such games were made using flash, for example, and were usually very simple, especially in terms of graphics. However, in today's world, the browser is quite capable of providing a high-end experience - the only limit here is the technology available through the browser, which, in turn, must constantly evolve. And it's definitely evolving, with great applications like WebGPU, WebAssembly, etc. coming and being optimized to improve productivity and quality of development on the web.
If you imagine the browser as a terminal, then you can imagine that with an Internet connection and a decent bandwidth of all computers, almost anything can be delivered through this “terminal”. I personally imagine that in the future we will not even need an operating system (like Windows), but instead we will only have terminals (literally browsers) through which everything we need will be delivered. From photo editing apps, music editing software to video editing, just about anything you can think of can be directly, seamlessly and securely delivered right to you through your little terminal window. This limits the need for huge hard drives or even massive computer towers. We really believe this is the future, and we at Project SERIUS are definitely working towards that direction.
Project SERIUS is currently focused on developing and delivering experiences for games, starting with Ember sword. But we are already preparing it for use in many other industries where it can work wonders. From providing better video streaming (think of a faster/better way to download and play videos on streaming platforms) to providing user-specific experiences for retail applications, augmented and virtual reality, automotive solutions, and home improvement. All of these industries can leverage instant platform-agnostic experiences to reach more people around the world. Game change.
What's in store for Ember Sword in 2023?
This year we are going to show much more features of the game. From game quest loops, a more open world, a full dungeon experience with included groups, world bosses, fun encounters and puzzles for you to solve and defeat.
What we are planning at first is a good foundation of what every great MMORPG needs. We will be releasing a small patch of the current game world where you can get to know how the quests work, the different biomes you will encounter in the first nation called Sun Forest. You'll be able to see what player-owned plots of land can look like, learn how our fun and challenging crafting system works, and experience some PVE. You have to hunt various monsters, defeat them, and finally team up with other players to defeat the world boss - a monster that appears in the open world and requires the participation of several people. This also includes arena fun, which will be PVP where you can do anything from 1vs1 to 2vs2, 3vs3 and so on.
Which brings me to the final part, a fight where we hope you enjoy the different types of skills and abilities introduced at the beginning of the game, from dual wielding cool “pistols”, to the more traditional sword-and-board warrior, to badass spell-casting mages. . There will be a little bit of everything for everyone.
The goal is to get something in your hands around April - don't kill me if the timing changes a bit, this is game development after all - and then again after the summer when we plan to have a really fun dungeon experience ready for you to try.
Personally, I can't wait to finally show you all what we have in store. Several years of development have passed Ember sword, and Project SERIUS Engine. We continue to make great strides in this ever-changing world despite the current turbulent market. 2023 will be the best year for Bright star studios, as we get closer and closer to the first release Ember sword. I know you will all be delighted with her.
We will continue to share more details about what exactly you will see in the upcoming tests and demos. We're also going to talk more about the SERIUS project and why it's such a great technology for game developers and gamers alike.
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