Raph Koster Talks About The Tech Behind Playable Worlds’ Ambitious MMO

Playable Worlds scored an additional studio founder Raph Koster says will be used to expand the development team and the development of their still-unannounced dynamic sandbox MMO. While the team isn’t ready to share specifics about the game just yet, Koster is more than happy to talk about the technology behind it.

“The big thing is that, at this point, the core of what we’re doing is proven and we are building a cloud-native platform,” said Koster in an interview with VentureBeat. “We have that up and running, and it unlocks a whole bunch of new capabilities. Our goal has always been to build online game technology that is really quite a bit more future-proof. It is looking forward towards the cloud rather than backwards at the older ways of doing things.”

Koster revealed that cloud computing enables them to run more detailed simulations and allows them to achieve things that most games aren’t able to do right now, such as smarter AI, modifiable environments, and better procedural-generation than most games out in the market. He also said that while computers are infinitely more powerful now than they were 25 years ago, most games don’t take advantage of the benefits of the cloud.

According to Koster, they’re pushing the limits of procedural environments and AI to new levels. “It’s about having environments that are more alive,” he said. “Players can affect things that evolve and change rather than being static. Most games build their maps out of static meshes. Ours are dynamic and come down on the fly from the server. It’s about enabling worlds to feel more alive. That’s really what it comes down to.”

“Offering truly and fully persistent shared environments and massive scale is something else that is really important to us,” he added. “These aren’t just theme parks that you ride through, right? Where the developers are the ones who are in control. Giving full persistence also unlocks the ability for players to have far more impact. If you chop down a tree, it is permanently gone from the world for everybody.”

“It’s persistent change for everyone. Meaning if you do something in the game, then it persists and matters to everybody else,” he said.

Koster’s ambitious new game will also allow for customization, economic interdependence, and rich social behaviors. Players will have the freedom to enjoy the game regardless of their playstyle and will not be considered “second-class citizens” just because they chose to play as a crafter, trader, or laborer rather than a fighter or soldier.

Adventurers, for example, will be dependent on crafters, which in turn will be dependent on explorers, who will also be dependent on adventurers for protection.

The game’s tech will also allow players to interact with social media platforms and engage with influencers, which is probably where the multiverse aspect of the game will come in. “We’re way past a world in which games are an isolated little pocket. Everything is interconnected today on the internet, and the game should be too,” Koster said.