Tomáš Mariančík, aka Frooxius, is the developer of Sightline: The Chair, one of the most accomplished VR experiences out there. So , news that the developers and his company Solirax are building a metaverse crafting experience that allows you to build virtual worlds intuitively in minutes, is a big deal. Here’s a video of the developer’s new project ‘NEOS’ in action.
The pleasure and satisfaction of building worlds in your image, with all the malevolent (or benevolent, I’m not judging) catharsis that comes along with it has always been a powerful draw in gaming. From the very early days of gaming, titles like Civilisation and Sim City have strived to harness that need for humans to build (and, on occasion, destroy).
Mariančík, is now working on a title that promises to let you build your own corner of your very own metaverse and he demonstrates just how you’ll do that in this, the first glimpse of Solirax’s new project ‘NEOS’.
Using a pair of Razer Hydras and a DK2, Mariančík enters a ‘blank’ world, wielding what can only be described as lightsabers, but with later pointers in place of Sith-slicing swords. These are your benevolent multi-tools within your virtual universe it seems and straight away it’s clear just how well they work. Bringing up mode selectors on the sabers allows the player to select between object or terrain creation. Structures too are available, and by the looks of it, ‘painting’ your own buildings into reality is something that might never get old.
As ever, Mariančík’s attention to detail, even in this very early concept demo, is present. You don’t just click the controllers and ‘pop!’ there’s a building, the structures instead form themselves piece by piece, destruction in reverse, like a scene from Mary Poppins. And how about that Sun, don’t like it where it is? Then point, grab and pull it below the horizon for an instant sunset.
This is early days for ‘NEOS’, but Mariančík’s hints at a connected metaverse, using tools that are this intuitive to help build it, is a tantalising prospect. We’ll endeavour to find out more as soon as we can.