Community First
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| Episode 151: Community First | |
|---|---|
| Air Date | 2026-03-14 |
| Guest | None |
| Video | Watch on YouTube |
| Runtime | 58:20 |
| Topics | Quest Terminals, Game Loops, Hot Zones, Bundle Sale, Apartments, Server Nodes |
| Drinks | |
| Rob's Drink | Water |
| Josh's Drink | Diet Dr Pepper |
Summary
The video episode from Cafe Rise serves as an engaging update and deep dive into the ongoing development of Infinity Rising, a complex and ambitious multiplayer game rooted in a vast, evolving metaverse. Hosted by Rob Greg and Josh Jones, the discussion covers a wide range of topics including new gameplay features, infrastructure improvements, community engagement, marketing strategies, and upcoming milestones. The episode emphasizes the evolving nature of the game’s systems—particularly questing, mini-games, crafting, and apartments—highlighting how they interconnect and scale to create a rich player experience.
A key focus is the introduction of Quest Terminals in various game locations, which facilitate scalable and layered questing systems that progressively unlock based on player progress and season levels. This quest system integrates with inventory, player perks, and multi-level objectives, showcasing a complex underlying architecture that supports rich gameplay.
The hosts reveal details on two new mini-games: Shooting Alley, a fast-paced target shooting challenge with multiple difficulty levels linked to player progression, and Crazy Taxi, a delivery quest inspired by real-world concepts like DoorDash and classic arcade games, incorporating innovative navigation aids for in-game item delivery. These mini-games are not mere side activities but are positioned as core experiences that add variety and value.
The episode also delves into the crafting system, which will support over 400 recipes, emphasizing scalability and complexity. Players will engage in multi-step crafting quests like ore gathering, smelting, and item creation, all integrated into the quest system for guided gameplay.
The Relic Quest is introduced as a community-interactive quest, initially designed as a partner quest with various aligned blockchain and gaming communities, particularly on Cardano. This quest serves as a strategic tool for partnership and onboarding broader player bases.
From a technical standpoint, the team discusses infrastructure updates, including node improvements and the introduction of server nodes to empower community hosting of multiplayer experiences and custom domes. This decentralized approach will allow players to host and monetize game servers, enhancing community involvement.
One of the most ambitious features under development is the Apartment System, designed as a scalable, persistent personal space for players. The system faces challenges due to performance and data management complexities since thousands of apartments must be hosted and synchronized across servers. The team is revamping the architecture to ensure smooth performance and data persistence without frequent wipes, recognizing apartments as a vital "home base" for mainstream gamers.
Marketing and community management efforts are also discussed in depth. The team is refining their messaging and content strategy on platforms like TikTok to better represent the game’s identity and attract mainstream gamers. This includes launching new wallets that simplify onboarding and running targeted ad campaigns with highly effective customer acquisition costs. A new sale event tied to these efforts aims to fund marketing for the upcoming alpha launch.
Alpha launch timelines remain flexible but are expected soon after the apartments release. The team emphasizes iterative testing and community feedback as crucial to delivering a polished experience. They also outline future plans to unlock land plot building, which will follow apartments and introduce larger-scale player constructions.
Throughout the episode, the developers stress the complexity and innovative nature of the game’s systems, the importance of scalability, and the value of community engagement and feedback. The overall tone is one of cautious optimism and excitement for the near future of Infinity Rising.
Highlights
🎯 Introduction of Quest Terminals across game maps enabling scalable, layered questing systems. 🔫 Launch of Shooting Alley mini-game with difficulty tiers tied to player progress. 🚗 Development of Crazy Taxi-inspired delivery quests featuring innovative navigation aids. 🛠️ Crafting system expansion with over 400 recipes, integrated into questing loops. 🏠 Apartment system undergoing major architectural overhaul for scalable, persistent player homes. 🌐 Infrastructure improvements including community-hosted server nodes for multiplayer custom domes. 📈 Strategic marketing push with new wallets and ad campaigns targeting mainstream gamers ahead of alpha launch.
Key Insights
🎮 Complex Questing Architecture Enhances Player Engagement: The quest system in Infinity Rising is not a simple fetch quest mechanic but a sophisticated, multi-layered framework that triggers quests based on player season level, inventory, and completed objectives. This modular design allows quests to span multiple game zones and requires players to interact with various game systems, creating a deeply immersive experience. The ability to scale and layer quests exponentially increases gameplay depth, fostering long-term engagement.
🕹️ Mini-Games as Core Game Loops, Not Just Side Activities: By framing mini-games like Shooting Alley and Crazy Taxi as core gameplay loops, the developers leverage existing game systems to create varied, repeatable experiences that cater to different player interests. These mini-games serve as accessible, quick-play options that keep gameplay fresh and engaging while also testing new mechanics such as timing, navigation, and quest integration that can be applied more broadly. This approach highlights design efficiency and scalability.
🏗️ Crafting System’s Breadth Reflects Game’s Scalability Ambition: Supporting over 400 crafting recipes is an ambitious goal that speaks to the depth of player creativity and economic complexity envisioned. The multi-step crafting quests—gathering ore, smelting, then crafting ingots—illustrate how crafting is integrated tightly with questing, perks, and player progression. This layered crafting system promotes player investment and creates a foundation for complex in-game economies and player-driven markets.
🏢 Apartment System’s Technical Challenges Reveal Innovation in Persistent World Design: Creating thousands of persistent, player-customizable apartments that sync across servers in real time is a monumental technical challenge. The shift to local caching and architectural redesign to improve performance reflects the team’s commitment to building a scalable, persistent player home system without frequent wipes. This system is pivotal for mainstream player adoption, providing a personalized “home base” that is foundational to player identity and long-term retention.
🌍 Community-Driven Infrastructure via Server Nodes Encourages Decentralization and Monetization: The plan to introduce server nodes that community members can host and monetize using in-game tokens represents a forward-thinking approach to decentralized game hosting. This not only enhances multiplayer experiences but also fosters community ownership and investment in the game’s ecosystem, potentially creating a sustainable economic model where players contribute to the game’s infrastructure.
📢 Marketing Strategy Reflects Learning and Adaptation to Current Trends: The team’s reflection on their TikTok content and marketing approach demonstrates an agile and community-responsive mindset. Recognizing the importance of gameplay footage and clearer messaging, they are adjusting their strategy to better attract and retain mainstream gamers. The integration of automatic wallet creation further lowers barriers to entry, showing thoughtful preparation for a wider audience.
🚀 Alpha Launch Strategy Centered on Iterative Feedback and Quality Assurance: Rather than committing to a fixed date, the developers emphasize an iterative alpha launch process that prioritizes system integration, community feedback, and quality assurance. This pragmatic approach acknowledges the complexities of game development and aims to deliver a polished experience that meets player expectations while scaling up the community organically.
Transcript
View Full Transcript
00:00:03 [music] Heat up here. [music] >> [music] >> Hey everybody, welcome to Cafe Rise. We've got Rob Greg here and Josh Jones talking about Infinity Rising, the game we are building that is beautiful, amazing. We've got an awesome community. uh we talk about this uh game and what we're developing each week and what we're working on and uh this is our way of just staying alive with you guys, our
00:01:02
community and uh bringing you in to what we're doing. If it's new to you, then uh please like and subscribe and and follow us, check us out because it's a lot of fun. Um so this episode we are going to talk a little bit about Quest Terminals. Um, a couple new games that we're bringing in, mini games, uh, to the to the mix.
00:01:22
Um, some nodes announcements, updates, um, a server announcement, the apartments and, uh, where we're at with the apartment status, and, uh, and some more. So, some marketing stuff as well. We got a lot of good topics for you. Oh, well, let don't let me forget, uh, a big sale announcement. Um, and uh, when I say that, it's um, it's exciting to me because of how we're coupling it with what it's for.
00:01:55
Um, >> for a boat. >> Huh? >> For a boat. It's a big sale. >> Oh, boy. [laughter] Um it we're we're coupling it with uh it's a very strategic move as was some of the last sales even, but this one is more directed towards our move towards a mainstream alpha launch. And so um yeah, more on that soon.
00:02:20
Before I get too far along, uh Rob, what are you drinking today? Well, I wish I was drinking some kind of energy drink because I've been some long days, but I'm going for water cuz apparently that's pretty good as well. >> I've just spelled backwards is naive, >> which is kind of funny. >> Is it not water then? Is Is it actually an energy drink? >> Uh, it's definitely not an energy drink.
00:02:51
Uh, cheers. >> I just noticed you've got a football top on. It is a football top, isn't it? You did. Good. Nice catch. Wait, did you know that just from >> Well, I bought it. I I bought that topper. That's right. When I was over, >> yeah, I forgot. Yes, I do. I have an Austin FC shirt on.
00:03:06
I'm surprised you noticed, though. Good. Good. Good. >> I've noticed about where everywhere I travel that's that's non UK. [snorts] Uh well, non England really. Could could be any country. Um I try and bring back a football top from that country. >> Nice. Good. Good. all that state. As it turns out, there's quite a few states.
00:03:27
So So I've got I've got like um a Vegas one. Vegas Nights. Is that soccer? I don't know. But that I got a Vegas nights top. It might be ice hockey. I don't know. But I got I got short from there. Anyway, what what did you say you were drinking? I missed that. >> Oh, all good. All good. Uh Diet Dr. Pepper.
00:03:42
Um I'm drinking one of my Vice drinks. I know it's not healthy for me, but that being said, >> Vice, >> it's been one of those kind of weeks. um in uh a variety of things with work challenges, life challenges, and community challenges. Um so sometimes I'll just resort to, hey, what's the thing that I want? And like I don't drink alcohol anymore, so my vices now are like diet Dr.
00:04:09
Pepper and the occasional cigar. >> You're going to overdose on diet Dr. Pepper [laughter] >> caffeine. Um all right. Hey, so we got a we got a fun episode ahead for you guys. Let's let's get into it. Lots of good stuff uh in development in parallel with the game. Um something motor club. >> Gotcha.
00:04:31
Um a lot of good stuff happening with the game and uh Rob, I think you'll give us some good context on what's happening, but let's why don't we just kick it off with the quest terminals on the maps? >> Yeah, we started we we've added some quest terminals now to Kid Toledo. So, Kid Toledo City has I think it's got three in there.
00:04:50
We've added a terminal into the pavilion. You'll the nice little orangey buildings from from a a company called what do we call them? We call them Civic Civic Works. Civic Works. That's where you'll be able to to go and start quests. It's always worth popping in and seeing if you can interact with them because certain quests start when you've done other quests and certain start quests will start when you reach a certain season level.
00:05:18
So, for example, when you finished the um the onboarding, go to to that quest place and and a few quests will pop up that are only triggered by by you completing that. So, so those will be in there. There's also one in every single town within all the solices. So, so lots of places to start quests from and >> which to me, you know, this is important for community to know and the gamers to know.
00:05:47
As we build out a system like questing, that's a system. Uh there's a process involved that enables us to then take that process and scale it throughout the game. Uh, so not only do we bring you a variety of different questing types and uh what you what you're being quested to do, what what the quest may be, um, there's also terminals that make the town more interactive and more intera engaging.
00:06:14
And so it's just adding value in a variety of ways and I think it's important. So when we build systems, they allow us to scale throughout our massive massive world, which just adds so much more value. Um, and I I love it. It's uh, and then you take a system along with another system and you have that exponential complexity because you're layering different things on top of one another in a way that really works well.
00:06:42
>> So exponential value increases. >> That's right. I mean, the quest system is actually quite complicated under the hood because because it works across different levels, which is actually quite tricky cuz some some quests are available on some levels and not on the other.
00:06:53
We will have quests that start in one level and then you'll have to go through to another level, then come back. So, for example, we might want you to go and craft something. So, you might have to go into Solace, go into the gathering fields, gather some items, then go and craft them um a bench somewhere, maybe in a town or or maybe back in Toledo or maybe at your apartment, and then you'll have to come back and and maybe sell the final item, maybe back in the city.
00:07:18
So, so those are quite complex because they take into account not only the quest system, the the level that you're on as your player your player season level, they also take into account um what's in your inventory, what you're allowed to do. There'll be some things that we're introducing perks in the next build as well.
00:07:39
So, you'll only be able to craft if you've got a certain um perk, which we will explain when we have a we have a leak on that um later on in in in another show. But, um yeah, the they're all they're all tying together and they're all being built on top of each other. So even when you when even when you do anything say let's say you shoot something by triggering that that the death of whatever that object is it could be a target it could be a creature could could be anything that will then interact with the with the player which interacts with the quest system that goes out you there's lots of things happening with within milliseconds of of of of of actions it's a bit crazy it's a nightmare to debug >> amazing stuff and I I realized that the systems and the complexity in dev work. It's it's I you're just learning more and more over time. Um what it it's just so different than just regular software development, there's so much more complexity.
00:08:38
>> Yeah. I mean, in in the early days when you had kind of world, you know. >> Yeah. I mean, in the early days when you had kind of like just procedural like like maybe cobalt, you ran something and then it ran something else and it was all kind of very linear and and then you had maybe kind of like object-orientated where it was kind of all over the place that was almost like 2D or even 3D programming.
00:09:01
For me, it it was a little bit crazy. But but this game thing where you got events firing off all over the place, but not just events, events on players and on actors and all over of the world that's going back and forth. >> So events firing by multiple parties that are causing triggers that are back and forth and the complexity >> just and you only want some things to run on the clients and some things only on the server and you got to do all that checking and then you honestly it it's >> and then you're building on an engine >> that is just massive. It's the most massive gaming engine in the world. However, it's got its own little uh issues and and you're you're mid dev on something and it shuts down like you told me or it freezes or you know and then this is like every every dev's pet peeve but um okay so let's move on. So we got the shooting we got some new game game loops. Why don't you talk us
00:10:00
through shooting alley and crazy taxi? Um, yeah, actually we the the shooting alley is my camera going going blur. I don't know what's going on there. It [snorts] >> appears to be um I think it's JJ Abrams is putting like the letters Flynn's behind me. So So actually the we we could probably do an early leak on the shooting alley cuz it's something that we something that we that we showed a few weeks ago in in the watch party.
00:10:27
This is just a a little fun game where there's a there's a couple of alleys, couple of of weapons shops, merchant shops in the global map. And the global map is where your apartments are. And in the basement that there is a little shooter alley. So, we put a little gaming experience in there.
00:10:43
And um let me I'll probably let me share let me share that I think. Okay. So, so this is this is an early leak. So, as you see there, we we've got three different options. You've got easy, hard, and you've got impossible with a question mark. And um yeah, the the idea of this is you're against the clock, and every time you shoot a target, you get an extra second or so.
00:11:15
>> And successful completion yet? >> Well, don't be honest then. Just go ahead and lie. Well, I mean, when when I set the amount to shoot to one, then I succeed a lot more than I do [laughter] when it's at 10. So, we have a nice little quest giver here now. It's just a little marker. >> You interact with it. There we go.
00:11:35
Easy, hard, or impossible. >> Um, yeah, I I've not managed to get past the easy bit. >> Easy is impossible for you. >> It's it it's quite easy, but um I I >> So, I'm struggling with the fingers. >> This This is fun. uh you know and and by the way if you uh if you are watching this for the first time and you want to see stuff like this earlier sometimes we show this in our watch parties so for example that some of you have already seen this we have watch parties in our discord so you know if you're checking us out for the first time go get involved with our discord we have a very welcoming community they'll show you around uh they'll um yeah it's it's just uh it's fun so um we have watch parties where we'll watch this together and then we do kind of an AMA with the community afterwards and uh just engage with everybody that's a part of what we're doing because we value the people >> uh just as much as we value what we're building. It's like this is all fun. We
00:12:34
get to participate together. So yeah, thanks for showing that. Honestly, I hate to admit it, but I haven't done the shooting alley yet, and it's just because I had to resolve that glitch with Greg. Well, we finally resolved it, but but I haven't got the build now. It'll be in the next It'll be in the next internal build.
00:12:50
>> Well, I'm good. I'm I'm good now to download from staging, but it's Yeah. Anyway, um Okay. So, that's a new little little game that's going to be in the in what we're doing. Um but there's >> and that's and that's a repeatable task as well. So, so some some quests you go in and you can only do them kind of once, whereas that one you can you can keep repeating it.
00:13:09
So, it's it's a little bit of fun. But also when you see there was an easy, a hard and an impossible level, the hard and the impossible level is al is driven by your player level. So you need to go out and and you know do other quests and do other tasks within the game to get that season level up.
00:13:26
It's not it's not a player level as such. It's kind of like a season level that the the game will be >> Yeah. and and then you will unlock the the hard level and then you do some some more stuff in the game, get some more XP, and then you'll then you'll have a go at the impossible. And I would like to um I'd like to think that some people will be able to do the impossible.
00:13:50
And um I'm not saying there'll be a prize, but I'm sure whenever somebody does that impossible the first time, they'll they'll get some good curiosity. >> Yeah, agreed. I don't know what just make so these mini games that made me think of so I've been kind of like making up games with friends for my whole life and there's one that me and a buddy made up in high school.
00:14:16
It was called the freeze game. >> Freeze game. >> Yeah. You just walk up to somebody and if you're in the game, if you've been initiated, and this was a big part of it. If you're initiated into the game, then you have the freeze power, which is you go up somebody with your finger, touch them, and you go.
00:14:34
And if you do that, if I did that to you, you have to freeze. No matter what you're doing, you have to stop until I unfreeze you and then you're unfrozen. And if you break the rules, you get kicked out and you can't play anymore until you get reinitiated. And so we had these fun initiation. It ended up taking off.
00:14:58
It got some like viral kind of deal uh for for you know high school that didn't really have much of an internet at that time cuz I'm old. Um but it it kind of went viral and we ended up having like 150 people playing the game at one point and we had like 26 people jogging [laughter] through a neighborhood in their boxer skiibbies late at night just like to get initiated. And then we did fun stuff.
00:15:24
Anyway, I derail. I digress. I love making games is exciting to us. We love making a creative way for people to engage and have fun. Sorry, let me finish. But go ahead. >> We might have something like that in game already. We We call it lag. >> Lag. [laughter] The freeze unintentional freeze game. Um, okay. So, good stuff.
00:15:48
Well, let's get into the crazy taxi because that's uh that's actually >> crazy >> proven it's proven in a variety of ways that that's going to add significant value in our game. So, go for it. >> Yeah. So, um I mean I can give you some insight into into another game and maybe the thought pattern behind it.
00:16:04
So, in building the shooting alley um that was built up with with layers. We we turned what was a static shooting zone into into things moving and then that was inspired to we tried to make that more fun by having these doors that open and close. And then the final thing we did was added some kind of like music to it and uh [snorts] and and since then just for a bit of background I've been listening to a lot of Offspring which were you know some good tunes back in the days of Crazy Taxi.
00:16:34
Um, but then David wanted this has always wanted this idea of kind of like a a delivery quest. Um, but an interesting delivery quest is it's one of the one of the common quests that you can do. Go and get something and deliver it to people. But obviously we wanted to put a bit of bit of a spin on it.
00:16:55
So, so what we're currently working on, I don't know if it'll be in the next build or not, but it's definitely something that we're working on is a delivery quest where this will probably start in the burger barn. So, I know people like to um because we're in the bare market and and Charles has shared his his McDonald's hat and stuff like that.
00:17:15
So, it so if you fancy yourself as a delivery driver, um it was it was inspired by that. It was inspired by aunt back in when he was a teenager. He used to drive his Toyota Celica and and deliver pizzas. So the idea is similar to it was it was also kind of inspired by Crazy Taxi. We wanted to to start off we wanted something against the clock where you go and deliver these items.
00:17:39
But unlike kind of crazy taxi where you where you kind of pick up, drop off, pick up, drop off, pick up, drop off, this is more like uh like I say, more like a pizza delivery or a burger delivery or or a Door Dash I think you've call it in America where you get the order and then you drop it off and then you drop off and drop off and drop off that there's there's no kind of coming back to base.
00:18:03
So we're So So that is that's the idea. you get an order which may be for four to 10 different places and it's against the clock and and the locations will come on the screen. You got to drop one off and then go to the next one and go to the next one and if you do that in time then you obviously finish that experience.
00:18:20
But in doing that, we we kind of had a challenge of well, how do we show on the screen maybe 10 different locations where you've got to go to at the same time without having uploads of the real estate where you've got to go here, here, here, here, here, and and all that kind of stuff. And so and and what we actually found as a solution is and and it's quite a a popular mechanic in in some games is we kind of got like like a little indicator on the screen which will show the 10 different locations and how far you are from them. And the trick with this is these indicators have to snap to the end of the screen. So if you're looking one way, you you know you've got to go left or or right. And and it's and it's something that that we'll we'll show you. Um, but the reason I'm going on about this is is because that was such a useful indicator. Um, and it complements
00:19:19
the compass really really well and you don't need to to kind of look away and and open the map and stuff like that. We're actually going to adopt it as as one of the um the the core um quality of life uh systems w within the game. So, so for example, what where we really needed this is is when you have your apartment, you will be in an apartment block somewhere and then when you so so some you know there's there's literally hundreds of these apartment blocks, but you'll need to not only know which apartment block you need to go to, but then you'll also need to know the floor you need to to go to. And that if you've just got a compass is actually quite tricky to do or a map. whereas this new pointer will take you directly there. So, um, so it's a long-winded way of saying we've got a we've got a a new a new game loop that we're working on
00:20:17
which is like a door dash, but it's al introduced really really important game functionality. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's again this is a a system on top of a system even because it can be incorporated with quests or whatever but it's a system that allows for you know transport delivery all sorts of new functionality and there's the way we vision casted it you know like like what I brought up the other day what if a player wants to request something um from another player eventually that's something that we can do where I could I could be in game and say hey I really need XYZ Z, I'll give you, you know, X amount for it and somebody could deliver it for it for them. That sort of thing. >> Yeah. Personal quests. Yeah. Yeah. They they will definitely come. Yep. >> Which can be a lot of fun. But that's not how we're starting off. Either way, when when can people expect Shooting Alley and Crazy Taxi? >> Um well, the the the shooting alley should be in should be in the next
00:21:15
public build. um the the delivery the delivery um challenge maybe in the next build. I don't know. This is something that once we build the I say we're building a prototype at the moment. It's almost complete. Um just got to work on the randomization of of places. Um just so you don't have to keep delivering to the same places.
00:21:37
Um, and then obviously it has to to pass QA and and get through David's approval and but I mean that may be in the next the next build. If if not, it should be in the following one. >> Cool. Um, all righty. So, Hot Zone version two. >> Yes, that's coming in. That's definitely coming in the next build that we had we had some issues with that.
00:22:00
Um, it was crashing the game [laughter] really, really bad like you do with with some of the timers. Like I say, they were they were misaligned. Gaming game multi multi- um multiplayer game program is really really difficult like I say with the amount of things that fire, but we fixed that.
00:22:20
Um, so that that will be coming in Solace 2 and just just so we're going to get some feedback in Solace 2 because it's that because it's it's quite complex to set up. We're going to remove hot zones from Solace one and solace 3 temporarily. So So if you want to play this, it'll be in Solace 2.
00:22:38
You will there's now three hot zones and in between each hot zone, you have to go and land on a platform and claim it for your team. So it's still red versus blue. So that will be coming in the next build and and I think that'll be that'll be pretty good. It it it's a great upgrade from the from the original Hot Zone game.
00:22:54
And you can use your use your jetpacks now and and your guns. So that so that will make playing very very interesting. >> Yes. I love it. U and for anybody new, there's, you know, we've talked a little bit about mini games. I I want to retitle that and repurpose that because in in a lot of ways they're a lot more than just a mini game.
00:23:14
Um so I want to rebrand that. Uh we just haven't done it yet. But one of the coolest things about that is that almost >> if if you're new, >> we have core game loops that are being developed >> that are very wellnown. Crafting. Uh crafting is going to over 400 recipes as we've mentioned. Um questing, that's a core game loop.
00:23:36
Combat, rift combat is another core game loop. We have core game loops that are very in development in parallel on the way. I would say that mini games are somewhat like a core game loop because they're thematically around the game. They just have massive variety and and a massive way for us to add value and something interesting.
00:23:56
You may be into it, you may not be into it, but a shooting alley is somewhat like a a little miniame that you can go jump into real quick, do something fun, super easy. >> Yeah, I I just call them mini experiences. It's it's it's I mean it's not >> it's not it's not even a side quest. It's just it's just something that we could brand in a cool way for each one probably. Yeah.
00:24:17
>> But um but the point being is it adds a ton of value and they're easy to execute uh for us because we already have all of the other elements and all of the other core systems in place. We're just adding something that's a small so it becomes very scalable is what I'm getting at. Um >> it's like rumble ball.
00:24:34
you know, the Rumble Balls is is an example of a multiplayer one where you can just all go and chill and and the the the delivery is a single player for now, but maybe in the future we'll we'll make that multiplayer. >> But all all these systems, as as I just explained, you know, >> some little nuggets come out of them.
00:24:53
you you know the timing comes out of them. Some of some of the the navigation comes into them and and the and they've all they've all got an eye and a nod to the custom dome functionality cuz that that's what the the custom domes will be all about. You creating your own little games, your little game experiences.
00:25:08
So So that so that's that's where they're all coming out of. So, you know, if you want plans of making a a Door Dash or or maybe even an an Uber delivery um mini game in in your custom dome in the future, well, this is where it starts. >> Yep. Yep. Did you talk about the ore gathering and smelting? >> Nope.
00:25:31
>> Nope. Not >> because we did cover questing and and is that on the way as a particular quest? >> Yeah. So, we've we have um we're we're working on a couple of quests at the moment. We're working on a um which order did I put them in? Um so, we So, we'll start off with with with the main one.
00:25:52
The main one is is is a relic quest. So, this is actually part of the law. So, so we're building some law around this. So, so the idea is um some ship or ships I'm I'm not too sure on that has crash landed somewhere in Solis and it's and it's you know shared a load of cargo. So players will go around all these different crash sites and the artwork for these crash sites looks really really good and and then look for the look for the first of all look for the crash sites and then look for these ancient relics or or maybe relics from the earth something to do with the law. Um you will start off in the antique shop that that's where you you the the quest giver will be you'll go and find them and then you'll sell the items back to to the antique shop. So so so that that's the that's the the main one. Um, another quest that we're working on is um is is kind of like a crafting crafting quest. No, sorry. It's
00:26:50
a it's a town. What did we call it? I can't remember what we call it. It it was it's kind of like a town foundation quest. So, the idea is you'll start in the town, >> the [snorts] crafting bench. >> You'll you'll end up there, but but you you'll go and get some some ore. So So you'll go and and get some ore maybe in a mine.
00:27:10
Um, you'll then take that ore to one of the ore processors which are outside each of the mines. It's these big buildings that that we pass by. They're now they're now going to be interactive. From there, you will smelt that ore into raw ore. Um, and you will then take that raw ore to a crafting bench. You will need a perk for this.
00:27:34
So, you get a perk, one perk point every time that that you level up in the season. And later on you'll be able to convert those into into different kind of skills. And then you'll you will so that raw ore that you've smelted from the from the the gathered ore, you'll then craft that into um an ingot. There'll be two.
00:27:52
I think there's an iron ingot and [clears throat] a copper ingot. And you may have different crafting benches for that. I'm not quite sure. It might be the same one. >> Um and then you'll be able to sell them to the shop. And and this is a this is another one of these crafting loops that that via the quest system.
00:28:10
The quest system will show you the recipe. So it show you the recipe how to make these ingots, how to do it. Um and then you'll be able to go and and and craft as many of those as as you want. >> So again, a system on a system. >> Yeah, it's part of the onboarding. But we have over 400 um different recipes now for you to for for you to go and discover.
00:28:35
So, so we'll share some of them v via crafting >> over 400. So, that again is to emphasize the point of scalability. The system was developed and now there's over 400 recipes on the way. >> Um, >> it is crazy and some of them are quite complex, >> which is fun. And I know that everybody's craving Josh tacos after how I explained that um a few weeks ago because, you know, clearly that is a mouthwatering delicacy.
00:28:58
But okay, you've got new stuff uh as well on um the relic quest and that's on the way. Correct. >> Yeah, we just >> So the relic quest originally, just let me uh give some context for it. We you were talking to me about the questing system and and and then we started kind of ideating on how do we get something that's um a little bit more community interactive.
00:29:24
we can empower another community maybe from Cardano to get in the game and do something fun and have collaborative kind of uh questing challenges. And so we ended up coming up with this really awesome idea uh that the relic quest was about originally. Now that's on the way um and we'll have that technology to do when the time is right.
00:29:46
Um, ideally the market is in a bit more of an excitable exciting uh kind of uh place before we uh before we launch that so that the communities are more active and >> Yeah. You mean partners? Yeah, it was going to start off as a partner quest. Partner. >> Yeah. So partner quest what we were going to do. Thank you for that. Uh we were going to go to you know world mobile uh different projects on Cardano uh maybe uh Snack uh Hoski you know some of our fun groups that we like to do things with. uh a book or stuff.
00:30:15
We we I talked to them about it. We already got several of them that are ready to go uh in reality, but we want to wait until people are a little more energized. Um so we're going to delay the fervor there, but you know, the idea is great. You want to tell us what the relic quest is? >> Yeah, we've just gone through that.
00:30:36
>> We went through that at the start. >> Oh, you covered the relic quest. Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Okay. It was It was nice that you leaked some projects in there. >> Yeah. Well, um there's more than that that are going to come and and be involved. Um the idea is that we we get communities that are aligned with us initially on the Cardano side of things uh engaged with our project in a new way so that they know how far we've come along and they know that whoa wow this really is a real game and um so we were going to start with Cardano but this is not limited to Cardano by any means. We're going to go to other uh groups as well. So for example, the base community meta and some of their their things. >> Yeah. Because because what we have is is it's part of a obviously a a bigger strategy of of including partners. So although it looks on the surface like you you just go in game and you just do something. What what we're actually doing is we're collecting the metrics on that. We will we will have a dashboard
00:31:34
for the individual projects. if they then want to give some of their own rewards, maybe their own token or or or maybe their own NFT or anything they want to, you know, the the the system will um send a notification to them that people have completed their quest and then and they may they maybe do an airdrop or or whatever.
00:31:52
So, yeah, it's a it's a really um important um system that that will help us to onboard more players in in the future. And um it's ready to go. >> Yep. Love it. >> Okay. Sorry, I was a little distracted. I missed the relic part. I to be honest, I'm I'm also watching. There's a lot of community engagement around a certain thing that's been occurring lately uh with us.
00:32:18
Uh and I've I've kind of had a little bit of an eye on that as well. Um and I I'll talk about it real quick. So, we we did some videos for Tik Tok that um we were testing kind of a new messaging and a new content direction. Um, the reality is I think that what we needed to do was visit and meet on that a little bit more before we just hit the ground running.
00:32:41
That being said, it's a very small market for us because we don't have any followers there. We're building a new channel. Um, however, we're going to take a a slightly new approach for sure in how that goes. But the point here is really like it got it got some people fired up and there's some controversy about it.
00:32:58
In reality, I like that sort of thing. Um, what I mean by that is I like it when our community chimes up, gets fired up about something because it's an opportunity for us. I think it's one of our biggest advantages. We as a web 3 game over a mainstream game that's out there um that builds in the dark and doesn't have a community.
00:33:21
We have a community building with us and so we get to hear opinions and feedback and all sorts of stuff. And now granted, we still have a vision that we're sticking to, but it's always good to hear and utilize collective intelligence and and take a new look at things. And so, um, we we utilize feedback from the community, and that makes us more powerful as a whole.
00:33:40
Um, I'm not going to get into the details of the discussion, but what it does do is it enables us, wow, okay, if it's that loud, we need to take a look at something and learn from it and um and keep going in the direction that we believe in going. uh but always valuing the the uh community feedback and I think we've done that.
00:34:00
Now [snorts] the more important thing I I think that some things can get lost. Um you know the forest in the trees analogy like or we can look at a small detail. Really what what people need to see is that we're moving in a direction towards mass marketing and testing and refining that messaging and getting it to where we want it to be so that we can have the most effective push for alpha launch which is what we're we're gearing up for.
00:34:27
Um, and so the forest right now is we're running ads pointing them to our trailer, our pre-alpha trailer, which I think is incredibly powerful. David's working on another one right now that's going to be even better, and it is freaking sick. So, we've got these incredible assets that we're pushing the masses to with mass marketing.
00:34:46
So, we've got adfunnels working and the customer acquisition cost has been incredible. We're doing really, really well. And you guys, the community, have seen the new people that are coming into our Discord that have discovered us through adfunnels. There's been quite a few. And they're not only just coming into us, but they're going, "How do I get a lace wallet?" Well, guess what? We have wallets on the way that are going to be automatically made for any of the mainstream gamers, and that's coming in the next couple of weeks, which is huge. Um, so we have a lot of really really cool stuff that we've been working on behind the scenes uh to welcome our mainstream gamers and prepare us for this alpha push. So very exciting stuff. Um, this marketing is is all in an effort to move us towards the mainstream gamers and it's working. So please people, if we make some mistakes here and there, sure we're going to make them. But like, don't miss the main freaking success
00:35:45
here, which is that we have mainstream gamers coming into the game going, "How do I get a wallet? I like what you guys are doing." >> Yeah. >> I think we have >> I think we have episode two of origin point. >> Freak out and speak from the mountain tops about Sorry. Go ahead. >> Yeah, we got we got episode two of of origin point coming out and and that's that's with um that's with Jillian.
00:36:02
So So we're going to have lots of lots of shorts on that as well. that that that's all gameplay. And I think that's probably where we we missed the mark a little bit is is those first lots of Tik Toks really should have had lots of of gameplay with them as well. That's definitely what the community pulled up.
00:36:20
And as you zoom out and we get more and more episodes, then you'll have more context that it's a game. But yeah, it I think where people went were right to pull it up is is it looked like this if people see this and this is the first thing they see. There's no real >> misrepresentative of who we are.
00:36:35
We're going to address that, but I mean, yeah, we're good. >> It's easy to address [clears throat] and there the consequences were small. Sorry. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Yeah, there's a great point. And so, we'll restructure how that content is delivered. And also, you know, and there's there's also things that I was looking at with it.
00:36:51
It's like it's not just what you're delivering, it's how you're delivering it. And so, there's there's nuance to all of this. And um you know, we look at stuff and we hear feedback and uh we make adjustments. >> I think marketing changes all the time. you know, the marketing that you do for games in in 2026 is is different from from what you would have done in in the year 2000 and and so on.
00:37:13
>> Yes, agreed. So, so that marketing push is also in line with our strategic plans for this year. We're moving towards an alpha launch. Um, that's also what the sale is about. So, we are uh running a sale in a new way that is crafted to appeal to a mainstream gamer that's coming and jumping in uh to the game.
00:37:37
Now, for that launch prep, we're offering it to you guys early in tiered packages at a discount. So, for those of you that are involved with us now, um, and yes, the point of this is fundraising for marketing so that we can have a great alpha launch. It's not inexpensive to do. So, we invite you guys to participate.
00:37:59
Again, you don't have to if you don't want to. It's your it's it's your choice. We put together some really fun, appealing packages that I think you guys are going to We have This is totally new. We're we're doing bundles and I believe the wallets are actually going to be live when we do this as well.
00:38:17
So, there'll be bundled packages uh with different assets and I'm excited about it because we're introducing the bundles. Uh so, new technology that we're building right now. Um and uh yeah, we're just doing a sale in a in a whole new way. So, I I'm excited about I think you guys will be. If you want to participate, great.
00:38:37
Please do. it helps us with that marketing push for Alpha Launch uh which is uh not so far off. So, we got amazing things in the works and you guys get to participate in that with us and so we thank you for being involved uh and um for all your support and yeah um I'm I'm excited. I I wish I could tell you more.
00:38:57
It's coming very very soon. That's all I'll say. Okay, so some infrastructure announcements. Rob, you mentioned uh some well some stuff with the nodes. Do you want to update us on the nodes? >> Greg's been working on some updates for the nodes and and he's fixed some some issues, so hopefully those have settled down now.
00:39:15
Um, so we're we're constantly looking at improving the infrastructure wherever we can. Um, yeah. Um, and obviously in the future we're looking at introducing new nodes and one of those new nodes will be a server node. This this will be especially useful for um for custom domes where players will be able to to host that that you you need somewhere to host your game.
00:39:38
If if you want it in multiplayer, if you want it in single player, you know, that that's different, but if you want it in multiplayer, you you'll want to host it. And this is a great opportunity for the the community to host server nodes and then also charge people um to use those nodes.
00:39:56
So, so the charge will be in Rise in the in the Rise token. Um and and what we were thinking of this is rather than introduce um a cost for those server nodes to begin with, we will probably give away 50 of these server nodes um probably free just just for testing because it'll be it'll be a while before um custom domes go fully live.
00:40:22
Um but there will be requirements for this. those. So we'll we'll look at giving um the the the server nodes to to those people that have existing um file nodes and and that are running at at full capacity. So, so if you're if you have 10 personal nodes and and you're at full capacity, you know, o over 40 cuz people come and go, so you don't necessarily need 50.
00:40:50
But if you've got people delegating to you and and we can see that you're that you're running um you know, a successful node, then um we'll give you the opportunity if if you're chosen and and we'll we'll give you that free server node in the future. Now there's there's no dates as to when that server node will will start testing and come come public.
00:41:10
I think it'll be a while, but that's definitely the the thoughts. I think that's the the the best way to start in in in in like a a testing phase. >> Yeah, agreed. Okay. Uh so Esparanza internal development. So we're working on Esparanza as many people know which is exciting. Um, and we also have the Europe servers that have not had a ton of traffic.
00:41:35
So, we're going to grab those servers and use them for Esparanza development. Shift everybody to the US servers is is the current plan. Now, in my mind, it's about strategically using everything possible that we can towards the alpha launch. Uh, so uh we're not really scaling back. we're more of repurposing uh funds in a direction of of the alpha launch because that's that's where we're headed, guys.
00:42:03
We we need um to build up as much traction as we can for a successful al alpha launch. And uh I'm talking actually some fun stuff with Regiment Gaming again in about a week uh when he's back in town. Uh they were interested in working with us. Uh and so we're going to invite a lot of them into the game uh by doing a backpack.
00:42:24
I'm pretty sure he hasn't fully approved it. It's not fully signed off on yet. However, the discussions are there and um and he's excited to talk with us again when he gets back in town. Um so, fun stuff there. Okay. Um final discussion. Um the apartments. Uh you want to give us the the full details on on where we are with the apartments? >> Yeah, everybody's excited.
00:42:50
Well, there there's there is, you know, in programming there there is many ways to to do a certain a certain task. So, with the apartments, we claiming the apartments and then setting the apartments up, you know, we we tried a certain way and it wasn't very performant at all. So, we had to relook at the infrastructure.
00:43:11
[snorts] Um, we're now pulling the we're pulling a local cache of the database on the server. So rather than just going purely to the cloud were were coming through here. So it's caused a bit of a delay, you know, because we, you know, the original plans had to, you know, quite drastically change for performance reasons.
00:43:29
So So we're we're we're still hard at work on that and and it's really important because because what we could do the the existing way that we that we had of of sharing apartments and and that code will also be used for for land plots kind of worked. But we do know that in the future, we're going to have to revisit it.
00:43:48
But the the the question is when do you if we don't tackle this problem now, we're going to have to revisit it in the future. Now, do we revisit it in a year from now? Because if we re revisit this in a year from now, that's most certainly going to require a wipe of everything that people have done.
00:44:05
And people are you know thing some builds that we that we come you know we we we we do wipe data but this will be you know the depending where we are in a year from now you know that affects an awful lot of a lot of people and and we and we are sensitive. We do know that we we we try not to wipe data if we can.
00:44:26
But something as personal as your apartment that you you may have built up, you know, months and months of putting that together is is not something that we really want to do. So so so we are taking our time and and we're trying to get this right at first. And the reason we're paying so much attention into the apartments because that code also goes towards land plots, but the majority of of of players that come in, everybody will get an apartment.
00:44:56
So the the apartment >> home base for the players, >> it it has to it has to >> mainstream gamers, they don't have a home base. Um they don't have land necessarily like a lot of you guys have. Um, so there's multiple home bases that you can have, but when we go to mainstream, they're not going to just come in with a piece of land.
00:45:13
Anyway, go ahead. >> Yeah. No. Yeah, that's right. And and and it and and it's so important because we the we have to have that local cash work that it's performant for the apartments. Now the apartments in one sensor are a lot easier than land plots because you'll go up to an apartment, you'll go on a floor and as you go into the apartment, we can load that data in real time and nobody really gets to see it except for you and maybe some other people that go on there.
00:45:38
Now, when we zoom out and we and we actually look at how that works on um the land plots, all those land plots are are almost certainly going to be loaded w with within the vicinity of of players cuz as because you're flying over land plots and as you're flying over them, you're seeing a lot of of what people have built up in in real time.
00:46:01
So, there's a lot of data to be drawn in there more than the apartments. So it's easier to go up in stages, but the apartments will have thousands and thousands of pieces together where of land plots are more kind of prefab buildings. So so there's different challenges with each, but but those land those apartments as well.
00:46:20
You know, there's there's up to 50,000 that that are in each of the global hubs. So there's a lot of data that's going going back into and it's persistent data as well. If you're in the American server or the European server or the Asian server in the future, you're all seeing the same data. People are coming in.
00:46:37
You might you might be in one server, but you're writing back and and it has to redraw on another. It's it's it's super >> been done in in gaming in this way uh where you you have your own unique space and there's that many of them and your own space that nobody else can access. And so we're doing something incredibly innovative here that you know I I can't I don't know that I could say nobody has done it but not many and definitely nobody has done it in this way.
00:47:06
>> It's very very tricky. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you get you get um maybe games like The Sims where you're building one or two places up, but but that's kind of one or two or it's kind of single player where whereas we're, you know, we're we're we're looking at 50,000 players in the same server.
00:47:21
And and then 50,000 apartments, sorry, in in the same server. And then when you go on to the land plots, we're we're looking at um like 8,000 land plots and then all the pieces that go together within them, you know. So some people yeah we're we're attacking all these major systems in one game where whereas others you know they have different approaches.
00:47:42
So it is tricky. It's so it may cause a little bit of a delay. Um but fortunately I don't think that delay is going to be months and months which normally something like this should should take you know maybe a year or so. I think I think it might add a few weeks on to to where we are and but this software development so it could go on a little bit more. So it has added a delay.
00:48:00
Um, but the the the thing is as we talked earlier about all these mini experiences and and adding the new recipes in and the quests in, you know, we're adding more and more content in all parts of the game. So, okay, one part of the game might be delayed, but we're going to make up for that by adding more more features and and eventually they will all come together and we're still working on the >> in parallel, so it's nothing to worry about.
00:48:28
>> So, uh, okay, question for you. Uh, forget the question I was going to ask you. Are we going to be able to use some items, this is from Japper of the Knights, are we going to be able to use some items from the apartment building kits for our land plots as well? Um, I I I think that's quite a tricky question because the the a lot of lot of the items that um and the and the building um the building tool is built for the apartment.
00:48:58
So the majority of those and we've got I think we've got over now definitely over 600 700 probably getting close to maybe like a thousand assets. I think they are for the apartments and the reason for that is cuz cuz we're like we explained before how complicated it is to save all the all these items and and having 8,000 plots then all with thousands within them on top of the it gets complicated.
00:49:25
But but the the land plots themselves, they'll all be prefab. So I'm sure that some of the assets that we build for apartments will be compatible with both. But I think it I think it'll they'll either have their own set of of items or they'll they'll be like kind of like a ven diagram where there'll be a small section in the middle that you can use in both.
00:49:44
But yeah, I I I I don't I don't think the majority of them will we'll be able to use in both. >> Yeah. Okay. So, um, but yeah, possibly in the future we'll add more and more to that. Um, and you had some questions for me or at least one question, I think. >> Yeah. Um, so from Scooby-Doo bopb um, is alpha still expected to launch before Q1 ends or are we now looking at Q2, Q3? Um, what are all the game components expected to be included? I mean, Q1 ends in few weeks.
00:50:22
>> Yeah. Uh, so definitely not Q1. You know, timing wise, I'm not going to give an estimate on timing. I'm going to say that we're working hard towards alpha. Um, and the reason I'm not going to estimate on timing is because I want to see how all these systems work together. Rifts, apartments, crafting, questing, how is the game experience at that point? And how are people perceiving it, receiving it, what's the feedback, that sort of thing.
00:50:49
So, there's an iterative process to Alpha Launch. We want to we're right now the goal is we've been building up with the ad funnels. We're getting lots of new people in that have filled out the uh early access form. What we're going to do is open those gates very very soon when wallets are ready tested and working well.
00:51:05
We're going to open up those gates to the large number of people we have that have filled out the early access form. So, you guys will start to see a ton of new people coming into the community, which is great. We want to get their feedback. So, we're going to let them in. I'm not exactly sure the date of when we'll let them in.
00:51:22
It might be right after we release apartments because we want them to have like a lot to do and have a home base. Probably right around then. Um, but then we want to get feedback from them on that and uh grow that community. Continue to grow and hear feedback and then release riffs and things of that nature and see how is it how's it going? What's what's it feel like? What's the vibe? Um what's the feedback? What do we want to what do we want to fix before we do a launch? So, we're all of these are systematically done in preparation for a really successful launch. Um, yeah. I mean, I think it's it's one of it's one of these things where, you know, we if we look at something like GTA 6, you know, which got an initial delay and then it got an entire delay of over a year, the the danger is when when you you you do your best estimate, and it really is a best estimate that if this is a perfect curve, a perfect straight line, and nothing ever goes wrong in software, then then that is the the date because without if you don't put a date
00:52:21
in the sand, Then you people's psychologies they they just kind of drift. So you need a date to keep people focused. >> 100%. >> So we have that date. >> You need a high pressure date as well that feels urgent. Yeah. Late date people are like oh I'll get to that because we've got these priorities and then everything gets delayed.
00:52:40
So you got to keep a certain level of pressure and there's a balance there. >> Yeah. So, so we have that internally and and you know we we also talk about those dates externally as well because that also keeps us keen because there's no point in in in having it internally cuz cuz they can just delay but then with things like you know like I say with with with the new architecture then for the apartments and and and this is when these kind of delays come in and then they stack on top of each other and and then before you before you know it yeah you are you are in danger. of, you know, maybe talking about dates a bit too soon, but but we we we really do try to to give you the the the best estimates. >> Of course. All right. Next next up, you had one more question, I think, for me and then we're done. >> Um, I think this is from the the Sunny Veil kid. >> He he or she would like to know how far
00:53:40
after apartment building could we see building on our land? Well, the systems are being worked on already for both. Uh, but what we're going to do is release apartments first and then next up in the next following build after apartments. Uh, ideally we open up the land. So, it would just be in the immediate build after.
00:53:56
Uh, so exactly how far that is is partially determined by how well rift combat and and that sort of thing is going because that's but that's in the works and we're moving through that and uh things are going well. So, um, that's the answer for that. Um, >> yeah, >> sorry. Because the the the apartment itself is is not it's not just go and build in your apartment.
00:54:18
It's quite a complex system. You you've got to we've got to give the ability to to to give away an apartment to the players. And we're not just giving we're not just saying you log in and we're going to allocate an apartment to you. You're actually going to go and claim. You're going to go and look around at what apartments are available and go and claim them in game.
00:54:38
So we now have that working. So so that that's that's one of the the prerequisites of of that. Um and then we talked about this this whole building tool of of going in that we have to build and then the loading process. So the apartment is really really complex but um we we're almost ready to to to start testing that internally now but we are testing some elements of it.
00:55:03
>> All right. Well that wraps it up. That's the end of the episode. That's Kobe Cafe Oh Cafe Rise. That's Cafe Rise, episode 151. Thank you all for watching. We appreciate you and we'll see you on the next one. Bye-bye. >> Bye-bye. >> Welcome. You're here early. That's good. Means there's something [music] special about you.
00:55:32
We got a whole lot going wrong around here. [music] You better train up. We got terror knocking on our infrastructure and some mighty [music] strange occurrences going on. I'm afraid our world is at risk. Without people like you, cornucopas might fall into darkness. Better get smart, get trained, and be ready.
00:56:03
A storm is coming. I can feel it. I'd like to say we've been through worse, but this time [music] I'm not so sure. Good luck out there. You're going to need every bit you can get. Children of the multiverse, [music] you have crossed the veil through the gate to stand with us in cornucopia. You have my appreciation.
00:56:31
[music] I am but a messenger. a guide sent [music] to show you the path that must be walked. But know this, the rifts are only the beginning. What you have seen is but a shadow of what is yet to come. The path ahead is dark and the cost will be great. For the dangers [music] you face are not born of this world alone, but from beyond it.
00:57:08
Some of you will fight [music] the tide. Others will build and restore. Some will weave knowledge while [music] others will sustain through trade and creation. strength, will and unity. These are the bonds [music] that will endure when all else is broken. Rise now. Stand against [music] the tide. For infinity does not end.
00:57:33
It begins. Infinity is rising. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat up [music] Heat [music] up here.