Road to Alpha
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| Episode 152: Road to Alpha | |
|---|---|
| Air Date | 2026-03-21 |
| Guest | Nobody |
| Video | Watch on YouTube |
| Runtime | 46:28 |
| Topics | Apartment Claiming, DLSS 5, Final Ascent, Cinematic Trailer, Marketplace, Delivery Minigame |
| Drinks | |
| Rob's Drink | Water |
| Josh's Drink | Coffee |
Summary
In episode 152 of Cafe Rise, hosts Rob Greig and Josh Jones provide an extensive update on the development progress of their game, Infinity Rising, which is currently in its pre-alpha stage. The episode covers several key topics including the final preparations leading up to the alpha release, the implementation of the new Infinity wallets and marketplace, upcoming asset sales, the integration and implications of Nvidia’s DLSS 5 technology, ongoing game feature updates such as puzzles and apartment claiming, and a heartfelt tribute to community members who have recently passed away. The discussion also touches on the use of AI in game development, the empowerment it brings to smaller studios, and a preview of an upcoming cinematic trailer that showcases the game’s story and quality. The episode closes with a motivational narrative segment that sets the tone for the game's immersive world and storyline. Throughout the episode, the hosts maintain a balance between technical detail, community engagement, and excitement about the near future, highlighting the monumental efforts that have gone into reaching this pivotal stage of the project.
Highlights
🎮 Final ascent to alpha phase underway, preparing for mainstream gamer access. 💼 Launch of Infinity wallets and a secondary marketplace to enable buying, selling, and trading of in-game assets and land. 💰 Introduction of a multi-tiered discounted bundle sale targeting new and existing gamers as a path for onboarding. 🖥️ Deep dive into Nvidia’s DLSS 5 AI-enhanced rendering tech and its potential impact on game visuals and art direction. 🧩 New puzzle mechanics integrated into the delivery mini-game to add engaging gameplay elements. 🏢 Apartment claiming system introduced with improved navigation features like a dynamic pointer and elevator functionality. 🎬 Preview of a high-quality AI-augmented cinematic trailer, elevating game storytelling with professional-grade production values.
Key Insights
🎯 Alpha Readiness and Mainstream Onboarding: The project's “final ascent to alpha” phase represents a critical transition from development to broader public engagement. Introducing Infinity wallets and a marketplace is pivotal in creating a seamless user experience for mainstream gamers who may be unfamiliar with blockchain or digital asset trading. This infrastructure not only facilitates transactions but also drives utility and demand for the Rise token, establishing an ecosystem that supports both gameplay and economic activity. The tiered bundle sale strategy is smartly designed to balance exclusivity with accessibility, allowing early supporters to secure assets at a discount while providing newcomers with an easy entry point. This dual approach strengthens community loyalty and encourages organic growth.
🤖 AI’s Role in Game Development and DLSS 5: Nvidia’s DLSS 5 represents a significant leap in AI-driven graphical enhancement by implementing neural rendering that affects lighting, materials, and character details. While the technology promises substantial visual improvements and performance gains, it has triggered controversy, especially around its impact on artistic direction and character appearance. The developers’ cautious optimism reflects a nuanced understanding: while DLSS 5 can enhance immersion and realism, it must be carefully controlled to preserve the game’s unique art style and IP integrity. The debate highlights a broader industry challenge—balancing cutting-edge AI technologies with creative vision and player expectations. For smaller studios like Infinity Rising, AI tools also offer a pathway to innovate within tight budgets, accelerating development and quality without large-scale resources.
🔧 Iterative and Player-Centric Development: The new puzzle element added to the delivery mini-game exemplifies the team’s commitment to refining gameplay based on feedback. By blending arcade-style mechanics with puzzle-solving, the game introduces diversified challenges that keep players engaged and break monotony. Similarly, enhancements to apartment claiming—such as the dynamic target pointer and elevator system—improve user navigation and spatial awareness. These iterative design choices reflect a user-first mindset, acknowledging that smooth, intuitive interfaces and varied gameplay loops are essential for player retention and satisfaction, especially as the game scales to a wider audience.
🏢 Infrastructure and Worldbuilding Complexity: The description of apartment claiming and the integration of features like monorail systems and multiple fast-food shops within the game’s environment illustrates the depth and scale of the virtual world being constructed. This level of detail suggests a strong focus on creating a living, breathing ecosystem where players can engage in diverse activities, from real estate to commerce to social interaction. The mention of future quests, delivery systems, and cross-dome transportation indicates a layered game economy and social structure that could foster long-term player investment and emergent gameplay.
❤️ Community and Emotional Connection: The hosts’ tribute to community members who have passed away underscores the close-knit nature of the Infinity Rising community. By planning a digital memorial card and sharing personal reflections, the team demonstrates empathy and emphasizes community as a foundational pillar of the project. This approach humanizes the development process and strengthens bonds between developers and players, fostering a supportive environment that values individual contributions and shared experiences.
🎥 AI-Augmented Cinematic Storytelling: The upcoming cinematic trailer is highlighted as a major milestone, combining the project’s proprietary assets with AI tools to achieve AAA-level production quality at a fraction of the traditional time and cost. This not only enhances marketing potential but also sets a new standard for indie game cinematics. Importantly, the cinematic is tightly integrated with the game’s lore and gameplay, promising consistency between the trailer and in-game experience, which helps manage player expectations and deepens immersion. The team’s emphasis on direction, storytelling, and emotional impact suggests a sophisticated narrative strategy designed to engage players on multiple levels.
📈 Strategic Funding and Growth Plans: The ongoing seed round and impending crowd equity round highlight the financial underpinnings necessary to push Infinity Rising closer to alpha and beyond. The transparency about fundraising timelines and overlaps with development phases indicates strategic planning to ensure adequate resources for marketing, scaling, and feature completion. Inviting community input on potential investor contacts reflects an inclusive approach to project growth, reinforcing community involvement as a key component of success.
Transcript
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00:00:11 Heat up here. Hey everyone, welcome to Cafe Rise. This is episode 152 and you've got Rob Greg here, Josh Jones and we're excited to share with you what's going on in the world of Infinity Rising, our game that is in pre-alpha and um there's early access pass applications on our website. So, if you're new and you haven't checked us out yet, go to infinity.
00:00:59 com and you can apply for the early access pass. We're going to start letting people in soon. More on that coming in this episode. Um, so real quick, what we'll be talking about today is the final Ascent to alpha. Um, the DLSS 5 announcement, puzzles and game updates, uh, of various kinds.
00:01:22
Um, and then, you know, a few other things and we'll we'll close out the episode. Um, so, uh, fun stuff ahead. Okay, Rob, before we go too far, what are you drinking today? I had a choice of two drinks and um I think I'll go for this one. H interesting. Why that one? >> No, you're right. I'll go for this one instead.
00:01:50
>> Yeah, that's a good call. I would have gone with that one. >> What are you going for? >> I don't have two drinks that are the exact same thing. Um I just got a little bit more um coffee energy. It was a night of very little sleep once again. >> I see. >> You know, a lot going on. So, okay. Um, >> small glass.
00:02:16
>> It's like a shot. >> Cheers. It does. That's what I'm going to say. Cheers. Uh, enjoy that double shot of vodka you got there. >> Yeah, vodka. That'll be good. >> Jin martini. >> It's more like white spirit in Russia. Please drink vodka. >> Vodka. Vodka. So, um, okay, the final ascent to alpha. Let that not make you think that the next build is alpha.
00:02:42
However, we are in the final ascent to alpha, the stage where we are really preparing to launch and make this available to mainstream gamers. and some of the things that come with that uh will be disclosed in an announcement you might have seen already prior to this episode, but we've got the Infinity wallets coming um which is pretty significant.
00:03:08
That's that's what's going to give um automatic ability to list and um buy assets in uh inside of our our store uh for the mainstream gamers. Um and that those will start off um you know they'll they'll start off in a very seamless way where you can onboard with a credit card and it's made super easy for them on the back end uh to go and buy assets from our store etc.
00:03:33
And we also have the secondary marketplace coming uh soon as well for the trading of land um or the listing and buying of land assets um that's what we're going to start with and we'll gradually increase the assets there. So that's that'll also be an increase in utility for the Rise token. So exciting stuff in that regard.
00:03:54
Um we also have a sale coming that's part of our prepare uh final ascent alpha and the sale is going to be the first of its kind to um uh that we've offered where it's a bundle sale. So, we're bundling quite a few different assets together and uh we've got several different tiers of that sale.
00:04:19
So, the founders tier is going to be the highest value, the most expensive one, and that will be the one that we're starting with first. Uh after the founder tier is the operator tier. Then there's the Pathfinder, the Pioneer, and the Citizen. And the idea behind all of these is they're going to be a great way to onboard a mainstream gamer that doesn't have all the assets that you guys have been playing with and etc.
00:04:46
And so, um, this is a great way for us onboard, you know, new mainstream gamers. They can come in and they can get a variety pack really easily. The cool thing about this for you guys is we're making it available to you early at a significant discount and uh the that's going to go up in price once we launch that and make it available to the mainstream gamers.
00:05:05
So uh for a period of time it's discounted and it's actually the best value offering we've ever come up with without a doubt. there's quite a few very rare items in in especially in the founder tier and um when you when you look at it this way and the retail value of it and then the discount on top of that it's a great offering.
00:05:27
So that is our our way of basically saying thank you guys for supporting us. Thank you for helping us get to alpha. Uh many of you have been involved from the very beginning and uh your involvement is helpful to us building this game. you've you've helped us to get to where we are and we're grateful for you guys and uh we're so close to that moment where we really get to experience bringing mainstream gamers in and the real utility that they bring to our token and to our ecosystem. And um I mean that's where the majority of the gamers at. So I'm excited. We we're we're at a really exciting phase. Wouldn't you agree, Rob? >> Yep, definitely. I'm so excited. I've had a headstock. I've had a um a song stuck in my head all day. >> Thank you for that. Um because we have a cinematic coming uh soon as well. Um and to be honest, if that's the song you're
00:06:26
referencing, it's been stuck in mine as well. >> I went to sleep last night with it stuck in my head. And um I think and I even messaged David and I said, "This song is incredibly sticky." Um, >> I I played it on normal speed, double speed, and half speed as well, just to have different variations.
00:06:42
It still works. >> Okay. I did not do that. Uh, it still works. Interesting. >> Well, more on that in our leak. Um, but let me see what else we covered. The marketplace early access. Oh, early access list players. So, the other part of the road to alpha, um, or the, uh, final ascent to alpha is onboarding our early access players.
00:07:06
Um because once the wallets are ready, we're going to start onboarding the early access players. Ideally, the wallets are ready and the apartments build is out. Um that would be the preference. And then we'll start really ramping things up and getting people into the game that have applied.
00:07:21
We've got over 4,000 that have applied for early access. So, um starting to get those people uh granted and into the game and into the community is going to be a big deal for us. I'm excited about that. And also obviously ramping up marketing as much as possible. And then the final point there is we we are in the middle of a a seed round still and we have a crowd round starting very soon.
00:07:42
Um all of these things are positioning well to launch us into that uh alpha state uh with mainstream gamers. So, uh, exciting days ahead, an exciting stage with, um, I'm sorry I'm saying a lot here, but like the amount of work that's gone into getting us to this place. Um, blood, sweat, and tears.
00:08:07
Yourself, myself, the team. Um, >> even the sales in tears. >> Huh? >> Even the sales in tears. >> Yep. Yep. Uh, I I actually didn't hear you. That's all right. Back. Um, so my point was I've gone on about this final ascent, I guess, because we're at such a meaningful point um in the project that um all of this foundation, all of these systems that have just taken like some of these systems are really complicated, the combat system, the avatar creation, just the land and the the system for building land at large scale and the worlds and the infrastructure that supports all of it and then all of the work that's gone into this to lay this foundation is finally coming into fruition in a way where the systems that we're bringing in add ultimate scale and increased
00:09:06
exponential value for the players as we scale those out. For example, the crafting, you know, going to 400 recipes, etc. We start scaling out these systems and now you have increase of exponential value for the players and we have a marketable game. We're we're so close. So, we're excited. Um, the final ascent is an exciting phase for us and I hope that you guys will join us uh in in u preparation for that.
00:09:30
So, uh stay tuned for the end of the episode when we've got a pretty amazing leak and um we can move on to the next topic now after my long wording on that one. Um DLSS 5. I'm excited about it. I know you have some thoughts to share about it. Um, I guess we're a ways off from, you know, just because of our current roadmap and everything on our plate.
00:09:58
Um, we're not going to be, you know, >> it doesn't come out till fall. Fall is November, is it? December >> is when it'll be available for Unreal Engine. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, depending upon what's happening around then, we might be able to make an engine switch to that release that that's available for it.
00:10:19
It just depends on >> Well, it's not an engine switch. It's just a DLSS upgrade. But but David was saying we would have to upgrade to the next um iteration of Unreal Engine to >> Oh. Oh, well 5.7. Yeah, we're on 5.6 at the moment, >> right? So to be >> we would probably do that anyway whether we want to use DLSS5 or not.
00:10:42
>> We and by then I think 5.8 will be out, >> right? But the point is that we don't necessarily know how long it will take and what's going on in the road map. So it's hard to say that we'll definitely do that. But I will say this that the >> enhancement to the look and feel is so significant.
00:11:02
I'm sure some of you guys have seen the videos out there um that I think it's very worth us investigating uh taking a look at it. I I really like what it can do for the graphical quality, but um I'm I'm also still pretty incredibly proud of our existing graphical quality, but like we have to look at what's the improvement.
00:11:22
Um we have to analyze what's the value ad. Does it make sense for us and go from there? But um Rob, your your take? >> Yeah, I mean I was excited at first when I first saw it and and then you know I I looked deeper into it. So, I actually made some notes cuz I thought we might we might want to be talking about it.
00:11:41
Um, so I I mean I'll go through some of my notes. Um, I I think I think when they first announced when Nvidia first announced DLSS5 and I think the internet absolutely lost it. I I think they found it very discombobulating. I think when you look at the previous versions of DLSS that they really were all about upscaling the the different resolutions and um generating fake frames.
00:12:08
some of some of the recent one. I think people nowadays are are mainly fine with that, but there was obviously some initial push back at first, especially when people were thinking, "Wait a minute, we're paying double again for graphics cards and we're not actually getting more power. You're faking things.
00:12:27 " But but I think the LSS actually does a does a great job. But th this number five AI bit is is I think what they explain that is called neural ren is it's a neural renderer um which is AI generated lighting and materials that goes on top of of of any game um actually changes the game quite a lot and it's all and the internet and and I at first thought is It's almost like a filter.
00:13:02
You know, in in real life, people put filters on top to to make them look smoothed out and stuff like that. This does the opposite. It takes something that's smoothed out and then tries to put the wrinkles and everything back on. >> And so so so when they showed their demo, >> I remember on the screen they had Resident Evil, they had the the new one, they the they had Starfield.
00:13:24
Well, that was quite surprising. They had Starfield on there and the characters definitely did look like they they've been run through some kind of like one of do they call it like an Instagram beauty filter or or or something like that. But obviously I know this is the first look. It's not out till maybe Christmas.
00:13:41
So they're going to get loads of feedback, lots of chance to tweak it. And we and we only saw like three, four, five second clips. You don't know what it's like when you're actually immersed in the individual games. But yeah, the the internet absolutely lost it. Thought that, you know, the the the skins very plastic, the the eye bags and all this this coming in.
00:14:04
And I think there was also quite a few of prominent developers that that were giving push back on it as well. Um some of them really really bad and but then however you look at some of the environmental stuff. So so so there's kind of two parts for it for me. There's there's what it did to to kind of like the characters >> and and which I think is the controversial bit and what it did to kind of like the lighting and some other parts which I thought was actually pretty good quite impressive.
00:14:32
Um especially some of some of the material upgrades but but people are not really talking about that. They're more concentrating on on the characters. And then the CEO of Nvidia, U Jensen Hangs, um he's he says that the critics are all completely wrong and and that the developers have actually full artistic control. So this is what I'm saying.
00:14:56
We we only saw clips, but you know that that didn't really help when the CEO comes out and say you're completely wrong. I mean yeah, people didn't really listen to the rest of his message. >> It it depends on what the essence of what he's saying they're wrong about is. um because I think they're wrong about some uh as well, but it's it's a different take that I have that I'm I'm speaking of in particular, which is the use of AI uh for imagery in games.
00:15:21
There is a large amount of resistance from the gamers on the use of AI because of the AI slop kind of thing for certain content. Now, I'm not certain of the exact particulars of the gamer objection there, but the reality is there's a really and and here's the other thing is that the loud vocal um group of trolls in any internet space is not um representative of the opinions of the whole.
00:15:56
And it's it's often a minority kind of viewpoint. uh of negativity of people that just want to jump in and troll stuff. Um right or wrong in this case. I I'm not really commenting on that. What I am commenting on though is that gamers in general have been complaining and wanting more out of games. Meanwhile, VC groups are not supporting any innovation and so there's not like significant funding coming into games.
00:16:29
So, the only way that you're going to get innovation and new stuff that the gamers are wanting is if the smaller studios like ourselves can get there on scrappy budgets and make it to a po to a point where they can offer that kind of value. And the one thing that really helps them to do that in a variety of ways can also be AI.
00:16:49
So, gamers are begging for something that's almost impossible. They want, hey, completely pure, no AI. Um, like they're they're they're tired of the studio cookie cutter model. They want innovation. They want all this stuff and the prices are too expensive. And it's like, okay, what you want is not possible. >> It's just not.
00:17:11
But the but the previous version of DLSS that they kind of like, you know, whereas before you you might have only been able to play in 1080p, you you can now get 60 frames per sec per per second with DLSS in 4K. I don't think people have got a problem with that, putting in the fake frames. what this DLSS5 does though and and I think this is in particular where it where it it could affect us, you know, we we have um we we've got an art direction and we've got lighting and we take our time to to build all that in, you know, now making that perform better at say 60 frames per second on 4K that is perfectly acceptable. But what the LSS5 is trying to do is changing it can change the it can change the art. It it can it's changing your characters look and feel which is not what not what our art direction. This is puts a completely
00:18:10
different spin on it. It's changing the lighting. It's changing the whole atmosphere. >> It doesn't require us to use it. >> Well, no. But if Well, I say yes and no. It dep this is this is where it depends on how much you you can affect it and and tweak it. If if like what Jensen's saying, we have full control over it and we can turn bits on and off then then that's fine.
00:18:36
We've got some some great tools to play around with. But the way it looks at the moment is that the with with actually the current versions of DLSS, you can actually take a game that has not even been built for DLSS and doesn't have it integrated and you can put that on top of it and start changing things which which is great for those people that haven't integrated it.
00:19:00
But if you can do that same thing wi with our game, you can now start making things photorealistic where they're not going to. People are then going to start sharing our game, sharing our artwork, which has been heavily modified by DSS5. We've got our certain look and feel, which is kind not not 100% photorealistic, but if DSS5 does that and it shares them, you know, so so, so this is where it's something to watch at the moment.
00:19:28
Like I say, I know we're talking about we don't have control and and I would agree if we don't have the ability to to say no what it looks like it's trying to do. But I don't know, like I say, I'm I'm open. I don't think, you know, that they would open them up for for some too much legal issues there with with changing the IP of a product without them having the choice effectively.
00:19:53
>> I don't I don't think that that works. Um >> I don't know. It's a space we have to watch. Like I said, I want I don't want to give full push back because we've not actually seen it in action and we've not seen what it can do in particular for our game. I've seen the benefits for some other games.
00:20:07
It looks okay, >> but we'll have to we've got something interesting to look forward to and and at the moment it's only for 5090s. >> So So I mean you need a really, you know, the next gen 50 top end. So So by Christmas come down to the 40s. it it's not going to be here for us until we're able to make those. >> It's going to be next year.
00:20:29
It's going to be 2027. >> But but >> either way, I think it's a cool feature potentially. Um needs more investigation. >> Yeah. We'll obviously come with other performance boosts as as well. So So if you can just say, "Look, don't age my don't >> the I'm only talking about the AI side uh of the DLSS 5 is all I was talking about.
00:20:51
Yeah, all the other DLSS stuff is probably great, but you we'll see. Anyway, next next up is the puzzle. Um, did you want to comment on the uh >> Yeah. Yeah, we we're building um I think we we spoke last week about the the Door Dash mini game >> and um that's coming along quite well and and but we we reviewed it with David and he thought it might have been a little bit too arcadey kind of pick up, drop off, drop off, drop off, drop off.
00:21:18
Um, so what we've done is we put a little puzzle as you drop off. So, so as you get to the destination, you've got to kind of work out a little bit of a code. So, it kind of breaks the travel, do the code, move on, all against the time and uh just adds an extra element to it and I think it's pretty cool. >> Yeah, I'm excited.
00:21:40
>> So, so we're still in development of that, but um it's get it's getting tried. We put a a bit of a a pack on the back of the backpack at the moment. Again, he doesn't like that. It's almost like an Uber Eats a big a big square. So So it's I'm hoping it'll make the next build, but um we're going through a few iterations in test.
00:21:58
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um okay. Uh the next step is the updated target. >> Yeah. Well, along with that you you have we have this new target. Um, so as what we have at the moment is what when you have destinations, you can see them on the compass and you can follow the compass at the top or you can bring the map up.
00:22:18
Well, in the new release, we've got this new target as well that goes along there that shows you the the meters away from the destination. And it's really cool. If you turn around and it's behind you, you can you can see around the screen where you've got to go. So, we're we're adding some um some text on that as well. So, it'll literally say drop off here or it might say your custom direction.
00:22:38
But where where I think it'll be really useful is because we've been testing the apartment claiming this week as well. So, so I've seen that for the first time and I kind of claimed an apartment and then from nowhere that this kind of pointer appeared on the screen. So, it was it was this new target and I'm like I Renee was saying what what's what's this new pointer? I was like, I don't think you you shouldn't be doing a quest.
00:23:05
I don't think it's a bug cuz we I didn't know that they actually integrated it. So, I followed this. Then it almost dawned on me, well, actually, this must be the apartment that I've just claimed. So, yeah, sure enough, it led me out of out of the claiming um building and to an apartment. >> This is a link to me right now, so I'm incredibly excited.
00:23:30
>> Yeah, dead easy dead easy to follow. Uh, but then it put the the pointer right in between, right in the middle of a building. Um, so I didn't know what floor I was on. That's what prompted to add text to to the pointer. So hopefully the pointer now will say building whatever, floor five or floor six.
00:23:46
Cuz I went up the stairs and I was like, well, there's no I can see the pointer above me. So I went up and I went up and I went up and eventually I I got to my apartment. There was this um then then this beam outside the door. I went in the door and um then there was an option to to enter the build to to furnish my apartment and um yeah, testing's coming along really well.
00:24:13
>> That was a great leak. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um it was kind of also that's not our leak for the episode, but it was a leak for me and it's also a leak for you guys, I guess. So >> the build now if if you download it later on, you can can have a go. >> Okay, we'll check it out. Um, so well that brings us up to a topic I don't ever want to talk about.
00:24:33
Um, but we've had some some losses along the way with Cornicopius and with Infinity Rising. Um, and I I don't even know if I I'll probably miss a few um here, but we we had an original community member, Moody, that had passed and uh we did a tribute for him back then. Uh my mother passed um in 2023 and uh recently a employee of ours El Knight Lemon uh passed away.
00:25:11
Um man, from what I'm gathering, a cherished member of the community. So yeah, he had an impact on on multiple people on our team without a doubt. Several of the mods, um my wife, myself, um just a a friendly young guy. And so, uh sucks sucks to have that happen. But what we want to do is as a community um make a a digital card for him uh for his family and so so they can know the impact that he had in the community with us.
00:25:57
And so I guess it's kind of a way to be um grateful and celebrate who he is who he was. Um so that's all there. Uh sorry for the uh additional emote here. Um but uh yeah anyway um we'll we'll get you guys information on that uh through the announcements channel something like that so that anyone who he had an impact on you want to say something on the digital card uh you'll have an opportunity to do that and then um I'll talk to one of his family members who's in our community um and get him that um so that he can share it with his family in whatever way. Um, okay. Um, uh, moving into, uh, questions. Why don't we go to the questions next? Rob, you got some questions for me? >> We can do questions. >> All righty.
00:26:55
>> Question one is from Lofty. Would like to know, what quarter is the seed round expected to close? Is excited for us all on that front? >> Yeah, seed round. It's probably a couple of months left. It'll overlap a little bit with the crowd round as well, just because there's still some additional time uh to bring people in and there's several groups that we're still talking to.
00:27:20
Um I don't know the exact date of the close. I'm just going to keep keep running and gunning and and doing everything we can really. uh you know the the ascent to um to alpha uh the final ascent is it's all about anything and everything we can do to have a successful alpha launch. So um we're just putting all that we can in into that.
00:27:48
Um so yeah, again if anybody knows anyone uh that we need to be chatting with, please let us know. Uh a crowd round is coming soon. Be on the lookout for that. That's the uh equity crowd round for equity. Um, and yeah. Um, next question. Or do I have one for you? I have one for you, actually. This is from Koi Bacon of the Knights.
00:28:06
In preparation for for building our dome experience, are there any programming or application skills we can learn ahead of time? >> Yeah, Koi Bacon. I think he'll I think he might enjoy the um our Uber Eats delivery game. >> The what? >> Working at the burger bar. I know I know he said he wants to make burgers, so he might might enjoy delivering them as well.
00:28:29
Um, but yeah, his question is about custom domes. Does he need any programming or application skills? You don't you don't need to know any programming whatsoever. The the way the domes will work is they will we'll have a builder tool in game. Um, and you'll just be dragging and dropping and and and doing stuff and yeah, no no programming knowledge at all is needed.
00:28:53
and um you should be able to test them your yourself and and then publish publish your your dome and and invite other people to come and play it. So So yeah, we we're building it. So So So you really need zero programming skills. >> Love it. Love it. That that allows me to participate because about all I can do is uh command line interface.
00:29:17
Well, you know, the way I AI is going at the moment, there's a lot of there's a lot of vibe coding now. Even programmers don't need to program anymore. >> This is true. This is true. It is quite empowering. I've played around with it a little bit. It It's interesting stuff. Um, and amazing. And what what surprised me the most about the vibe coding stuff is how fast it went from people vibe coding and not really creating much of anything maybe something to oh wow all of the sudden people are vi vibe coding real stuff. Um, so the acceleration is what I'm commenting on there. >> For us, for us developers, you know, it's very it's very good for prototyping and and talking through ideas and stuff like that as well and actually literally writing code and bug checking, you know. So, if you're already a programmer, it's very very useful. Um, and >> I mean looking now are getting the programming book. So you can see what we've been doing all along.
00:30:16
>> And we This is something that literally came up this week with the secondary uh marketplace in the land that that we're working on. Um we had no idea. So we're using Anvil's endpoints, Ada Anvil's endpoints um for the um for the marketplace, which is which is great. So anybody that doesn't know who they are, they're a partner of ours and a partner of ours. Great project.
00:30:43
Um, but what's happened is because of vibe coding, Greg, who is now an incredibly talented developer who's developed the node infrastructure and everything, he has massively sped up to where we can't keep we're almost struggling to keep his plate full. So, we put him onto the secondary marketplace and he's been um he's been killing it with that.
00:31:02
So, we're not that far off, I don't think. Um Jeff would kill me. I'm not going to give a date uh because there's still UI stuff on on the other side of what Greg's doing. But uh you know some of the difficult stuff is being is being handled. So um okay we have another question for you.
00:31:18
Uh MSP driver I have a question and hopefully somebody can answer. When the new build is released is it going to be a race to who can download first as far as apartment placement or will that part be delayed for a bit of time or will it be on the website like the land claim? It's an interesting question that because the the way you claim the apartment is in game.
00:31:48
So So you do have to go in game and you have a list of these different buildings and and and there's there's different floors and different apartments. So you could say it's kind it's a it's a it's a kind of a a bit of a race unless you unless you you own your own. No, but even then even then you've got to claim it from a certain place.
00:32:07
So I I would say let let let's wait and see on that because we've not actually got to the part where where what it's going to look like when the public are claiming it. Although in game we are going to a building. We're going through a long list and and then we're claiming them. At the moment I looked at that long list.
00:32:26
I had no clue where I was claiming. I just thought right I'll just have you. So, so yeah, you can be the first or the last in there, but actually where you're claiming from, I I don't know. I I I need to look into that more, but um yeah, it we we'll we'll take a we'll take a pause on that question and and come back to you.
00:32:45
But um yeah, it's it's different from claiming from from the website, which is like the land grab and we will do actually another land grab in the future. Apartments are different. So, it's >> significantly and and it's it's not going to be as significant uh the time because your your view is not going to change a ton.
00:33:06
No. >> So, oh, >> they're all they're all there. There's no bad view in the global map. >> Okay. Well, >> we all have jetpacks. It's very easy to get around. Even even the elevators work, though, so you can have a nice little elevator experience. >> Yeah. >> You can go in and press the button, get in the floor and and go inside. Yeah.
00:33:25
You can go in and press all the buttons >> and and actually to when I went in that you can press all the buttons. I've done that and it will stop at every single round, every single floor. When I went in today, what we've actually done now, one of the buildings in the middle has this tunnel through it.
00:33:41
Almost looks like um when when you go to like um a theme park, you know, you sit on the rides and you have those the buildings that just have two ends with a with a hole at either end. And um actually the the the mono rail is actually working now. So we've got a working monor rail in there in there as well.
00:33:58
So every time every time we get a new internal build is really good to go just go and have a good nosy. And we've got burrito boss they've now set up store within there. Um the burger barn damn they they've got about six different shops in that apartment. So I mean people are going to be having a lot of fast food.
00:34:18
There's no delivery service yet, but we do know. >> They've really been blowing up Burger Barn. Um they're hiring actually. >> They are. I I think they are. Yeah. And um you know, they're definitely hire. They definitely want people to to to work on their delivery. So um and and now we've got potentially delivery to individual doors.
00:34:37
I mean, in the future, you'll be able to to order all kinds of stuff to to your apartment door and to your lamp lot as well. And people will go out. You'll be able to create your own quest. We segue into this. Create your own quest for other players to go and get you stuff. That is definitely coming. >> So, so, so yeah, this is this is where it starts.
00:34:59
>> Agreed. >> Um, but there's so much fun stuff coming in this game. you. Everybody that's been a part and with us for so far is here for an exciting phase of uh just all of the systems coming and unfolding um right in front of their eyes. And so I'm I'm thankful thankful for that. >> These these are personal stuff as well.
00:35:24
what we'll talk about here, you know, delivering people burgers and and and maybe the odd building tools and stuff like that to your landlots, you know, that that those in themselves are two different individual loops. But then when you when you talk about crossdome transportation as well, you know, with the Atmos and and and some of the other large transportation vehicles, the trans transport and delivery, it's going to going to be hu I mean, we're talking game economics there, aren't we? On a on a whole different level. Yeah. Amazing. >> Amazing stuff. Okay. Well, that brings us to the final segment of 152. And um I guess what Rob and I can say before we play the segment um will get you guys fired up. I'll I'll just say this. I've seen it about five times now, and the
00:36:22
first time that I saw it was at about 10:30 last night. Blew me away. uh goosebumps multiple times. Um, it's the new cinematic and uh, it's just I don't know, man. Whole new level. >> Well, I think when you when you look at the the cinematic is heavily law-based and and it's something that you we you know, we we do talk about a lot of AI.
00:36:57
Is it good? Is is it bad? What what has helped us to do for this cinematic is is take our cinematics to a whole new level. Remember, we're we're we are a tiny team to to create any kind of cinematic to to this quality in the past would have probably have taken about a year cuz cuz that's what the AAA companies do.
00:37:21
They take about a year to make something like this and it their budget is somewhere between >> 500,000 >> easy. Yeah, easily >> maybe more >> over a million some of them some some of the big ones and what we've managed the team's managed to do you know within a few weeks with AI >> um and a lot of it uses our >> assets caveat AI with all of our assets.
00:37:45
>> Yeah. So >> it's with assets that we've built and then AI has empowered it to go further >> and and although the entire world now has asset now has the ability to use AI that doesn't mean to say if if we gave this task to 99.999% of the world they could achieve the same results as our team have done with this.
00:38:11
You know, you have to have direction. You have to have the the intuition for the shots, the lighting, the whole storytelling. That's what pulls all this together. This is not here's a load of assets, go and build something. The th this is weeks and weeks of planning, the individual shots, putting it together.
00:38:30
>> The soundboarded sound. Yeah, >> agreed. And I know I've given it a big buildup. It's worth I think this is an award-winning trailer >> there. I agree. There's there is no um discounting it because of AI at all. In fact, the the power of this is that we get to tell more people our story in a quality way with our assets that represents our project well and pulls more people in over time uh by helping us with the production cost.
00:39:05
That's what it is. It's it's it's helping us with the production cost. This alone would have taken so much longer and so much more money uh than what it took that we wouldn't have been able to go to market with it. And the thing is funding constraints. >> When you look at some game cinematics or even if you look at a movie cinematic, when you come and look at the the final game or look look at the movie, you you get something different.
00:39:33
what our cinematic does. You you you will get to to do in game. You there won't be a surprise. You know, you'll see this big glossy cinematic. And when you get in game, you won't be surprised when you're when you're flying jetpacks, when you see rift battles, when you see things coming out, when you're mining in caves with lasers, where when you have these quantum monsters coming at you, you know, everything in this trailer.
00:40:00
There's even a special guest star that not everybody will get, but all the OGs and and by OGs, I mean everybody that's been in this project for say 2 years previous, you know, every everybody that knows, there'll be there'll be a special nod in there um holding holding a some corn up.
00:40:21
So, I mean, it it's, you know, it's got it's got the a little bit of the flashback in there. it. I I cannot I cannot say how how good this trailer is. What it does do though is it raises the bars for trailers in the future and we and we look trailers and we go, "Oh my god, they look so out." >> It does. But here's the deal.
00:40:41
We're already talking um with marketing team. So David, Scruffy, Matt, we're we're getting together to chat about a production uh house to scale this out. Um and so we're going to duplicate the skills. We're going to get the process down and we're going to start telling our lore story.
00:41:01
We're there's so much that we can do with this. Uh it it enables marketing in a whole new ballpark that was just not available to us before and it's still using our assets. And so, um, yeah, we're we're kicking off a, um, yeah, a new a new direction with with cinematography and cinematics in the game, uh, that will pull people in with a with an emotional response.
00:41:26
I don't know about you, you don't get as emotional as easy as I do. You're you're a little more level. Um, but for me, that grabbed me. I was like, >> it was And you know what? I remember a few years ago, um I'm not going to name any names, but we were at CNFT Con and I and I was talking to um I'll just say I was talking to somebody and and he said to me, you know, we're going to fake this until we make it.
00:41:53
>> Oh, it was a competitor. >> Yeah, I know who you're talking about. >> Everything with AI that you see looks like you we are we're not faking it cuz we're making it. We are making this. AI is just he's just adding this nice and you've got a >> Yeah. Yeah. We've already built the assets. AI is >> augment this AI is saying okay all AI is fake but what it's representing is absolutely real and there is no one that is going to look at that trailer play our game and think actually you were you were misselling me cuz the the trailer is so good. The law is spot on. the the the music is music that you've seen us put to well the the style of music that we often use, you know, the cinematic, the epic, the the the the marching bands in there. It introduces the some of the terror, some of the earth, you see the calamity. You Yeah. I mean,
00:42:52
>> we're it's more encompassing. >> And everyone's going to see this trailer within >> we'll play you out with the leak, so stay tuned. And uh thank you all for watching this episode of Cafe Rise. We'll see you in the next one. Welcome. You're here early. That's good. Means there's something special about you.
00:43:40
We got a whole lot going wrong around here. You better train up. We got terror knocking on our infrastructure and some mighty 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. A storm is coming. I can feel it.
00:44:15
I'd like to say we've been worse, but this time I'm not so sure. Good luck out there. You're going to need every bit you can get. >> Children of the multiverse, you have crossed the veil through the gate to stand with us in cornucopia. You have my appreciation. I am but a messenger, a guide sent to show you the path that must be walked.
00:44:51
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 you face are not born of this world alone, but from beyond it. Some of you will fight the tide. Others will build and restore.
00:45:20
Some will weave knowledge while others will sustain through trade and creation. strength, will and unity. These are the bonds that will endure when all else is broken. Rise now. Stand against the tide. For infinity does not end. It begins. Infinity is rising. Heat