Aaryn Flynn worked at Bioware on titles such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect. He is currently developing an MMORPG based on SpatialOS technology. This aims to enable exciting possibilities and could become a kind of ultimate sandbox. SpatialOS allows for simulations of large worlds in MMORPGs.
What is Aaryn Flynn currently working on? His new game does not have a title yet. However, he is working for the studio Improbable, the creators of SpatialOS, together with his team on a new MMORPG.
This is not based on a known brand, but represents something new. Therefore, the development is also relatively long, as essentially the complete background, lore, game world, and game system need to be developed from scratch.
Wonder technology in new MMORPG
How is SpatialOS being used in this? Improbable is actually not known for games, but for the technology SpatialOS, which is licensed to other studios. However, the company is now creating its own MMORPG.
SpatialOS is supposed to enable developers to create gigantic, persistent game worlds that allow significantly more simulation than is currently possible in online games. All of this should be easy to control and manage, allowing even small teams to create vast, simulated worlds.
The new MMORPG from Aaryn Flynn heavily relies on SpatialOS. The developer does not want to go into detail about how the technology will be used. However, his hints suggest that we can expect more role-playing elements in the MMORPG.
The promises of SpatialOS have always been persistence, simulation, and scale. The challenge for us as developers is to figure out what we can do with this. What does the technology enable for players? Role-playing as a foundational genre or aspect of gameplay is a great lens to view these things and determine what we can do.
How does role-playing improve with persistence? How does role-playing enhance simulation? How does role-playing benefit from scaling? These are the things we need to discover as we develop the game.
Aaryn Flynn
What could this mean? If more emphasis is placed on role-playing, it would certainly benefit the social aspect of an MMORPG. Many players living together in a huge world would enjoy many freedoms. Concerts by players, who write their own music like in Black Desert Online, would be one possibility.
A player-driven economy where crops might be planted, harvested, sold, and processed could also be an option. Just like a political system where players rule over cities or even entire kingdoms.
However, how the role-playing elements will look like in the MMORPG from Improbable is still unclear.
It could be that we will receive a kind of ultimate sandbox MMORPG where we can do even more in a simulated world and enjoy even more freedoms than what is currently possible.
How far along is the game? According to Aaryn Flynn, they are now at a stage where assets for the game are being created and they are reflecting on the underlying technology. However, they have not yet moved beyond a prototype phase.
Not only Improbable aims to help small teams develop massive games. Google is also pursuing such a plan. This way, development studios should be able to produce more MMORPGs like WoW.
