Thread by @Frogland_io

Scaling a #metaverse is V difficult. We often get asked how we intend to maintain our high bar of quality. TL;DR it won't be easy, but our crazy talented team is up to the task! In this🧵we look at some common pitfalls of game design & how they apply to massive online worlds. 1/

1st, what is a #metaverse? It's a social media platform, a massive multiplayer online world, & an ecommerce platform, all in one - basically, a 3D version of the internet. It's incredibly ambitious for 1 company to build Instagram, Electronic Arts, & Amazon all in one product. 2/

Or is it? #TBT '02: big tech companies line Craigslist's front page. Uber, Tinder, Doordash, Zillow...all on an integrated platform, a 2D #metaverse. But, user experience matters: as they went mobile & processing power📈, expectations📈. This pattern will likely apply here. 3/

But this is a thread about scalability, what are you trying to say?

Performance is important at scale for any product, but it's absolutely critical for #metaverses. Why order pizza in VR when mobile ordering exists? A new experience must be 10x better or people won't switch. 4/

A reason we have browser-based, LoFi worlds today is the same reason Craigslist was so popular - it was the best & only choice.

Can we do better? Sure, but aesthetics always have a tradeoff for performance. Scope, budget, and time - if you're lucky, you can optimize for two.
5/

Check out this photo-real concept image of a #LilyPAD. Beautiful right? The photo-realistic lilyPAD has some advantages...and some tradeoffs. There are lots of assets to use as a starting point. It is stunning & immersive, and it feels like a place you want to be. 6/

This performs well in browser with only one user & a loading screen, but +50 users in an open space? The network gets congested, the CPU/GPU struggles to render shade & shadow changes, the beautiful scene succumbs to frame rate drop, & pixilation as texture loading fails. 7/

This cartoon shaded concept lilyPAD is the same layout & idea, just different shading & assets that render well w the shader. W reduced fidelity, we reduce the load & performance is upheld. But tradeoffs include custom building a lot of assets from scratch to fit our art style 8/

These are NOT mutually exclusive. We can use:
🐸photoreal shading in low traffic areas: wilderness & landscape vistas
🐸cartoon-style shading in high traffic large areas: towns & arenas
🐸deep artistic high-fidelity textures in smaller areas: like in the #DragonflySocialClub 9/

Building a #metaverse has tradeoffs. Balancing #Tech, #Art, & FUN! Voxel platforms are fun & easy, side-stepping many tech & art challenges of AAA video games. We don't think this will take the market. Users will demand more from a 3D world than 2D, & 2D worlds are v useful. 10/

So what are we doing? #Frogland is dedicated to an immersive AND beautiful experience: adventure in a quirky world. Our incredible team is building for scale right now, using experience in movie VFX, VR hardware, & big media-streaming platforms. This is our unfair advantage. 11/

It's a tough challenge, but not impossible! Thank you for reading! Any questions, please ask. We're #CoCreating this #metaverse WITH our community, and your opinion matters. 12/12

Want to hear more? Listen in to our Town Hall from just a little bit ago:

https://twitter.com/frogland_io/status/1503113864434573317?s=21