Leslie Benzies, former boss of Grand Theft Auto (GTA), has revealed his new project, MindsEye, which will be available in Everywhere, a platform created by his studio, Build A Rocket Boy. MindsEye is an episodic "blockbuster" adventure available inside Everywhere, which allows players to create their own custom content.
The reveal trailer for MindsEye shows off some third-person action that resembles a GTA setpiece, and it also features some mocap faces. The protagonist looks like Mafia 3's main character, Lincoln. There are some driveable vehicles too, but apart from that, the whole thing is almost as nebulous as the reveal.
According to Benzies, "Each of the episodes will be of a different type of gameplay," and while they'll all be loosely connected, "they take place in lots of different time periods and parts of the universe."
While MindsEye is technically impressive, the project's longevity will come from Everywhere as it looks to supplant content creation experiences like Roblox or Fortnite Creative. On top of some Unreal Engine-powered creation tools, Everywhere also sounds like it's trying to be the next metaverse.
Everywhere's content creator is called Arc-adia, which allows you to build experiences using pre-made assets you acquire from the hub, Utopia. Players can then turn their created bits into "Arcs," allowing others to use them, edit them, and spread the creativity. Apparently, you can buy Arcs using an in-game currency, which is eyebrow-raising news for a platform that has digital shopping centers, too.
Who knows how MindsEye will fit into any of this. Maybe we'll take our avatars into those aforementioned portals, only to pop into a sci-fi GTA campaign. Everywhere sounds quite hazy, in general, and we won't have a clear picture of how it all works until we've seen the hub, the content creation, and the final experiences in-game - whatever in-game means anymore. At least Everywhere isn't being built on the blockchain, for now.
As Benzies said in an interview with Eurogamer, "The only limit is the ambition of the people using the toolset." It remains to be seen if Everywhere can live up to its ambitions and become the next big thing in user-generated content.
The reveal trailer for MindsEye shows off some third-person action that resembles a GTA setpiece, and it also features some mocap faces. The protagonist looks like Mafia 3's main character, Lincoln. There are some driveable vehicles too, but apart from that, the whole thing is almost as nebulous as the reveal.
According to Benzies, "Each of the episodes will be of a different type of gameplay," and while they'll all be loosely connected, "they take place in lots of different time periods and parts of the universe."
While MindsEye is technically impressive, the project's longevity will come from Everywhere as it looks to supplant content creation experiences like Roblox or Fortnite Creative. On top of some Unreal Engine-powered creation tools, Everywhere also sounds like it's trying to be the next metaverse.
What is Everywhere?
In a metaverse-esque sense, Everywhere is the platform, and inside Everywhere, there's Utropia - a large 3D space that you can walk around with your own avatar. The hub will have portals leading to user-created mini-games, different biomes to explore, and areas designed to host digital concerts or video premieres - similar to Fortnite's musical collaborations.Everywhere's content creator is called Arc-adia, which allows you to build experiences using pre-made assets you acquire from the hub, Utopia. Players can then turn their created bits into "Arcs," allowing others to use them, edit them, and spread the creativity. Apparently, you can buy Arcs using an in-game currency, which is eyebrow-raising news for a platform that has digital shopping centers, too.
Release Plans
The team behind Everywhere and MindsEye have been tight-lipped about monetization and release plans. Everywhere still has a release window of this year, and the official site is still barren - but it has two teaser trailers now.Who knows how MindsEye will fit into any of this. Maybe we'll take our avatars into those aforementioned portals, only to pop into a sci-fi GTA campaign. Everywhere sounds quite hazy, in general, and we won't have a clear picture of how it all works until we've seen the hub, the content creation, and the final experiences in-game - whatever in-game means anymore. At least Everywhere isn't being built on the blockchain, for now.
As Benzies said in an interview with Eurogamer, "The only limit is the ambition of the people using the toolset." It remains to be seen if Everywhere can live up to its ambitions and become the next big thing in user-generated content.