With the development of metaverse, blockchain, and artificial intelligence technology, people’s interest in interacting in virtual space continues to grow. The global business and entertainment industry is also seeking various attempts to occupy a place in virtual space in advance. Recently, the “EDGE Summit”, which focuses on technology, art, and fashion concepts, and revolves around the themes of AI and Web3, has come to an end. In this conference, we can see the paradigm shift in games, music, and business activities, as well as the application of AI and Web3 technology. In this regard, LianGuaiNews interviewed two Web3 projects in the entertainment category to see how they will promote iterative innovation of traditional gameplay, how they will integrate AI technology, and how they will attract more Web2 users to participate.
Skytopia: Creating a Web3 Version of Roblox from Playability
Skytopia is a Web3 entertainment brand that connects games and communities. It combines different forms of entertainment such as games, anime, novels, etc., aiming to create an immersive virtual world of entertainment for users. At the EDGE Summit, Skytopia’s booth was often crowded, and many passers-by and attendees were attracted by the fun and cute art style in their games. LianGuaiNews found Skytopia’s co-founder and CTO, Mason, and invited him to introduce more information about Skytopia.
LianGuaiNews: Please give a brief introduction of Skytopia.
Mason: I prefer to call Skytopia an MMO game now. Currently, what everyone sees is our first game, Party Planet, which is mainly based on party gameplay. In the whole Skytopia, there will be more UGC content, and it will be more inclined towards multiplayer interaction. We will release some game editors that allow users to participate in game creation. In fact, our positioning may be more like a Web3 version of Roblox (the world’s largest multiplayer online creative game).
LianGuaiNews: Compared with other Web3 games, what do you think are the characteristics and advantages of Skytopia?
Mason: From my personal perspective, when we were developing this game, we mainly considered two points. First, we first considered Web2 users, and then Web3 users. Because the real driving force of this circle must be outsiders brought in, just like stepN also introduced a lot of Web2 users at that time. For Skytopia, we mainly start with playability. Our first product chose the direction of party multiplayer interaction. Second, in terms of the overall production quality, we have certain requirements for ourselves. In terms of game style, art, and experience, we may have advantages compared to most Web3 games.
For a game project, the most important factor that determines its lifecycle is its internal ecosystem. We hope to lower the threshold for user creation by combining UGC with AI. Therefore, Skytopia starts with a relatively simple gameplay of party games and explores more gameplay and modes based on that foundation.
LianGuaiNews: What are the next plans for Skytopia?
Mason: I may need to talk about the worldview of Skytopia. Our overall game world is composed of thousands of islands, among which there is a part called Skycity, which is equivalent to everyone’s public space, where players can play games and socialize. There are also some small islands that are players’ own homes, where they can do some personalization or private socializing. Currently, we plan to create about 2000 Skycities, each corresponding to a game. Our team may mainly develop five to ten, and Party Planet is our first Skycity. Other Skycities will primarily be provided to users, and we will also invite other game developers, game guilds, and KOLs to settle in, as well as cooperate with some IPs. Currently, our game is still in the testing phase, and testing is expected to continue from mid-November to the end of the year.
LianGuaiNews: Web3 games have actually had a short-lived boom and have brought about various “play to earn” or “x to earn” models. However, there are now many voices that do not recognize and are not optimistic about its long-term development. How do you consider this?
Mason: I can only express my personal opinion. My view on this matter is relatively neutral. The way to do marketing in traditional games is very simple: everyone buys traffic, and basically what is compared is the cost of buying traffic. Whoever can achieve lower costs and have more profit can keep their game alive. It is a very competitive market. As for the “play to earn” model of Web3, it is a way to quickly expand and promote the market in the early stage. However, there is also a difficult problem to solve: how can we make the transition and return to a more sustainable long-term model for the game? Currently, we have not seen a good solution.
LightCycle: The hyper-realistic virtual commercial city will start land auctions in the fourth quarter
At the EDGE Summit, in addition to keynote speeches and roundtable discussions with industry leaders from various sectors, participants also enjoyed other exciting activities, such as digital fashion shows, hackathons, and pioneering AIGC metaverse fashion shows. Among them, the most attention-grabbing was undoubtedly the LightCycle metaverse night event on the opening day. Not only did the metaverse girl group meet48 perform on stage, but also Robbie Williams, a national treasure-level singer from the UK and a partner of the LightCycle metaverse platform, gave an exclusive metaverse performance of “Rock DJ” at the dinner.
During the performance, Sara, the CEO of LightCycle, was invited to give a keynote speech entitled “The Future of LightCycle’s Virtual Land.” She had an in-depth discussion with the audience about the future of digital land and how to use the LightCycle platform to create a real virtual world. In addition to Sara’s public sharing, LianGuaiNews also interviewed James Radford, the digital marketing manager of LightCycle. The following is a partial excerpt from the interview.
LianGuaiNews: Please give a brief introduction to LightCycle.
James: LightCycle is a special project dedicated to developing an augmented reality virtual business city. Our primary goal is to empower users and businesses with the freedom to create immersive business environments, while ensuring maximum security and reliability of transaction interactions through integrated blockchain technology. LightCycle is developed using Unreal Engine 5 and real-time ray tracing. With the help of editor and AI generation technology, users can explore this virtual metropolis, connect with the community, interact with favorite brands, watch live sports events and concerts, browse NFT galleries, or visit the digital fashion district. The immersive experience provides a wide range of possibilities for participation and discovery, making it the preferred choice for various industries such as art, film, music, gaming, fashion, sports, real estate, and retail to enter the digital world.
LianGuaiNews: This year’s Edge Conference has AI and Web3 as its theme. How do you view the impact of AI on Web3, and what are some use cases of AI technology in LightCycle?
James: As artificial intelligence technology continues to penetrate various industries, virtual digital employees have seamlessly integrated into consumers’ lives, achieving true interaction with machines. Virtual digital humans in LightCycle have important applications in various fields such as gaming, film and entertainment. They are used as virtual idols in the film industry, intelligent customer service representatives, and virtual event consultants. With the underlying capabilities of artificial intelligence, big data, and more, virtual digital humans in LightCycle can provide efficient and accurate services to users. By integrating AI tools, the perception and decision-making capabilities of virtual digital humans will be greatly enhanced.
One important aspect to emphasize is that LightCycle has undergone specialized training to enhance the smoothness and realism of virtual human body movements in various application scenarios. By combining ChatGPT with virtual human technology, LightCycle can provide users with more intelligent and immersive metaverse experiences. This integration helps improve user satisfaction and loyalty, while also helping metaverse enterprises achieve user growth and gain competitive advantages.
LianGuaiNews: LightCycle platform will be launched in the fourth quarter. Can you disclose some information? What exciting gameplay and experiences will there be?
James: LightCycle’s land is divided into various sizes, and users can choose large, medium, small, and extra-large plots according to their needs. These plots can be used for hosting competitions, events, etc., and can also create assets and experience tokens. Landowners can choose to rent or sell their land, thereby further increasing its value and generating income. The first land auction of LightCycle will start at the end of this year.
At the launch of LightCycle, we will collaborate with renowned British pop singer Robbie Williams to bring a unique personal performance to his 25th anniversary live concert. Fans from all over the world can experience and interact with this artist through the 3D virtual universe in LightCycle. In addition, LightCycle will also collaborate with famous IPs such as Hape and Desi. The first auction of LightCycle will focus on these well-known IPs, providing users with a unique virtual land experience.
LianGuaiNews: What are the next plans for LightCycle after the platform is officially launched, and what are the challenges?
James: Since the project development began, we have overcome many obstacles. We have not only innovatively integrated artificial intelligence, but also received positive feedback and valuable suggestions from the community during the early beta testing. However, LightCycle still faces many challenges. On the one hand, the massive scale of the virtual city means that traditional rendering and processing methods are insufficient, making real-time interaction in such a vast virtual space a major obstacle. On the other hand, besides balancing the experience of new and old users, ensuring security is also crucial in the integration of blockchain with the real-world business. In the future, we will continue to prioritize user feedback and community participation, and focus on continuous investment in network security to ensure the protection of user data and transactions at all times.
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