New Universe — Grant Report #01

NEW UNIVERSE PLATFORM

The New Universe Platform allows people of all ages to quickly and easily create and share games in the platform as easy as any social network.

When others play the games the creators receive direct payment without any intermediary thanks to Web Monetization!

You can check the trailer of the platform here:

Project Update

We started New Universe with the strong idea of being an online platform where users with no prior knowledge of game development can easily create, share and monetize (via web monetization) their own content.

At first we were thinking of making the platform only for the people that already use Web Monetization, but after considering better we decided to open the platform to any user, so they could create an account although they will have a limited experience (in terms of exploration, features and games) and we are looking for ways to encourage those users to start using Web Monetization in order to access the full experience of the New Universe Platform

Progress on objectives

New Universe is a project that consists of several parts, we are currently in the validation phase and soon we will start the testing phase with users, who will be key to the improvement and proper functioning of the platform.

• The platform has an environment that can be explored (our interactive Main Hub of the platform where the users are gathered), we have called it "Turtle Island" because of the shape the islands forms.

• The platform also have the actual Game Editor to create the games, it has the following parts, missions, custom scenes, props and tools to adjust the position of the objects in the scene, all this together allows you to build easily a game with these different items.

• When you create a game you can add a Coil ID so each time anyone plays your game you will get revenue via Web Monetization

• The landscape of the island is varied and many of these elements are part of the system to build the games and thus create different atmospheres for these games.
  

• Within the mission modules we have created a key mission to collect coins, these coins known as paw coins can be used later in other parts of the platform, among these is the ability to customize avatars with accessories.

• We have created a navigation system on the island through portals that allow us to connect the games that both players and administrators create from the same platform.
  

• To improve the experience we have differentiated the portals and thus help players to identify the portals of the games created by other players, the portals of the games created by us the administrators and the portals that transport other games external to the platform but that are they are also part of this universe (all of them uses web monetization).

• One of the key characteristics of the character avatars available is that they have animated facial expressions, it is not easy to express a mood so we catalog them in frequently used facial expressions.

• We have a game search system, which allows us to list the games of the users in the platform, and thanks to the tests we have carried out, we found the need to create filters to be able to even add the favorite games of each player.

• When we enter the platform we find the news or post system, at the moment the news is generated by us, the administrators, but we hope that when we publish the open beta test of the platform, new news about the games they create will appear.

• We currently have nine types of base characters that can be selected and modified as in-game avatars, in your profile you can also add your specific Coil ID (although you can set a different Coil ID per game for example if you want to donate temporary your earnings from that game) after you are all setup you can explore the platform

• We have a lively website, it's quite easy to work with, and where we will also post the content of new news and updates.

Check out our on-progress version of our official website here: https://pollitoxiangxiang.com/NewUniverse/index.htm

Key activities

It has been a great and challenging task, with many goals and objectives, where all the resources granted have been invested in the production of the platform.

How have they been:

The production of 3D characters with humanoid characteristics, which have been tested on many occasions, and we hope that the group of avatars that we have selected are to the liking of the players, we have planned for those to be part of the first beta version open to the public which you can choose to play the other users games and also to explore the turtle island.

One of the key tasks was to create a friendly interface for all types of users, it was a somewhat difficult task, but we currently have an interactive and attractive interface for all ages, something that reflects the cute and modern style of the New platform. Universe.

Another of the activities that we have carried out permanently is to test the functionalities that we have integrated into the platform, thanks to this we hope that the bugs are minimized when we start testing the public beta. Even so, we must verify the correct operation of the modules to create games on the platform, since not all of us think in the same way, it is possible that we receive feedback from the users of the platform when they are creating their own video games for new features or adjustments/enhancements of the current tools.

For us, it is key that the users can create their games without the need to know computer programming, and for this reason it is key for the system to be able to have a easy to understand system alongside a preview system that allows the user to try the game before even publishing it on the platform, that is, that allows you to test the game you are creating and save your progress while you perfect your game.

Although the players or the end users cannot see this part of the platform, we have a backend which has been strong in development because it changes as we notice it is necessary to create a new functionality for the platform and that we consider to be fundamental, so our backend changes alongside the progress we made in the platform.

A task that we believe is also key is to guarantee the functionality of the platform in desktop browsers that support the Coil plugin, this testing allows us to improve production techniques, although we know that in the beta testing phase open to the public somethings could change, and we will be open to feedback to make adjustments based on the experiences of the players with the platform that they share with us.

Communications and marketing

Part of our strategy is to add content related with our platform in other platforms in order to attract new users to our platform, for example: we have created the first stickers for the WhatsApp platform, we planned to do that also for Facebook although we have seen difficulties with the stickers for it because we need to get at least 5,000 followers to be part of the Level Up program, so this process will take a little longer.

On the website we have uploaded the first pack of stickers of the Froggy character, which you can download for free at this link:
https://pollitoxiangxiang.com/NewUniverse/index-2.htm

We will start the next part of our strategy after we unveil the First Open Beta Testing which includes contacting influencers, content creators and media that can cover or are willing to try our platform

What’s next?

The next step is to start the search for testers, so we have enabled a simple form for tester registrations on the page

https://pollitoxiangxiang.com/NewUniverse/index-1.htm

And we will also continue the production of the remaining platform modules to create games of different genres, we want to continue to refine the user interface, and with the help of the players we hope to test the new modules to create games.

We still have several key activities left, such as the integration of the internal messaging system between users in the platform.

And of course continue optimizing and improving the New Universe platform.

What community support would benefit your project?

We hope to get the support of content creators and players, because they are the ones we direct the New Universe platform to, because you are the ones who can help us validate its operation and behavior, so before the official launch of the New Universe platform, we hope to be able to have many collaborators, so we invite you to join through the form that is on our website.

Please sign up to be part of our first open beta testers: https://pollitoxiangxiang.com/NewUniverse/index-1.htm