Andy describes Zenith as a massively multiplayer online world that combines action-adventure gameplay with a colorful open world. He compares its mix of influences to Dark Souls and World of Warcraft, and says it is built for VR.
Ramen VR - YC Tech Talks: Gaming 2020
Speaker
Andy, co-founder of Ramen VR, presents Zenith, the company’s VR multiplayer game, at Y Combinator’s 2020 gaming tech talks.
Zenith’s VR combat includes parrying blades, swinging a staff, and dodging bullets while slowing time. Andy says Ramen VR has built backend technology intended to scale to a potentially limitless world. The company’s longer-term goal is to let people create, host, and play in their own virtual worlds.
Andy says VR games were a $300 million market when Ramen VR started in 2019, and he expected revenue to top $1 billion in 2020. He points to the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 as markers of the market’s development, and says the company has benefited from its growth.
Ramen VR sold $280,000 in pre-orders through what Andy calls the most successful VR gaming Kickstarter at the time. He says the company secured funding and a marketing deal with Oculus that month. It was hiring environment artists, tech artists, and graphics engineers.
Takeaways
- Design VR combat around actions that use players’ hands and movement, such as parrying and dodging.
- Plan backend capacity for the scale of the world the game aims to support.
- Track market growth alongside device launches when evaluating a new platform.
- Use pre-orders and platform partnerships as evidence of demand and potential reach.
- Hire across environment art, technical art, and graphics engineering to build a VR world.
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What was claimed 9
- featureZenith: Massively multiplayer online world with action-adventure gameplay and a colorful open world
“a massively multiplayer online world”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- built
“Lauren and I are working on Zenith”
YouTube Unverified2 sources· Talk
- foundedco-founder
“Lauren and I are working on Zenith”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- foundedco-founder
“I'm Andy, one of the co-founders at Ramen VR.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureZenith: Goal of becoming a platform for users to create, host, and play in virtual worlds
“make Zenith the metaverse, where anyone can come, create, host, and play”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureZenith: VR combat with parrying, staff attacks, and time-slowing dodges
“hyper-immersive combat that's only possible in VR”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- metricRamen VR: Hiring environment artists, tech artists, and graphics engineers
“We're currently hiring environment artists, tech artists, and graphics engineers”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- invested inFunding and marketing deal
“secure funding and a marketing deal with Oculus”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
