Worlds Adrift

Worlds Adrift was a massively multiplayer sandbox video game, set in a massive world that is permanently changed by players' actions. Developed and published by Bossa Studios, the game entered early access on PC through Steam in mid-July 2017.[1] Following the conclusion of the "End of the world" in-game event, Worlds Adrift was discontinued on July 26, 2019 by Bossa Studios, who cited the game being no longer commercially viable as the reason for its shutdown.[2]

Worlds Adrift
Developer(s)Bossa Studios
Publisher(s)Bossa Studios
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)MMO sandbox
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Gameplay

Players could explore the game's vast open world of floating islands, where all in-game objects have their own weight and real-time physics. Worlds Adrift allowed the player to harvest resources and free-build an airship of any size and shape to traverse the world. Due to the game's focus on physics, features of the ship, such as the number and placement of hull material, propulsion systems and where the player stood on the ship in flight, would have an effect on the ship's handling, fuel consumption and speed.[3] Ships were constructed by creating a "ship frame" using an in-game program called "3DS Shipmax," then attaching various parts to the frame once it is built. The various floating islands present in the game that could be explored were created by players in an external software engine called Worlds Adrift Island Creator that came bundled with the game itself and could be installed as a separate program. Bossa Studios had hinted at the presence of a planetary core miles beneath the orbiting clouds, but any player attempting to travel towards this would die long before coming close to anything resembling a core.

Plot

The game's plot was fragmented and incomplete with tiny snippets of background information about the world and its history being learned from scanning various in-game objects. The game hints that the floating islands distributed throughout the game were once part of a planetary crust, but a cataclysm shattered the planet into multiple islands that floated through the atmosphere. The islands float due to an "Atlas Crystal" that is embedded in the islands' impenetrable rock. Atlas crystals were minerals once mined by the ancient precursor civilisation referenced in Worlds Adrift's lore and were valued for their anti-gravity properties. A previous race that built the various in-game ruins is hinted at, but there was no contact between the players and any surviving members of this precursor civilisation.

Development

Worlds Adrift was announced by Bossa Studios on December 19, 2014 [4] by Bossa Studios' founder Henrique Olifiers.[5] The concept for the game came from a game jam event.[6]

The game's complex persistent world is run by a cloud-based operating system called SpatialOS created by a UK-based company named Improbable.[7] SpatialOS allows a simulated world, with a day and night cycle, to be inhabited by millions of complex entities in a real-time environment. The program's "worlds" can span massive regions of digital space (processing power per cubed kilometer ratio), contain millions of individually simulated entities with complex behavior, and run across thousands of servers in the cloud.[8]

Reception

Worlds Adrift was once referred to as "The Minecraft for a new generation" by Angus Morrison of Edge magazine.[9] Brandin Tyrrel at IGN also cited the game as "Worlds Adrift is one of the most ambitious physics game I've ever seen."[10]

The game was nominated for the "Creativity" and "Heritage" awards at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards 2018.[11][12]

References
  1. Olivetti, Justin (January 11, 2016). "Worlds Adrift gears up for an exciting 2016". Massively Overpowered. Overpowered Media Group, LLC. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  2. "The End of Worlds Adrift". Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  3. Devore, Jorgan (October 1, 2015). "Soar the island-filled skies of Worlds Adrift". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  4. Chalk, Andy (December 19, 2014). "Worlds Adrift is a physics-based multiplayer game from the I Am Bread studio". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  5. Matulef, Jeffrey (December 19, 2014). "Surgeon Simulator dev reveals physics-based multiplayer game Worlds Adrift". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  6. O'Dwyer, Danny; Haywald, Justin; Mihoerck, Dan; Tay, Erick; Kish, Mary; Shaw, Josh (February 18, 2015). "How Surgeon Simulator and I am Bread Were Made". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  7. Nave, Kathryn (January 12, 2016). "The next step for games? Simulate the entire world". Wired UK. Condé Nast. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  8. Russell, Jon (November 11, 2015). "Improbable Launches Spatial OS, An Operating System For Next-Level Data Simulation". TechCrunch. Oath Inc. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  9. Edge staff (November 18, 2015). "Edge 287: Just Cause 3 sparks a revolution for open-world action games". GamesRadar+. Future plc. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  10. Tyrrel, Brandin (November 16, 2015). "Worlds Adrift: The Most Ambitious Pirate Game Since Black Flag". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  11. Stephenson, Suzi (September 19, 2018). "TIGA Announces Games Industry Awards 2018 Finalists". The Independent Game Developers' Association. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  12. "2018 Winners". The Independent Game Developers' Association. November 1, 2018. Archived from the original on November 3, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
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