A short while ago, the team at Magic Media announced our partnership with Hector Network to begin developing an incredible new game, The Oikos. An MMORPG based in a world of Greek mythology that has leapt forward technologically, fusing ancient Greek myth and the mind-bending worlds of solarpunk. This game would also have metaverse implemented on top of it with the goal of allowing players to decide what elements of the game they wanted to engage with.

The Magic Media team have been hard at work on the full-cycle development of this project and we wanted to share the journey. This is a huge undertaking with potential waves made in the world of blockchain gaming. So, take a look behind our initial creation and exploration of The Oikos.

Consultation on The Oikos

With a project of this scope, an MMORPG that hosts a metaverse, the first step is to grasp the situation. The unique aesthetic mixed with the work required for something like an MMORPG meant scoping out expectations, ideas, and estimations for time and budget. Our expertize allowed us to offer technical support and advise on the project’s approach from day one.

Ultimately, as service providers, we’re here to deliver our best results to you. We’re here to advise, suggest, and guide. The result matters just as much to our clients as it does for us. Our teams will advise on what we believe to be best for your project and will always go ahead with your final decision. In these early days of The Oikos, we spent four months just consulting and scoping out the project. A truly staggering amount of research and data was delivered in every department, from art and design, to technical specifications and the future work on the blockchain and metaverse. 

This step was about setting up the project for success and creating the best relationship possible with the team at Hector Network.

Combining Greek Myth and Solarpunk

We’ve talked about exploration in many circumstances, often in the development of art and concepts, for example, Gamma4’s art. But for a project like this, we were testing in every department. How would we handle this? What went into creating an MMORPG that was hosting a metaverse? What a challenge it was. One that we couldn’t wait to tackle.

From an artistic side, we wanted to meet their expectations. Our artists wanted to be faithful to Greek mythology but not be constrained by it. It needed some room to grow as well. As such a well-known mythology, we spent a lot of time ensuring we got it right and didn’t compromise the life and feel that is important to so many people.

We actually stepped away from the huge cities for the art exploration, there was no way we could meet their ideas that had been playing in their mind for so long. So, we started further out. Villages, landscapes, finding out what they liked so that we could build towards the huge, mythical cities they had dreamed of. The mood boards for each city, each area, were absolutely massive! And the team at Hector Network were fantastic as well as we picked their brains about every detail. From there, the concept could take shape.

Technology, Partnerships, and Processes on The Oikos

The explorations of art and development happened in tandem with a lot of technical tests. We needed to analyze various approaches, tools, and methodologies. Our developers and technical artists were all brought in to collaborate and get the best possible result. We briefly considered partnering with another companies but we settled on a solo approach for the best final delivery. 

Our processes were on both the business and development level. A metaverse partnership, built on top of a fun and engaging MMORPG, combined the best of both worlds with the players deciding on their level of interaction.  Executing this idea meant laying out our baseline for the Hector Network team and establishing a clear process of communication. We cannot stress enough how integral such processes are to a partnership and they’re something that contributes to our growing success.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at the opening stages of The Oikos’ development. Keep an eye on our socials and our website for more insights into the project and the stellar services on offer from Magic Media.

At Magic Media we are veterans of the gaming, tech and entertainment industries, offering comprehensive services including game development, VFX, animation and full art services! Our main goal is to provide a one-stop solution for any project. We love nothing more than collaborating with creative minds, so drop us a line and let’s create magic!