Manaworks Trailer Unveils Zero Latency Game Tech

https://youtu.be/i_gONyd9WKI

Manaworks, the studio founded by ArenaNet co-founder Mike O’Brien, just gave players a glimpse of some potentially game-changing tech.

After founding the studio in 2019, the ex ArenaNet president and a small group of dedicated developers got to work designing a new game. Speculation has been ongoing for some time across social media and Reddit and now we have a little more detail about the end goal. Manaworks dropped a video, which you can check out above, that details some in-game tech designed to unify the overall player experience. After detailing how discordant in-game latency can be and how disruptive it is to the game experience, the trailer teases a sandbox environment where that delay simply doesn’t exist. This approach seems to be edging towards real, physical interactions between character models and the environment, allowing players to build and cooperate to overcome huge challenges together.

What’s Coming?

While we don’t quite know if the content shown in the trailer is purely for this technical teaser or representative of the final product but the “First Look” title suggests that it will at least bear a resemblance. The animated environment that bursts onto this trailer seems to burst with energy and the oversized environmental challenges seem to be designed to build adventures around. After barely a year, a core group of developers has pulled together an engine, art assets, and constructed a teaser with a claim of zero latency. This seriously succeeds in building expectations.

Don’t let the hyperbolae confuse you, however. Whatever the description, this is unlikely to be related to Google Stadia’s negative latency claims and frankly, we’re just as interested in the concept art which looks to have come from the pen of studio Artist Tirzah Bauer. Manaworks might be some way from a final product yet but many of the core development teams were fundamental in bringing Guild Wars 2 to players so I wouldn’t write them off yet. Check out more about the content of this Manaworks teaser over at the official Manaworks website now.

 

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for the nice article Ed <3

    Hope everyone is staying safe!

    • thank you Izzy, we’re all alive and kicking here. I hope you are taking some time to sleep between work 😀

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