SpatialOS has already been used in this way to develop Worlds Adrift from Bossa Studios and Lazarus from Spilt Milk Studio. A Lazarus play map is shown Improbable

Google is combining its tech might with London-based startup Improbable to launch a joint program that will help game developers build and test virtual worlds.

The SpatialOS Games Innovation Program will use Google's Cloud Platform to help develop online game worlds and Google and Improbable "will partner to subsidise access for qualified developers to Improbable’s SpatialOS platform," an overly-wordy press release explains.


Improbable also used the announcement to launch its Game Developer Open Alpha for SpatialOS. Any game developer can use the SpatialOS platform and its development tools to test and experiment with ahead of the full launch of the Games Innovation Program, and the beta of SpatialOS, early next year.

SpatialOS can be used to build worlds that can "accommodate thousands of simultaneous players at the same time". The press release continues that this "exceeds the usual limits of what a conventional game server can do" and these simulations support the kind of complex computation needed to bring new games to life.

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What's also key is that SpatialOS can be used to recreate huge simulations of real-world cities, entire economies, and biological systems to study how they work and how they respond to change – whether it's new infrastructure or climate change, as top-line examples. By running on Google's Cloud Platform, these virtual worlds can run across huge networks of computers to expand to greater sizes and levels of complexity.

“Imagine a virtual city populated by players, who can make lasting changes to its social structure or its economy through their actions,” said Herman Narula, CEO and co-founder of Improbable. “Or a battle between thousands of players, played out in real time over days or weeks. These are possibilities that demand a totally different approach.”


“We set out to build SpatialOS because we saw what developers wanted to do, but were held back from achieving. Since we founded Improbable, we have talked to many developers who have amazing ideas for new kinds of games they can’t currently realise. Like them, we want to create and inhabit realistic worlds where players’ actions have real consequences – but technical limitations have stifled innovation in gaming.”

Improbable

The attraction of SpatialOS, which had previously been locked to a select group of users, is that it lets developers deploy and test new ideas, and they can begin live testing with users at a much earlier stage to gather feedback much faster than before. The Games Innovation Program also helps ensure that developers don’t have to worry about some of the costs of game development.

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SpatialOS has already been used in this way to develop Worlds Adrift from Bossa Studios and Lazarus from Spilt Milk Studio.


Worlds Adrift is a 3D physics-driven sandbox MMO set in a world of floating islands. Thousands of players share a single world, in an environment currently covering more than 1000km2. These players can form alliances, build sky-ships and become scavengers, explorers, heroes or sky-pirates in an open, interactive world where actions have real consequences. Ships can be stolen, wrecks can be scavenged and each island’s forests and animal life can flourish or diminish over time.

Worlds Adrift is scheduled to launch before March next year.

Meanwhile, Lazarus is a retro-style space shooter that features a 160,000 km2 map where players fight aliens and each other. Players can sign up for a free Steam code at Playlazarus.com.

SpatialOS has already been used in this way to develop Worlds Adrift from Bossa Studios and Lazarus from Spilt Milk Studio. A Lazarus play map is shown Improbable

Under the program, eligible game developers will be provided with Improbable Credits, which can be used to pay SpatialOS fees. These include the costs of hosting games on GCP. The program will cover the cloud costs of developing, testing and deploying games using SpatialOS right up to when the game is launched.


“The future of gaming lies in the cloud,” said Google Global Head of Technology Partnerships Nan Boden. “This partnership is an opportunity for us to help developers to take full advantage of the new possibilities enabled by SpatialOS combined with the unique abilities of Google Cloud Platform. This is the first step in Google’s partnership with Improbable, and just the beginning of our work together to support game development and beyond.”

Developers can sign up for the Experimental Game Developer Alpha of SpatialOS at spatialos.com.

WIRED editor David Rowan is a personal investor in Improbable and was not involved in the commissioning or writing of this story.