BeforeFortnitetook over thegamingworld withcelebrity skinsandvirtual concerts, it gained notoriety as a breakout in the battle royale genre.
But Greenes new game,Prologue: Go Wayback!,is nothing likePUBG.
Another trailershown in December 2024 gives a more clear look at whatPrologueactually is and why its being made.
Gameplay from ‘Prologue: The Way Back!‘PlayerUnknown Productions
But how does it feel to play?
What isPrologue: Go Wayback!about?
The Irish developer seems to have a fascination with Eastern Europes beautiful and sometimes harsh environments.
But youll take another crack because next time you wont stand so close to the cliff edge.
Prologues randomized terrain is the entire reason for its existence.
PlayerUnknown Productions is aiming to createArtemis, an open-source game that will function like a 3D Internet.
But that game is at least ten to 15 years off according to Greene and his team.
I dont look at it as entering the survival genre, Greene says.
I thought a survival game mode was the one that made the most sense.
The team teases that who she is will become more relevant when the games early access period is over.
What is the machine learning technology being tested?
We use machine learning trained on real Earth data, Green explains.
One of the most popular games in the world already can create massive, unique worlds:Minecraft.
The machine learning team says the 16-year-old game does it so well because of its blocky aesthetic.
Your brain fills in the gaps between the blocks, explains Joey Faulkner, a senior machine learning researcher.
ButPrologue andArtemisafter it will be going for a more photorealistic approach, so older techniques wont work as well.
Whereas machine learning, were trying to achieve the same thing except it learns the rules for itself.
At the moment, this part of the team is just in charge of the terrain placement.
Rain also causes the river banks to rise and rock faces to become slippery.
Next time, dont stand so close to the edge.
What isArtemis?
The aim is to get toArtemis, Greene says.
These other games are just stepping stones getting us there.
Solve a problem, great, move on.
Greene has a three-game plan, and each will test some core component ofArtemis.Prologueis testing the terrain generation.
Game two will be more of a first-person shooter but with added unit generation, says Greene.
A game where factions fight and players control them like a commander.
The goal is to lock down ML [machine learning] animation, like texturing, at scale.
The term Metaverse comes with bad connotations, Greene says.
Facebook changing its name to Meta, were still calling it Facebook.
They build content bubbles.
And they build funnels in which to sell you stuff.
Thats not the Internet.
Artemishas to be fair and equitable, says Greene.
Its a very utopian idea, one which everyone on the team seems to believe in fully.
OnceArtemisis live, itll take a cut of any transaction made between players.
It has to have the same access for kids in Africa and kids in California, he says.
Well probably test digital economy and marketplace and ownership in game two.
He wont implement this at scale until the economy is bomb-proof.
Is any economy bomb-proof, though?
Why should players care about a stepping stone?
As forPrologueitself, it feels like more than just a stepping stone.
Trying may be too active a verb, however.
The world is simply indifferent to Lucys existence.
While thirst and hunger are relatively simple to manage, the cold is a harder enemy to fight.
Additionally, tools like the map and compass are unreadable at night.
But, if theres cloud cover, Lucy will likely freeze to death, lost in the woods.
The danger night poses makes daybreak more welcome than it is in most games.
When the sun comes up, youre in it there, you feel it, Davidson says proudly.
We just need to supplement a lot of that with the little things.
Whats the verdict?
Thats the plan, anyway.
In reality, the preview build was poorly balanced and filled with glitches.
Hunger and thirst then became the only obstacles to overcome, but soda cans arent working properly.
Despite its problems,Prologue: Go Wayback!is a very moreish game.
WhenArtemisis live in 15 years, will we forgo the real world for its digitized ones, too?
