Greetings from the Holoearth Management Team! For this installment we had a chat with Sandbox Team Director Mori Kohei and Lead Engineer Kai Gai about their work on Holoearth development! We asked all about how the sandbox game is developed and more! Interviewee introduction Mori Kohei-san Position: Sandbox Team Director Date joined: May 2021 Industry experience: 12 years Kai Gai-san Position: Engineering Team Lead Date joined: February 2022 Industry experience: 5 years To start off, please tell us about your primary responsibilities and work experience. Mori-san (hereafter Mori): As director of the sandbox team I decide on content direction and supervise what the team members have to come up with, while helping guide them to make the sandbox experience more and more enjoyable. In my career so far I have worked as an engineer, planner, and director at a mobile game company for around nine years. I was already a fan of hololive and at one point read a post [JP only] by Motoaki Tanigo about the creation of a new metaverse platform that the company was starting to hire for. The content of what he was talking about intrigued me - and at the same time I thought that I could make use of the skills I developed up to that point, so I decided to come over to this company. I had always wanted to create a platform where many users log in every day and enjoy not only games but also interaction with other users and all manner of entertainment content, so I thought, “This is it!" and applied for the job the day after reading the article. Kai-san (hereafter Kai): As the lead engineer for the sandbox team, I am mainly responsible for technical specifications, development workflows and project management, as well as collaboration with other teams for development. My previous jobs included positions such as engineer and project manager. In terms of industry experience, I think I am only in my fifth year now. I was also originally a fan of hololive, and I learned about Cover's new project to build an anime style metaverse while I was already watching hololive content. I was really impressed by the idea of starting something brand new in the metaverse with an anime aesthetic, and the technical aspect of Holoearth seemed interesting, so I decided to apply and be a part of this project. Tell us about your thoughts on Holoearth development. Mori: I find it rewarding to be able to incorporate the things that I want to do. There are certainly significant challenges, but the team members are passionate people driven to create Holoearth. I am able to take on challenges with a go-getter attitude even when the goals seem extremely hard to achieve. Kai: So far not many companies are making open world sandbox games using Unity, so we are going on the assumption that there aren't many people with significant experience in such development. We identify each person's strengths and assign the most appropriate role to them. This further enhances each member's expertise and allows us to resolve technical issues smoothly. In ver. 0.5 we released a room for basic crafting, and in ver. 0.8 the area was made larger and included monsters to fight. What are your thoughts on this kind of incremental release schedule? Mori: When I first discussed this with the producer, I was rather apprehensive. This is because at most game companies, including my previous company, it is typical to release a game after it has been fully developed to a playable state and carefully tested. I wondered if the method seen with overseas indie games, where games are released little by little and improvements are made over a period of years while taking feedback, would really be accepted by fans. We discussed this point with the producer early on, and using hololive as an example - which has grown over the years thanks to the support of all the fans - we decided that even if the game was a bit rough at first we would share the development status and let users try out new features at an early stage to create content that users want to enjoy. This is how we settled on the current style of development. As a result, whenever we release updates we get a lot of feedback and reactions on social media, and hololive talents also stream it on their channels, resulting in online discussions about what features would make it more fun - so I'm really happy with how our style of development has turned out. Kai: Just as Mori-san mentioned, I feel the most appealing aspect of this project is that, even in its unfinished state, we can continue to improve it through a series of smaller releases while reflecting user feedback. Mori: Coming from the gaming industry originally, I think most of us are used to development that is planned out over a period of several years and then followed accordingly. We currently use an agile* approach to development, which was difficult at first, but now we have a system in place that allows us to change direction slightly from sprint to sprint while working closely together. It's good to be able to take in good ideas in real time and change direction quickly if they don't work out. *Agile development is a method of developing software by repeating planning, design, implementation, and testing in short cycles, while responding flexibly to changes. ▲Ver 0.5 (1st img) was released as a basic crafting/building area. Ver 0.8 (2nd img) expanded the area and added monsters to fight Development in a fashion similar to agile seems suitable to creating a service that includes a wide range of content, such as a sandbox game. Mori: Personally, I think it is good that our current style of development allows for changes to be made quickly, as it allows us to feel more at ease when making proposals for new things, creating an environment that allows team members to speak up without hesitation. The engineers can more easily suggest that the specifications be changed a certain way, and conversely, the planners can easily discuss how they would like specifications to be made. Kai: One of the characteristics of our development team is that when each member decides on content for the sandbox game, the engineers also provide a lot of input to the planners. Content is typically decided through mutual discussion. I believe this style of development is why we are able to make such an effort. Having released the current sandbox game version, what are your thoughts on the response from users and hololive talent streams? Mori: When I look at the industry, there doesn't seem to be many people with experience in making solid sandbox games, and I myself was also new to this genre so I considered many possibilities while working on the game. But when we actually released the sandbox game I was pleasantly surprised that the number of players exceeded expectations at this stage (laughs). In other genres, users are often asked to play according to quests prepared by the developers, but in this sandbox genre, users are free to discover their own way to play - so they can spend all their time fighting monsters or just crafting. The game is designed for a variety of play styles, and we felt it necessary to design the game so that players can enjoy it without issues regardless of how they engage with it. ▲Mansion built by users in a team member's room open to the public Is there anything in particular you think went really well? Mori: As a result of users really getting into the sandbox game, they have already created buildings and structures that exceeded our own expectations. When I see buildings that I would never have thought of myself, I know people must be enjoying the game. I'm also concerned with focusing on creating with consideration for scenes and experiences that provide great highlights for those who wish to do streaming in the future. For example, in one of the hololive talent streams a house was attacked and destroyed by wolves, which is the kind of thing we are aiming for. Thinking back to this, we hope to keep creating something that will be a satisfying experience to everyone in the future. How about you, Kai-san Kai: I feel we successfully optimized the multiplayer experience. The Holoearth sandbox game is currently available for up to 20 players in a single room, and when hololive talents were streaming with fans in a full room, all of us on the engineering team were impressed to see how smoothly everyone played without lag issues. We will continue to focus on optimizing for a seamless multiplayer experience so everyone can enjoy the sandbox game even more in the future. Any closing thoughts for us? Mori: Thankfully, many people are enjoying the sandbox game we created so far. We would like to continue developing the game so that it can be enjoyed even more in the future, so we are grateful to hear any feedback on what everyone likes and what could be improved! Kai: I would like to just briefly speak to the environment of the team here. While the development environment for Holoearth is indeed very challenging, we are able to work on things that haven't really been seen or done before. Everyone on the team has a say in what would improve Holoearth, so it is a team effort in making something we want.