yetiverse:
making of a metaverse
At the end of 2022, the Yield Yeti team reached out to us with the idea of a snow-themed metaverse called Yetiverse. The aim was to create an immersive low-poly mobile-based Play-to-earn (P2E) metaverse with multiple mini-games, set in a winter wonderland around fictional Yeti characters. The Yield team also required NFTs for these Yeti characters, each with its unique design and abilities. Along with the metaverse, website development was also added to the scope of the project.
Here’s the best part, we had the full liberty to create the entire project from scratch, which included the development, environment design, character design, buildings, interactable assets, and UI/UX. This proved as a wonderful opportunity to experiment with different art styles freely to create a truly magical and immersive metaverse, unlike anything we had seen in mainstream games before!
early references shared by the yield yeti team
how did we start?
As most projects go, we worked in parallel on the development and art for Yetiverse, with a steady back-and-forth with the client on decisions related to the game production. We’ll do a breakdown for both development and design moving forward.
metaverse development
One rule we religiously follow as a team at Algoryte (and also recommend to clients), is to create clean architecture in every development project we work on. The modular approach is great for making additions or changes throughout the development cycle. Moreover, it enabled the team to work concurrently on different modules without disturbing the flow of other team members. This strategy allowed us to manage the project easily and complete the development within the deadline. During the development process, we worked on tons of features. Some of those are listed below:
bringing Yetiverse to life
In a sandbox project like Metaverse, it is key to create the environment and character(s) that are deeply immersive, match the theme, and drive toward the narrative. During the world-building of Yetiverse, we had to keep the following factors in mind:
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It needed to be low-poly to run on both high and low-end mobile devices
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The art style had to be toon-ish and 3D
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Character model for yeti - friendly yet maintaining its features from the lore
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Clothing design for different tiers of yetis
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Create unique buildings that could serve different purposes
concept art
With these directions in mind, we started brainstorming for ideas and set out to explore for references that matched our vision. The art team had a lot of fun doing this; old Christmas movies and lores of yetis and bigfoot were revisited, and mountainous regions of Iceland and Norway were studied for the environment design along with snowcapped English cottages for buildings.
setting the scene for the winter wonderland: one of the early mood boards
During this process, we regularly shared mood boards with the YieldYeti team to ensure the addition of their feedback in the final artwork. The finalized concept art for the environment resembled an Icelandic mountainous environment, surrounded by a body of water and aurora lights in the sky.
finalized look and feel for the Yetiverse environment
Yetiwear store 3D model in progress
the creation begins
Once the level was designed based on the finalized concept art, the buildings in the game were modeled from scratch so they were consistent with the theme and had their unique identity for the purpose they were going to serve. The major emphasis was on the YetiCave (utilized for yeti creation and tiers), YetiWear (a store for purchasing clothing items using in-game currency), Tavern (for social gatherings in the metaverse and minigames), and Yeti Trading Post (for trading NFTs). Apart from that, several non-interactive cottages and filler buildings were created to create an open-world experience.
filling out the Yetiverse island with buildings and props
exterior model of the tavern:
a social hub in the Yetiverse
interior design of the tavern with dedicated area for minigames
yeti character design
The Yeti model was created in a way that it could look like a 3D model of a sketch made with cell shading. The model’s body needed to fit into different tiers of clothing and participate in different minigames so the character was fully rigged, including the head and facial expressions which could be used in the later cutscenes and marketing material of the metaverse.
These clothing items are important as they are meant to not only identify the yetis based on tiers and types but also make unique NFTs.
devil is in the details:
yeti character modeling
7 yeti types based on tier system
UI/UX Design
For a mobile-based metaverse, it is crucial to create a user interface that is understandable for users on a much smaller screen. That doesn’t just equate to large icons, rather their strategic placement and visibility are much more important factors to consider. Aside from the simple screens like the menu page and settings, Yetiverse also had complicated information on screens like Yeti Creation, NFT creation, and minigame leaderboards that needed to be presented to the users in a simplified manner for ease of interpretation. This process went through different trials during game testing which resulted in a clean, optimal UI and experience.
Yetiverse in-game currency: icicles & snowflakes
character creation screen to create a personalized yeti
clothing store purchasing screen using in-game currency
minigame leaderboard screen
mini games
At this time, Yetiverse offers two multiplayer minigames inside the metaverse, namely Snowboarding (ski racing game) and Yeto (a Yeti-themed UNO). Both games were designed to keep the users in the metaverse engaged and use the in-game currency to play ranked games.
portal for snowboarding minigame inside the lobby
snowboarding multiplayer minigame
YETO multiplayer minigame
here’s why you will enjoy Yetiverse
Yetiverse is utterly enchanting with its bright visuals and immersive landscapes. It is relaxing yet exhilarating with its minigames and offers something for everyone.
Like all games, it is a work in progress that we aim to improve and expand. In the upcoming updates, we plan on moving forward with the storyline and introducing new characters and islands that will solidify the narrative of this project.
Yetiverse being one of our first projects at Algoryte, is a solid labor of love. We wish to continuously enhance its experience for players of all kinds. Your feedback can help us do that! Please feel free to test it on the Google Play store link below and let us know your thoughts!
you could be our next success story.
lets talk!