2022 Update / 2023 Blueprint
There are so many things about a market that are out of our control, as a founder it is important to anchor into times like these — to keep a focus on the vision and the reason for being, to strengthen a culture within the dynamic of people who are building with you and most importantly not lose sight of who you are building for and why.
To provide an update, I’ll go through each of these one by one.
Vision and Reason for Being
This ecosystem, made up of Crucible and Open Meta exists to educate people on the importance of the metaverse being open and provide tools + community to make that happen in the best way possible.
We do not sway when markets collapse, or when bad actors are exposed. This only strengthens our resolve and our reason for being. The metaverse being open isn’t important because it’s a trendy thing to say — it’s important because the closed way doesn’t work long term.
I have understood for many years that we are entering an escape velocity of technology and how it will shape reality. It is my belief that among the worst case scenarios is if we just sleepwalk into this new age of technology with the same attention economy design run by corporations that we have now.
Therefore, my conviction has never been stronger that the work we’re doing is worth overcoming the challenges that the present market poses.
Our Culture
We have developed and will continue to nurture a culture of continuous improvement. We learn and build in public, we make decisions on an arc toward more openness and decentralization - because these principles are important for the future becoming better than the present.
We are now just under 10 people on the team. Each person is directly responsible for a specific domain of what is needed around product development and go to market.
Our team is lean but operating at a very high level and shipping key technology foundational to what is missing for an Open Metaverse.
I want to clarify, that our culture of openness and transparency doesn’t mean that we will completely relinquish the judgement and leadership that projects of this scale need in early stages. There is also a Rubix cube of changing regulations and compliance guidelines that we need to consider, as well as a growing competitive landscape that would be very quick see us as an adversary. We need to be smart about things this early.
Who We Are Building For (and Why)
Simply put, we are building for game developers and those who are using game engines / game mechanics to build new worlds.
I’ve gone around the planet defining the metaverse as the internet build by game developers, that is the foundation of our thesis and our product. Emergence is a v1 kit of technology which translates web3 into Unreal Engine and Unity via SDKs.
If game developers are building the metaverse and web3 is necessary to keep it open, then Emergence is bridge to get there. I believe that game developers willing to embrace innovation now hold they keys to the best parts of the open metaverse.
The features of Emergence are centered around digital identity + digital property, how ownership of those things is mapped from wallets into game engines and ultimately used to authenticate the new worlds and economies that will come.
The gaming industry (along with most industries) is in a state of confusion about their role in this new future but we have built technology for the ones that see the opportunity they have. So this year we need to establish a brand and a reputation that stands up a lighthouse to attract those who are going through the paradigm shift. It may be a smaller number right now but this will grow. I’m certain of it.
SDKs are on Unreal Engine and Unity, documentation and tutorials are available on our Gitbook — https://docs.openmeta.xyz/
Emergence essentially puts these engines on-chain.
We are moving discussions forward with leadership at both of the companies, they both recognize that this transition is important. We are excited to continue to steward and guide that with them — and as principal founding members of the leading standards groups in web2 and web3.
Looking forward
Our priorities for 2023 are two. One is product development and the other is market traction & validation. The technology we’ve developed solves significant technical challenges around interoperability and openness. But technical challenges aren’t the only ones.
We are rebuilding our 2023 roadmap around a series of internal workshops and external feedback we received in 2022.
We will also begin to ramp up our outreach to open minded game developers and studios this year, with a focus on education and integrations.
We have an exciting pipeline of partnerships and opportunities that should begin closing soon, expect to hear announcements around these soon.
With every employee, investor or participant I am sure to state clearly that this was always a long moonshot – one that will play out over the decade – and we will have to weather not just one winter, but many. We will have to tread forward while everyone else’s faith and belief is shaken.
We’ve chosen to take on the improbable knowing the risks and the uncertainty, but we do it because the outcome is worthwhile. At the end of 2022, we all experienced the looming events that come with these speculative markets. And now we can rebuild.
As a business, we are still a seed stage startup. I’ve made sure we keep a healthy runway to get through the coming year. We have packaged & established a structural governance design for the DAO and sit on a strong first round post-money valuation for a successful listing when the market supports that. I do not believe that it does right now, so we are focused on building the traction needed to meet the coming bull market. It is just a matter of time, the next wave always comes.
I appreciate everyones faith and trust in us, I plan to get back into a flow with you on engagement and communication as this community should be a priority.
In 2022 we:
Built & Tested Emergence (working Open Metaverse technology)
on Unreal & Unity engines
Principal Founding Members of Metaverse Standards Forum
Partnered with Nvidia’s Inception Program
Partnered with Lamina1 for Open Metaverse Conference in Feb 2023
https://openmetaverseconf.com/
In 2023 we:
Validate Emergence with Game Developers
Validate Crucible business model commercially
Grow the community through Houses
Launch DAO