Miniature Multiverse is a first-person, panoramic-interface, graphic puzzle/adventure game in gradual but genuinely active ongoing development, using 360-degree photography taken inside imaginatively detailed, beautiful miniature-art environments. Within this game, you'll explore a wide range of fantastical and intriguing places, solve a variety of (creative, varied, but relatively easy) puzzles, experience ambient sound and animation bringing the illusion of fully realized worlds to life, and unearth a mysterious story of the 'endless explorer' and the truth behind the 25 realms.
'Miniature Multiverse' began as a creative concept of indie artist and 'Triumphant Artists Web Network' founder Matthew Lyles Hornbostel, in 2010 and has been in intermittent development since that time, including an unsuccessful Kickstarter circa 2011 and various dead ends before the problem of HD 360-degree image capture inside a bunch of sprawling miniature sets was solved more efficiently, and increased progress in other areas was acheived as well.I've accelerated development beginning around 2017 and despite some attempts to complete things faster, realistically may still be even now almost a year away from a worthy release, with the 'Miniature Multiverse Extras Pack' (with artbook and other exclusive stuff) now most likely expected to be launching around May 2024, and the full release of the game around October 2024. The Extras Pack will give you far more inside information on the creative process behind this game than I can fit here in this webpage!
But any release goal is simply a guess; this could take less time if things go well and more if not. (The game will be submitted to Steam, then Epic Game Store, and Itch.IO, at the time of release.) I've spent over $1150 of my own cash on this project since the effort began in 2010, including a ton of miniature supply stuff and also a few shaders/audio assets, PlayMaker for Unity, and some camera gear. That figure does not include the hundreds of hours of unpaid work involved. I'm really hoping this takes off a bit as I have poured a vast amount of labor into it. I had attempted to raise funding through sales of unrelated items on Matthornb.itch.io and eBay but those late-2018 sales were largely disappointments and wound up actually slowing, not accelerating, development of this game. My best estimate is that it is still okay even if it's taken longer than planned - sales of stock 3d, vfx and texture assets on itch, and a very surprising surge of sale success over the course of 2022 to 2023 on Etsy, have been distracting to some degree but also allowed me to cover all the remaining costs involved. As a solo developer, there's nonetheless still a ton of work involved too even after the funds are in place for raw materials needed to scratchbuild the last few gameworlds. And there are other priorities still competing for my attention as this is not the only project I've got in development. My recent HornbostelProductions.com blog entries cover my situation as it continues to develop.Miniature Multiverse will become available for Windows, via Steam & Itch.IO with possibility of other release venues/platforms later on. I would give you all a promise of a Mac/Linux version but as I currently lack recent Mac OS X and Linux systems in my house to test that on I wouldn't be able to guarantee it'd work well on those target platforms! I think if the game sells in the range of at least a couple thousand copies after launch, both of those target platforms plus attempts to release this on additional storefronts (like the Humble Store, GOG.com, Windows Store, Mac App Store, Desura), then will become much more likely to materialize.
Well, that's a great question. I struggled with it a bit myself. The first few tests used chrome ball bearings and silver Christmas ornaments (really!) and a high-res camera mounted above them, capturing 360-degree reflections in the spheres. Ultimately, the resolution resulting from this did not meet my standards, and distortion was noticeable, so I wound up using a custom system which used a GoPro style compact camera, basically snapping stills at 15-degree increments for each and every node in the tour. I then stitched the images together in Photoshop and painted out the background carefully for each node - replacing the roof of my garage with a virtual extension (typically a 3d rendered sky) that would complete the illusion of a fully realized world even in the distance beyond the already-extensive scale miniatures I'd built for each world or 'realm' in the game.
Once I've physically built a miniature world, captured photography inside it, and worked with it in Photoshop, I add realistic digital animations as needed, from imaginary wildlife, to water flowing, fog and lighting effects, etc, and embed that stuff seamlessly into the node via various methods in the Unity 2018 game engine. Puzzles and interactions are implemented either with coded scripts or with a GUI-based scripting toolkit called Playmaker. Sounds are layered in too. I'll note here - only the first fifth of the game has been even hinted at in the visuals that are viewable online. It's a rather epic production for a solo indie developer!
The result of all this careful work is, I hope, the appearance of fully realized and real-looking fantasy spaces, a mysterious game space that will amaze you and provoke a sense of wonder and curiosity when you wander around in them and discover all the cool things I've put there, all the embedded puzzles, and how this all fits into the unfolding narrative.
Efficiency. This should run and look great even on lower-end systems.
Visuals and artistry you'll love.
360-degree free-look interface.
Available for Windows on Steam.
A vast expanse of miniature-art worlds at a very low price!
