Gardens is a game studio that is building a promising fantasy co-op action role-playing game using the networking technology provided by coherence. The experienced team behind Gardens has worked on acclaimed titles such as Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Marvel's Spider-Man, Ultima Online, Outer Wilds and more. The studio was founded in 2021 by brothers Chris Bell and Stephen Bell with Lexie Dostal and currently numbers 12, which makes this achievement even more remarkable.
The name of the project has not been announced yet. What we do know is that it is an ambitious project that will be an ever-evolving player-vs-player-vs-environment (PvPvE) fantasy adventure sandbox ARPG. It will feature a unique animated art style that should set it apart from other contenders in the genre, with lots of effort being put into turning line-art into attractive in-game graphics.
Gameplay is inspired by the team’s own favorite memories of playing online RPGs, massively multiplayer online games, and fantasy action-adventure games. The game is set in a shape-shifting fantasy world where cooperation is key, yet betrayal always lurks around the corner. Players get rewarded for working together in a way that encourages friendship and dialogue, while leaving room for PvP conflicts in interesting and subversive ways.
Moritz Baer-Lentz, partner and head of gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said that he played a prototype of the game and it was the best Series A prototype he had ever seen, adding that “It was a combination of seeing something really brutal with a bold-triple-A vision that was easy to see.” “But it was married to something magical and adorable, not only with the art style, but also with the design.”
This brings us to the team of investors backing Gardens’ firstborn, and what a gloried team it is! First to warrant a mention are the investors who rolled up their sleeves to become a part of Gardens’ advisory team, and they include the former Microsoft chairman John W. Thompson, the former Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton, the former Tencent president of International Partnerships Ben Feder, and members of the Yamauchi family that is well-known for founding Nintendo, with several family members having served as presidents of the company.
Other investors include the Oculus-founder Nate Mitchell, Valorant co-creator Stephen Lim, Guild Wars co-creator Jeff Strain, World of Warcraft executive Seth Sivak, former TikTok COO V.Pappas, Bandai Namco CTO Julian Merceron and the CEO of Atlantic Records (known for representing artists such as Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Lizzo, Sia, Skrillex, Paramore and others) Craig Kallman.
Excuse us while pick our jaws off the floor.
This is what Garden's CEO & Creative director Chris Bell had to say about his experience with coherence:
"coherence empowers small teams to create ambitious online worlds like the one we're growing here at Gardens. And they have been incredible partners, quick to answer questions and prioritize any features that we request. We're further along in our game's development because of coherence's multiplayer technology and support."
coherence will be providing the multiplayer software development kit, network engine, and back end for this project.
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