In the early stages of developing Seabreeze we’ve experimented with different ways to add in-game customization. We find it important that our players feel like the game was made especially for them. We quickly found out that slapping a logo and photo onto every game asset wasn’t going to automatically make our game more popular with companies
After trying out different types of character asset packs we stumbled on Ready Player Me. They’re a company that has created a framework for highly customizable game characters with a modern video game appeal.
They’ve struck partnerships with big brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas and Alo for equipping your virtual character with high-end fashion and have integrations with all the major game engines.
A major selling point for Ready Player Me is that you can make the character look like yourself. And for that you don’t need to spend an hour tweaking facial features in a character creator or making a 3d scan of your head.
You can simply snap a picture and the software will approximate your head as much as possible.
Since one of our unique values is ‘instant gameplay’ we’ve made sure that this Ready Player Me flow was tightly integrated into Seabreeze.
Their Web SDK made it possible to add lightweight functionality for setting up a player character.
Whenever a team plays a second game session, their virtual characters are ready to go.
We’ve also added the characters to the post-game data report each team receives after their session.
The asset manager in Ready Player Me allows you to specify the clothing assets available for in-game characters. A Photoshop template makes it easy to customize any piece of clothing, so a game master can ensure characters are equipped with company merch before they enter the game.
We’re happy to have integrated custom characters in such a way where our player customization can grow along with any new feature Ready Player Me will add down the line.
After our intial integration was done, the Ready Player Me team was happy to join us in a play test and it’s nice to see a rapidly growing company like this taking the time to work with their integration partners on this level.
If you’re interested in learning more about Ready Player Me, visit their website here
If you want to see for yourself what you look like as a character in Seabreeze, feel free to reach out and we’ll launch a quick free demo for you and your team!