The Inzoi team is currently working on a completely different way to play the life game, dropping you into its world to control a singular character and live out their day to day among other players. Game Director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim says that the new mode, dubbed ‘Canvastown,’ has been built by “a dedicated few teams” and should be considered an independent, “completely optional” way to approach Inzoi. He also reassures players who enjoy its existing format that this social MMO side won’t detract from continued work there.
“We want to make sure your expectations are properly managed,” Kjun explains, “as features like building an entire city from scratch or laying down roads – as rumored online – are not available yet. Of course, we plan to continue developing features to help decorate your city and edit terrain in the future.” For now, he says that Inzoi Canvastown is “just a side project, and we are very much focused on our core goals.”
Kjun says the name Canvastown “represents the idea of you and I living together in a creator’s village.” He explains that you’ll start out by creating your custom Zoi and designing their house. From there, you’re able to head to a hub area called ‘AR Company’ where “around 50 people can converse and interact in the same channel under mutual consent.” There will be NPCs around that you can talk to, but Kjun’s driving goal was to create “a world where you simply coexist with other people,” rather than having goals to “clear.”
In the AR Company building, you can approach a control tablet to teleport into other people’s homes, whether you just want to see the places they’ve built, or wish to hang out in a space with a group of like-minded players. It’s very reminiscent of Second Life, or Sony’s now-defunct PlayStation Home. You can also join minigames built by creators; we’re shown demonstrations of kart racing, and Zois jumping through an obstacle course reminiscent of Fall Guys.
“As the name would suggest, we wanted to provide Canvastown as a space where creators can utilize not only our native tools, but also the vast modding capabilities, to create whole new experiences from scratch and share them with other creators.” Kjun notes that you’ll have the option to play in private sessions, or invite your friends to the public space you’re currently in, but says the current limit of 50 people is designed “to keep it from becoming chaotic.”
Canvastown is far from complete. “Looking at the current build makes me sigh,” Kjun admits. “There are so many lacking areas, and we have a very long way to go. But someday, I hope to bring this dream of mine to life.” He says that the response to this initial showcase will allow him to “decide the future” of Canvastown: “It might go well, or many shortcomings might be exposed, but I believe it’s a necessary process to move forward to the next step.”
Once it’s implemented, Canvastown will exist as a separate menu option, and Kjun is quick to note that “at no point has it ever superseded our efforts to improve the main life simulation aspect of Inzoi.” The core game’s most recent update aimed to enhance the underlying sim fundamentals, with more natural autonomous behavior, better representation of needs and wants, and social interactions such as Zois sitting and eating together as they grow closer.
The next big Inzoi update is currently planned for October, and will include the ability to set specific behaviors for usable objects in build mode. “Essentially, ‘when a Zoi uses this object, they behave like this’ becomes something you get to define yourself. Two restaurants could end up being completely different places, and that’s what we’re hoping for.” Inzoi Studio is also reworking the original resident family designs to give them more personality, and introducing the ability to “start at the bottom” in a run-down lot, in true The Sims style.