Ubisoft Developing Minecraft-Style Social Sim: Alterra

Minecraft and Animal Crossing-inspired game is reportedly under development at Ubisoft Montreal, titled "Alterra." Read on to learn more about this new voxel-based game!

Minecraft and Animal Crossing-Inspired Voxel Game In DevelopmentFeaturing Building and Social Sim Mechanics

Ubisoft Montreal, creator of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6, is developing a new voxel game codenamed "Alterra," according to Insider Gaming’s November 26 article. The game reportedly emerged from a previously canceled voxel game, which was in development for four years.

Following the report, sources stated that this new project’s gameplay loop will resemble Animal Crossing. Instead of friendly anthropomorphic characters, the game will feature "Matterlings," with whom players interact on a home island. While details are scarce, Animal Crossing is renowned for its relaxing atmosphere, where players design homes, collect insects and other wildlife, and socialize with villagers.

Players can leave their home island and explore other biomes to gather diverse materials and interact with various Matterlings. However, the journey isn't without peril, as enemies will impede progress. Minecraft-like mechanics are also present, with players visiting different biomes, each offering specific building materials. For example, a forest biome provides abundant materials for wooden structures.

The report also includes the appearance of Matterlings as "somewhat resembling Funko Pop figures in their design with large heads." Moreover, they are inspired by fantasy creatures like dragons and animals such as felines and canines. Each species type also has variations, depending on their attire.

"Alterra" has been in development for over 18 months with Fabien Lhéraud, who’s been with Ubisoft for 24 years, as its lead producer. His LinkedIn page states that he is working on a "Next Gen Unannounced Project," and the development commenced in December 2020 continuing to the present. Patrick Redding is also reportedly working on this game as creative director. He previously worked on titles like Gotham Knights, Splinter Cell Blacklist, and Far Cry 2.

Despite this exciting news, take this information with a grain of salt as "Alterra" is still under development and is subject to alteration.

What are Voxel Games?

Voxel games have a distinctive way of modeling and rendering objects in their virtual world. These games utilize tiny cubes or pixels, aggregate them, and render them in 3D. In simple terms, they resemble LEGO bricks, combined to create novel and more intricate objects.

One popular voxel game currently is Teardown, where players must execute the perfect heist by carefully interacting with the environment, demolishing walls or other objects pixel-by-pixel. Surprisingly, Minecraft is not a voxel game. It only employs a voxel-like aesthetic for the world, but each large cube or "block" is rendered using conventional polygon models.

In contrast, games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 or Metaphor: ReFantazio render visuals using polygons, which comprise millions of minuscule triangles forming surfaces. This is why, when players inadvertently clip into objects such as walls or NPCs, they usually encounter a void. In voxel games, this does not occur, as each block or pixel is stacked to create objects, providing them with volume.

Most developers utilize polygon-based rendering for its efficiency, as it only necessitates creating surfaces to render in-game objects. Despite this prevalent approach, Ubisoft's project "Alterra" appears promising with its voxel-based graphics.