In this edition we get to know Neolyfe’s Lead Programmer
Nikola has over 10 years of professional game development, including a stint programming AAA games at Ubisoft. With a precision-like approach to game creation, Nikola is integral to the Neolyfe platform…
So Nikola, give us the lowdown on your career to date
I’ve been building video games my entire career. Previously I was the Gameplay Programmer at Ubisoft. You might have played one of the games I’ve worked on: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and one of the DLCs (downloadable content), Dawn of Ragnarok.
At Neolyfe I lead the programming team where my role is essentially figuring out how we can build whatever it is that the metaverse requires from us. So players have an enjoyable experience while using the software.
What is your favourite kind of gaming experience?
I honestly don’t have a favourite game, mostly because I just love exploring games that are new to me – for example, Frostpunk by Polish developers 11 Bit Studios. The reason I like it is it gives you a lot of flexibility to decide how you want to essentially save the people that believe and trust in you. You have the option to fight for them but also make difficult decisions on their behalf.
How would you describe a ‘better metaverse’?
I think of this from the perspective of Meta because they essentially shut down most of their metaverse efforts. And I think the reason why they failed was because they focused too much on building it for the sake of building it.
“I think a better and actually useful metaverse would be one where people have enough reasons to come back. But also, that they see the value of it beyond it just being this new popular thing.”
How is Neolyfe creating the kind of metaverse you want to see?
First of all we are creating a variety of experiences that are fun, useful or interesting to a wide audience so that everyone can find something for themselves. Secondly, we’re exploring how we can enable modding support so that people can build with us, rather than just passively experiencing what’s already been built. And finally, our goal is to focus on flexibility and ownership so that anyone is able to own content in Neolyfe, be it their virtual real estate or their clothing.
Describe what Neolyfe looks like in 5 years time
We’ll have a community of creators, producers and consumers that is self-sustainable. So that anyone can desire or request any feature or organisation they would like to be part of and then they can build it themselves or have someone else build for them.
