The main driver to creating Alasin came from personal experiences. Preparing and creating content for roleplaying games is by far the slowest and most tedious part of playing them. Many of us enjoy the creative process of game preparation, but truthfully speaking this is a major bottleneck for most gaming groups leading to exhausted game masters and long pauses between gaming sessions, and even abandoned games.
We wanted to build a product that the whole gaming group can enjoy, including the game master. Something that brings immediate value and lowers the threshold for playing.
We came up with four core concepts that will carry us into the future. They will become the backbone of what we're trying to achieve, and we can come back to them as a reference to recalibrate:
- Content creation and gameplay must happen within the same product
During typical game sessions a game master has to react to what happens in the game and edit and/or create new content on the fly. There has to be as little friction as possible when switching between playing and creating/editing. This also helps with rapid iteration and testing of content. So it only makes sense that both the toolset and the game client are merged in to the same product. - Everything is editable, everything is open
Every gaming group is unique with their own preferences and we can't anticipate all of their needs. Whether it is about using different rulesets, having unique settings and characters, or just implementing some house rules, everything needs to be easily achievable with the toolset. We also want to support easy import and export of gaming assets and material so that content creators can continue using any tools they're already familiar with. - Automate as much as possible
The core experience should focus getting to the fun parts faster. Game rules, including skill checks and complex calculations, should be automated as much as possible. Content creation should be assisted with ready asset banks and procedural generation. However, as everything is editable, game masters should also have the power to override automations and do things by hand if needed. This helps players to focus on the most interesting parts of the game and game masters to not get overwhelmed. - Run everything in full 3D
This was the most difficult core concept to settle on as it involves several technological and design tradeoffs. In the end we felt that offering a true 3D experience would both create a more immersive game experience but also differentiate us from a lot of the other products in the market. Running an actual 3D world can make some elements more complex, but in the long run it also allows for more creative freedom and a more intuitive and immersive gameplay experience.
With these core concepts we believe we will have a product that will make a difference to our community that loves playing these games despite all the complexity and friction that they have endured for so many years.
-Markus, CEO & Co-founder of Alasin