Overview

Complete Solution

Icarus Studios’ technologies address next-generation needs, providing a stable and secure platform; deep, recurring play and social opportunities; machine configuration support; intuitive interfaces; and the tools and support required to make a next-generation massively multiplayer online game (MMO) or virtual world.

« Watch Overview Video »

33MB

Multiple Revenue Streams

The Icarus platform supports emerging revenue streams such as in-world advertising, multiple subscription levels, and in-world product sales.

Reduced Development Costs

Additionally, Icarus technologies accelerate the time-to-market, reduce development costs, and give operators the ability to flexibly and cost-efficiently update and maintain the world (and community) going forward.

Platform

Icarus Platform

The Icarus Platform features a powerful back end designed to drive a wide variety of front end experiences. It makes use of features such as the IBM Informix® database, dynamic avatar attributes, “chimeric” servers that can change roles when needed, and “self-healing” hardware that can automatically recover from failure. This provides a stable backbone to support the range of virtual worlds and multi-user systems. In addition, the platform is built according to open standards, specifically to be extensible and easily integrated with partner systems. This includes compatibility with industry standard tools such as 3ds Max, Collada, and other 3D applications.

Scalability

Scaling is important to any online environment, but it is absolutely critical for a virtual world or online game where user demand can suddenly increase exponentially. If there is a delay on a Web page of a few seconds, it has little impact, but, in an online 3D world, it can make the entire experience a negative one. Icarus handles this challenge by providing a highly scalable four-tiered client-server architecture. This design involves a series of specialized software servers that can be load-balanced onto separate machines as concurrent usage increases. These specialized servers can be daisy-chained for increasing cumulative user loads.

Architecture

Unique network architecture creates the foundation of the Icarus platform. From the ground up, it has been designed for massive scaling, maximum hardware utilization, and full redundancy. Icarus’ network platform is also completely integrated with other Icarus modules, such as the System Watcher, Data Miner, and Customer Service modules. This allows network administrators, customer service agents, and management to monitor and act on problems before they escalate.

Tools

Base Editor

The Icarus Base Editor is a database management tool that allows content information to be quickly entered into the virtual world without any need of programming skills. Using a number of similarly designed templates, the Icarus Base Editor allows creation of items, NPCs (non-player characters), system events, and complex dialog trees with a minimum of effort. Large amounts of information can be entered quickly and errors in the virtual world can be easily repaired through simple template changes in the database. This enables the content team to concentrate on making a fully realized virtual world instead of spending time learning how to work the system.

World Editor

The Icarus World Editor allows the user to modify the physical layout of the virtual world through an easy-to-use interface. Not only can it be used to adjust terrain, but it can also place buildings, NPC (non-player character) generators, patrol paths, and other objects in the world. The Icarus World Editor requires no programming experience, allowing anyone to easily make adjustments to the virtual world with ease. This saves countless hours in the world design process because entire towns and regions can be laid out in short order. Additionally, NPCs can be spawned with pinpoint precision thanks to only a few minutes’ worth of work. The Icarus World Editor allows your virtual world to be easily modified to suit your needs.

EcoSystem Editor

The Icarus EcoSys Editor allows a wide range of ecosystems to be easily placed in a virtual world through use of procedurally generated trees, plants, debris, and other types of groundcover. Using an overhead topographical view of the world, ecosystems may be placed by marking the map with different colors using any standard image editing software. Each of these colors is associated with an ecosystem, and each ecosystem has its own set of textures, as well as models for plants, debris, and other objects. Using the Icarus EcoSys Editor, large swaths of terrain can be easily filled by editing the colors on the topographical map, allowing even the largest virtual worlds to be easily populated with plants and groundcover. Due to the nature of the procedurally placed objects, the system saves on processing and data transmission instead of having to remember where each tree and plant was placed. To further save on processing, Icarus EcoSys Editor allows for adjustable levels of detail in the textures and models it uses. Icarus EcoSys Editor enables your virtual world to quickly become a living, breathing world complete with a wide variety of ecosystems including seasonal changes.

Level Prep

The Icarus Level Prep tool allows interior spaces to be prepared complete with furnishings, paths, and navigational areas as a single reusable level. The level becomes an easily–placed, modular building block that can be combined with other levels to create massive interior spaces. While the work of preparing a level is done from a 3rd person perspective, Icarus Level Prep allows the user to go into the level as a character and get an in-world perspective on it. Thus, the functionality of a level can be tested without having to load it into the virtual world. Levels created with Icarus Level Prep can have integrated pathing data, allowing NPCs (non-player characters) to navigate it without collision problems. This tool enables a number of pre-built level templates to be constructed, which can then be used together to quickly create large adventuring areas that are ready to be populated with NPCs. Using Icarus Level Prep, entire adventuring areas can be created with a minimum of effort.

Character Prep

Select Features

Integrate models, sounds, and animations
Simulate virtual world environments
Integrated with SoundPrep/Particle Editor

Animations

Load and preview animations dynamically
Character Studio, Max Bones, & CAT Tools
Synch animations, sounds, and particles

Models

Quickly preview 3DStudio Max models
Load and preview models dynamically

Sound

Synch sound and particles into animation
Model-based full 3D sound

Downloads

The Icarus Character Prep tool integrates the needs of animators, 3D artists, and sound engineers into one tool. This allows the tool user to test animations, models, and sounds all in one program. The user can view a model, see an animation, or check a sound in one integrated tool, and these actions can be done at the same time if desired. This allows complex operations, such as models with animations that have accompanying sounds, to be easily tested before they are published in the world. Environmental factors, such as lighting or particle effects, can also be set in Icarus Character Prep, allowing the user to mimic virtual world conditions. Without ever having to enter the world, animators, 3D artists, and sound engineers can see if their creations are working together as intended.

Bone Blender

The Icarus BoneBlender tool enables an animator to seamlessly blend together different animations, allowing animators to create complex combinations with a minimum of effort. Icarus BoneBlender moves the entire body of a model as if it were a real living being with weight, inertia, and skeletal structure, allowing one animation to effect how other animations are played. Animations can be given precedence over each other, allowing one animation to override other animations controlling the model but still integrating their movements together. Using the Icarus BoneBlender, a wide variety of animations can be quickly mixed together in almost limitless combinations instead of each combined motion requiring a custom made animation.

Head Editor

The Icarus Head Editor allows the creation of custom heads through the use of a simple graphical user interface. Millions of different heads can be created, each with only a few minutes work, by varying features such as skin color, hair cut, piercings, facial hair, makeup, and stubble. Additional elements can be easily added to fit any project. Once a head is created, the Icarus Head Editor generates encoded data that can then be published in a database, such as the Icarus Base Editor, making it extremely simple for heads to be used with characters in the world. Icarus Head Editor allows designers to quickly give any character a unique appearance with customized heads.

Object Editor

The Icarus Object Editor allows art objects to be easily translated into a database-friendly form that can be quickly searched. Icarus Object Editor creates a 2D icon of any 3D object it translates, creating a unique database entry with an ID numbering system than identifies all objects in the database. By using Icarus Object Editor, all the art objects in the game can be quickly ordered and searched, cutting down on time spent trying to find a specific model or object. All of this can be done through the use of drop down menus, allowing the entire process to be carried out without any need for programming.

Vehicle Editor

The Icarus Vehicle Editor allows a wide variety of custom vehicles to be quickly created through a simple graphical interface. Using standard 3DMax files for the model of the vehicle, the Icarus Vehicle Editor allows the user to set all the characteristics of the vehicle, from its engine torque to its wheel size to its center of balance. This enables the easy creation of a wide variety of vehicle types, each with its own unique feel and handling profile. Additionally, sounds can be attached to the vehicle through the Icarus Vehicle Editor, allowing the user to specify the sound of shifting gears or breaking wheels. Once a vehicle is finished, Icarus Vehicle Editor creates configuration files that can be easily loaded into your virtual world.

Particle Editor

The Icarus Particle Editor tool allows easy creation and modification of particle effects, such as beams, electricity, fire, or smoke. The Icarus Particle Editor gives the developer control of variables, such as rate of decay, rotation, speed, fade, and dampen, giving the user a massive level of control over particle effects. All changes made are in real time and are displayed in the program, allowing the user to immediately see the effect their changes have had. Icarus Particle Editor uses a simple graphical interface, allowing particle effects to be created without any programming knowledge. It allows particle effects to be quickly entered into your world with ease.

Sound Prep

The Icarus Sound Prep tool allows the creation of sound systems with their own internal logic from any common sound file format. This logic allows the volume, duration, range, time of day the sound occurs, and other attributes to be set based on game conditions. Thus, complex rules for the use of sounds can be easily created for a wide variety of situations. Icarus Sound Prep does this through a graphical user interface, allowing sounds to be implemented in the game without hard coding or complicated text scripts. Through Icarus Sound Prep, placing sounds becomes a simple matter instead of a coding nightmare.

Production

The driving focus at Icarus is to make sure that our clients are aware of all their options and the trade-offs that may be associated with each decision they make. Success in the 3D virtual space starts with technology, but also requires a good design. Your world must be engaging, fun, clearly linked to the brands and themes you wish to promote, and able to connect with the target audience on an intimate, personal level.

Design Consulting is one of the most valuable services Icarus provides to assist your organization in defining your project. You have goals and ideas, as well as budget and time constraints. The state-of-the-art is constantly changing, and new technology and tools are making advanced functionality and features attainable that would have been considered very impractical only a few months ago.

During the design process, we walk our clients through a structured procedure that is highly communication-intensive. We will discuss features and functionality as they relate to your target demographic; supported hardware as it relates to your user experience; various revenue models associated with virtual economies; trans-media connectivity with mobile phones or next generation consoles; use of diverse in-world games and entertainment mechanics; and user interface techniques that will support your overall look and feel criteria.

Our team of experienced professionals can give you a clear roadmap of design goals that use your brand and needs to craft a user experience that fully connects with your audience. Working within the scope of your IP, we will help you develop story, atmosphere, and engaging content that will draw in users and keep them within the world. Whether you want a world with game systems woven throughout or simply a few mini-games to help users pass the time, our game designers can craft a play experience directly targeted at your audience.

Icarus worlds are more than a three-dimensional online space: they’re a total experience.

Operations

Icarus’ System Administration suite is designed to allow companies to manage a maximum number of customers with a minimum amount of operational support cost. Development costs for any project are fixed no matter how successful your product is. Whether your virtual world attracts a thousand customers or a million, the development costs are the same. On the other hand, system administration costs scale with the number of customers supported, so it is critical to operate your network as efficiently as possible.

At Icarus, we have developed a set of utilities, tools, and network modules that automate the administration task, thereby mitigating the ever-increasing costs of supporting a commercial network. Not only does our system require less staffing to support more customers, but it is so easy to use that the technical knowledge needed to maintain the network is dramatically reduced.

In addition, by creating a highly automated System Administration Suite, we eliminate many of the common problems that occur with running an online environment. If an update is posted and has problems, the administrator can simply revert to the previous version in a matter of minutes. If needed, an administrator can take an entire cluster of machines down and restart them with a single mouse click. No need to go to each machine individually.

The heart of the Icarus System Administration Suite is the System Watcher. The System Watcher allows an administrator to monitor all the servers on multiple systems. The administrator can set custom alerts for when a machine goes down or bandwidth usage passes a certain threshold. Administrators can also generate reports on CPU, memory, or bandwidth usage so that issues can be addressed before they become problems.

Administrators can monitor in-world activity through the Icarus Data Mining tool, which can track any desired in-world event. This can be anything from in-world currency transactions to how many users completed a specific task or event. These data points can be used to analyze trends and are highly valuable when cross referenced against user profiles.

The Icarus VFM and Model Publisher are tools used to automate the posting of new content and new versions of the software. These tools help automate the entire publishing process, reducing the potential for human error as well as the time to handle upgrades.

Developers

Icarus Developer Program

The Icarus Developer Program is a certification program designed to train and support third-party developers of virtual worlds, MMOGs, and serious games on the Icarus Platform. This program provides developers with hands-on training, technical and best practices documentation, developer forums and support, software tools to develop their application, and preferred partner discounts on hardware and software services.

An Icarus Developer certification means that your company has been trained and passed testing on the Icarus platform. More importantly, it means that your team now has the demonstrated ability to create games, virtual worlds, and serious game applications at a quality level comparable to the best commercial games on the market in a fraction of the traditional timeframe.

How to Become an Icarus Certified Developer

To become an Icarus Certified Developer, we invite you to contact us and speak with one of our developer-relations experts. Joining the program and earning certification typically requires:

A setup fee that covers in-person training and a dedicated development server for your project
Training at our North Carolina training center for a project manager and one to two engineers, artists, and game designers
Passing an Icarus certification test for each trainee in their area of expertise

Icarus Certified Developer Program Benefits

Full access to the Icarus Platform, a tightly-integrated suite of software tools
Improvements and additions to the Icarus Platform without charge
In-person training and ongoing priority technical support
Access to the how to, technical, and best-practices wiki
Software and hardware discounts—including servers, applications, hosting, art creation, modeling, design, VOIP/ecommerce gateways and services, partner conferences, and motion capture and sound studio services, among many others
Promotion by the Icarus Studios sales team engaging your studio in discussions with major media and corporate partners

Studio Services

Prototype Development

A demonstration product can be built before, after, or while a Design Specification Guide is being created; it all depends on your goals for the prototype. Prototypes can serve many purposes and it is important to clarify how the demonstration product will be used. When it comes to virtual world interactions, a picture truly is worth a thousand words. A polished prototype can be used effectively to create a vision that an organization can rally around. It can be used to garner resources, funding, partners, and sponsors. Prototypes can be very effective as a focal point to help organizations better define their specifications and vision. Powerful prototypes can often be created in just a few weeks. Because you are not required to license the Icarus Platform or Developer Tool Suite for demonstration products, prototypes can be produced very cost effectively. Icarus is a single source for design, development, asset services, hosting, hardware, and VoIP inside your world.

The deliverables include a working prototype along the lines of a high level Design Specification Guide. Prototype development is an iterative process. The prototype will demonstrate the look and feel as well as some of the key features and functionality anticipated in the final product. Prototypes are typically designed to support no more than fifty simultaneous users. Icarus can also host the prototype indefinitely and continue to make changes to it based on feedback as directed by the client.

Art & Graphic Design

Vision, talent, and creativity are key, but equally important is managing the development timeline efficiently and within the creative process. The Icarus design staff is experienced in the complete development pipeline from aspects of virtual world creation and concept art to normal-mapped 3D modeling and motion capture animation. With vast experience from standalone and online games to corporate training and marketing applications, the Icarus art staff has the experience and talent to design products to fit our individual client needs.

Sound Design & Music Score

Icarus’ state-of-the-art recording studio produces cutting edge sound effects, voice-overs, and music. Our professional-grade recording studio is equipped to the highest quality recording standards and has been acoustically designed to provide accurate and professional recordings for any project. With an extensive sound library of over 28,000 sound effects, our full-time staff includes both musicians and sound engineers, and it can also access additional professional voice-over talent and musicians.

Motion Capture and Animation

Seasoned professional comprise the Icarus Motion Capture and CG Animation team. They have worked on a variety of projects, including The Matrix Revolution® / Reloaded® and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon®. With over a decade of experience in motion capture, animation, and character pipeline, our team is able to produce high-quality and cost-efficient animations for a variety of projects. Our studio offers motion capture capabilities in addition to hand animation services. The Icarus motion capture studio uses the latest and most advanced equipment available; it boasts a value in excess of $250,000 in equipment alone. In 2007, we have enlarged the capture stage to over 1,000 square feet to accommodate larger motion capture sessions with multiple actors.