Hyungjin "Kjun" Kim, the director of the life simulation game Inzoi, has announced a new multiplayer roleplaying mode dubbed 'Canvastown.' Kim described the mode as being inspired by the science fiction film Ready Player One, aiming to offer players an escape from mundane daily life into a world where they can live out different experiences.
Canvastown shifts the gameplay focus from overseeing multiple characters to embodying a single Zoi. Players will be able to create and customize their character and home before entering 'AR Company,' a shared online space designed to accommodate around 50 players in a single channel. Within this space, players can interact and converse, creating a virtual village populated by both player characters and NPCs. Kim stated that players can act as directors, assigning roles and creating scenarios for their "actors."
The mode also plans to incorporate "script mods" that could enable mini-games like car racing, with the hope that these could eventually be integrated into the main game. However, Kim emphasized that Canvastown is a "side project" and that Inzoi Studio remains "very much focused on our core goals" for the base game.
Kim acknowledged that the development of Inzoi, particularly its life simulation aspects, has proven more challenging than initially anticipated. He noted that the current build of Canvastown still has "many lacking areas" and a "very long way to go" before it is ready for players. This ambitious expansion comes at a time when Inzoi faces competition, with some critics noting that the game's early access version was a "shallow imitation" of established titles like The Sims 4. The director expressed concern that it might have been better to refine the core simulation before revealing such a side project, especially given the strong early access debut of a competitor like Paralives.