Create your own games with the Kaneva engine
By Michael Lafferty

“We provide developers with maximum flexibility”

How many times have you either heard, or thought, while playing a game that if you were the one designing it you would tweak this or that, or you would design the level to allow players to do something other than the current game allows?

Well, time to put up or shut up. Thanks to the Kaneva engine, taking on the role of a developer just got a lot easier. Kaneva is a free download, with a few caveats thrown in about publishing that puts the power of a design engine into the hands of anyone. Do you need a degree in computer programming to use it? No. This was a program created for maximum accessibility with little programming skills.

Fred Tanzella, executive producer at Kaneva.com, took time to talk to GameZone about this engine.

Question: In the copy for the MMO engine you are offering, you mention the number of times you have heard someone say something to the effect of "if I was making an MMO, I would ..." I think it is safe to say most of us who have played MMOs know that feeling or have heard those sentiments. Was that the inspiration for creating and offering this engine? Where did this all start?

Fred: “The founders of Kaneva, Chris Klaus and Greg Frame, teamed up in 2004 with a vision of creating a platform that would enable anyone with a passion to successfully develop and distribute digital entertainment, including both video and video games. Specific to the online gaming world, Kaneva’s mission is to empower those with a desire to develop their own online game, to build an MMO game quickly, while dramatically minimizing the cost and complexity. The resulting Kaneva offering for game developers – its feature-rich, downloadable Kaneva Game Platform combined with the Kaneva Managed Game Services – is the realization of that vision.”

Q: Why are you essentially offering the engine up free to registered users, and how do you derive benefit from doing so?

Fred: “We want to empower everyone passionate about the goal of developing their own game to actually create a game and profit from it. By making our platform freely available with no up front investment, Kaneva is lowering the bar and enabling more people to realize their dream of building their own game. Once a game is developed using the platform, Kaneva then helps distribute the game online with its Managed Game Services, connecting the developer to potentially thousands of players and enabling the developer as well as Kaneva to split the royalties and earn money. Kaneva’s Managed Game Services eliminates the need for developers to make costly investments in the infrastructure and distribution required to support such an effort.”

Q: How detailed is this engine? Does it differ significantly from some of the editing tools (like Neverwinter Night's Aurora toolset) that other games offer?

Fred: “We believe that our engine is unique because it is a full MMO engine that simplifies game development. We have designed the Kaneva Game Platform to be flexible enough to handle multiple game genres and are committed to taking it to the next level. Some of the platform’s key features include:

• A complete end-to-end MMO game platform

• Includes Client, Server, Editor and AI components

• The latest graphics rendering engine with many of today’s standard features

• Key MMO functionality including the ability to create persistent worlds, character customization, housing, missions and quests

• Ability to support thousands of online players per server through Kaneva’s Managed Game Services

• Lua and Python scripting for gameplay customization and rapid development

• Comprehensive help including extensive tutorials and videos

• An online marketplace for the buying and selling of the art assets used to make games, including 3D models, textures, shaders, scripts and sound effects.”

Q: Obviously creating an MMO is not as easy as putting out a level, or environment, and the turning players loose. Are there restrictions on how much content a player can add to this, and how much flexibility does it offer in terms of graphical look? 

Fred: “Historically, MMO game creation has been challenging. The reality is that up until now there have been only a few studios and individuals with the resources and technology needed to take on building and distributing a successful MMO game. Kaneva is taking many of the development and cost issues out of the equation. We have no restrictions on the volume of content, and the Kaneva Game Platform leverages the latest DirectX features needed to develop a graphically intense game.”

Q: What do you think are the fundamental elements that players/developers need to be cognizant of when designing something along the lines of an MMO?

Fred: “Traditionally, those developing MMO games were focused on creating long, expansive worlds. Kaneva is redefining what an MMO game is and the key elements that need to be included in an MMO game. As long as the game is still enjoyable, we believe that we will start to see a rise in popularity of shortened MMO games that are expanded on and played out over time.”

Q: What do you think is lacking in most MMOs today and how do you see the Kaneva engine, perhaps, expanding the possibilities?

Fred: “MMOs have been limited in that the requirements to build them have been out of reach for most game developers. Using the Kaneva Game Platform, more people than ever before will have access to the technology and services need to build and distribute an MMO game. The Kaneva Game Platform also provides the flexibility to combine genres such as FPS with RPG. Using Kaneva, game developers are limited only by their imagination for gameplay.”

Q: Will players only be able to create MMOs, or can they design other types of games with this engine?

Fred: “The Kaneva Game Platform while encompassing many of the MMO features allows those developing games to go beyond traditional MMO game creation to develop anything from a 3D solitaire game to a FPS to a hybrid game consisting of multiple genres. There are opportunities to create social chat worlds and serious game applications for military, medical, real estate, and tourism purposes using Kaneva.”

Q: You have designed an engine that gives people the opportunity to create - which, I should think, is almost akin to creating the paintbrush and then handing it over to would-be artists. What sense of accomplishment does this give you and do you anticipate that some amazing things will pour forth?

Fred: “One of the reasons we chose the name 'Kaneva' is that it means 'canvas' in Latin. We believe that we can empower people passionate about digital entertainment to create and share their original work with the world, earning recognition and money. The biggest challenge in entertainment especially for games and movies has been distribution. Kaneva offers those who create digital media with an instant distribution platform, opening up their work to a wider audience and engaging them in a dynamic online community for sharing information, viewpoints and engaging with their audience.”

Q: Are there limitations or restrictions over what games you post on your site?

Fred: “We encourage people to create all types of online games. While we are currently limited to the Windows PC platform, we are looking at expanding beyond the PC in the future.”

Q: Some of the programs on the market require a certain type of machine (system specs) due to rendering times and such. What have you done to minimize this and what systems (minimum) are needed to run this software?

Fred: “We provide developers with maximum flexibility. The more they push the limits with advanced shaders and huge amounts of content, the higher the requirements. The game developer looking to reach the widest audience will want to keep the amount of polygons and texture sizes in line with the lowest common denominator of hardware.”

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