Trusted insider Tom Henderson, in an exclusive article for the Insider Gaming portal, shared details of an unannounced Ubisoft Montreal project codenamed Alterra.
Image source: Lego
According to Henderson’s sources, Alterra is a sandbox with elements of a social simulation. Players settle on an island inhabited by NPCs for interaction – Matterlings.
From their home island, they will supposedly allow you to travel to other worlds (consisting of different biomes), where you can find new matterlings, enemies and resources, and also meet other Alterra users.
Image source: Mojang Studios
According to Henderson’s sources, Alterra’s gameplay loop is reminiscent of Animal Crossing, and the game’s voxel building system is inspired by Minecraft: users can make anything with the right materials.
As for the visuals, the matterlings supposedly look like Funko Pop figures with big heads. The designs of these creatures are inspired by fictional (dragons, swamp monsters) and real (birds, bears) animals.
An example of matterling generated by a neural network at Henderson’s request (image source: Insider Gaming)
Henderson adds that Alterra has been in development for a year and a half and will be released in a few more. The game was born out of another voxel building project that had been in production for about four years.
Inside Ubisoft Montreal, the project is led by Gotham Knights creative director Patrick Redding and lead producer Fabien Lhéraud, who has been with the company for the past 24 years.