Exploring the metaverse with an exciting vision for gamers | Andy Morrin

Andy Morrin graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2020 with a Masters degree in Computer Science. 

He is the founder of a metaverse start-up called Meiyo and we caught up with him to find out about his exciting vision to create new possibilities for the gaming community. 

We hear the steps Andy is making to help bring it all together: building the community, metaverse development and finding investment.

Andy: Meiyo aims to build the ultimate gaming metaverse and ecosystem for independent game developers. The ecosystem consists of a free, open source game development framework that provides the tools to help developers make games, and an asset marketplace where developers can buy 3D art to bring their game worlds to life.

In the metaverse, players will be able to seamlessly transition from one game to another without any issues, meaning they can buy a set of armour in one game and wear it in other games within the metaverse.

Independent game developers spend a lot of time 'reinventing the wheel'. It takes a long time to learn how to make games; you need to be a programmer, an animator, an artist, etc., so you spend a lot of time watching tutorials and reading documentation.

But what if the 'indie' community came together and contributed to a single, open source framework made up of these tools? 

Your task would be simplified as you'd only have to learn how to use the tools, not necessarily how to make them - more time would be spent making your dream game, and less time would be spent learning what goes on under the hood.

There are asset marketplaces where you can buy 3D art for your game, but the truth is they're cluttered with assets of different qualities - anyone can make and sell those assets - so it's difficult to know if you'll get value for money. Added to that, downloaded assets are non-refundable (it has to be this way, because you can't prove that someone has permanently deleted the files from their computer after the refund). 

My solution is to build a premium asset marketplace that offers the highest quality assets made by professional games artists. Together, the open source framework and the asset marketplace form a game development ecosystem that provides the foundations on which to build a metaverse of interoperable games.

The idea was born from my struggles as an indie developer, as I have spent many years learning all aspects of game development and understand the challenges faced by those on the same journey. 

I am part of the UoB Elevate business incubator where I have received support in the form of mentoring, workshops, and networking events, and I have also been awarded a startup scholarship that has enabled me to purchase much needed hardware/software such as the motion capture system I use for character animation. 

The scholarship has enabled me to focus on this business full-time, improving my ability to network my way to investors and grow a global community of artists for the Meiyo Asset Marketplace.

What are the best aspects of running a business?

The best thing about running my business is growing a global community of
likeminded people who see Meiyo as a solution to a common problem. It has become clear that by working together, we can help each other reach our goals much more quickly. But more importantly, everyone who has joined the community so far has been a pleasure to meet, and I look forward to meeting even more great people from around the world.

What are the most challenging things being a founder?

The hardest thing is that since 100% of your focus is on the business, it can be hard to manage your private life. The challenge is to find the right balance.

It's not what you know, it's who you know. Your primary objective at the earliest stage is to network, network and network - and be confident when doing it.

What is the biggest takeaway from your experience?

It's about the journey, not the destination. My destination is the ultimate gaming metaverse for indie developers, but that is multiple rounds of investment in the future. The journey should be broken down into stages, for example:

1. What is the quickest route to revenue, and therefore seed investment?

For me, it's building the professional art community and a marketplace for them to sell their assets. There are other ways to monetise the community, such as acting as a recruitment agency and/or outsource studio.

2. How can I use this revenue and investment to achieve my goals and close another investment round?

This stage involves investing in the developer side of the ecosystem and driving sales to the marketplace. The objective is to unite indie developers around the open source developer framework and support them in making games.

3. What do I need to do next to reach the destination and close further investment rounds?

I think this stage involves building a metaverse from the ecosystem that has been developed in the previous stages. We've got an artist community making art and a developer community making games - all we now need is a platform for developers to submit their games, and a player community to play them.

So, the biggest takeaway? Stop thinking so much about the destination, and think more about what it's going to take to get there - in stages.

Find about more by visiting the Meiyo website here.

With thanks to Andy Morrin

Added by Bob Lee