Imagine a game, that allows you to explore a world built around different characters and storylines in the form of a psychedelic-like experience. Got it? Now put artificial intelligence in it, that continuously morphs the game by mapping your reactions to it, and finally - add a rendering engine that supports four spatial dimensions and non-linear time.

Hi there!

Thanks for checking out our campaign page. We are raising money for the initial (proof of concept) stage of the development of our revolutionary game engine, Bardo.

What is Bardo?

Here's the elevator pitch: Bardo is a game engine that allows developers to create worlds filled with any content they can possibly come up with - sound, picture, character, emotion - and turn it into an objective reality, that can be explored by the player while it slowly turns into their subjective reality.

Bardo is a new kind of technology, that provides immersive, personal - even intimate - gaming experiences, and comes up with challenges on its own, based on the player's reactions to previous ones.

Forget 3D space!

Bardo utilizes our Clifford Rendering Engine (named after W. K. Clifford), which introduces something unusual to video games - a fourth spatial dimension. GPUs are known for their ability to handle 3D graphics well, and that's really all they need to do in the context of games. 4D space is completely irrelevant. Or is it?

Level architecture in Bardo uses 4 spatial dimensions. This might sound crazy, especially if you consider the fact that your display can only handle 2D images. The Clifford Engine takes the 4D data from the AI core, and creates a 3D projection of it based on the player’s current state. This 3D projection can then be fed into the GPU for further processing and drawing (using OpenGL or Vulkan) the final 2D frame. This way we can present players with a unique visual experience, where different maps can give the impression of intersecting and blending into each other.

AI - The right way

 One of our key motives to create the Bardo engine is to prove - in a real world application - the effectiveness of our artificial intelligence technology. It breaks apart from today's trends of using massive neural networks and huge datasets, and implements a higher level, abstract model of consciousness.

The engine utilizes the AI core for many things in games, including:

• Dynamic world creation
• Player - character identity fusion
• Reverse-lag effect
• Motivation and illusion of challenge

To read more about these topics, get your copy of our free white paper available on our website.

Bardo is something you might be interested in if you are

A gamer

The engine we are building has something very unique to offer. As a gamer, you will see a whole new genre of games emerge - games that work by adapting to your mental state, and letting you explore the challenges designed by the engine just for you.

Also while we can't really tell much about Tom's Basement (our very own game using Bardo) without spoiling the experience to some degree, it's definitely something to look forward to. We know, we are!

A developer

As someone who is interested in making video games, Bardo might just be the right choice for you. It lets you focus on defining the world, the characters, and storylines of your game and make it look completely unique. You can control the general flow of the game by writing your own code - consider yourself the trip sitter.

Given its highly player-based world construction capabilities, Bardo games will always show something new, something different, which can also appeal to streamers as an easy way to create valuable and unique content.

Interested in AI / VR / psychedelics

If you are more interested in the main building blocks than the final product, you are also in the right place. We have many future applications in mind, and we will build several reusable parts (AI core, Clifford Rendering Engine) to allow their use in projects unrelated to gaming.

If you are someone interested in psychedelics, you probably already understand how big this can be. We are in a way "reverse-engineering" the psychedelic state, and there will be many exciting milestones along this journey (compelled to say trip).

Please understand though, that we do not endorse the use of any illegal substances, and experimenting with Bardo-based games under the effects of psychedelics is probably an invitation for disaster. Our demo content will mostly be based on Tom's Basement, which is a game deliberately built to cause emotional distress.

What are we raising for?

Our project is currently directly after the early planning phase, and all we have is the theoretical background for the engine's core components, which we have been working on separately for years.

Stage 1 of the project is where we would like to build a proof of concept version of the engine and its technologies, and create enough content for our first game to be presentable to a wider audience.

Why crowdfunding?

While getting very early funding would probably be simpler through finding a single investor, we think it would be more beneficial for us and the community not to have such strong ties with one single entity driven mostly by financial interest.

The core technologies behind the Bardo engine are relevant on many different fields unrelated to gaming, and we don't want our IP tied down so early (even partially) to a single entity.

As advocates of free software, having all the rights to our technology would allow us to share the entirety, or parts of it with the public under a GPL-compatible license.

Stretch goals

The initial goal will take us far enough to have something presentable and show directly what Bardo will be capable of. Everything raised above our initial goal will get us further towards a finished engine, and making a more complete experience to demonstrate after Stage 1.

$10,000 - More advanced results, more content

If we raise more than our original goal, we will have more time to work on the engine and the first game based on it before we have to present our results for additional funds.

Being able to present a more advanced demo with more content would make our pitch more compelling, and allow us to work on the project with a bigger budget in the future.

$15,000 - Better equipment for testing

Our current equipment is suitable for development, but there are definitely improvements we need to make at some point. A faster workflow would enable us to be more productive, achieve more of our goals in less time, and respond to feedback in a more efficient manner.

Project timeline

Currently, we are raising for stage 1 of our project. We have a solid theoretical foundation of the core technologies (especially the AI), and many parts of it already designed. We also have several storylines and characters written for Tom's Basement.

Stage 1 is about building enough of the game engine and creating enough content for Tom's Basement to be able to address a wider audience for Stage 2, which is developing all the remaining parts of the project.

Please note, that Stage 1 doesn't result in a finished engine or a game, but is essential in making this project happen. By mid-summer 2018, we will be finished with Stage 1, and we can put together a demo that can appeal to more gamers and possibly investors.

Risks and challenges

Given the highly experimental nature of the project, there are many contributing factors how the end result will compare to the initial idea. The entire game engine is built mostly around our abstract model of "consciousness" and generic cognitive behaviour.

If our theory gets confirmed by the initial tests, there are hardly any obstacles preventing us from successfully building the engine, and our first game using it.

We believe, that by the end of this period of development, we will have enough content and proof-of-concept technology built to attract a wider audience of gamers / game developers, and either raise funds, or find an investor for the entire budget of the project.

Q&A

What platforms will the engine support?

It is one of our main priorities to make our core technologies support all major desktop platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux), and Bardo will also be built to run on all of these platforms, without any compromise.

We are avid Linux users ourselves, so most tech demos will probably run on Linux first, but we are doing everything to release everything on all major platforms.

Can I make my own games with Bardo?

Absolutely! Bardo is a game engine, and its first stable release will come with the Bardo SDK, a set of tools helping you on your way of creating immersive gaming experiences.

Making non-commercial games with the engine will be free, but you may also sell games built with the engine. Please check out our relevant perks ($100 and above)!

When will the engine be released?

 At the end of Stage 1 (mid-summer of 2018) technical demos will be available, and we plan to release the first stable version in 2019.

Keep in mind, while we are still in 2017, it's only a few weeks now, don't be fooled by the numbers.

When will Tom's Basement be released?

 Tom's Basement will be released alongside the first stable version of Bardo, but for supporters in "Early Access" or higher tiers, technical demos and beta releases will be available earlier.

Disclaimer

Please note, that we do not endorse the use of any illegal substances. Using the engine in relation to any illegal activity is your own legal responsibility.

Bardo employs various strategies to alter the player's perception of self-identity, and playing under the influence of psychedelic substances might be very dangerous.