Crowd Rocks is a single shard, massively multiplayer, online gaming platform that is free to play. Prototyping began in the second half of 2024 with the alpha release for the single shard technology expected to launch in January of 2025. Platform features will come online throughout 2025. The first mini-games are estimated to appear in the second quarter of 2025. When the platform is complete, creators will be able to create any kind of gaming experience with no limits on player population or density.
Starting in the pre-alpha, the game world became public, persistent, and shared by all players (single shard). Players have the option of building with voxels in their own private chunks or in the anarchy quadrant.
The Problem
One of the biggest limitations in online games has been the need to shard, or separate, the player community into small enough groups that an individual server (or cluster of servers) could handle. Every current MMO has had to introduce limitations to player population, density, or movement. Sometimes the limitations are hidden in game mechanics, sometimes they are explicitly part of the onboarding process a player experiences when loading the game.
We seek to change that with our True Single Shard technology (TSS), and if that wasn't enough, we want to introduce this technology as a platform that other creators can use to build their games.
The Vision
Our vision is to build a platform that lets creators share any kind of gaming experience with the world without any kind of limitation. Creators will design their own objects, textures, mechanics, etc. and build games on par with anything else out there. The most difficult limitation has been the need to separate players between servers, so if we can solve that via our True Single Shard technology, we should have a straight path as we strive to finish the platform to include all other necessary features. If successful, a game on Crowd Rocks will look and feel like any other game, except it won't be limited to a small number of players at a time.
Features In Development
- True Single Shard technology: All players experience the game together without any limitation on movement
- Platform-first development: Enable creators to design any experience
- Scalable server cluster: No limit to player population or density
- Advanced GPU rendering: 100K+ players within viewing distance
- Advanced server topology: Server clusters continuously update with no impact on player experience
- Bigger than your imagination: Maps are 93,000 cubic light years of fully buildable space
- New social paradigms: Unlimited player population and density combined with proximity voice chat means new social experiences and emergent gameplay
Downloads
| Version | Platform | Link | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha 5 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-5.zip | 1/13/2025 |
| Alpha 4 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-4.zip | 12/30/2024 |
| Alpha 3 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-3.zip | 12/28/2024 |
| Alpha 2 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-2.zip | 12/24/2024 |
| Alpha 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-1.zip | 12/23/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 6 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-6.zip | 12/19/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 5 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-5.zip | 12/17/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 4 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-4.zip [obsolete] | 12/14/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 3 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-3.zip [obsolete] | 12/9/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 2 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-2.zip [obsolete] | 12/6/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-1.zip [obsolete] | 12/3/2024 |
Download the file then unzip it. Look in the folder for CrowdRocks.exe and run that to start the game. You will need an email address to register an account.
We will port the game to Mac OS (and other platforms) in the future but currently only Windows 11 is supported.
Things You Can Do Right Now
- The "Anarchy Quadrant" starts at the Origin Sphere where all players spawn and includes chunks that have a negative X and negative Y chunk address. Use the settings menu to show your address. Every player can go to the anarchy quadrant and create/destroy voxels to their heart's content.
- Maps are larger than you can possibly imagine. The anarchy quadrant itself starts at Origin Sphere (chunk address 0,0,0), and extends to chunk address (-9,223,372,036,854,775,808, -9,223,372,036,854,775,808) on the X and Y axis. The anarchy quadrant's Z axis has a low value of -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and a high value of 9,223,372,036,854,775,807. There is so much available volume to build in that if you pick any random coordinate, teleport there, and then build something, it is likely you will never run into anyone else unless you give them the coordinates. Be sure to write the address down or you may never be able to find your way back once you leave it!
- Press "T" to open the teleport tool and press the "Home" button to be taken to your player's own, private chunk space. You have two deca-chunks of private volume to build anything. A deca-chunk is a cube of chunks 10 chunks to a side. A chunk is a cube of voxels 16 voxels to a side. A voxel is a 1 meter cube. Start off by making a border to your private space and then build something unique!
- The first version of proximity voice chat is now available. It still has quirks we are working on, but you can use it to meet and work with players anywhere you like. Press the escape key and click the speaker and microphone buttons to enable the voice chat. All voice data goes through only our servers and is not recorded.
Known Bugs
- Voice chat audio quality is currently buggy. Sometimes it works great between two players, other times it may not be recognizable.
- When using voice chat, some players get randomly disconnected every few minutes.
- When building voxels, its pretty easy to build a voxel around yourself and get trapped. Use the teleport tool to get free.
- When falling from a high enough height, chunk loading is sometimes slow enough where the chunk will load with the player inside. Use the teleport tool to get free.
Community Links
Feature Status
| Feature | Current Version | Next Version ETA |
|---|---|---|
| Single Shard |
SS-1 |
January 2025 |
| Voxels & Game Objects |
VGO-1 |
January 2025 |
| Player Communications |
COMMS-2 |
January 2025 |
| Private Chunks |
CHUNK-1 |
March 2025 |
| Monetization |
MON-1 |
March 2025 |
| Mini Games |
- |
Q2 2025 |
Roadmap
Single Shard
- SS-1
- Server: 10K+ players
- Client: 100+ players in view
- SS-2
- Server: 10K+ players
- Client: 10K+ players in view
- SS-3
- Server: 50K+ players
- Client: 50K+ players in view
- SS-4
- Server: 100K+ players
- Client: 100K+ players in view
- SS-5
- Server: 1M+ players
- Client: 1M+ players in view
- SS-6
- Server: no limit to player population
- Client: 1M+ players in view
Voxels & Game Objects
- VGO-1
- Texture pack 1: 255 solid colors
- VGO-2
- Voxels with 6 unique faces and rotation
- Texture pack 2: 255 assorted textures
- VGO-3
- Player made texture packs
- VGO-4
- VGO-5
-
Basic game objects
-
Player made game objects
Player Communications
- COMMS-1
- Proximity voice chat
- Good audio quality
- Fixed distance of 2 chunks for broadcast and listen
- COMMS-2
- Proximity text chat
- Fixed distance of 2 chunks for broadcast and listen
- COMMS-3
- Chat proximity configurable to distances of up to 8 chunks for broadcast and listen
- COMMS-4
- Private chat
- Team chat
Chunks
- CHUNK-1
- Players have a 2 deca-chunk home where only they can build
- CHUNK-2
- Players can claim and trade any number of private chunks
Monetization
- MON-1
- Game is free to play
- All players can build anything in the anarchy quadrant (-x, -y)
- MON-2
- Home chunks are monetized
- MON-3
- Private chunk marketplace
- MON-4
- Player made texture pack creators can optionally monetize
- MON-5
- Player made game object creators can optionally monetize
- MON-6
- Player made mini game creators can optionally monetize
Mini Games
- GAME-1
- First in-house developed mini games
- GAME-2
- Player made mini games
Development Builds
These builds connect to the developer map where we test new features. Map data is occasionally reset. No actions in these builds affect the production map or player account.
| Version | Platform | Link | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha 6 build 4 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-6-dev-4.zip | 3/20/2025 |
| Alpha 6 build 3 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-6-dev-3.zip | 3/6/2025 |
| Alpha 6 build 2 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-6-dev-2.zip | 1/24/2025 |
| Alpha 6 build 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-6-dev-1.zip | 1/16/2025 |
| Alpha 5 build 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-5-dev-1.zip | 1/13/2025 |
| Alpha 4 build 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-4-dev-1.zip | 12/30/2024 |
| Alpha 3 build 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-3-dev-1.zip | 12/28/2024 |
| Alpha 1 build 2 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-1-dev-2.zip | 12/24/2024 |
| Alpha 1 build 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-alpha-1-dev-1.zip | 12/23/2024 |
| Pre Alpha 7 build 1 | Windows 11 | CrowdRocks-win11-pre-alpha-7-dev-1.zip | 12/22/2024 |
Build Notes
Alpha 6 Build 4
- Game and server now use both IPv4 and IPv6, fixing a bug that prevented some users from using proximity voice chat
- Voxels can now be rotated in any direction using the R/T keys
- Preparation for the next version of textures is in place
Alpha 6 Build 3
- Background now changes with altitude from deep ocean to cloudy sky, to outer space
- Texture pack update in progress (temporary textures used in this build)
- Latency improvements for voice chat and avatars
- Many server and client bug fixes
- This build is a work-in-progress
Alpha 6 Build 2
- Greatly improved (2X+) avatar render performance, especially for larger graphics cards
- Depending on hardware, players can render over 10,000 other players in a single view
- This build is a work-in-progress
Alpha 6 Build 1
- Experimental build of new optimizations enabling over 3,000 NPCs at 30 FPS to be spawned locally via the new "Testing" menu
- This build is a work-in-progress
Alpha 5 Build 1
- New testing menu for running stress tests
- Various bug fixes
Alpha 4 Build 1
- Greatly improved chunk loading
Alpha 3 Build 1
- Proximity text chat enabled for all players
Alpha 1 Build 2
- Improvements to voice chat and disconnect handling
- Published as Alpha 2
Alpha 1 Build 1
- Voice chat now enabled for all users
- Published as Alpha 1
Pre Alpha 7 Build 1
- Improvements to voice chat audio quality
- Server echo is on for testing voice chat
- Voice chat limited to map admins