Cloud platform Coherence wants to 'democratize' online game development

Playdead co-founder Dino Patti and Unity co-founder David Helgason have unveiled a new online game development platform called Coherence.

Built to help devs of all shapes and sizes realize their multiplayer ambitions, Coherence is pitched as an open, accessible, and lightning-fast cloud platform for "building scalable and persistent virtual worlds."

The technology can be quickly integrated with prominent game engines like Unity, Unreal, and Godot​, and supports multiple platforms including desktop, mobile, and consoles.

It will apparently allow devs to have a working online demo up within a matter of minutes, and has been designed with "performance and streamlined developer experience at its core."

"Coherence gives you all the tools you need to turn your game into a connected interactive experience. You can make anything, from a 4-player game with highly scalable instancing, to a persistent virtual world that holds all your players," reads an explainer.

"Our editor plugin will help you utilize the power of the cloud, even if you have no experience with networked games. It handles everything from setup, data modeling, local and online testing to deployment. Using our SDK, you can dive deeper and custom-fit our technology into existing games.

"All backend processes like player connections, synchronization, simulation, network optimization and scaling are handled automatically. coherence lets you focus on what matters the most."

Patti, who left Limbo and Inside developer Playdead in 2016, will lead the project as CEO, while Helgason will assist the fledgling company in an advisory role.

The platform will launch in 2020, with alpha and beta phases planned for later this year. You can find out more about the project over on the Coherence website.