You and your ragtag band wander from island to island on your cobbled-together airship, scouring for lost technology and scavenging for resources. You are constantly trying to improve your ship, keep it fueled, and keep it repaired. Sky predators, storms, and other travelling bands—all of which could be a threat to your ship—will dominate your thoughts. But in the back of your mind, you still ask yourself questions: How did your world become this way? What calamity, a thousand years ago, could have shattered the world into a thousand pieces? Deep down you know that the world was not always this way, and your questions are what drive you onward and upward, towards the endless skyline.

First, Worlds Adrift is set in a persistent, shared multiplayer environment. That means anyone who plays the game will be in the same enormous world. (Due to the increased importance of low latency in a game with physics, however, the current plan is to have separate servers for different geographic regions—we can’t overcome the speed of light, I’m afraid).

Bossa Studios unveiled a world-first feature for a massive online game: a free tool that allows players to help design and create the universe of Worlds Adrift. Unlike traditional mods, the best designs that are submitted will feature in the final game meaning thousands of players will explore fans’ creations. Starting today, players can download the Island Creator from Steam for free. They can create unique, customized floating islands and add complex architecture and topography. Once happy with their creation, players can switch across to Play Mode and explore their island from their own perspective, even using the grapple hook - all within the tool.

Today from 9am-11am PT (17.00-19.00 BST), Bossa Studios will be on Twitch for a live Island Creator Masterclass. They will showing you how to create your own masterpiece using the brand new tool, and following that they will be collaborating with viewers to create a brand new island!

"We’re taking a huge risk by cramming so many new ideas into a single game, but if there's one concept that could transform the way games are made, this is it," said Henrique Olifiers, Gamer-In-Chief at Bossa Studios. "As far as I can remember, no game ever opened up the possibility for the community to help shape its world before it was launched. We're not talking about add-ons or mods here: these islands will help form the game world itself, meaning that our players will help us create Worlds Adrift.”

Players who wish to check out the Worlds Adrift Island Creator can do so on the by visiting their official page on Steam here. Those who have the tool installed can also check out other players’ islands and vote for their favorites to help determine which player-generated land masses make it into the game.

Secondly, the world will live and breathe. Worlds Adrift will not be an MMORPG as we know them. There are no quest hubs and no NPCs standing around forever, waiting to give you tasks. There are no low-level zones and high-level zones, because there will be no levels. There are no static, choreographed environments and events that replay for every new player.

Instead, there will be creatures that eat and live and die, and trees that grow, and ruins that hold secrets, and wreckage that rusts and rots, all inside a world that doesn’t revolve around you, but that can be permanently affected by your actions. You are a part of the world, and it’s up to you to decide which part that is, and how it relates to all the other parts.

Lastly, the world will behave according to believable physics. Ships are constructed of pieces — each of which can be snapped off if there’s a strong enough impact. Much of the world will also behave like this: creatures, wreckage, loose objects on the ground. And of course there will be plenty of rope physics involved in player movement.