The Bhutanese Leading the way.
On 25 July 2023, Bhutanverse, a Metaverse-based virtual environment, was announced to be launched by the Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) during the FAB23 Bhutan International Conference in Thimphu.
Bhutanverse integrates distinctive Bhutanese motifs, art, and architecture, and provides users worldwide with a thorough experience of Bhutan’s culture, history, and philosophy. In collaboration with Smobler and the Sandbox, DHI aimed to develop a digital experience, in order to enable consumers worldwide to delve into Bhutan’s rich culture, history, and philosophy from any location.
The Bhutanverse team was very active through the InnoTech and DHI social media channels, and they generally received positive reactions from the Bhutanese community upon the announcement of the launch of Bhutanverse.
In honor of His Majesty The King’s 44th Birth Anniversary, DHI formally launched Bhutanverse on the open Metaverse platform of the Sandbox on 21 February 2024.
The first version showcases non-fungible tokens (NFT) made by regional artists in Bhutan, and includes an Art Gallery that was co-created with TheUpsideSpace. Engaging adventures based on engrossing tales from Bhutan’s history and mythology are available in the creative area created by Bhutanese developers.
The Sandbox provides access to Bhutanverse, a platform where creators will determine its accessibility to all segments of Bhutanese Society. For the time being, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can use the Sandbox platform to log in and play the game for free. The Bhutanverse team anticipate that tablets and smartphones will be able to access the platform by the end of 2024. Since this is a trial initiative, they concentrated on developing capacity and skills. In the future, they will emphasize on accessibility and inclusivity for the Bhutanese people as they work to grow the Metaverse community in Bhutan.
Smobler trained a team from DHI and a variety of local people to develop the experience and produce the assets. “Learning how to utilize GameMaker and VoxEdit was the most difficult part of the process. There weren’t any real issues after the boot camp, once the crew was comfortable using the program”, the team from DHI expressed.
As of now, Bhutanverse remains a proof of concept project with the digital art/NFT gallery and two localized games. The team hopes that through experiencing the Bhutanverse, different age groups of the Bhutanese public become interested in learning more about building on the metaverse. As part of the gallery, there is space for DHI to collaborate with local artists (of all ages) to transform their art into voxel art for display or for individuals to try their hand at creating different assets inspired by Bhutanese culture.
DHI is actively exploring additional use cases, most of which will pertain to preserving and digitizing Bhutanese culture and tradition. As part of exploring the Metaverse, DHI bought a 3 x 3 plot of LAND on The Sandbox. Through this project, they were able to utilize a 2 x 2, and a 1 x 1 plot. They hope to engage with more enthusiasts through training, workshops, and ideathons to develop the remaining plots of LAND.
There is potential to collaborate in the near future with various platform developers and tech specialists. Requirements for these partnerships include use cases, resources, and strategic alignment with overarching objectives.
