Phase 2 Complete · Phase 3 Active

Building the Engine

A transparent look at where we are, where we're going, and what's already live.

Overall Progress2 of 7 Phases Complete
~35% to full vision

Phase 1

Foundation

Brand, infrastructure & community roots

COMPLETE
Progress100%

Brand & Identity

  • Domain, brand identity & logo suite
  • Coming soon landing page + email waitlist
  • Professional email — hello@theaetherengine.com
  • Social media presence (X, Reddit, TikTok)

Community & Legal

  • Discord server with 7 roles & 27 channels
  • Legal docs — Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

Phase 2

Core Platform

The full engine — auth, worlds, AI sessions & payments

COMPLETE
Progress100%

Platform

  • Next.js 14 platform on Cloudflare Pages
  • Supabase authentication & database
  • 7-Step World Creation Wizard
  • Character creator — race, class, backstory, abilities
  • NPC system with personality & relationships

AI Engine

  • AI Game Sessions with real-time SSE streaming
  • 9-model AI fallback chain via OpenRouter

Monetization

  • Stripe subscriptions — Free / Standard / Premium / Founders

Admin

  • Admin panel — user, world, session & error monitoring
  • Discord notification system for admin alerts
  • Developer tier-switcher panel

Phase 3

Living World

The world breathes, remembers, and evolves

IN PROGRESS
Currently in active development
Progress40%

✅ Shipped — Platform Foundation

  • ✅ Settings page (5 tabs — Account, Appearance, Notifications, Security, Data)
  • ✅ Billing portal (Stripe — manage subscription, cancel, update payment)
  • ✅ Permission system (13 permissions + 5 bundles + trusted users)
  • ✅ CR System Foundation (9 ranks: Wanderer → Aether Lord)
  • ✅ Admin panel — user management, permission modal, monitoring
  • ✅ Interactive onboarding tutorial (6 steps, +100 CR reward)
  • ✅ Admin panel expansion — live analytics, world management, feature flags, broadcast announcements
  • ✅ Platform announcement banner (tier-targeted, dismissible)

🔵 In Progress — Community

  • 🔵 AetherNet — global hub (all adventurers auto-joined, 8 channels, real-time chat)
  • 🔵 Communities — create & join player communities (public/private/request-to-join)
  • 💬 Real-time messaging (Supabase Realtime — live channels in every community)

Upcoming — Living World

  • Scheduled world events — world evolves while you are away
  • NPC persistent memory with vector embeddings
  • NPC relationship web — NPCs have goals & relationships with each other
  • AI session recaps — beautifully written adventure summaries
  • Voice channels (LiveKit integration)
  • Community elections & governance

Phase 4

Personalization & Community

Make it yours. Connect with others.

UPCOMING

🟣 v0.4.0 Planned Features

  • 🎤 Voice Channels — LiveKit voice rooms in communities (behind feature flag)
  • 📹 Video Rooms — LiveKit video meeting rooms (behind feature flag)
  • 🧠 NPC Persistent Memory — vector embedding NPC memory system (behind feature flag)
  • 📅 Scheduled World Events — automated world event system (behind feature flag)
  • 🗳️ Community Elections — vote for community roles (behind feature flag)
  • 🛍️ World Marketplace — buy/sell world templates (behind feature flag)

Profiles & Settings

  • True profile personalization — avatar, banner, bio, showcase worlds
  • AI model selection — users choose their preferred model (tier-gated)
  • Advanced settings — streaming speed, TTS narrator voice, display theme, notifications

Community

  • Community forum with genre-specific categories
  • User-to-user messaging — DMs + group chats for multiplayer parties
  • Achievement & badge system — 100 Sessions, World Builder, NPC Whisperer

World Gallery

  • Public world gallery — browse & rate community worlds
  • World ratings & reviews
  • Creator profiles with follower system

Phase 5

Deep Systems

Characters grow. Worlds fork. Legends persist.

UPCOMING

Character Progression

  • Character progression — XP, leveling, skill trees
  • AI-generated character & NPC portraits from text descriptions
  • Character relationship web — visual graph of connections
  • Character journal — auto-populated from session history
  • Multiple characters per world
  • D&D 5e character sheet import
  • Legacy system — dead characters leave permanent world lore

World Mechanics

  • World forking — create alternate timeline worlds
  • World templates marketplace with 70% creator revenue share
  • Co-GM mode — invite a friend as co-narrator

Phase 6

Multiplayer & Mobile

Play together. Play anywhere.

UPCOMING

Multiplayer

  • Multiplayer sessions — up to 4 players simultaneously
  • Split-party support — different players in different locations
  • WebRTC voice chat built into session UI

Combat & Inventory

  • Turn-based combat system with initiative tracker & visual dice
  • Inventory & equipment management
  • Quest & objective tracker
  • Session replay — watch any past session cinematically
  • Twitch/YouTube streaming integration with overlay

Mobile & Offline

  • Mobile apps — React Native (iOS & Android)
  • Progressive Web App — installable on any device
  • Offline mode — play without internet, sync on reconnect

Phase 7

Creator Economy

Open platform. Build. Earn. Expand.

UPCOMING

Marketplace

  • Full world marketplace — buy/sell worlds, scenarios, templates
  • Affiliate program — 30% recurring commission for creators
  • Referral system — refer a friend, both get 1 free month
  • Annual billing plans — 2 months free
  • Gift subscriptions
  • Team/family plans
  • Usage-based billing beyond free quota

Developer Platform

  • Public developer API with Python/JS SDK
  • Webhook system for custom integrations
  • World export to PDF/book format
  • Desktop app — Electron with system tray NPC notifications

Enterprise

  • Enterprise & education plans

Watch Phase 3 Come to Life

We build in public. Join the community to follow development, vote on features, and get early access when Phase 3 ships.

Join Waitlist Discord Community