Crypto: A Quick Look On Star Atlas, A Play-to-Earn Blockchain NFT Game
Updated: Aug 25, 2021
Yet another interview by On Chain Gamer, Jake with the Star Atlas' CEO, Michael Wagner discussing about their new Play-to-Earn blockchain game project. This interview wasn't good like the previous interview about ILLUVIUM because of so much sidetracking. Watch the full interview here.
Some background about Star Atlas, as the title suggest, it is a Play-to-Earn NFT game in the works on the Solana blockchain. Star Atlas takes place in the outer space where players can choose either of the three factions and explore the universe in space ships NFTs to expand their territory or search for resources. The game will have lots of flexibility in terms of roles that players can choose to play be it explorers, miners, ship technician, pirate etc.
If you have no idea how the game is gonna be like, I think you can check out Eve Online, another space exploration MMORPG that draws many similarities.
This post is a summary of the points discussed in the interview along with some of my thoughts.
Star Atlas' Vision:
Be AAA blockchain game
currently building Unreal engine 5
CEO Michael Wagner's inspiration for creating Star Atlas:
Passion for gaming, MMOs, FPS
Founded Multichain Ventures
Saw massive potential for blockchain gaming because of the great adoption in DeFi and NFTs in 2020
Want to create a game that is fun
Enhance gaming experience with true asset ownership with NFTs, rewards and incentives
CEO's Background:
Financial analysis in private wealth institution management
CFA
Determining intrinsic value of assets or securities
Portfolio management, securities analysis
Founded Tokes Platform, a US company that provides decentralized financial infrastructure dedicated for the legal cannabis industry
Started crypto in 2013, went full time mining scriptcoins? in 2015
"You're building while flying":
The game is still at the beginning stage
Alot of risks associated being able to deliver on this goal
Subject to changes due to the volatile crypto landscape
It is a rare sight to have CEOs giving disclaimers about investing in their tokens lol.
How is Star Atlas funded:
Private token sales
Rebirth campaign: digital art multimedia poster campaign
In game asset rewards
Team's background:
Led by CPO Danny Floyd, previously worked at Westwood Studios which was later acquired by Electronic Arts (EA)
Worked on Earth and Beyond, space themed MMO
Consists of DevOps engineers, blockchain engineers, web devs, technical artists, concept artists
Team mostly from Tokes Platform, sometimes resources are shared between the two.
This would be an area of concern if I'm looking to throw some money at their tokens. It certainly sounds like the team itself doesn't have much experience in game development except for their CPO. It is also massive leap from cannabis to creating games.
So what are the chances of success here?
Would the quote:
“If you build an army of 100 lions and their leader is a dog, in any fight, the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a lion, all dogs will fight as a lion.”
apply here? Lol
Upcoming Mini game
Faction selection
Players "ENS"
Leaderboard based on players' asset value
Phased rollouts every 4 weeks from August
Ship missions.. complete PVE style quests and earn rewards like module/component 3D NFTs for your ship
Ship configuration
Land ownership
Crafting for mining equipment and orbital space stations
Generate revenue through mining ore
No Play-to-Earn feature
I like this mini game idea. At least there is something that players/token holders can have a better idea of how the game is going to be and be reaffirmed. Concurrently, the team can receive players' feedbacks and make improvements before full release.
Having a mini game would also quell the argument of the team's lack of game dev experience.
Gameplay pillars:
Space exploration
Territorial control
Political domination
Gameplay mechanics:
Three different races
Own lands on planets that can generate resources and financial rewards
Explore outer regions of your factions and extend faction border by taking over territories of other factions
Pay for in game services using $ATLAS, $ATLAS collected goes into a pool and redistributed to players
Similar to Warhammer online
Play for keys: if your ship gets destroyed, that NFT gets burned creating natural deflation
Michael mentioned that it cost roughly $5 to get a starter ship then players grind missions to get $ATLAS to customize/upgrade their ship. Considering the game runs the risk of losing your NFTs, fun level will depend on how lucrative rewards are to the level of grind.
Still, whether or not the game would be a success, boils down to the tokenomics which will be released soon.
Play-to-Earn mechanics:
Complete missions to earn $ATLAS as reward
Private missions offered by players
Miner: sell ores for $ATLAS, refine ores into usable materials for blueprints/schematics to craft your own NFTs
Gas station operator: identify popular flying routes, set up fueling station, optimize fuel price, defend from pirates/attackers
Tokenomics:
$ATLAS: transactional currency, primary reward
$POLIS: governance token
The thing Star Atlas has done differently is having another native token as their in game currency whereas Axie Infinity and Illuvium both uses ETH.
Release plan:
New interactive website launching soon
Teaser trailer
Technical docs: game economy doc about how players can monetize their time spent in the game, tokenomics ETA September, next month
Mini game: ETA next few months
Full game: ETA next year 2022
Personally, I would classify this project under super high risk due to uncertainties about the team's capabilities, the lack of game technical information and a working product. It's probably better to wait for more contents to be released to make any educated decisions or don't hold any of their tokens and just play the game.
Disclaimer: The information listed here is accurate at the point of writing. I am not endorsed by any of the platforms mentioned here. It is strictly my personal opinion and should not be regarded as investment advice. Please do your own due diligence.
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