Space MMO completed its 4th development phase
The online space game Farsite will soon launch an open alpha version of its game, propelling the decentralized gaming dapp into new territory. Before that happens, the team will close the store on April 25th, no longer selling the Phase IV item crates.
Summary
- Farsite ending development Phase IV and closing the store on April 25th
- Farsite uses credits and 1,000 credits is worth 1 FAR token
- The game was made for Ethereum 2.0, but uses Polygon and zk-relay to operate
- Land sectors crucial to game economy
- Farsite alpha gameplay imminent as game economy will need to run on its own
Ending of Phase IV, closing of the store
Currently gameplay in Farsite is very limited, but players can acquire land on planets, build a base and mine resources. Which resources players can find, depends on the planet and the location on their plot. During these early stages of Farsite, these resources become the building blocks of the game’s future. The only way resources find their way into the game world is when players mine, collect, craft and trade.
Phase IV of the Farsite development introduced land and initial mining gameplay. The team also opened Interstellar Gates, allowing players to travel long distances. More importantly, players can trade their acquired resources on an internal marketplace, laying a foundation for Farsite to become a decentralized MMO with real economics.
As being said, the store will close on April 25th. As the store closes, the game’s economy and internal market will become much more important. Farsite is now preparing to put the game’s economy into the player’s hands during the alpha.
Farsite uses Ethereum & Polygon
Farsite’s Credits exist on the Polygon blockchain, while the game also offers FAR tokens. 1 FAR token will always be 1000 Credits. Farsite is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and should be compatible with Ethereum 2.0. The game uses three layers: Ethereum (L1), Polygon (L2) and ZK Relay (L3). Credits on Polygon can be converted to FAR tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, and then traded on the open market. All actions and purchases involving credits happen on Polygon, while game actions not involving Credits will happen through the L3 layer of the game.
Every spaceship in Farsite is a collateralized NFT (cNFT), meaning that every NFT has a base value because of the resources stored inside. The idea is that players can get a loan for their spaceship, or perhaps declare a spaceship total loss after sustaining heavy damage. Those NFTs exist on the Polygon blockchain. Those who want to jump in, can find ship hulls, item crates, ship modules and blueprints on OpenSea.
With a 0.05 ETH floor price, ship hulls are among the affordable items. Blueprints go for at least 0.085 ETH, while modules have a 0.03 ETH price tag. The item crates carry the most value of all NFTs traded on the market so far. These will cost you at least 0.2 ETH up to 5 ETH for the most expensive ones of the open market.
Land sectors crucial to the game’s economy
The team behind Farsite also worked on MegaCryptoPolis, but this time the open economy goes into the next frontier. In space, players can become a producer of resources, a trader, or perhaps someone who transports resources and goods across the galaxy. Everything that will happen in Farsite comes from the players, ranging from alliances to conflict and from production cycles to intergalactic market domination. It’s not without reason that the team already activated a bit of land functionality during the pre-alpha in Phase IV.
A land plot or a sector allows players to build a base. Owning a sector or a piece of land can be considered a vital part of the core gameplay loop. Players can select a specialization for their sector, for example a mining facility, refinery, factory, modules plant or shipyard. Small sectors will have one specialization, a medium sized sector can have two, while large sectors can use three specializations. Each sector has its own map with predefined spots for resources.
Players will need to set up business relationships with other users. As a result players will team up in alliances. Players can trade, form alliances, provide services and most likely wage wars. The point is that everything in Farsite will be player-driven. Players gather and trade resources, craft items, all limited in supply. This activity creates demand, and this will create certain hotspots. This demand will inevitably introduce a struggle for power and control.
Metaverse land and blockchain gaming
It doesn’t matter whether you approach Farsite as a metaverse product where users can buy land and have professions and roles, or simply as a blockchain game, but there’s something special happening here. Blizzard Entertainment showed with Diablo III that it’s a serious challenge to create an open economy with technically an infinite number of game items. However, with the rise of blockchain technology as a foundation for game economies, we’re seeing new opportunities arise.
The current blockchain gaming market has been responsible for roughly half of all unique active wallets. In February the blockchain gaming market attracted 1.1 million daily unique active wallets, which was a 13% decline from January. Games like Alien Worlds, Farmers World, Sunflower Land attract thousands of unique active wallets. Alien Worlds, Splinterlands, Upland and Axie Infinity are among the most used dapps in the past 30 days, showing how strong the influence of gaming is on the blockchain space.
Games like Farsite that manage to give users an experience without too much need for technical blockchain knowledge, will find their way into the mainstream. Whether Farsite will become mainstream, remains to be seen. Traditionally space games belong to a niche, but one that tends to be very dedicated. Gamers have been very appreciative to space games like EVE Online, No Man’s Sky, Elite Dangerous, Homeworld, Mass Effect, and FTL, perhaps Farsite can become the one introducing true ownership to those gamers that love space games. But first, let’s wait for the Farsite alpha to launch.
