Space Nation Co-founders Roland Emmerich, left, and Jerome Wu show off their upcoming game “Space Nation ONline” in March in San Francisco. ( Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Space Nation Inc)
Mention blockchain and NFTs and it can scare people off. They donât have the best reputation among gamers, but âSpace Nation Onlineâ is trying to change that. The upcoming MMORPG has a fascinating pedigree. Itâs co-founded by a group highlighted by Blizzard Jerome Wu, game industry veteran Tony Tang, Hollywood producer Marco Weber and director Roland Emmerich.
Together, theyâre creating an ambitious transmedia sci-fi project that follows humanity in the distant future. Earth has been destroyed. Humans fled to the Telikos Cluster and many have gone under hibernation, until theyâre woken up by the Parousians, a descendant of their race, according to the âSpace Nation Online.â
A SPACE OPERA AND HIGH-QUALITY GAME
Players and the survivors will wade into a war with high stakes as all sentient life is in peril. Co-founder Jerome Wu said that though the project is built on promising technology, it doesnât mean much without good gameplay, so he said his teamâs goal is to âmake a high-quality gameâ and one of the bigger pieces to that experience is the onboarding process.
He called it one of the keys with a complex game like this. From what he showed off, players start off with a ship and they fly around engaging in dog fights. To make it easier for players, they restricted some of the movement to keep players more focused on the action rather than doing fancy maneuvers that could make them lose their sense of orientation. From the sound of it, it sounds more like âStar Foxâ-type experience rather than a âAce Combat.â He said that was done to make âSpace Nation Onlineâ more playable to a wide range of people. It even incorporates aim assist for those who arenât as skilled at targeting foes.
THREE TYPES OF SHIPS
Initially, the game features three types of ships: battleships, mining ships and exploration vessels. Theyâre built for different types of gameplay. The first is meant for attacking enemies while the second is designed to gather materials to sell on the market to other people. The third is built for exploring the unknown. They all cater to different play styles.
âItâs a litle bit of âEveâ but more of âWorld of Warcraftâ with ships,â Wu said. âWhat we are trying to do is âWorld of Warcraftâ meets âGuardians of the Galaxy.’â
When it comes to the social aspect of âSpace Nation Online,â Wu said there will be guilds, and the most powerful ones will be able to build some of the larger motherships in the game. He showed off the different tiers of spacecrafts from Tier 0, which looks like a standard fighter-jet-type vehicle to larger ones that get enormous in scale. A guild can construct a Tier 5 or Tier 6 vessel, which basically looks like an invasion ship from âIndependence Day.â They span 10 kilometers.
Again what separates âSpace Nation Onlineâ from other titles is the way the developers plan on monetizing two things: ships and crews. Wu says his team has 85 ships designed so far. To get them, players must acquire the necessary resources and build them. Once the ship is made, players own it because of the blockchain technology. He said itâs an NFT and can be traded. Ideally, players will be trading ships to each other. The same can be said for the playerâs crew. From the way Wu describes it, a playerâs crew has traits and they can even be sent on quests to bring back resources and prizes that players need. All of this is designed to create a player-driven economy using NFTs.
Additionally, because âSpace Nation Onlineâ is touted as a transmedia project, the ships and crew can be used in other games that they have planned. âOnce you have a ship, itâs not confined to one game,â Wu said. Players can even rent it out to others.
Throw on other planned efforts such as TV show that will be a prequel to the game, according to Wu, and âSpace Nation Onlineâ has a lot projects that aim to change how people think about blockchain integration into gaming. The big question is if players are going to buy into it.
Right now, âSpace Nation Onlineâ has a closed beta starting, and it will release in early access this summer with plans for a full release for both PC and mobile platforms.