Technological breakthroughs create groundbreaking opportunities.
Star Atlas is one of those opportunities. It's a futuristic metaverse that'll utilize some of the most cutting-edge technologies from some of the most innovative industries: crypto & video games.
But Rome wasn't made overnight. It took some time, and everything is built on the shoulders of giants.
Cypher Punks, SHA256, Satoshi, Mt. Gox, Vitalik, Sam, Matty, and more needed to happen before Solana could exist as it does today. Proof of History and Clustering Validators had to be introduced through the Solana network to enable the fast & cheap transactions required by Star Atlas's serverless infrastructure.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Solana or Star Atlas devs, Unreal Engine needed to iterate on 4 generations of their flagship product before unveiling the cinematic quality video game visuals they now enable with Nanite compression and Lumine Illumination.
On top of that, you needed web.3.0 to exist and become a part of public conversation and consciousness.
Well, web3.0 is here, crypto's adoption curve is steeper than the early internet, and mainstream media outlets can't get enough of it. The antagonistic patterns in media concerning technology during the early internet days resemble the same shapes forming today, and people aren't noticing.
Many need to realize that Axie Infinity is an attempt to re-writing gig work in Southeast Asia by creating new economies and enabling players to earn over $ 1,000,000,000,000 to date in rewards through in-game battles between different NFTs. While Axie may not be sustainable, it stands to reason that other, better metaverse creations will be attempted. The ongoing innovations like leagues and NFT-to-NFT battles won't disappear anytime soon.
"I would never put my credit card information on the internet."
"NFTs have no intrinsic value."
Same vibe.
Unfinished
The technology described above is all here, but its scalable implementation is still under construction, so only the Galactic Marketplace is fully operational.
You can buy and sell NFTs representing digital assets within Star Atlas. These NFTs have varying levels of rarity, and the most coveted spaceships, Calico Guardians, are already selling for upwards of $30,000.
You can still buy the lowest-tiered spaceship for less than $30, so don't worry about being priced out for now. Owning an NFT spaceship allows you to play Star Atlas pseudonymously using an SPL-compatible digital wallet like Solflare. You can also purchase collectibles and in-game structures that will give you an advantage over other players when the game is fully released.
The marketplace is integrated with Project Serum and allows users to self-custody of all their digital assets. It's not the same as web2 games like World of Warcraft, where you pay for something inside the game and never take custody of it. If WoW shuts down or your account is forcefully closed, your asset disappears.
Vision
Star Atlas will be rolled out in 5 phases, is currently in phase 1, and is projected to include 2-3 years of centralized development before ultimately being governed by a DAO.
Phase 1 signifies the opening of the Galactic Marketplace, and Phase 2 will usher in a browser mini-game representing the minimum viable product version of Star Atlas. The in-game assets will gain utility with the release of each subsequent phase.
Long-term goals include enabling player-created content, adding more universe zones on additional blockchains, and facilitating actual universe discovery. The latter is accomplished by converting the in-game environment to replication, or rather a simulation of the distant universe, through processing data from sources like SkyHub.
Onboarding
To begin your Star Atlas Journey, you'll need to do the following:
Open a crypto exchange account at an exchange that sells Solana tokens. This includes FTX, FTX.US, Coinbase, and more.
Deposit funds into your exchange account and purchase Solana tokens.
Create a web3 wallet compatible with SPL tokens (Solana's standard token). I recommend using Phantom or Math.
Send your Solana tokens to your SPL wallet.
Go to the Galactic Marketplace and connect your SPL wallet.
Purchase a spaceship and any other of the NFTs available.
Keep up with Star Atlas updates to know when the In-browser game version will be released. The NFTs will have immediate intrinsic value and utility at that point as they will represent in-game assets.
Gameplay
Each new player has the choice of three factions to choose from, and they start playing in a secure zone to learn the basics of the game. Choose between the ONI (rogue aliens), MUD (the human alliance), or USTER (androids) factions.
Players can explore the medium-tiered safety zone where combat occurs, but their assets are reset when they respawn. Combat is a pillar of the game, and players can mark their stance as passive or aggressive.
The final frontier beyond the medium-tiered safety zone is the wild. For those familiar with Runescape, the Wilderness is where combat is not only allowed, but losers lose their digital assets. In the case of Star Atlas, these assets are permanently destroyed, and victors claim the spoils.
The wild is infinite as it expands algorithmically.
This Council of Peace station, a player-directed in-game asset, is where all factions are at ease. It reminds me of Coruscant from Star Wars Battlefront II.
Another pillar of the game is the structures that you'll be building. These include space stations, shipyards, refineries, universities, and more. You can own individual stars and even create a Dyson sphere around them. Each of these assets can be auctioned off directly within the marketplace.
Professions
There are a variety of roles that are ready to be filled once the game goes live, but there will always be more that can find a niche in the Star Atlas economy.
Players will earn more assets within the game by having the correct ships, crew, and more that correlate with the success of their chosen profession.
Professions include the following:
Pilot, Engineer, Transport, Rescue, Freight, Repair, Construction, Refueling, Miner, Salvage, Entrepreneur, CEO, Broker, Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Smuggler, Data Runner, Commander, General, Mercenary, and Scientist.
Economics
The economic purpose of Star Atlas is to enable players to monetize the time spent in this world and do so in a realistic fashion. Assets depreciate, and some are destroyed through use, such as fuel and medicine. All assets are to be purchased with ATLAS tokens.
ATLAS is the base unit of account for all transactions within the marketplace and throughout the metaverse. There is also POLIS which serves as the governance token in DACs. Entire space villages and metropolises will be formed. To do so, there will need to be governance in the form of DACs - Decentralized Autonomous Corporations.
DACs will enable micro-economies to be managed by those with a financial stake.
"The POLIS token will serve a pivotal role in these cities, permitting owners of political clout to impose taxes, fees, fines, rules, and laws on those outside the DAC wishing to gain aces to these independently owned cities." Star Atlas White Paper
The IDO on Raydium & FTX listed ATLAS for $0.00138, and within a week or so, it was trading at $0.26. 188x. Sure, there are some IDO flippers, but it just shows the project's interest.
The Dev team also retains zero stakes in the undistributed token supply, so that's nice.
There is much more to the economics and gameplay that I can't fit here, so check out their Whitepaper for the full breakdown.
Aesthetics
The visuals are pretty stunning.
Using Unreal Engine 5, Star Atlas can achieve clarity levels not seen in any other video game. Your assets warp and change depending on their states, such as acceleration, deceleration, and proximity to nearby celestial bodies.
An exciting aspect of the roadmap is to include augmented reality layers on top of the NFTs and enable player-created art. This can be anything from a spaceship's exterior to a museum's interior.
Imagine the capability of CryptoVoxels & Decentraland, with the graphics included in these images existing alongside a bustling virtual economy where people generate enough in-game rewards to make a living.
Lots of spaceships.
As the game is still unreleased, these photos are promotional and can be found in various Medium posts and newsletters.
Conclusion
The worlds being built within Star Atlas are reminiscent of other galactic metaverses, such as Star Citizen, but the vision and technology change everything. Gamers have always wanted to exist in a metaverse, but games were incapable of it until recently.
Blockchain-enabled metaverse is a trend that will only continue to increase. When the Star Atlas White Paper was introduced a year ago, they referenced DeFi as a $4 billion industry. That's cute. It's $166 billion now.
Humans don't think about how technology operates, which is exponential.
Star Atlas is building what could influence gaming for decades to come.
The team is transparent with their token allocations, the roadmap is clear, and they are already shipping products. If you're a gamer, you may want to get involved. If you're an investor, you may want exposure (at some point).
In any case, it's worth watching.
Star Atlas Links
Socials: Twitter | Instagram | Discord | Medium
Links: Website | White Paper
Very insightful, detailed and a bigger picture of future economies. Talk about Layer 1 or why NFTs are important