Star Atlas
Star Atlas (Launched in January 2021) is a Blockchain-based, space-themed, grand strategy video game built on the Solana Blockchain. It is a massive multiplayer Metaverse set in the distant future, in the year 2,620, where three major factions have emerged and are competing for resources and control: humankind, a consortium of alien races and sentient androids[1][2].
The NFTs and Crypto trading within the Star Atlas ecosystem emphasizes the importance of real-world assets and ownership to build a strong in-game economy[3].
Background
Introduced earlier this year, Star Atlas was designed by an ambitious team of Blockchain and gaming engineers, as well as financial experts. The gaming project integrated on the Solana network has already gained widespread popularity in the Blockchain-based gaming sector, mainly due to its real-time game mechanics, next-gen engine, Blockchain mechanics, and economical system.
The team built this unique Metaverse to expose players to a different gaming experience through a smooth combination of both traditional core gaming and Blockchain mechanics. So far the platform has partnered with the likes of Sino Global Capital, Yield Guild Games, and Animoca to “revolutionize the meaning of immersive experience”.
Michael Wagner, Co-founder & CEO of Star Atlas believes that his gaming project has a place in the Blockchain. He firmly understand that the platform “will provide the most powerful opportunity in human history for players to realize economic benefits through the extraction of in-game virtual earnings into real-world income”[4][5].
Game Overview
Star Atlas is a massive multiplayer online game that takes place in a virtual gaming Metaverse. It is being built on Unreal Engine 5, allowing the game to feature cinema-quality, real-time environments. Star Atlas takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting in 2620, where three major factions have emerged and are competing for resources and control: humankind, a consortium of alien races and sentient androids.
The gaming platform explores some of the recent technological breakthroughs by using Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite to create cinematic quality video games and visual experiences.
Players on the Star Atlas Metaverse can trade, obtain and create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within the Star Atlas universe thus enjoying an economy that reflects the tangibility, ownership, and value of real-world assets.
Star Atlas is built on the Solana Blockchain and, therefore, stands to benefit from the network’s transactional throughput that supports an extremely high 50,000 TPS (transaction per second).
The game combines different genres. It is part strategy in that you have to develop tactical plans of action on how to interact with other players and factions. Part of it is exploration, as the game features an abundance of stars for exploration and exploitation. Since players can travel to and explore these stars independently through first-person flight, it is in part a flight simulation. Lastly, players can mine resources and derive revenue streams from doing so, making it also a role-playing game.
After choosing a faction, players initially start in faction security zones without combat to explore basic Gameplay. Later, they can venture out to medium-tier security and open Gameplay where combat is possible[1][2][6].
In-Game Factions:
The three in-game factions includes:
- Humankind who controls the MUD Territory
- Alien Races who Control the ONI Region
- Sentient androids Controls the Ustur Sector[4].
Star Atlas Gameplay
The Star Atlas experience is deeply rooted in Blockchain technology, where mining and staking are core operations to legitimize Decentralized assets. In the next-gen game, exploration is required of miners to discover valuable assets. Additionally, participants can actively establish mining and staking nodes, enhancing Gameplay and raising earning value.
The overall wealth derived from mining opens new earning avenues for participants and contributes to their growth within the community. This gives them an opportunity to embody unique career choices and specializations, such as trading raw and refined ore, cargo hauling, and crafting retail components for the Marketplace.
As a grand strategy genre, Star Atlas players are introduced to a claim staking mechanism to expand their empire. Moreover, Players can establish tactical trading routes either for offensive or defensive plans of action. Further by exploration and fuelled by an intergalactic conflict, the grand strategy game opens players to deep-space, crewed spaceships to discover celestial and terrestrial assets.
In exploration mode, participants can explore a galaxy full of riches that can be mined, refined, and traded in the in-game marketplace. Furthermore, the exploration mode enables players to enjoy cinema likes graphics, with a top-down space view exposing the spaceship’s exterior, an x-ray view to enjoy the interior of the ships showcasing crew members, and a first-person cockpit/bridge view for players.
Through an immersive space flight simulation, gamers are given a sense of ownership, allowing players to use state-of-the-art equipment such as virtual reality head-mounted displays, flight sticks, throttles, multi-functional button control panels, and head tracking hardware[7][8].
Game Features
1. Grand Strategy :
The grand strategy genre of video games encourages claim staking to expand your empire and install strategic trade routes using an offensive and defensive tactical plan of action. In this mode the player primarily interacts with a dynamic overview of the charted and uncharted regions of space via the map view aka the Star Atlas.
2. Exploration:
To augment that grand strategy, Star Atlas enables players to captain deep-space, crewed spaceships to scan and discover celestial and terrestrial assets. Once discovered, rich claims that are staked can be mined, refined and traded through a network of commercial mining installations, refineries, and the Universal Marketplace. Exploration will lead to many other surprises in the outer limits of space. In this mode the player primarily interacts with a top down space view showing their spaceship exterior with the ability to go into an x-ray view to see the interior of the ship and the crew performing their individual tasks. Players can also captain and pilot the ship manually through the first person cockpit/bridge view. Cockpit view is also suitable for seated virtual reality gaming.
3. Role-Playing Game:
The first principle driving the entire economy of Star Atlas is the mining Gameplay. The wealth derived from mining creates many other branching revenue streams for players to contribute to and establish a career. From trading raw and refined ore, to cargo hauling, to crafting retail components, there is a broad range of career choices a player can embody and advance within the specializations of that career.
4. Space Flight Simulation:
The beauty of space science-fantasy adventure is to manually pilot or captain your own spaceship into the vast unknown. For exploration, combat and various other role-specific game mechanics, the cockpit view gives a sense of ownership and grounding to a player’s chosen ship purchases. This immersive first person, seated view will allow players to utilize equipment such as flightsticks, throttles, multi-functional button control panels, head tracking hardware, and most importantly, virtual reality head-mounted displays[8].
Star Atlas Galactic NFT Marketplace
The Star Atlas Galactic Marketplace connects all players in-game to buy and sell all asset types and post job listings for paid, in-game tasks.
The majority of assets traded on the Marketplace will be earned doing in-game tasks but can also be purchased from the pre-sale and exclusive future sales, which will enable users to get a hold of exceptionally rare and unique items like commemorative spaceships. Other players will place bid offers or settle immediately for the price limit[8].
NFT Release Schedule
New NFT assets will be released periodically by the game developer with careful consideration surrounding the inflationary impact of release. Analysis of current demands for assets by new players, growth in user-adoption, asset availability on NFT marketplaces, and the natural deflation of assets resulting from high-risk zone engagements will be conducted prior to the release of a new tranche of assets. All efforts will be undertaken to reduce negative impacts to players and asset holders resulting from these future sales. Particular emphasis will be placed on assets released in earlier versions with power bonuses or otherwise unique benefits bestowed upon them[9].
Star Atlas DeFi Financial System
In addition to using the Solana Blockchain, Star Atlas features direct integration with the Serum Decentralized Exchange (DEX).
Thanks to Serum’s integration, Star Atlas players will be able to interact with smart contract-enabled DeFi platforms while in the epicenter of the gaming experience.
This will enable players to borrow or lend a variety of Solana or Serum. They will also have access to automated market making on various liquidity pool pairs where they can earn trading fees as well, not to mention yield farming opportunities that offer higher yields.
1.Lending
Loaning a variety of Solana/Serum assets to earn yield
2. Automated Market Maker(AMM)
Automated market making on various asset pairs to earn trade fees
3. Yield Farming
Identifying assets to borrow at lower yield, and lending/trading with higher yield, earning the spread on assets[8].
Star Atlas Tokens (ATLAS and POLIS)
Star Atlas is driven by a dual token system (ATLAS | POLIS), with multi-currency Solana asset support.
What Is Star Atlas (ATLAS) Token?
ATLAS is a native utility token in the Star Atlas ecosystem. Players will be required to leverage ATLAS to acquire digital assets such as ships, crews, and lands.
Essential to players in their initial quests, ATLAS greases palms and makes the world turn just like a real-world economy. Players will need to find ways to maximize their gains and incomes while balancing the necessary expenses of their quests. Choosing wisely on where to spend their ATLAS in the game is key to any user success in the Metaverse. Should they buy extra fuel to reach a distant star to uncover riches or to outfit their spacecraft to enhance its combat functionality? Star Atlas will challenge players to think about how they can chart the most lucrative course of action with minimal cost.
As a play-to-earn game, the ATLAS a user earn in the Metaverse can be traded or sold on a secondary market, allowing users to monetize the time they have invested in their Star Atlas adventures[8].
As the designated in-game currency, ATLAS is used to reward in-game activities. However, the burning and minting of the token are directly related to game adoption and user growth[7].
Token Distribution
To begin with, 80% of future minted ATLAS tokens will be rewarded to players with outstanding performances in the game. Out of the initial ATLAS, 20% will be distributed to stakeholders. 45% will go to mining stations, and another 15% will be used for gathering resources for the platform’s development[2].
ATLAS Token assignment To :
Holder of the participation: 20%
- Round seed, loved ones, good friends: 10%
- GAO Phase one:5%
- GAO Phase two:5%[10]
What Is Star Atlas (POLIS) Token?
POLIS is a governance token that represents all-encompassing jurisdictional power in the Metaverse. Players can take another approach to exert their dominance through holding POLIS, which serves as a pivotal role in setting the dynamics and between different guilds.
In the quest of fighting for dominance in the expansive Metaverse, it is strategically important to form guilds, organize in a myriad ways and combine resources to thrive in the universe of Star Atlas. One of the ways to do it will be through the implementation of Decentralized Autonomous Corporations (DAC), where the entire space cities and dominions can be constructed with their micro-economy influenced by powerful players.
All of it boils down to how players dominate through strategic cooperation and utilization of resources with other players. The POLIS token here plays a pivotal role to endorse political clout to enforce policies over a certain region. An example would be for a DAC to impose road tax on those outside the DAC to gain access to independently owned cities.
Holders of POLIS will be in a unique position of jurisdictional ownership over entire regions, regardless of who owns title (NFT) to the land and equipment rights. These players will be able to restrict some of the activity that can occur while under their oversight, impose taxes on other players, charge tolls, and otherwise create a separate set of laws with which other players must observe. However, POLIS represents voting rights, not dictatorial ownership. In this regard, it will likely require multiple players to collaborate on these rules, fines, fees, tolls, etc., lest they be superseded by a more powerful group of players. Decentralized Autonomous Corporations would do well to take advantage of this tool.
POLIS Token Distribution :
Distribution for this token will be conducted in two stages. 20% of the supply of the token will be sold during the first phase of Galactic Asset Offering. The rest of POLIS will be distributed as rewards to those who stake their tokens[11].
Star Atlas Fundamental gameplay pillars
The Fundamental gameplay pillars includes:
- Deep space exploration
- Combat
- Building space stations and ships
- Choosing in-game professions to mine resources
- Decentralized Autonomous Corporations
- Economics
Deep Space Exploration
All visible stars are real assets and can be visited. Although some distant stars can be prohibitively distant and will require proper fueling to reach. There will be no actual skybox so exploration can be done visually. This gives all players open exploration to go anywhere in the Star Atlas universe. Players will pilot their ships manually to uncover all the riches the universe has to hide using their upgradable scanning modules. Higher tier scanning equipment performs deeper and broader and leads to a higher amount of assets that will be discovered. Scanning data can be acted upon and staked or can be placed on the marketplace to be sold.
Combat
Ships are outfitted with weapon turrets and missile bays. Turrets can be energy, ballistic or disruption type to target different components of enemy ships and installations. Turrets are powered by a power supply and protected by shields and a hull. When encountering another enemy ship, if scanned properly, the player can target subsystems to get an advantage in a fight. Ships can also target land and space based installations to free up competitor’s claims. However, those installations can also have their own weaponry installed ready for attacks. All players can mark their stance as aggressive or passive to signal their desired combat engagements. Passive stance affords a shield and maneuverability buff to allow for escape if attacked without formal declarations.
Building space stations and ships
Mining installations have adjacent installations powering and protecting their mining claim. Space stations have the same installations but with major enhancements in the form of decks. Each deck enhances the functionality of the space station and unlocks the associated features that players engage with in that local station. Decks include Commerce(for storage and trading), Shipyard(for ship manufacturing, repairs, refueling, configuration and docking), Refinery(for refining raw ore into higher tiers), Hangar(for long term storage of ships), Retail(for crafting and selling components and advanced materials), University(for training and recruiting crew), Cargo(for storing materials and components) and Defensive(for building turrets to defend the space station and its inhabitants). Space stations with commerce decks will be required to connect to the universal marketplace to sell low tier ore and items. Cargo and refinery decks will be needed to access higher tier ore, advanced materials and components requiring physical intergalactic shipping. If stars are owned to the point of building a Dyson sphere then the owner can build a jump point. Jump points allow independent systems to have immediate travel. Jump points provide a significant time cut to intergalactic travel which leads to major boosts to economic trading lanes.
Professions
Professional Roles manifest in their chosen ship roles. Players can earn in game by having the correct ships, crew and components for their desired roles. Examples of roles: Transport, Rescue, Freight, Repair, Construction, Refueling, Miner, Salvage, Entrepreneur, CEO, Broker, Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Smuggler, Data Runner, Commander, General, Mercenary, and Scientist. Crew members within a ship also have individual station roles such as: Pilot, Engineer, Repair, Scanner, Science, Gunner, Mercenary, Rescue, Power Manager, Janitor, Cargo Foreman, Hangar Foreman, Salvage Operator, Science Officer, Military Commander, Military General, Private, Sargent, Rookie, Smuggle Cargo Foreman, and Captain.
Decentralized Autonomous Corporations
The guild system of Star Atlas. The Universe of Star Atlas is expansive. It is a lonely, challenging journey tackling the countless perils alone. Players are encouraged to create factions, combine resources, and compete collectively to outsmart other players.
Through the implementation of Decentralized Autonomous Corporations(DAC), entire space-cities can be constructed, and the micro-economy managed by those in charge. Careful strategic cooperation enables players to dominate regions, and the resources available therein. The POLIS token will serve a pivotal role in these cities, permitting the owners of political clout to impose taxes, fees, fines, rules, and laws on those outside the DAC wishing to gain access to these entirely independently owned cities.
Economics
Unlike most games in existence today, Star Atlas provides a unique opportunity for players to extract in-game virtual earnings into real-world income. Where many game developers opt to monopolize asset ownership and distribution through restrictions on reselling, Star Atlas fully embraces the potential of decentralized self-sovereign ownership of assets permitted through the implementation of Blockchain into asset ownership and NFT MarketPlace.
The ethos of the Star Atlas development team is to encourage the monetization of time spent in this virtual world, and emphasize the ability for this monetization to transcend the Metaverse to the real world. Digital assets owned always belong to the holder, and Crypto assets earned can be converted into fiat currencies friction-free. We believe this is the model for the future of gaming.
How Star Atlas Uses the Blockchain to Create a Unique Play-To-Earn Metaverse
Star Atlas combines state-of-the-art Blockchain technology with a Metaverse the size of a galaxy where players can explore and earn on their odyssey through the awe-inspiring deepest reaches of outer space.
The ethos of the Star Atlas development team is to encourage the liberation of time spent in this Virtual world and emphasize the ability for this value generation to transcend the virtual to the real world and establish sovereign Metaverse feedback loop.
Digital assets owned always belong to the holder that are kept safe in a wallet and earned Crypto asset can be converted into other exchange mediums at the push of a button[12].
How Is the Star Atlas Network Secured?
Star Atlas will be set up on the Solana Blockchain. The team selected Solana for its fast transaction times and minuscule transaction fees, making it, as of today, the only Blockchain capable of hosting such an ambitious game.
Solana is a layer one Blockchain with a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism with partial Byzantine Fault Tolerance. It has 200 nodes operating worldwide that can, at their peak, process up to 50,000 transactions per second. Solana performs a set of coordinated optimizations to achieve such impressive performance and processes transactions in a multi-threaded way, which sets it apart from slower Blockchain[1].
What Makes Star Atlas Unique?
Star Atlas aims to deliver an immersive Metaverse gaming experience that encompasses several genres and combines a cinema-quality gaming experience with an ability to earn virtual assets that can be exchanged for real-life currency. It plans to supersede its competitors by outperforming them in several areas. So far, no Blockchain game combines as many different Gameplay possibilities as Star Atlas. While some games offer the option to earn via staking, or battle other players for virtual assets, or explore its virtual world and form alliances, no game does all of the above simultaneously.
Players can use the ATLAS token as in-game currency to purchase assets, but they will also be able to buy NFTs on the NFT marketplace that will function as ships and other in-game equipment. At the same time, players will be able to choose a profession, such as CEO, broker, bounty hunter, pirate and a large number of others to fulfill roles on spaceships. Spaceships will also have the option to combine resources and compete not only individually, but also collectively. These so-called decentralized autonomous corporations will be able to construct entire space cities with accompanying micro-economies. The POLIS token, the second token of the Star Atlas universe, will serve as a governance token in these space cities, as well as for governance decisions regarding the game.
Star Atlas also plans to offer an NFT marketplace and an @NFT release schedule to distribute and trade in-game assets. Moreover, by being integrated with the Serum DEX, ATLAS token holders will have the option to provide liquidity, or sell and buy their token holdings.
Star Atlas Founders
Star Atlas was founded by CEO Michael Wagner, COO Pablo Quiroga, and head of operations Deb Lucas. Prior to founding Star Atlas, Michael Wagner worked at a VC fund and at Multichain Ventures, a company focused on producing blockchain-focused products. Pablo Quiroga is the founder of a supplement startup and worked in biotechnology before co-founding Star Atlas. Deb Lucas has a finance-based background with posts at Charles Schwab and Barclays.
