Written by: TechFlow

Blockchain games are not doing well, which has become an unspoken consensus after the previous bear market and the demise of most game projects.

But not all practitioners are bearish on the gaming sector.

For example, recently Delphi Venture partner Piers Kicks posted a message to cheer for game developer Gunzilla Games and its upcoming flagship game Off The Grid.

According to Piers' post, Delphi Ventures has made a big bet on Off The Grid, which is also the largest investment in its gaming track. At the same time, the game has been developed by a team of 300 people for 5 years, and the total investment in the game has reached 90 million US dollars.

As a side note, the estimated cost of Black Myth: Wukong was previously revealed by the game producer to be 300-400 million yuan. Based on this rough calculation, the investment cost of Off The Grid is higher than that of Black Monkey.

But the old saying goes that when a whale falls, everything comes to life. In the blockchain game track, the situation may be that everything falls, and then a whale is born.

Why Off The Grid succeeds when many blockchain game projects have failed one after another?

It is reported that Off The Grid plans to launch on PC and console platforms (PS5/XBOX) simultaneously within the next 60 days. This simultaneous launch on multiple platforms is the first time for blockchain games.

At the same time, don’t forget that PC and consoles are often the strongholds of core gamers, who cannot stand any smell of gold farming and money on the blockchain. If blockchain games want to compete with them, they must find a good balance between gameplay, graphics, on-chain economy, and marketing promotion.

At a time when blockchain games are generally not favored, can Off The Grid really set an example for a “good game”?

Ask big guys to do the script and special effects, and attract VC investment in the industry

In the gaming industry, a successful work basically depends on two key elements: people and money.

The former refers to the development team, and the latter refers to financial support.

What does Gunzilla Games, the developer behind Off The Grid, have in store?

Founded in 2020, Gunzilla Games is a relatively young company, but its team lineup and size are not bad. Currently, the company has about 340 employees, including many veterans in the gaming industry.

The company's core development team mainly comes from the former Crytek Kiev studio. This team has participated in the development of the popular online shooter game Warface, which has attracted more than 140 million players and generated more than $1 billion in revenue. In addition, team members have also participated in the development of well-known game series such as Far Cry and Crysis, as well as the development of the CRYENGINE game engine. In its heyday, CRYENGINE pushed the forefront of game graphics and provided technical support for many blockbuster games.

What’s more interesting is that the company has also hired Neill Blomkamp as co-founder and chief creative officer. Blomkamp has directed science fiction blockbusters such as District 9 and Elysium. His unique visual style and profound social insight have brought top visual experience and narrative design to Off The Grid.

Meanwhile, the game’s 60-hour campaign was written by renowned science fiction author Richard Morgan, the author of bestselling novels such as Altered Carbon, whose works have been adapted into Netflix’s hit TV series.

This is somewhat different from the blockchain games we have seen before. People have been put in a lot of effort in the script and special effects performance, and it is a bit like aiming for a high-quality stand-alone game.

However, we have to wait until the official release to determine the degree of completion. After all, we have no way of knowing whether the big guys are just putting their name on it or are really involved in the production.

As for the money, Delphi Ventures mentioned at the beginning of the article invested $6 million to become the largest validator and node operator of Gunzilla's GUNZ blockchain platform (source of financing amount: Coindesk).

In March this year, Gunzilla Games completed a $30 million round of financing led by CoinFund and Avalanche’s Avalanche Fund, with participation from well-known institutions such as Republic Capital and Morningstar Ventures.

Someone has money, how polished is this game?

Cyberpunk Battle Royale, Chicken Gameplay + Items on Chain

The core gameplay of Off The Grid is actually Battle Royale, which is the classic mode in PUBG. A group of players compete for resources and survive to the end on a well-designed map.

However, this game adds more science fiction and cyberpunk elements.

The game is set in a dystopian future where contestants from all over the world compete in a cruel "reality show" for huge prizes on a huge battlefield called "Teardrop Island".

In the game setting, all contestants must remove their limbs to use the advanced prosthetic technology on Teardrop Island. This is not only a unique setting, but also the core of the game mechanism. Players can obtain various special abilities such as grappling hooks, reconnaissance drones or fast sprints by replacing different prosthetic limbs. This design brings unprecedented tactical depth and flexibility to the game.

In terms of map design, OTG has created the largest battle royale map to date. Players can use the character's jetpack and prosthetic special abilities to shuttle between high-rise buildings and achieve rapid aerial movement. This highly flexible movement system not only increases the excitement of the game, but also encourages a more aggressive play style.

But what does this have to do with the chain?

OTG introduced an Extraction Royale mode where players collect HEX cubes on a map, which represent blueprints for weapons, accessories, or prosthetics.

Players will need to take these cubes to specific extraction points to be decoded, while also defending themselves from other opponents who might want their loot. Upon successful extraction, the items will be "3D printed" into the player's inventory, effectively minting the assets onto the blockchain in the background.

To put it simply, this gameplay is the off-chain chicken-eating + on-chain box opening mode.

Eating chicken is the main gameplay of the game. After obtaining the loot box, you can open it. The props in it will be uploaded to the chain as NFT and other assets. At the same time, the account will be bound and a set of transaction logic will be set.

The game does not have a traditional in-game store. All items entering the economic system and peer-to-peer market are obtained by players through the in-game extraction mechanism and minted on the chain.

This design not only ensures scarcity and true ownership of items, but also brings more dynamism and player engagement to the game economy.

It is worth mentioning that OTG adopted a seamless access strategy to deal with problems on the chain. The part of the game involving encryption has become an optional option rather than a must, gradually attracting players to the chain in a completely optional way.

Although the finished game has not yet been seen, common designs such as social login, built-in wallet, hidden deposit and withdrawal checkpoints, and gas fee abstraction will surely not be absent.

Outlook of the on-chain economic system

In OTG, players obtain in-game props NFTs through the HEX cube extraction operation described above. This process cleverly combines game mechanics with blockchain technology, making asset minting a natural extension of the game experience rather than an external operation that makes people feel a little disconnected.

At the same time, GUN tokens are the core of the OTG economic system. As the native token of the game, GUN plays multiple roles in the game ecosystem:

a) Medium of exchange: Players can use GUN to buy, sell or trade NFT items in the in-game marketplace.

b) Governance rights: Players holding GUN tokens can participate in important decisions of the game, such as voting on new features or adjusting economic parameters.

c) Staking Rewards: Players can stake GUN tokens to receive additional in-game rewards or privileges.

d) Creator Incentives: Content creators can earn GUN tokens by creating game content (such as custom skins or maps).

e) In-game Fees: Certain advanced features or services may require payment of GUN Tokens, such as speeding up the crafting process or unlocking special areas.

It is worth mentioning that the game has its own blockchain network GUNZ, which is essentially a subnet based on Avalanche. By establishing a dedicated subnet to ensure fast and low-cost transactions, it leaves enough room for future expansion and optimization.

Public data shows that the GUNZ testnet has been running for nearly a year, processing 27 million transactions and accumulating more than 2.2 million registered wallets.

In the GUNZ subnet, verification nodes play a vital role. They are not only responsible for verifying and confirming all transactions within the game, but also jointly maintain the security and stability of the entire network. The specific functions are as follows:

a) Verify transactions: Nodes are responsible for verifying and confirming all transactions within the game, ensuring the security and reliability of the economic system.

b) Maintaining the network: Nodes jointly maintain the operation of the GUNZ network to ensure the continued stable operation of the game economy.

c) Participation in governance: Some nodes may have voting rights and participate in important decisions of the network.

d) Reward mechanism: Participants who run nodes may receive GUN tokens as rewards, further incentivizing the community to participate in network maintenance.

In the current design, the core of the ecosystem is 10,000 validators, who are responsible for processing transactions and minting all in-game items. These validator nodes are attractive from an investment perspective because players must pay them a minting fee in US dollars for in-game items; in addition, validators also receive commissions from all transactions of their minted items in the secondary market.

Off The Grid is powered by a complete set of Gunzilla ecosystem tools, including a wallet (running on iOS and Android), a marketplace, and a blockchain explorer. Interested players can view real-time data displayed by the GUNZ testnet browser here.

Currently, if you want to try the game in advance, you can only fill out the form and answer questions through the "Pioneer Program" on the official website. After selecting your own game platform (console or PC), you can wait for the official screening of the game before you can get a trial invitation.

Finally, it is important to emphasize that as long as the game is not finished, it cannot be said to be a pure game that has escaped the “low-level fun” of gold farming.

In fact, the crypto world doesn’t even need pure games; but if the on-chain economic system can become a carrier of a mature “prop unboxing model” without overshadowing the main theme, then Off the grid is still worth looking forward to.

After all, there is an extra free game on PC and PS5/XBOX, so there are still people who want to try it for free.