Author: FaultProofBen
Gm!
Last week, we looked at some up-and-coming MUD games.
I consider MUD to be one of the two leading onchain gaming ecosystems along with its Cairo-based counterpart, Dojo.
Based on Starknet and now numerous L3s, like MUD, the Dojo ecosystem is popping off.
There’s numerous new games being cooked up that bring fun gameplay and unique designs to the onchain table.
Today, I’ll show you three that’ve caught my attention.
If you’re a longtime WASD reader, you know the drill by now.
For each game, I’ll provide a TLDR and my thoughts on it’s gameplay, design, and UX.
Now…let’s get to it!
Force Prime Heroes
Game Overview:
Force Prime Heroes (FPH) is a PVE strategy game built by the Force Prime team.
Inspired by the games Heroes of Might and Magic Series, in FPH, your objective is to defeat a monster known as the “Bone Dragon” as quickly as possible.
To do so, you’ll make your way through a medievil map, battling monsters and collecting gold from chests.
Gold can be used to purchase one of six different types of units that you can use in combat.
Each unit is represented by a mythical creature, and has a different cost and attack rating.
The top-ranking players, or those who slay the Bone Dragon in the shortest number of days, will have their score posted on the in-game leaderboard.
To get the highest score, you’ll have to think strategically and chart the most efficent course through the map.
Force Prime Heroes launched its first public playtest earlier this month, where players were able to compete in a week-long tournament for the chance to earn 1 million $SPEPE tokens.
Initial Impressions:
Although I came nowhere close to finishing in first, I enjoyed my experience playing Force Prime Heroes.
Besides the fantasy theme, I especially liked the strategy components of the game.
You have to consider many factors if you want to quickly slay the Bone Dragon, such as your distance to castles (structures where you purchase units), how to allocate your gold, your attack rating relative to the monsters blocking your path, and more.
The placement of monsters on the map also changes with each game, increasing its replay value, while gameplay feels very smooth due to the use of burner wallets.
However. while I had fun with the game, there’s still room for improvement.
For instance, you need to manually press a button in order to progress from one day to the next, which can get annoying.
Combat right now is also very simplistic, and fleshing out side of the game could add more strategic depth (and fun) to the game.
Starkane
Game Overview:
Starkane is a fantasy RPG.
In the game, you’ll explore a fantasy 3D world as a Waifu where you can complete quests, earn rewards, interact with objects, and participate in turn-based combat.
Based on an early trailer, it appears Starkane will have support for multiplayer parties, while the game will also use generative maps developed by CheDAO’s Crypts and Caverns.
Starkane was developed during the Dojo Holiday Game Jam Hackathon in December using the Dojo Unity SDK, and is currently playable on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
However, there is currently no browser support, so to access it as of writing, you’ll need to set up a local server and follow the instructions on their site.
Initial Impressions:
Given the difficulty of the setup process, I haven’t been able to play Starkane.
However, the game looks like it has a lot of potential.
The graphics are great by onchain gaming standards, and one of the few titles that’s 3D. It’s an impressive demonstration of the Dojo Unity SDK (and build for a 15-day hackathon).
I’m also a big fan of the implementation of a party mode, as this social component should make the game more collaborative and fun.
Furthermore, I’m a big fan of open-world RPGs, so I’m happy to see more games emerging that are bringing the genre onchain.
While I don’t love how technical the setup process, I nonetheless have high hopes for Starkane, and I’m excited to play once a browser version goes live.
Pistols at Ten Blocks
Game Overview:
Pistols at Ten Blocks is a dueling game built by the Loot Underworld team.
The first-place prize winner at the aforementioned Holiday Game Jam, in Pistols, players challenge and compete against one another in PVP duels.
Duels take place in two stages:
1. Pistols
In this stage, you have the opportunity to move a number of paces before firing your shot.
The likelihood you killing someone after firing is inversely proportional to the number of paces you take.
2. Blades
If both players survive the first round, you’ll advance to a second round, which consists of rock-paper-scissors-style gameplay where you have the chance to finish off your opponent.
Duels are asynchronous, can last up to 7 days and 23 hours, and use a hidden information scheme to keep battles onchain while shielding player data.
To up the ante, players can also stake $LORDS tokens before a duel, though this feature appears to be currently disabled.
Initial Impressions:
Pistol at Ten Blocks looks like a lot of fun.
I like how the game is PVP (rather than PVE), and as a degen, I am a big fan of the $LORDS based stake-to-play mechanism.
This should make duels a lot more intense, as now you’ll be able to win (or lose) real tokens in the midst of your battles.
On the UX front, Loot Underworld has great onboarding via the use of burner wallets.
Beyond signature free-gameplay, these burners enable you to start playing without having to download or connect a Starknet wallet like Braavos or Argent.
Furthermore, given the background of the team and use of $LORDS, I’m also keen to see how the game interoperates with the broader Realms ecosystem as a whole.
While I haven’t gotten the chance to duel anyone yet, I plan to do so (and win some $LORDS in the process) over the coming days.
Other Cool Dojo Games
There are several other promising Dojo games I didn’t get to cover in this piece, but that are worth keeping tabs on.
These include:
-
Loot Survivor 2, a sequel to the survival game developed by Bibliotheca DAO
-
Rising Revenant, an RPG developed by Grug’s Lair
-
Plague Survivor, a Loot Survivor-inspired MMO also from Grug’s Lair
-
Run Hustle Run, a Roll Your Own mini-game mod
Bullish on the Future of Dojo
As you can see the future of the Dojo ecosystem is bright.
Force Prime Heroes, Starkane, and Pistols at Ten Blocks all level ups the onchain gaming space in some way, whether it be through fun, creative gameplay mechanics or simply through improved graphics and UX.
I’m excited to continue playing the former (despite my struggles), and to try out the latter two.
We don’t know if, at maturity, these games will live up to their potential.
But I’m excited to see if they do!
🤝 Thank you to our sponsor: Fire Eyes 🔥_🔥
Fire Eyes is a leading organization for onchain governance.
They are active players and contributors to onchain games, and care deeply about furthering the development of the Ethereum and DAO ecosystems.
Fire Eyes is a great outlet for any team looking for in-depth feedback on community sentiment and token design.
If you’re interested in getting in touch with 🔥_🔥 - DM them on X!
Thanks for reading!
If you liked this piece, you can collect it at the top of the page!
After you do, hop in our WASD Collectooor Telegram chat to meet other collectors, enthusiasts, players, and degens!
Finally, to stay current on all things WASD, subscribe below, follow us on X, and head over to our WASD Republic Discord server!
See you all tomorrow for The WASD Weekly!