Author: FaultProofBen

Gm!

It may be Labor Day in the US…but the WASD newsletter doesn’t stop!

With that said, I know many of my fellow burger brethren are out touching grass. So, I figured I’d give all our brains a rest and keep things a bit lighter today.

You should still read on to catch up on the latest news from around the ecosystem, and to get my picks of three onchain games to try out this week. We also have our usual weekly game spotlight, where I break down Primodium’s major update that went live this past Friday.

As you’ll see, onchain game dev teams didn’t get the memo about it being a holiday weekend. They are still shipping and leveling up!

Finally, if you need more of a WASD fix, you can get caught up on our recent content by reading and collect last week’s articles:

• Onchain Lore II: The Redemption of FaultProofBen

• 5 Upcoming MUD Games That You Should Have On Your Radar

You can also listen to our two most recent X Spaces:

• Paima and Onchian Engine Design w/Sebastien Guillemot

• The Power of Briq and Dojo w/Sylve

I hope you all enjoy this holiday edition of WASD and have a great Labor Day!

The Tldr:

The hottest news from the last week in onchain gaming and autonomous worlds.

• Primodium launches their latest update

• Minters announces Battle For Blockchain

• The Dojo Game Jam begins

• Cellula announces AW-PacMan

• Realms determines its 10 Genesis Grant recipients

Plays of the Week:

Three onchain games to try out for yourself this week.

• Loot Survivor on Starknet Goerli

• Mithraeum on Gnosis Chain

• Sky Strife on the Lattice Testnet (This Friday at 10:30 am EST!)

Words from Friends:

The best non-WASD articles, videos, and conversations from the past week.

• Read: Devs on Devs: Moving Castles, Gaul, and Emergence - The New World

• Read: Street Fighter? Topology's latest onchain game Shoshin - AW Research

• Listen: Fully Onchain Games Part 1 - FOGcast #54

• Listen: The AW Space #5:

Game Spotlight: Primodium

Genre: Factory Builder

Network: Lattice Testnet

Game Overview:

Primodium is an onchain factory-building game.

In Primodium, players construct factories, mine resources, and battle competitors in order to create an industrial empire.

On September 1, Primdoium released a major update that introduced several key changes to gameplay along with a graphics overhaul.

For starters, the game now takes place in an asteroid belt instead of on a single, shared map. Upon entering the game, each player now gets assigned their own, personal asteroid in which they can build and mine without have to worry about bumping into other players.

A second major addition in the update was the introduction of PVP combat.

In its previous iteration, the closest thing Primodium had to PVP gameplay was being able to block the path and supply chains of other players on the shared map.

Now, you can go on the offensive by building fleets of ships to attack other players, and defend your home asteroid by creating military units. The stakes for these battles are high, as the winner can take resources from the loser. Players can also fight one other for the right to mine on Motherlodes, which are asteroids that contain rare resources.

This new version of Primodium, v0.7, is public and available for anyone to playtest for the next two weeks. After this, per the official announcement thread, the team is set to introduce additional features into the game.

The WASD Take:

I really like this update from Primodium.

I think it addresses several of the key issues from the previous iteration of the game while adding new features that make it more fun.

To start, I like having players build on their own siloed asteroids versus a shared map. I think the shared map ultimately became a bit cluttered, and felt that it made getting started with Primodium a bit intimidating.

I also dig the new graphics. I think the game looks much better, as its new aesthetic is cleaner, more polished, and has a color palette that pops off the screen far more than it did pre-update.

In terms of gameplay, I think that the addition of PVP combat makes Primodium a lot more fun.

There is now a far greater degree of depth and strategy that goes into the game, and I love the idea of being able to take other players resources and risk losing your own. I think this goes a long way in heightening the stakes and adding more intensity to gameplay.

Overall, I’m very impressed with this update from the Primodium team.

I’m can’t wait to continue playing and will keep you all posted on the growth (or destruction) of the WASD empire over the next few weeks!

Thanks for reading!

If you liked this piece, you can collect it at the top of the page. It’s free!

To stay current on all things WASD, subscribe below and follow us on Twitter.

And if you want to meet other onchain gaming and autonomous world enthusiasts, players, and degens, hop in the WASD Republic Discord.

See you all on Thursday!