Sky Strife Season 0: The Official WASD Review

WASD

0xdf2A

December 1st, 2023

Author: FaultProofBen

Gm!

Today is a historic day for WASD, as we’re releasing our first-ever review!!

When you find out that WASD is going to do reviews now.

I believe WASD is one of (if not the) first publications to review onchain games, so I’m excited to be breaking this new ground with you all!

Today, I’ll begin this new chapter by sharing my thoughts on an event that’s the talk of the onchain gaming town: Sky Strife Season 0.

A cool Sky Strife graphic. Source: The Lattice X account

Sky Strife is a PVP real-time strategy game (RTS) developed by Lattice, where your objective is to destroy other players' bases while defending your own.

Season 0 is the longest persistent playtest for the game, as it spans nearly three weeks from November 27 to December 15.

In this review, I’ll share my thoughts on the different facets of the event, including:

It’s structure
The Season Pass NFT
Gameplay
User Experience

Of course, at the end, I’ll assign a rating!

Number or letter grades are boomer, boring, and an awkward fit for games that are still in-development on testnet.

So, we’ll use a different scale.

I’m a big fan of the rating system that the YouTuber Jeremy Jahns uses for his movie reviews.

The WASD scale is inspired by that, based on my enjoyment level and the extent to which I plan to continue playing a game post-review.

(Shoutout to WASD Collectooor fakeguru for helping come up with this idea)

The scale, listed from highest to lowest along with a representative emoji, is as follows:

TLP (Top Life Priority) 🐐 - This game is the most important thing in my life.
Wherever, Wenever 🌟 - I’ll play this game wherever I can, whenever I can.
Casual 👍 - I’ll play this game casually.
Play-2-Earn 🧮 - I’d play this game if you paid me.
One & Done 👎 - I don’t want to play this game again.
Rugged 💩 - This game stunk. I want my time (and gas money) back.

This scale is not set in stone, so if you have any feedback or ideas for it feel free to let me know.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this first-ever WASD review!

Now…let’s get to it!

Event Structure

Sky Strife Season 0 is well-designed and organized.

As previously mentioned, the event consists of an eighteen day playtest held from November 27 to December 15 on the Redstone Holesky Testnet.

During this window, the Lattice team will create ten free-to-join public matches twice daily at 4:00 AM and 4:00 PM PST.

The team will also spawn ten matches exclusive to holders of the Season Pass NFT (more on this later).

However, anyone else can create a match between these times using 100 Orbs (🔮).

Orbs are an ERC-20 token emitted as a reward for matches.

The rate at which they do so is dynamic and based on the previous number of matches created.

For instance, if players create many of them, Orb rewards will decrease, and vice versa.

Rewards currently sit at 100 🔮 per match, with 60 going to the first-place finisher, 30 to second, and 10 to third.

Players can also heighten the stakes for matches by charging Orb-based entrance fees (e.g., 50 Orbs) that participants must pony up to join.

Overall, I’m a fan of this free and paid match stratification. It balances giving everyone the chance to play while allowing more experienced (or better) players to up the ante.

I do wish people would create more free matches, but I suppose that’s a personal problem.

Season Pass NFT

While Sky Strife’s Season Pass NFT has a lot of cool perks, the comms around its release could have been improved.

The Season Pass is one of the biggest new additions in Season 0.

The NFT essentially gives its holders “god mode,” as it gives access to the aforementioned exclusive free matches, and provides the ability to create whitelisted matches with entrance fees (and take a cut of these as a reward).

Passholders also have the power to create matches using not only the “official” map (Cauldron) but also two custom ones (Knife Fight and Antelope).

I like this inclusion, as I feel it’s a testament to Sky Strife’s customizability and represents an exciting design space worth further exploration.

All in all, I’m a big fan of the Season Pass’s design, as it introduces valuable new functionality while providing diehard players with an enhanced experience.

It appears I’m not the only one who felt this way, as there was an absolute mad-dash to mint them.

Season Passes were issued as a three-day open edition from November 27-30, with their mint price determined via a Dutch Auction.

Rather than have a set price, the Dutch Auction increased the cost of a Season Pass 50% after each subsequent mint.

For example, a mint at a price of 100 Holesky ETH would bump the cost to pocket the next one to 150 Holesky ETH.

Despite possessing no monetary value whatsoever, the community (myself included) engaged in bull-market levels of degeneracy to try and get a Season Pass, pushing the price to mint one over 21,000 Holesky ETH.

We even saw OTC markets emerge for this testnet Ether, which I tried (and failed) to use to source the requisite funds to secure a pass for myself and WASD.

I like the Dutch Auction more than a “traditional” whitelist due it be open to participation from anyone.

However, I feel the parameters for the mint could have been tweaked, as I found the 50% increase to be too aggressive, and the decay function (price gradually decreased over time between mints) not aggressive enough.

I also feel there could have been more communication, as there was no mention of using a Dutch Auction on official comms channels until just before the mint.

I think this gave people the perception that this would be a “regular” issuance at a set price, which may have caused some confusion within the community.

Gameplay

Sky Strife’s core RTS gameplay is intact and fun as ever in Season 0.

The game continues to be addicting, with matches a mix of frenetic, fun battles and nail-biting standoffs.

Units balance is at an all-time high, and I feel there’s a use for each one more so than I had prior.

Furthermore, the game has more strategic depth than before, largely due to the design of the Cauldron map.

Cauldron is the same map used during the tournament in the AW Assembly and has several distinct characteristics that enhance Sky Strife’s gameplay.

One is the diagonal, three-rock barrier in front of players’ settlements.

I’m a big fan of this new terrain, as it unlocks a host of offensive and defensive strategies.

For instance, my new favorite tactic is the “archer wedge,” which involves strategically placing an archer in the divot between the rocks.

This is a great way to fend off attacks, as your archer will be protected while being able to pick off enemy units at range.

Another terrain change conducive to new strategies are the jagged edges along the sides of the map.

For instance, this also creates an opportunity for an archer wedge, allowing you to create a chokepoint against an enemy base.

An archer wedge along the jagged edges of Cauldron.

A third significant, positive change is the repositioning of gold mines to the center of the map.

I’m a big fan of this adjustment, as it helps improve pacing, encourages player aggression, and makes gold more valuable by forcing players to battle one another to secure them.

In doing so, it effectively eliminates the option to camp the entire game.

Having that said, Sky Strife matches can continue to remain prone to prolonged standoffs.

When gold runs out, players can simply fortify their defenses and wait indefinitely for the others to attack them first.

This can be frustrating and is my biggest gameplay-related gripe, as it increases match times and leads to dead air.

Although the Lattice team has attempted to mitigate this by introducing larger gold bonuses for killing units, more tinkering could be done to incentivize player aggression.

On a somewhat related note, I’ve also encountered several “AFK-ers,” or players who go away from their keyboard and abandon a match in the middle of it.

Whether people are being distracted by meatspace life or are just trying to farm orbs, this behavior is nonetheless frustrating and can detract from the quality of matches.

User Experience

Sky Strife Season 0 has very good UX by onchain game standards, albeit with room for improvement.

For the most part, in-game UX and performance feel smooth, and I have not run into any lag or bugs during matches.

As usual, the game’s use of burner wallets also helps on this front by removing the need to sign transactions manually.

Where you can top up your burner wallet.

However, I have encountered some long loading times when trying to enter matches, which occasionally has caused me to miss a few early turns.

There have also been some general issues with creating and joining matches, though these don’t really have a direct impact on players beyond a one-time Orb loss.

Given that it’s on a newer testnet, onboarding into Season 0 can be a bit of a hassle.

First, you have to source Holesky ETH, though there are many faucets from which you can do so.

Next, you have to bridge from Ethereum Holesky to Redstone Holesky.

How to onboard into the game. Source: Sky Strife UI

Finally, you’ll need to use your bridged ETH on Redstone to top-up your burner wallet with some gas to pay for transactions.

This process isn’t hard to figure out for crypto natives and veteran onchain gamers who are used to traversing between testnets.

However, it may prove to be difficult for newcomers.

The Verdict: Wherever, Wenever 🌟

All in all, Sky Strife Season 0 has been a ton of fun.

I’ve certainly spent my week trying to fit in matches whereever and whenever I can.

The event is well-designed, gameplay is the best it has ever been, and the Season Pass provides cool new perks for power players.

Although its UX is good by onchain gaming standards, Sky Strife still has room for improvement regarding loading times and onboarding.

Furthermore, I think the comms around the Season Pass rollout could have been better, and matches can still be prone to bouts of inactivity, AFKers, and orb farmers.

Although it’s not perfect, Sky Strife has reached new heights with Season 0.

It remains one of my two favorite onchain games (along with Primodium).

Given that it’s set to continue for another ~2 weeks, perhaps it has even further to ascend.