Strategy Games

Star Atlas To Build Space MMO on Solana Blockchain

Star Atlas Solana blockchain announcement

Star Atlas is an upcoming massively multiplayer online game set in space, which will use Solana for its blockchain mechanics. They announced their choice for Solana in a blog post. The blockchain can take care of 50 thousand transactions per second with transactions costs far below one cent. This will allow the entire game to run on the blockchain.

Because Solana is fast and costs like $0.00001 per transaction, running smart contracts will be cheap. As a result it’s no wonder that Star Atlas wants to create their virtual universe entirely on this particular blockchain. All game logic, transactions and ownership will be stored on-chain. The question that remains is, what part will be in the client? Will NFTs live on when the game for whatever reason stops to exist? Is all metadata on-chain?

“Star Atlas is an ideal product to emerge from the confluence of state of the art blockchain, real-time graphics, multiplayer video game, and decentralized financial technologies. Our vision at Star Atlas is to deliver a purely blockchain-driven universe that will change the gaming industry forever.”

Michael Wagner, co-founder & CEO Star Atlas (blog post)

For the gaming aficionados it would be nice to know that Star Atlas will tap into the Unreal Engine 5.0 . The team of developers worked at Electronic Arts, Mythic Entertainment, 3G Studios and 1047 Games. If you’re interested in Star Atlas, it’s also a good idea to check out their website and sign up. This will earn you some ATLAS tokens, if you’re fast enough.

Not the first blockchain space game

Earlier this week we wrote about Infinite Fleet, and someone replied on Twitter that the space game genre is getting crowded. Alongside Infinite Fleet there’s Crypto Space Commander, which is already playable on Steam, and of course 0xUniverse. Star Atlas would make number four in this list, but it also looks like it’s still a few years off.

While Infinite Fleet has been looking for investors and shared gameplay with the world, Star Atlas has a whitepaper and some artworks. At this moment there’s no screenshot or gameplay trailer to be found. We expect something along those lines later this year, with – perhaps – something playable in 2022. However, this is all guessing.

What is Star Atlas?

Star Atlas will be a grand strategy hybrid space game with serverless MMO gameplay. All gameplay will be real-time, and it will use the blockchain to give players ownership over in-game items, add economic-based gameplay mechanics and implement an economic system inspired by decentralized finance.

The game is set in a distant future, in which three galactic factions have emerged. There’s an on-going struggle for resources, territorial conquest and political domination. Players can join one of these factions, and then earn income for their contributions. As a result their actions will change the course of the fictional universe. In-game created factions allow players to work together, gather resources and self-govern and manage their own micro-economy.

Star Atlas allows players to venture into deep space and discover new stars. In this universe filled with planets, there’s lots of conflict. Newcomers to the game will start out in a faction safe zone, but eventually venture into medium and deep space zones where the stakes and rewards are much greater.

All ships, space stations and land installations have weapons and shields for attack and defense. Space stations and installations can be upgraded by community efforts, while space ship commanders can assign crewmembers to improve the ship’s performance. The choice for your crew can influence your career, ranging from data runner to bounty hunter.

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Robert Hoogendoorn is a gamer and blockchain enthusiast. He got in touch with crypto in 2014, but the fire really lit in 2017. Professionally he's a content optimization expert and worked for press agencies and video production companies, always with a focus on the video games & tech industry. He's a content manager and creator at heart, started the Play to Earn Online Magazine in early 2020.