From Rogue-like to Space-Combat-First-Person-Shooter

It was May 6, 2017. It was also 8 Circuit Studios’ birthday.

We knew we wanted to make a game. We knew we wanted to make a game on the Ethereum blockchain.

But how?

Rapid Prototyping, Iteration, and Development

When we first conceived of D-PARC we wanted to move fast into game development and experiment with interesting concepts that having a blockchain on your computer enabled. We also wanted to put into practice a rapid development system modeled after fighter pilot John Boyd’s decision-cycle: The OODA Loop. This system was refined and modified for us to achieve new levels of development productivity and output from our game teams.

Our initial thought was to create a rogue-like game that also had first person elements to it. We were inspired by games like FTL, and most of us have a background in developing first person shooter games… so it seemed like we were playing to our strengths.

(From humble beginnings)

(D-PARC: After 6 weeks…while still lots to, vast improvements)

We were able to move exceptionally fast, and in three months we had an alpha up and running and a blockchain-based feature that allowed your character to have a signature color encoded into the ships interior navigation system. This was a profound achievement, and we were able to get a ton of feedback as our burgeoning community played with the pre-alpha build.

However, we made several key discoveries about how we could leverage the blockchain by creating something called a Smart Game Object. This new blockchain tech developed by our crack engineering team opened up all sorts of intriguing and tantalizing possibilities that we felt were necessary to explore.

(The first of many discoveries of blockchain-based alien technology)

Armed with this new capability, we wanted to expand D-PARC into something that leveraged this new technology, and advance a feature-set that would not only appeal to crypto-gaming audiences, but that would also appeal to gamers not yet acclimated to blockchain games. Yet, that meant we had a choice: explore these new technical frameworks (which would delay our intended release schedule) or abandon them to put out the originally scoped game into effect.

We concluded that these new capabilities were worth exploring. Additionally, we could take advantage of the strengths of the engine to provide a much more compelling experience for gamers. At the same time, we still thought we could get a second product released while we continued development on D-PARC. We intended to remove barriers to blockchain adoption, so the next product would need to be mobile, focus on convenience, and help us prove out our technology with our community’s help.

We decided to go for it. After some internal discussion Alien Arsenal: Battle for the blockchain concepted and approved.

Alien Arsenal — A Parlay and a Pivot

(Building your arsenal with adorable aliens)

Our community, though small, was exceptionally gracious and patient as we spun up a second team, and slowly shifted our focus on making blockchains easy, accessible, and fun. Alien Arsenal: Battle for the Blockchain was designed with features that we could update quickly and do so while still meeting the Google Play and Apple store requirements.

D-PARC Mutation: Project Genesis

Gameplay

While Alien Arsenal demonstrated our tech on mobile, the D-PARC team reset and reconfigured its design objectives to include a significantly updated set of features, not the least of which was multiplayer, and a dramatically upgraded first person shooter design. While significant advances in their own right, those features couldn’t compete with what we found we could do with our newly discovered Smart Game Object: Avatars.

Avatars: Identity on the Blockchain

(Synthetic Life — Encoded on the blockchain)

The avatar system allows players to inhabit characters that are built with the character’s “digital DNA” on the blockchain. This blockchain reference is the key that allows for characters to be persistent (or move) across the 8 Circuit Studios’ ecosystem of games. In fact, any game that would like to incorporate these characters is free to do so — they need only access the ERC-721 token identifier.

However, this is just the beginning. We will be announcing more on this subject in the future. For now, these characters will happily function as avatars in the 8 Circuit Studios ecosystem.

Multiplayer

D-PARC was devised primarily as a solo, narrative based game with a light multiplayer system. After feedback from our community, we’re investing in a complete overhaul of the multiplayer system. This will allow us to expand the social experience, and improve the visceral feelings that naturally emerge from team-based gameplay.

Space Combat

In addition to a new avatar system and multiplayer model, we decided to raise the bar on space combat too. The rogue-like model we were using was an embellishment of the static, overhead experience found in the original version of FTL.

(Early testing for combat in the deep vacuum of space)

However, this wasn’t playing to the strengths of the Unreal Engine. We figured, why not amp it up a bit? So we went for a full 3D third-person view. Unencumbered by the top down perspective, we could provide a much more visceral feeling of flying through the cold and treacherous vacuum of space.

First Person Shooter

Of course, if we’re talking about the capabilities of the Unreal Engine, we must consider what is possible as the engine was originally designed for fast paced first person multiplayer. So this system got an upgrade too.

(First person close quarters combat work in progress)

Press Start

With the core game mechanics outlined and upgraded, it is time to consider what D-PARC is now evolving into. Because this is a much richer experience, and the story has evolved extensively, we intend to graduate D-PARC out of it’s code-name status and rebrand it with a new title: Project Genesis. While all of these changes are significant, they are only the beginning of what’s in store for D-PARC and now Project Genesis. We’re looking forward to sharing the updates with you as we continue to develop the game.

More About Project Genesis & 8 Circuit Studios

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Come on over and join the conversation (Discord is best)!

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