GameFi | Will the intergalactic war game Star Atlas, where you earn while playing, combined with DeFi gameplay, bring about a new wave for Solana?

FTX Exchange will launch its first GameFi IEO: Star Atlas, next week (8/26). Star Atlas is a large-scale multiplayer online role-playing game MMORPG, a blockchain-based space war game on Solana, where players will build their own space battleships, assemble their fleets, and develop new planets. This article will provide a detailed introduction to the game concept of Star Atlas and its most important "token economy."

Story Background: Interstellar Wars

The setting of Star Atlas is in the year 2062, in this distant future, civilizations on each planet are threatened by alien races and must expand into outer space to ensure their survival. Star Atlas consists of three major races: the human-dominated MUD, the ONI region of the alien race alliance, and the Ustur star system controlled by robots.

Players must choose a race/faction and purchase basic equipment at the beginning of the game. Initially, players will explore basic functions in the newbie monster-hunting area, including Rescue, Combat, and NFT forms of looting equipment and items.

Once players are familiar with the environment, they can hire mercenaries of different professions, form fleets, and venture into farther star systems. Once outside the newbie area, it becomes a combat zone. If there is damage in battles, some equipment will be permanently damaged, while the victorious side can salvage some equipment and items.

Players' battleship NFTs will be equipped with turrets, missiles, shields, targeting systems, and other attack and defense equipment, therefore, upgrading battleships will become one of the players' future tasks. As players develop more planets, their equipment will also be upgraded, and mining resources will be the way to upgrade.

Use of In-Game Currency ATLAS: Planetary Mining

Developing and mining planets is a major highlight of the game.

To mine, players must purchase some in-game currency ATLAS in the early stages to purchase equipment and resources. Once players discover new uninhabited stars, they can use "commercial mining equipment" to extract resources. The resources (ores, items) extracted can be traded on the secondary market in exchange for in-game currency ATLAS.

In the later stages, players can refine or manufacture equipment to synthesize high-level ores into released items, selling them at higher prices.

In addition to ship equipment, crew members are also important. There are various professions in the game, such as transport workers, builders, salvagers, engineers, scanners, scientists, privates, foremen, commanders, captains, and more.

Players need to hire various characters and position them correctly to maximize profits.

DAO Guild: Fleet Alliances and Guild Governance System

In the vast galaxy, surviving alone is impractical, so Star Atlas has introduced an alliance guild system. Star Atlas encourages players to team up, integrate resources, and replace solo play with "collective competition."

In the later stages, players can even form "alliance guilds" to build space cities, discuss resource allocation, and expansion strategies together. At the same time, players can establish regulations for city governance, including taxation, fines, and law enforcement.

Economic System in Star Atlas

Star Atlas' economic system is built on three pillars: Production, Piloting (Exploration and Warfare), and Overarching Mechanisms of Governance.

Production is the cornerstone of the economic system. Most game items and props come from production, which combines mining, refining, technology development, and equipment upgrades.

Mining is the beginning of production. In the early stages, players need to purchase a small amount of ATLAS and equipment, special items, land, and NPCs to start mining.

The concept of DeFi liquidity mining is introduced here. Players invest and deposit a batch of equipment NFT tokens, mine planet resources, refine them, and then sell them on the secondary market to earn ATLAS. As mining skills improve, mining speed and quantity will also increase.

In the mid-term, players will upgrade their battleships and start thinking about exploring farther star systems to obtain more resources. Players rely on battleships and mercenaries to reduce the risks of exploration, search for new resources in space, bring back mineable resources for miners, and even bring back new technologies for builders.

In the mid-term, as building skills gradually improve, players can start obtaining Blueprints to synthesize higher-level equipment or items using ores or props.

With building workers and building skills gradually improving, players can participate in battles. Players can purchase higher-level battleships, improve the skills of fighters, increase attack and defense. In the game setting, battles can randomly obtain opponents' equipment or items, and can also enhance the ruling area of their own guild.

Players can pay entry fees to participate in championships or battles in outer space. The further out into the galaxy, the higher the rewards, but also the greater the risks.
Finally, Star Atlas has designed a system for the overall economy to allow smoother circulation of ATLAS.

Initially, players must purchase some ATLAS, and later there will be various charges such as transaction costs, maintenance costs, tickets, land taxes, etc.

This design not only encourages players to find rarer resources for higher profits but also prevents wasteful behaviors like occupying land without development. It also allows for the recycling of ATLAS, preventing the currency from being in a state of unlimited inflation.

These ATLAS will be recycled to the "DAO Treasury," an organization similar to a finance ministry or central bank, where members of the DAO Treasury and Star Atlas officials will decide on the supply status or other investments.

Game Token Economy

Star Atlas has two tokens: ATLAS and POLIS.

ATLAS:

ATLAS is the in-game currency and payment medium, with a total supply of 36,000,000,000 (36 billion).

Since ATLAS can be earned in the game, the circulation of ATLAS will increase as the game progresses. Star Atlas periodically releases rare equipment/items, and ATLAS is also the payment medium in this NFT marketplace.

It is worth noting that the total supply of ATLAS may be changed through DAO Treasury voting. Besides in-game use, ATLAS can also be used for liquidity mining outside the game. The possibility of additional issuance is retained to prevent insufficient liquidity of ATLAS in the later stages.

In the game, players can earn ATLAS through mining, battles, development tasks, and use ATLAS to pay for various items, weapons, taxes, etc. The spent ATLAS will return to the game's DAO Treasury, which will adjust ATLAS liquidity through governance mechanisms, even invest reserves in certain constructions to drive game development.

POLIS:

POLIS is the governance token with a total supply of 360,000,000 (360 million). Unless the DAO decides on additional issuance, the total amount of POLIS is fixed, representing the "financial interests" in the game and the governance rights of the DAO.

22.5% is allocated for private placement, 1.5% for pre-public offering, and 30% for the team, all linearly unlocked over 9 years.

Additionally, 40% is for "liquidity rewards." POLIS holders can stake tokens in the liquidity pool to earn rewards, which will be unlocked over 8 years. As time passes, the rewards will gradually decrease.

Holders have voting rights in the DAO, can govern the ATLAS token economy of the DAO Treasury, determine the increase/reduction of the total amount, and decide on the investments of the DAO Treasury in the game. Holders can also earn partial profits. This makes POLIS a long-term value storage token.

It is worth mentioning that in line with the "different races" and "city governance" mentioned earlier, the governance of the DAO is also hierarchical. Each level affects the other, and hierarchical governance makes the DAO more efficient.

1. The top-level DAO is the "DAO Treasury," which influences the currency policy of ATLAS.
2. The next level is the MUD DAO of the human race, the ONI DAO of the alien race alliance, and the Ustur DAO of the robots, which determine the governance of the entire race, such as taxation, development plans, etc.
3. The lowest level is the governance of the interstellar city, which determines the governance rules of the city, such as city taxes, local incentive mechanisms, etc.

Integrating Serum DEX, Liquidity Mining, and Loans - One-stop Solution!

Play to Earn is a model popularized by the blockchain game Axie Infinity, where players complete tasks in the game and earn the game token SLP, which can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins on exchanges.

Star Atlas has added other features to this model.

Star Atlas integrates with Serum DEX, allowing players to trade ATLAS and POLIS directly on Serum DEX within the game. Additionally, players can use three functions to increase profit potential: borrowing, liquidity mining.

Players can collateralize the ATLAS they earn on Serum DEX to earn fees from providing liquidity and also receive liquidity mining rewards. From the perspective of ATLAS token economy, 65% of the proportion is liquidity mining rewards, gradually unlocking over time.

Loans further integrate players' financial needs. For players in need of temporary funds, they can collateralize other cryptocurrencies on Serum DEX to borrow ATLAS, while players with idle funds can collateralize and earn profits.

If the DAO Treasury is Star Atlas' central bank, allowing players to determine the game's monetary policy, then Serum DEX serves as Star Atlas' commercial bank, integrating loan demands.

Game Development Roadmap

Star Atlas will be released in four stages: GAO, Browser Mini Game, Shipyard Module Sale, Final Pre-Sale at Beta.

Currently in the first stage: Galactic Asset Offering (GAO). In this stage, players can purchase some NFT equipment or items, which can be used in future game releases.

The second stage is the Browser Mini Game. This stage will introduce some mini-games where players can use previously purchased items. Players can also play and earn through these mini-games.

The third stage will introduce the "Shipyard Module Sale," allowing players to view NFT assets such as battleships, equipment, crew, etc., in their wallets.

In the fourth stage, Star Atlas will release the public beta version, and players can start exploring star systems and building their fleets.

Overall, Star Atlas is an anticipated blockchain game with a very active community. While the design is comprehensive, the game is still in its first stage, and players looking to play and earn while enjoying a space war game will need to wait a bit longer.