Source: news.google.com
Illuvium: Overworld, the exploratory NFT capture aspect of the three-game Illuvium universe, launches in private beta today.
Is this a big problem? He is definitely in the world of Web3 game development. And if you believe in the power of NFTs as verifiable ownership of digital assets, then it could be a major marker of where the game is headed overall. (Though the harshest critics of that idea largely reside within mainstream games for now.)
Illuvium, built on top of the Ethereum-based ImmutableX blockchain scaling layer, is one of the most anticipated games in the crypto space. It’s one that offers players the chance to capture, spawn, buy, own, and sell the NFTs that are an integral part of the game within its vast sci-fi world.
The project employs more than 170 staff and has a budget comparable to larger AAA games from major studios, thus drawing a lot of attention in the crypto gaming industry once dominated by the “play to win” narrative. powered by people like Axie Infinity.
However, Illuvium arguably has more of a “play to own” approach with its collectible NFTs (inspired by the addictive nature of collecting Pokémon cards), which are interoperable across the entire game universe.
Overworld, meanwhile, is the aspect of the game that Illuvium fans seem to have been waiting the most for.
Why? Because it’s considered the core part of the game: the open-world exploration of an immersive, high-fidelity graphical realm that took thousands of hours to create by a team of digital artists from around the world.
The other two aspects of the game are a resource-generating city builder called Illuvium: Zero, and the “Teamfight Tactics”-style strategy auto-battle game called Illuvium: Arena.
‘A world like nothing you’ve ever seen before’
More than two million players are registered to play the full version of Illuvium and so far there has been a lot of enthusiasm for the beta releases.
In fact, a recent Twitch stream that showed just a small part of Overworld had 11,000 viewers and thousands of comments. The beta launching today also focuses on one main area of the Illuvium map: the Crimson Waste.
More Overworld images. ask for @brycent_ for hosting on Twitch! #illusion pic.twitter.com/b8KpuoXnIv
— Ramphy | Rhamphyre.io ♊️🔥 (@Rhamphy) November 17, 2022
“Illuvium Overworld is our most anticipated game in development,” said co-founder Kieran Warwick. “We are very excited to show it to our two million registered users.”
“Overworld represents the culmination of all of our hard work and dedication to creating the best viewing experience possible,” added Warwick’s co-founding brother Grant, the project’s art director.
“Each member of the art team has worked tirelessly down to the smallest details. We had a ridiculously ambitious goal when we started: to build an entire world that felt like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”
‘First truly AAA Web3 experience’
Like many projects within the crypto space, Illuvium has seen a sharp decline in market capitalization as the NFT space consolidated throughout 2022. In fact, the price of ILV, the government token/coin, and In-game utility is now down 97% from its all-time high of $1,911, reached a year ago.
However, the project has plenty of “runway” to continue through an extended bear market, according to its founders. And the team continues to build what Kieran calls the “world’s first AAA Interoperable Blockchain gaming universe,” a genre blend of three different styles of play coming together in one narrative.
Aaron Warwick (another brother/co-founder and game director on the project), described the team’s mission as building “the first truly AAA experience in Web3 history,” adding that “in the next few years, we’ll introduce 100 million players to the advantages of owning your hard-earned digital assets.”
“Creating one AAA game in the space of two years is a great achievement, but three that are interoperable and seamlessly connected is almost obscene,” Kieran noted. “Y [it’s] It is only possible through the creation of a decentralized studio, one that has full-time collaborators from 35 countries around the world.”
The project’s city-building title, Illuvium: Zero, “might even have an alpha release before Christmas,” he also revealed.
The Overworld beta will be released to 30,000 community members with the goal of rolling it out consistently within the project’s vast Discord group.
To become one of the beta participants, you can register on the Illuvium website here.
None of the information in this article should be taken as financial advice. This author bought a small amount of ILV some time ago as a speculative investment and still holds and stakes the tokens.
Read More at news.google.com