Is the chain game back? A preview of the first battle royale game Off The Grid that launches simultaneously on PC and consoles.

The GUNZ Testnet has been running for nearly a year, processing 27 million transactions and accumulating over 2.2 million registered Wallets.

Written by: Shen Chao TechFlow

Blockchain games are not doing well; it has become an unspoken consensus after most gaming projects disappeared during the previous bear market.

But not all practitioners are bearish on the gaming track.

For example, recently Delphi Venture partner Piers Kicks posted in support of game developer Gunzilla Games and its upcoming flagship game Off The Grid.

According to Piers’ post, Delphi Ventures has placed a big bet on Off The Grid, which is also the largest investment in its gaming sector. At the same time, the game has undergone 5 years of development by a team of 300 people, with total investment reaching 90 million USD.

By the way, the estimated cost of Black Myth: Wukong was previously revealed by the game producer to be around 300-400 million yuan, so roughly calculating, the investment cost of Off The Grid is higher than that of Black Monkey.

But as the ancient saying goes, when a whale falls, all things flourish. However, in the blockchain gaming track, the situation might be that when all things fall, a whale is born.

In the context of many blockchain game projects failing one after another, what makes Off The Grid stand out?

It is reported that Off The Grid plans to launch simultaneously on PC and console platforms (PS5/XBOX) within the next 60 days, which is a first for blockchain games.

At the same time, don’t forget that PCs and consoles are often the stronghold of core players, who cannot tolerate any signs of gold farming or the stench of blockchain. For blockchain games to succeed, a good balance must be found in gameplay, graphics, on-chain economy, and marketing promotions.

In a time when blockchain games are generally not well-regarded, can Off The Grid really set an example for “good games”?

Please, big shots, create scripts and special effects to attract VC investment in the industry.

In the gaming industry, a successful product basically relies on two key elements: people and money.

The former refers to the development team, while the latter refers to funding support.

What assets does Gunzilla Games, the developer behind Off The Grid, have?

Founded in 2020, Gunzilla Games is a relatively young company, but it has a decent team lineup and scale. Currently, the company has about 340 employees, including many veterans from the gaming industry.

The core development team of the company mainly comes from the former Crytek Kyiv studio. This team was involved in the development of the popular online shooting game Warface, which attracted over 140 million players and generated over 1 billion dollars in revenue. In addition, team members have also participated in the development of well-known game series such as Far Cry and Crysis, as well as the development of the CRYENGINE game engine. CRYENGINE pushed the frontier of game graphics at its peak, providing technical support for many major titles.

Interestingly, the company has also hired Neill Blomkamp as co-founder and chief creative officer. Blomkamp, who directed sci-fi blockbusters such as “District 9” and “Elysium,” brings Off The Grid top-notch visual experiences and narrative design with his unique visual style and profound social insights.

At the same time, the 60-hour campaign story of the game is written by the famous science fiction author Richard Morgan. Morgan is the author of bestsellers such as “Altered Carbon,” which has been adapted into a popular Netflix series.

This is somewhat different from the chain games we saw before, as it puts effort into the script and special effects, leaning towards the idea of a high-quality single-player game.

However, we won’t be able to draw a conclusion about the level of completion until the official release, after all, we cannot know whether this is just a big name attached or if they truly participated in the production.

In terms of money, the article begins by stating that Delphi Ventures invested 6 million dollars, becoming the largest validator and node operator of Gunzilla’s GUNZ blockchain platform (funding amount source: Coindesk).

In March this year, Gunzilla Games completed a round of financing of $30 million. This round was led by CoinFund and Avalanche’s Avalanche Fund, with participation from well-known institutions such as Republic Capital and Morningstar Ventures.

Some people have money, how well is this game refined?

Cyberpunk Battle Royale, Chicken Dinner Gameplay + Item on Chain

The core gameplay of Off The Grid is actually battle royale, which is the classic mode in PUBG. A group of players compete for resources on a carefully designed map and strive to be the last one standing.

However, this game adds more sci-fi and cyberpunk elements in it.

The game is set in a dystopian future, on a massive battlefield known as “Teardrop Island,” where contestants from around the world participate in a brutal “reality show” for a huge cash prize.

In the game setting, all participants must amputate their limbs to utilize the advanced prosthetic technology on Tear Drop Island. This is not just a unique setting, but the core of the game mechanics. Players can obtain various special abilities by swapping out different prosthetics, such as grappling hooks, reconnaissance drones, or quick dashes. This design brings unprecedented tactical depth and flexibility to the game.

In map design, OTG has created the largest battle royale map to date. Players can utilize their characters’ jetpacks and special abilities with prosthetics to traverse between skyscrapers, achieving fast aerial movement. This highly flexible movement system not only enhances the excitement of the game but also encourages a more aggressive style of play.

But what does this have to do with on-chain?

OTG introduces an Extraction Royale mode. Players collect HEX cubes on the map, which represent blueprints for weapons, attachments, or prosthetics.

Players will need to take these cubes to specific extraction points to decode, defending against other opponents who covet your loot in the process. Once successfully withdrawn, the items will be “3D printed” into the player’s inventory, effectively minting the assets onto the blockchain in the background.

To put it more colloquially, this gameplay is off-chain chicken + on-chain unboxing mode.

As the main gameplay of the game, after obtaining loot boxes, players will open them, and the items inside will be linked on-chain as assets such as NFTs, while also binding accounts and setting a set of trading logic.

The game does not have a traditional in-game store; all items that enter the economic system and peer-to-peer market are obtained by players through the in-game extraction mechanism and minted onto the blockchain.

This design not only ensures the scarcity of items and true ownership but also brings more dynamism and player engagement to the game economy.

It is worth mentioning that OTG adopts a seamless access strategy to address on-chain issues. The encrypted parts involved in the game have become optional rather than mandatory, gradually attracting players to the chain in a completely optional way.

Although the final product of the game has not been seen yet, common designs such as social login, built-in Wallet, hidden deposit and withdrawal gateways, and gas fee abstraction are expected to be present.

On-Chain Economic System Outlook

In OTG, players obtain in-game item NFTs through the extraction HEX cube operation mentioned above. This process cleverly combines game mechanics with blockchain technology, making asset minting a natural extension of the gaming experience rather than an external operation that feels somewhat disconnected.

At the same time, the GUN token is the core of the OTG economic system. As the native token of the game, GUN plays multiple roles in the game ecosystem:

• a) Transaction Medium: Players can use GUN to purchase, sell, or trade NFT items in the in-game market.
• b) Governance: Players holding GUN tokens can participate in important game decisions, such as voting on new features or adjusting economic parameters.
• c) Staking Rewards: Players can stake GUN tokens to receive additional in-game rewards or privileges.
• d) Creator Incentive: Content creators can earn GUN tokens by creating game content (such as custom skins or maps).
• e) In-game fees: Certain premium features or services may require payment in GUN tokens, such as accelerating manufacturing processes or unlocking special areas.

It is worth mentioning that the game has its own blockchain network GUNZ, which is essentially a subnet based on Avalanche. By establishing a dedicated subnet, it ensures fast and low-cost transactions while leaving enough room for future scalability and optimization.

Public data shows that the GUNZ Testnet has been running for nearly a year, processing 27 million transactions and accumulating over 2.2 million registered Wallets.

In the GUNZ subnet, validator nodes play a crucial role. They are not only responsible for verifying and confirming all in-game transactions but also collectively maintain the security and stability of the entire network. Their specific functions are as follows:

• a) Verify transactions: Nodes are responsible for verifying and confirming all transactions within the game, ensuring the security and reliability of the economic system.
• b) Network Maintenance: Nodes jointly maintain the operation of the GUNZ network, ensuring the continuous and stable operation of the game economy.
• c) Participate in Governance: Some nodes may have voting rights and participate in important decisions of the network.
• d) Reward mechanism: Participants running nodes may receive GUN tokens as rewards, further incentivizing community participation in network maintenance.

In the current design, the core of the ecosystem is 10,000 validators, which are responsible for processing transactions and minting all in-game items. From an investment perspective, these validator nodes are attractive because players must pay them minting fees for in-game items in USD; moreover, validators also earn commissions from all transactions of their minted items in the secondary market.

What supports the Off The Grid game is a complete set of Gunzilla ecosystem tools, including a Wallet (running on iOS and Android), a marketplace, and a blockchain resource explorer. Interested players can check the real-time data displayed by the GUNZ Testnet browser here.

Currently, if you want to try out the game in advance, you can only fill out a form and answer questions through the official website’s “Pioneer Program”. After selecting your gaming platform (console or PC), you have to wait for the game officials to screen before you can receive a trial invitation.

Finally, it must be emphasized that as long as the game has not seen the finished product for a moment, it cannot be said to have completely detached from the “low-level趣味” of gold farming as a pure game.

In fact, the crypto world doesn’t even need purely games; however, if the on-chain economic system can serve as a mature “loot box model” without overshadowing the game, then we can have some small expectations for the game Off the grid.

After all, there are still some people who will try out a free game on PC and PS5/XBOX.