We are again in our virtual studio, where we meet with various figures of the cryptogaming industry. And I am very pleased to welcome all of our readers on the other side of the monitor.
Today our guest is James Mayo. As written in his profile (Navigator and sometimes President at 8 CURCIUT STUDIOS).
Let's start with the tradition of "no swing"
Q: James, can you tell me a bit of background about you and your team? What inspired you to get into blockchain / crypto games and have you already had experience creating games on the blockchain (short about it)?
A: We have extensive experience in game development. Our team has employees like me who have been in the gaming industry for almost 30 years! In fact, everyone on the team is very young, apart from me [laughs]. Many of us have worked for publishers such as Nintendo, Microsoft Game Studios and Playdom, which are now part of Disney Interactive. Our team consists of developers, engineers and industry veterans who have worked on games such as MechWarrior 4, Mass Effect, Munch's Oddysee and Halo 5. We were also friends outside of work, so we were really excited to be able to work together again ...
As for our decision to do this. We were inspired by the potential of blockchain to become a global value transfer system. This is an exciting new technology. We believe that games are the driving force behind new technologies and also help in their adoption by the masses. This means that games and blockchain are probably ideal for attracting more people using the "internet of money". We already have some development experience on Ethereum. Our first game released is called Alien Arsenal: Battle for the Blockchain for mobile. We learned a lot while developing this game and used the lessons learned to develop our next games.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: We are currently working on Project Genesis. Project Genesis Is a game that will allow players to experience two genres in one game: space combat and first person shooter
Q: What is the core gameplay, story, and marketplace of Project Genesis? How does the game and marketplace work?
A: Project Genesis allows players to control ships in a cold vacuum of space and engage in intense gun battles. The plot revolves around the story of an Artificial Intelligence that is the first of its kind to realize and discover that it has a soul. Unfortunately for the AI, he also discovers that his brain resides in a spaceship, and not in a body like a human ... However, he can “print” humanoid avatars and transmit his consciousness to them for infiltration missions. The AI's mission is to repair and protect the grounded n-SATOSHI launch vehicle and bring it back online so that a shipment of 100 cryogenically frozen last human legacy material can reach its mysterious destination.
Q: At what stage is your project and will you make edits that the community wishes?
A: A distinctive feature of our game is the gameplay that combines two genres and at the moment Project Genesis Is a 6v6 team game where your goal is to defeat your opponents by attacking them and infiltrating giant ships that you can either disable or command.
Q: What are the key features of the game?
A: Project Genesis is currently a Six vs Six team based game and your objective is to defeat your opponents by attacking them and infiltrating giant capital ships that you can either disable or commandeer. We plan to have a very limited single player mode, that functions more like a tutorial where the story we've outlined unfolds.
Q: How do you plan to support the economy?
A: We are currently planning on Project Genesis being a free-to-play game. The progression system is based on cosmetics, and players will be able to grind or purchase customizations and skins using an in-game shop.
Q: Do you have a favorite cryptogame besides the project genesis?
A: We are big fans of The Sandbox by Pixowl. They do really cool stuff with user generated content with their voxel style art. It looks very attractive.
Q: What barriers do you see for your project and critical gaming in general?
A: I think the biggest hurdle in the United States will be regulation. We have very powerful laws to keep the financial system in order. However, cryptography is such a new and unusual technological invention that I think it is difficult for regulators to figure out how to determine what blockchain technology really is. This makes it very difficult to apply the right kind of regulation.
After regulation, I think the next big issue is good design for blockchain use, both technical design and user interface design. Blockchains are mostly public databases that are not very scalable, so figuring out how best to use them can be difficult. Fortunately, games are always on the edge of innovation. If the gaming industry can quickly learn, adapt and develop solutions, then I think that game developers could have a better chance of helping mass adoption of blockchains. After all, everyone is playing games!
Q: What your look at the industry in 3-5 years. How will it look your way?
A: I think the industry will continue to grow and change at an incredible pace. I think we'll start to see publishers from the gaming industry move into crypto game development. Gamers are smart. They already know how to use digital currencies in their games, so it will be easy for them to understand and start using a value transfer system. As gamers demand more from their games, developers and publishers will work hard to meet those demands.
Q: Which platform (eth, eos, neo, trx or another.) Do you find most suitable for games?
A: We currently love Ethereum because it has the largest developer base and you can do amazing things with smart contracts. However, we use blockchain in a very specific way, our projects do not require a lot of transactions. In fact, we hope to create digital assets that people will hesitate to trade because they are so valuable to use in the games we create.
Q: Will you collaborate with existing cryptogaming projects?
A: In fact, we already have started a collaboration! We are currently working with a community driven cyberpunk MMO called Mankind Reborn (https://mankindreborn.com/). It is a very hardcore title, which we love! If you haven't seen them yet, they're doing amazing work building an entire universe. We are collaborating with them to create blockchain-based property and real estate that exists in their game and ours.
Our dream is to continue to find amazing colleagues who share our vision for contributing to the creation of a living metaverse.
Q: What plans do you have for the future for your team and your project?
A: Our vision is to create a living metaverse one game at a time. We love the work of William Gibson and Neil Stevenson for their cyberpunk novels Neuromancer and Snowcrash. We also find great inspiration in films like The Matrix and even Smash Ralph. Since blockchains allow us to create virtual goods that can persist between games, we can now begin to create metauniverses that could not have been created before blockchain evolved.
Q: Could you name any key dates or milestones exclusively for our community? Or maybe special announcements coming up?
A: We are currently performing private playtests so if anyone wants to help us as we build a space combat meets first person shooter game we'd love for them to contribute. They can sign up on our www.projectgenesis.com website. We also intend to hold an open alpha sometime this summer, so signing up on our website will also get you access to our newsletter where more information on the event will be provided in the future!
Thank you so much, James, for an exclusive interview and revealing details about your project. We look forward to the latest news from 8 Circuit Studios, as well as the opportunity to play in Project Genesis. We wish you good luck!
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