Mystical Energy
Project description in 5 sentences
Mystical Energy is a Web3 game using NFT. The main goal of the project is to give the player a sense of his own adventure. For this we have made the core mechanics of the game - a system of missions in the global world. The player has to make a lot of different decisions each time: squad composition and resources that he will take with him, actions that are taking place in random events, tactics during turn-based battles and much more. All of these mechanics work towards one goal - to create a unique and incredibly interesting adventure.
Project Challenge
While creating enemy models, we developed an outstanding crayfish-like alien with brightly colored paws. It impressed the customer and fit perfectly into the environment. However, when we changed the map concept to a hexagonal structure, there was a problem with long paws that didn't fit into the hex. The solution came naturally: make the alien flying, giving it a more prominent status. Thus, we transformed an ordinary enemy into a mini-boss.
General characteristics of the project
Platforms
- IOS / Android
- Web
- Desktop
Genres
- Turn-Based Strategy (TBS)
- Action-RPG
- Management
- NFT
Localization
- English
References
- X-COM
- Fallout Shelter
- Spore
Duration
- 37 weeks
Key technologies of the project
Team members
- Addressables
- TypedScenes
- Zenject
- DOTween
- Socket.IO
- URP
- Shader graph
- Async programming
- Design patterns
- Unity Developers x6
- Game Designers x4
- 3D Designers x2
- UI/UX Designer
- 2D Concept Artist
- VFX Designers
- Tester
Client's request
The client came with a request to create a game that would support his NFT Metaverse. Philosophy of the universe - the desire to explore and learn something new.
Result
We have developed a turn-based strategy where each session is a unique player-created adventure. Decisions made in the game influence events and provide new opportunities. In this way, each game session becomes a unique story generator, providing an immersive experience.
Customer's Feedback
Gabrielle
Gabrielle
"Cooperation with this team brought me a lot of pleasant emotions. It was my first experience of developing my own game. Since there was always a feedback in the team, and the guys listened carefully to my ideas, together we implemented this exciting project!"
Since Mystical Energy is quite a big project, the project manager used various tools to make the development process clear, concise and most importantly - efficient:
Weekly reports for the customer - every week the project manager generates a global report with the work done. It consists of described tasks, attached videos and screenshots, and at the end a playable build with integrated innovations.
Jira - for general task control, we use Jira. Here are all the tasks in order, as well as links to the technical tasks attached to each card.
Notion - in this space, the game design team generates a global GDD that describes all parts of the project in as much detail as possible.
Figma/Google Drive - these two services fulfill one task - control and storage of all visual materials of the project.
Daily calls/meetings with specific team members - every day the project manager has a meeting or call with one of the groups of specialists (UI/UX, Developers, etc.).
Weekly meetings with the whole team - every week there is a big meeting where the whole team discusses global tasks, work done, and clarifies the plan for the next week.
Weekly reports for the customer - every week the project manager generates a global report with the work done. It consists of described tasks, attached videos and screenshots, and at the end a playable build with integrated innovations.
Jira - for general task control, we use Jira. Here are all the tasks in order, as well as links to the technical tasks attached to each card.
Notion - in this space, the game design team generates a global GDD that describes all parts of the project in as much detail as possible.
Figma/Google Drive - these two services fulfill one task - control and storage of all visual materials of the project.
Daily calls/meetings with specific team members - every day the project manager has a meeting or call with one of the groups of specialists (UI/UX, Developers, etc.).
Weekly meetings with the whole team - every week there is a big meeting where the whole team discusses global tasks, work done, and clarifies the plan for the next week.
Mystical Energy is a good, big project with a team of 15 people. In such situations, it is very easy to stray from the planned path, and the prise of a mistake is too big to allow it. That's why I suggested to the customer to take the methodology of "eternally ready project" - every week we create a maximally working prototype of the game, which can be uploaded to the website on the same day. This approach allows us to clearly see the consequences of all the decisions we make and anticipate most of the problems that may arise. Of course, this method of development causes some challenges. The most costly thing is to break down the functionality of large mechanics into sections of 5 days, so that even the most complex system works after the first week of development. But thanks to this approach, our large team had the most important thing - a working version of the game and a clear understanding of tomorrow.
Project Manager's comment
Target audience
Group 1:
References
Gameplay:
Pokemon Go - collecting your monsters
Fallout Shelter - managing your base
X-COM - turn-based combat system
Pokemon Go - collecting your monsters
Fallout Shelter - managing your base
X-COM - turn-based combat system
Narrative Design:
Mass Effect 1-3
"Hard to Be a God" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Mass Effect 1-3
"Hard to Be a God" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Age: 18-25 years old.
Interests/Expectations:
Interests/Expectations:
- These players are interested in the web 3 elements of the game, looking to make money from NFT;
- Opportunity to explore and collect unique digital assets.
Type of players according to Bartle: - Explorers;
- Accumulators.
Features: - Pursuit of financial gain through the gaming space;
- Understanding of the Web3 and NFT market.
Group 2:
Age: 25-35 years old.
Interests/expectations:
Interests/expectations:
- Strategy-oriented games;
- Enjoy gameplay where informed decisions must be made;
- Fans of classic projects such as X-COM.
Type of players according to Bartle: - Explorers;
- Hoarders.
Features: - Familiar with modern technology and experienced in games from past decades.
Group3:
Age: 35-45 years old.
Interests/expectations:
Interests/expectations:
- Strategy-oriented games;
- Enjoy gameplay where informed decisions must be made;
- Fans of classic projects such as X-COM.
Type of players according to Bartle: - Explorers;
- Hoarders.
Features: - Familiar with modern technology and experienced in games from past decades.
Team of Directors/Game Designers
Game Director
Chief Game Designer, in other words, the director of the project.
The main task of this specialist is to invent and link all the mechanics of the game in such a way that they create a single interdependent system.
Responsible for balancing game parameters such as character strength, weapons, difficulty levels, and economy systems.
Narrative designer, or game writer - he fills the game world with a story that can evoke the right emotions for the audience.
System Game Designer
Balance Game Designer
Narrative Game Designer
Three features that make the project unique
- Monsters with unique abilities: all monsters have unique abilities that directly affect the combat system and movement on the global map. For example, the "water vortex" creature is able to rise in waterfalls against the current, thus moving the entire team.
- A unique sense of adventure: every journey in the game is filled with different random events that depend on the biome, the player's squad and the resources he possesses. For example, imagine you come upon a tribe of savage aliens. They may refuse to communicate with you, or even attack you if you have a certain race in your squad.
- Unique world: the game world has its own history and events, the consequences of which the player sees by exploring the global map. For example, there was a meteorite fall in one region, which created a desert around it. Because of the large amount of useful resources, a settlement appeared in this place, where aliens extract various necessary fossils.
Monetization method
The purpose of monetization is aimed at promoting the customer's NFT universe and developing the internal token of their projects.
Ways to incentivize the player
1. NFT:
The game presents NFT's in the form of creatures that make up the player's squad. These creatures have varying rarity.
Some NFT characters can be obtained by playing the game, which encourages player activity.
The best and unique NFT characters can be purchased from in-game marketplaces, giving the players an opportunity to create a unique and customizable squad.
2. In-game Token:
The in-game currency represented by tokens is used for various transactions in the game.
Players can use in-game tokens to purchase items that enhance their in-game experience such as unique items, resources, or perks.
Monetization Benefits
Developing Unique Collections: collecting different NFT characters allows players to create individual teams with unique abilities.
The purpose of monetization is aimed at promoting the customer's NFT universe and developing the internal token of their projects.
Ways to incentivize the player
1. NFT:
The game presents NFT's in the form of creatures that make up the player's squad. These creatures have varying rarity.
Some NFT characters can be obtained by playing the game, which encourages player activity.
The best and unique NFT characters can be purchased from in-game marketplaces, giving the players an opportunity to create a unique and customizable squad.
2. In-game Token:
The in-game currency represented by tokens is used for various transactions in the game.
Players can use in-game tokens to purchase items that enhance their in-game experience such as unique items, resources, or perks.
Monetization Benefits
Developing Unique Collections: collecting different NFT characters allows players to create individual teams with unique abilities.
Pixel aesthetics
The main task of the visual component of the game is to create the feeling of a different, unfamiliar world, which you want to learn and explore. For this purpose, we chose a bright color palette, and all models are unique adaptations of creatures familiar to humans.
Team of Visualizers/Designers
UI/UX Designer
Creates a user-friendly interface and develops its animations and transitions.
Defines the visual style of the game in the concept stage by creating illustrations and sketches.
Creates and animates three-dimensional models for the game world, including landscapes, architecture, objects, and characters.
Creates visual effects and develops shaders and special effects to control light and color, enhancing the game experience.
2D Artist Concept
3D Designer/Animator
VFX Designer
Key technologies of the project
- Unity Editor and runtime asset management system that improves support for large production teams with complex live content delivery needs. The system uses asynchronous loading to support loading from any location with any collection of dependencies.
Addressables
- Provides artist-friendly workflows that let you quickly and easily create optimized graphics across a range of platforms, from mobile to high-end consoles and PCs.
URP
- Toolkit for passing data between scenes. It provides strongly-typed wrappers for Unity scenes through which you can comfortably load scenes and pass data to them for work.
Zenject (Extenject)
- Shader Graph lets you visually author shaders and see the results in real-time. This node-based system opens up the field for artists.
Shader graph
Additional technologies
TypedScenes
DOTween
The framework used to create smooth animations for UI and game objects (movements, rotations, fading, etc.).
Async programming
- Almost all code async, in order to work with client-server solutions.
- For using Web Socket in WebGl
Library that enables real-time, bidirectional and event-based communication between the browser and the server.
Socket.IO
A lightweight highly performant dependency injection framework built specifically to target Unity3D.
- Design patterns (fabric, MVVM, state machine, observer ect.)
Classes for validating data between client and server.
Contact us
We assist and support our clients in the swift and successful development of their business ideas and projects.