Devlog 7
March 6th Update
TL:DR
There has been a lot going on as we head through this first quarter. Let’s catch everyone up.
We're excited to participate in Outer Edge LA from March 20th to 23rd. At the event, we'll be participating in a Metaverse panel and making a special announcement that has our partners buzzing.
Our development team is focused on delivering the Alpha of our metaverse, which will feature open world driving and a new system for displaying NFTs to other players. We're also upgrading the UI with improved art and functionality. Also in this first alpha, players will see the work our audio team has been doing for the immersive driving experience.
On the web3 side, our compliance team has approved an alternate requirement for NFT stakers and the blockchain team has been focused on building a smart contract for us and our partners to mint new NFTs.
While all this has been happening, our marketing team is preparing for Outer Edge LA and has updated their graphics and marketing materials. From the socials side, we will be holding our Twitter Spaces AMA later in March to accommodate for Outer Edge LA.
That’s the quick version, let’s dive into the details.
Studio Update
Many of you have been eagerly awaiting our first major appearance on the big stage, and we’re thrilled to announce that the time has finally come! We’ll be attending Outer Edge LA (March 20-23) and we’d love to meet and put a face to the many names we’ve come to know in our community.
The past six months have been a wild ride, but we’re eager to showcase all the positive growth and developments we’ve achieved, as well as something special involving many of our partners. You may have been hearing whispers from some of them about it. It’s something that’s been keeping them on the edge of their seats. Although we can’t spill all the beans just yet, we can assure you that it’s got everyone revved up for what’s to come! Keep an eye on us at Outer Edge LA to be the first to know what the buzz is about.
Behind the scenes, we are focusing the effort in Q1 to get us to our first Alpha of the metaverse space. We have built out much of the core functionality a player would expect in a multiplayer, open virtual world as a main component of this first Alpha. However, we wanted to ensure that this first Alpha included more action than simple communication and emoting. Where we landed is on the fun of open world driving. We came to this based on a number of factors, including the desire to give the owners of our OG SUV and Sportster some utility as soon as possible. To do this, however, we had to consider our timeline and the desire to come out in Q1. Ultimately, we erred on the side of more features and a push into Q2. The extra benefit of this adjustment is that we can show off a newer, bigger portion of the world.
There is more to be announced around this Q2 Alpha release, including how we have partnered up with some exciting new groups to bring them into the Netvrk family. We aren’t yet prepared to shout out all of the details on these, but I will say that CryptoDads and RDB Car Club have joined the party and will play a part in this next phase of the Netvrk universe.
From the business end, the more communities we can add to our world, the faster we can expand. Additionally, we repeatedly say, we are dedicated to lifting the entire web3 community and inviting in those gamers and products who have not yet learned what this space offers. We believe that this space and industry is the future of entertainment and enterprise, and we will do best when that message is fully understood by the large majority who haven’t yet been exposed to it.
Development Overview
NFT Image Display
The core social functionality of our multiplayer world has a new addition from this month. This is the ability to show the NFTs that you hold to other players in the world. To accomplish this, the feature team needed to create the Asset Downloader Subsystem. Through this system, all NFT images are downloaded locally to players so that when player A displays the image, Players B-Z can see it. This function has been added to the Action Wheel, similar to emotes, and includes a custom animation that plays when showing the image.
This system also added all owned partner NFTs to the collection menu, and from there can be added to the action wheel for quick access to the display function. The NFTs available for this feature are currently determined by a list of trusted contract addresses, starting with our partner projects, and is expected to be expanded over time.
UI Updates
A good portion of this current cycle includes both an art upgrade and functionality upgrade to the user interface. The project’s art vision is a brightness and freshness overall that will carry into, among other things, the UI. From this concept image of the user profile menu, it should be apparent that major upgrades are on the way.
Unreal Team Update
Audio
The development team has been tasked with handling open world driving, and that includes handling all of the complexity of audio in a driving experience. In the sample level, a surprising amount of audio nuance is being constructed, evident in the video below. From this sample, it can be heard how each tire is independently recognizing the surface it is on and playing the appropriate sounds. Collision sounds are also tuned to take in parameters such as impact intensity, location, and speed of the vehicle when contact is made. The system being used will also allow for tuning of each engine’s audio profile to match its real world counterpart. A lot of time and craftsmanship is being put into the audio experience in the real world driving to create as immersive an experience as possible.
Blockchain Team Update
Reserve Staking Distributions
We are ecstatic that our legal compliance team has approved an alternate participation requirement for NFT stakers unable to play Mine Runner. We are in the process of building the questionnaire system to support this.
To be eligible for rewards, all participants must:
Create a Netvrk Account with email
Link wallets (max 3) with staked NFTs to your Netvrk Account
Submit the questionnaire (available in April), ensuring that it is approved before the deadline.
Head over to the Mine Runner website to get started on steps 1 and 2!
Please note that rewards for participants who do not meet the participation requirements by the end of March will be temporarily set aside for you to claim in Q2.
NFT Marketplace
A major focus last month was building a smart contract for Netvrk and our partners to mint new NFTs. As our ecosystem grows in size, it is critical that we have a common standard for dropping new NFTs. Our solution will evolve over time as we learn what best fits our partners and communities.
For our initial version, we have put a focus on:
Allowing a large number of NFT “tiers” that can be released at different times. For example, a wearables shop can release a season 0 NFT tier at one time and a season 1 NFT tier at a later time.
A simple identification solution for reading NFT utility by tier.
Allowing multiple sales to happen simultaneously with different sale parameters. For example, one NFT tier with a public sale, a second NFT tier with a whitelist pre-sale, and a third NFT tier with airdrop functionality occurring at the same time.
Marketing Update
As new layers of our metaverse continue to expand, evolve, and become more cohesive, so does our library of graphics and marketing materials. Our graphics and 3D team worked together to fast track new avatars into some teaser graphics, we paired these with our newly developed effects library in order to produce a revamped pitch deck. The pitch deck will continue to be updated, allowing our team to grow and continue to bring our vision to life.
Our team will be live at the newly rebranded Outer Edge | LA conference, formerly known as NFT LA, gathering from March 20th - 23rd, 2023. We will have special giveaways, make a special announcement, speak at the event, and members of our team will be there to meet with you. In preparation for this and future events, we have redesigned our business cards to share and connect with you.
Our livestreams featuring Netvrk representatives, partners, and guest speakers are getting a makeover as well. We are about to release new graphics we have prepared in anticipation of our debut Twitch stream, future AMA’s, and other online productions, coming to a screen near you. Watch out for more visual branding updates, it only gets better from here!
Social Media Update
The March Twitter Spaces will be held towards the end of the month due to some of our team members attending Outer Edge LA. Stay tuned for the official announcement with the exact date and time.
During our last AMA, we received many questions regarding Mine Runner and our Game Director was there to answer them! The discussion covered a wide range of topics, including the best controller to use while playing the game, the ability to use your own NFT as an avatar, and the latest updates and improvements.
Listen to the previous AMA now if you missed it - https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1YqGoAVrpvjxv?s=20