Today I’m chatting with Sam, developer of Space Misfits, a 3D Low Poly Space Sandbox MMO. This MMO has integrated with Enjin’s Blockchain Gaming Solution to bring blockchain benefits to your virtual sandbox. It’s also advertised on their website that they are taking applications to be a part of their upcoming Alpha Release. I’m excited to find out more about this one, as I don’t know much about it, but being a misfit myself, I’m sure the puzzle will be clearer after the article…please note I originally published this article in Everything Enjin but sharing is caring they say, and this game is very cool so well worth knowing about 🙂
So Sam, the first thing I ask everyone is – what’s your background in gaming and game development?
Well our game studios Jade Stem Studios was formed this year and Space Misfits is our first game. I retired from the Navy last year and while I was in the Navy I spent almost 15 years developing websites and marketing for my clients.
I had always been an avid gamer so this was something I wanted to eventually do. I knew if I were to take on a project like this, funding would be the #1 concern so I ensured I could fund such a project off the ground without too much outside assistance. It’s definitely been a huge learning curve for me and has been very exciting and challenging to say the least!
I am so blessed that I have some of the most experienced and talented developers on my team. They have a combined experience of over 20 years! Without them I would have a few stick figures on a sheet of paper!
A team effort is definitely important, and being a part of the Navy I’m sure you’d have learnt a thing or two about teamwork! Back to the game though, Space Misfits says the ‘Space Sandbox is waiting for you’. I gather this means there’s a lot of room to play, can you give us a rundown on the gameplay we can expect?
Our game is built to scale with player base. As the player base grows so will the Misfit universe. Instead of subjecting our players to only space flight we have planets to break up the monotony. Planets serve only one purpose at this time and that is to collect resources and send back to system stations. PVP is open in areas with less security. Instead of clans, Space Misfits runs it’s player organizations as “Crews”.
As you venture out in space the risk/reward increases. Systems become more valuable but less protected and the crews will have to protect with their own actual crew members instead of NPC.
What do you mean by the systems being less protected?
We have 3 security system zones. central, border and outer. Central has less resources and lower quality but safer to fly in. Border is moderately protected with better resources. Outer has no protection and exceptional resources.
We have an interesting function we are testing. It’s a distress signal attached to an award.
If a player is attacked they can submit a distress signal to allow other players to assist. Any player that participated in the damage will be awarded a portion of that award from the distress signal.
This is especially useful in our central and border systems where pvp is more controlled.
If unusual activity of PVP is detected or a rise is death counts in our central and border systems occur. NPC Riot Control is dispatched to neutralize the situation. The person who initiated an attack in a security system will be targeted and destroyed.
The first layer of protection is our players who can earn both in game currency and ENJ tokens for assisting other players if they are attacked in high security systems.
So less npc engagement and more player interaction, but riot control is in place to prevent all out chaos in high security systems lol
With the riot control target and destroy – can a player have an opportunity to escape? Or is the riot control unrelenting in its search?
A player has a chance to warp away. They won’t be able to land on a planet, take a gate or go in a station after a short cool off period. The Riot Control will pack a punch.
I like the idea of venturing out into the different Space Misfit ‘Solar Systems’, organising a fleet/crew of players to explore and find resources. Very cool! So you could have some people acting like space pirates for fun etc depending on your want of play?
Exactly. A freighter can be taken down if a pilot doesn’t provide a good distress reward
So pilots will want to ensure they provide a good reward for assistance.
Will freighters with resources have to be brought back to a certain check point within the game for exchange ?
Well in our universe, trade will happen as different resources will be needed in different places. On every station you can build anything, and place resources in that station marketplace. Some systems will have poor resources, so they will need logistics to supply and keep up with market demand, and since players will be scattered, every station is a trading hub. They’ll have to travel through warp gates from system to system, basically black holes.
So I guess there’ll be trading routes set up between stations, and warp gates for system to system travel, I like trying to visualise it! But back to the rewards, cos who doesn’t like to be rewarded?;) How do you see a player getting the most benefit from playing your game?
Resource mining can be done passively in planet outposts via mining drones. Outposts will have a capacity so the player itself will need to ensure they empty the outposts to keep efficiently mining.
Players can either train to fly logistic ships or hire a freighter pilot to run their routes for them.
As I said before, there will be a full market in each and every station where players are selling recently built ships, weapons and all sorts of items in game. These items can be built with “BITS” the ingame currency in Space Misfits.
BITS can be earned in all sorts of ways. Taking down NPC pilots, mining, trading, resource collections and more!
That certainly sets the scene for drama! How do you see this open ended lore unfolding?
Being a veteran of EVE Online, I saw players corporations really had their own stories and drama from alliance wars and other players which was interesting. Space Misfits will have a general story, but as far as a player following a linear storyline it simply won’t be there. It’s going to be interesting to watch it unfold through chat and forums!
Indeed! I love the logo btw, it’s got a cool revamped 80’s Leisure Suit Larry feel! What’s the inspiration behind the optics of the game, and do you have a team of designers, or is it your individual work?
You know I take a look at all the space games and they all have the same look. Way too serious! I was a huge Tron fan and even current movies like Guardians of the Galaxy with beautiful lighting, bright colors and classic music I love! I wanted our game to have a different design, lots of neon and fun to just watch and play. Weapon blasts and effects will be bright and loud. Deaths will be stunning and plenty of 80’s retro music to go around!
I saw there was an avatar available in your online store – Cooper Jones – but he’s sold out due to popularity. What’s the function and purpose behind this cool little dude?
He was our first mint sort of a test. Players can swap out avatars like they can do with skins. A pilot’s psyche, skills, attributes will always follow that player. But the player can choose from an array of Avatar clones to jump in and out.
Cooper Jones is just an avatar clone we created and minted in the mint shop.
Is there a bigger presale happening soon so Cooper gains friends? If so, what can we expect from that?
We want to slow down on the minting and sales and focus on ENJ Integration. We are committed to showing ENJIN we are a serious partner and that we have a solid product on their blockchain that integrates seamlessly with ENJIN. Once we are fully approved on the ENJIN blockchain, we will celebrate with some awesome airdrops and be putting more mints in the marketplace. Cooper Jones was our first mint and simply just testing!
That makes sense, like you said before, you’ve got funding covered so can focus on development. Good focus to have! But personally I love collecting tokens too! So the one that’s out and currently available in your online store is a Space Misfits Multiverse Founders Token (MFT) that’s backed by 50 Enjin. I think overall these MFT’s (originally conceptualised by Behfar of Forest Knight for interest sake) are great because their purpose and rewards grow with the game. What kind of future do you see for your own MFT?
We want our MFT holders to value their MFT token. We want to give them a ton of in game benefits and regular airdrops. The last thing we want is for a MFT to be melted. We want our MFT to trade hands with other pilots so they can enjoy the benefits of our token.
How did you find out about Enjin? And how are you finding the process of integrating their blockchain tech into your game?
I have been in the cryptocurrency space for over 5 years now. I have launched some successful online casino and poker tables integrating cryptocurrency. When I started learning unity a few years ago I discovered Enjin’s integration with UNITY and fell in love with the company.
I didn’t have the time nor resources to develop a game like this while I was in active duty for the Navy, but I knew when I got out and found myself in a position to take on a project like this, I knew ENJIN would be the only company I would align my game with. It’s been an amazing ride thus far!
Is your team taking advantage of the Enjin multiverse items at all? If so, how can we see them being incorporated?
Well first, we love the Alterverse Maverick and are talking to them about getting the Maverick in our game. We have some prototypes we have created and want to bring that ship in the game. Being both in space and on land, we have a huge opportunity to bring in a massive assortment of both Space and Land items! Very excited for the opportunity!
Someone else who is excited about this one, is Pyro_Flair, so I’m handing you over to him for some Q’s if cool.
Pyro_Flair
Can we own planets, or parcels on planets. I’d love to be a mining corporation, in a game where the main objective for everyone else is to be a pirate. Also are there going to be NPCs for hire/own for a bit of AFK passive income? I like the idea of hiring mercenaries from other players to work with your own.
Hi Pyro! On planets you can build outposts around resource patches. Think of Starcraft for a moment if you ever played it. You deploy a Outpost and then deploy drones to collect resources. Resources will be deposited in the outpost and a freighter or ship you pilot will transfer the resources back to a system station.
We realized the importance how each system and it’s stations economy. So we are preventing raw ore from leaving a planet. You will have to process your ore yourself or hire another player with the appropriate skills to process your ore for you!
Are you adding the ability to tame and capture alien pets? I am going to keep asking every open world game dev until I finally get the pokemon/digimon adventure that they have always advertised in the animes;) But the pets are going to be everything for me, are you going to release each pet as an individual item, or are you going to be selling some kind of capture item?
Yes there will be a pet system when on the planet to capture aliens as pets. TBH we haven’t worked out the details on this right now, we just have the ability to assign a pet. Other milestones are being focused on atm so we haven’t focused too much on this area of the game. It might not even stay as it is right now.
The in space combat will have a wingman capability to assign a NPC to be your wingman. I am not crazy about pets as much as I am about having a wingman. So another foot soldier near you keeping your protected but I like the idea of taming a wild creature and maybe keeping it posted at your outpost to protect it.
Thanks for the q’s Pyro, hopefully that answers a couple, but I reckon the whole project sounds pretty wild and awesome, I’ve certainly found out more, so thanks again Sam for getting out of the sandbox briefly to say hi and share your insights! Before we leave it though, is there anything else you’d like to share with the readership?
We are very early in our pre-alpha. And we want to thank everyone for the support we have received already. We are passionate game developers and I am just thankful I have the opportunity to build the game of my dreams and show it to the world! We are excited for the first Alpha Release! Thank you for having us in this community! It means the world to us!
From the footage we’ve seen and from what you’ve explained, I’m sure others like myself are excited for the Alpha Release too. I see you can apply for it now, so if anyone wants too have a go, do so, as it all looks top notch so far! If others want to find out more on Space Misfits and their own expansion of the Enjin Multiverse please click the warp gates below 🙂 Also almost 500 people have subscribed to the Space Misfits YouTube channel and on May 15 they will be choosing 5 lucky winners that will be sent MFT’s.
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUPRP1fsOReM0QmwsZFAsKQ/featured
Telegram – https://t.me/Spacemisfitsgame
Twitter – https://twitter.com/SpaceMisfits
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Space-Misfits-568259333678263/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/spacemisfitsgame/?hl=en
Website – https://spacemisfits.com
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