A Metaverse Built On Play2Earn Games And Space: The SolaVerse

The SolaVerse (TSV) is an online world, where blockchain, gaming and rewards collide. You may think that NFTs are just JPEGs, and a lot of them are simply just JPEGs. CryptoPunks for example, although rare, have no built-in utility. Owners of a SOLA-STAR are going to own a building block of a metaverse that will inherently provide them value besides just an increase in the NFT’s market price, but they aren’t easy to come by either, since there are only 2,000.

The SolaVerse is becoming a full scale metaverse, based in space. Ever wanted to own your own galaxy or solar system and decide the rules and reap the rewards of deals that happen in your milky way? This might be the first chance you’ll have at fulfilling your dream. On top of owning a rare virtual and spatial NFT, any activity that takes place in a owner’s space will provide them with token rewards simply by holding and staking it. By holding a SOLA-STAR you will earn token rewards for staking your NFT, and for players playing within your SOLA-SYSTEM, you’ll also gain a share of their rewards. On top of that, you'll gain access to exclusive private events and countless more benefits.

“To give a summary of The SolaVerse, it will be an online world, free for everyone to access and engage in,” says the SolaVerse team. “A world where you can build, explore and create, trade, conquer and negotiate. The possibilities are never ending - we will be creating and developing TSV projects using The SolaVerse NFTs as a platform - but what you create within your SOLA-SYSTEM is completely up to you. You’ll be rewarded based on activity that happens within your system, so either build the most active system yourself, or let people build it for you. If you’ve got a desirable star, you might have some big names asking to talk.”

The best way to learn about any new and game-changing NFT project is to hear from the people behind it. I’ve gone to space and asked questions that will tell us more about what it means to own a SolaVerse NFT by asking the founders themselves the tough questions.

 

Jackson Weimer: So, what will someone actually get if they mint a SolaVerse NFT?

SolaVerse: By minting a SOLA-STAR today, you will start earning token rewards immediately and gain exclusive access to the alpha version of our Play To Earn game releasing in March. 500 SOLA-STARS have already been minted and when we reach the max supply of 2000, the reveal will take place immediately, with all assets already uploaded to IPFS pre-launch. You will see your SOLA-STAR in all its glory and all of the traits, skills and properties that come with it. We have done this to ensure a fair NFT launch. The whole way through our launch we’ve focused on giving to our community and being transparent and fair. From not keeping any NFTs back for founders, to saying ‘no’ to influencers who wanted us to give them ‘a handful of the rarest ones’. Our launch will be 100% fair and everyone will see which star they’ve got at the same time (maybe one of the 6 legendary stars!).

 

Weimer: What about the metaverse game? Can you give a comparison to a different game to what your game is going to be like?

SolaVerse: If you’ve ever played OGame, that’s where I (Senna) got the start of the game idea from. I woke up one morning and I’d had a dream about it and it felt like a spark... I felt like there was a huge opening to create a space based Play To Earn game that utilizes building, upgrading, PvE and PvP mechanics while also moving forward with the web3 generation by utilising and maximising the use of assets like skins. We then started to get to work on building out the idea and that’s when the metaverse came into existence - the scope that we wanted to create for The SolaVerse was huge - we didn’t want to bottleneck ourselves like some projects had done in the past. Which is why we’ve also made our game free for everyone. We also know there’s a huge audience in the eSport market already and we want to expand into that with our Play2Earn game(s). So, there will be competitions, different seasons to earn new rewards and complete new activities and achievements and much more.

 

Weimer: What games does your dev team have experience making before?

SolaVerse: Our current core dev team have built basic games in the past but not to the scale that we want to integrate into TSV.  Which is why we’re already working with game studios to bring our ideas to life. We are of the belief that the people in the room with you should always be smarter than you. We will be looking to rapidly expand the team over the coming months and that’s what we have experience in. We have built software companies from the ground up and we believe our knowledge and experience are going to be the true driving force behind bringing the best minds on to the project.

 

Weimer: When did you first hear about NFTs and when did you buy your first one? What was it?

SolaVerse: I personally first heard about NFTs back in 2019 - a CryptoPunk had just sold for $1,500 and I was having a chat with one of my members of staff about how crazy it was that people were spending over a thousand dollars on a picture on the blockchain! How things have changed! That same CryptoPunk sold for $2 million dollars just a few months ago. I’m a huge Formula 1 fan though, so the first NFT I bought was actually for the blockchain game F1 Delta Time where you can race with your own F1 cars. I recommend everyone check it out.

 

Weimer: With everyone trying to be the first to the Metaverse, how do you foresee other metaverse aimed projects that don't become "the Metaverse" playing out? Like, let's say Facebook (Meta) makes the Metaverse successfully, and most projects use it going forward, will all the other projects not built for their tech just fizzle out? Or, do you think that there will be multiple metaverses that aren't all connected?

SolaVerse: I think it’s almost a guarantee that there will be more than one ‘metaverse’ in the future. In my eyes, I see metaverses as platforms - platforms for anything. One of the things that we want to focus on within The SolaVerse is content delivery. Engaging content delivery - with Web3 technology. I can’t go into too much detail because we’ll have our ideas pinched, but each metaverse will likely have their own “niche” - like social media platforms nowadays. You have Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and they all have a different target market. But social media platforms are restricted on what they can offer, and how they can offer it. In the metaverse, anything is possible.

 

Weimer: Why did you choose 2,000 SOLA-STARs?

SolaVerse: We wanted to ensure that SOLA-STAR NFTs were exclusive. There will only ever be 2,000 in existence. Forming the foundation of The SolaVerse, the 2,000 SOLA-STARS will provide a platform to build upon. A lot of thought went into the number of stars that we’d release though, we needed to think about the mechanics of our upcoming game, the metaverse as a whole and many other factors - and 2,000 was the number that the model-data gave us. It allows us to create a sustainable and thriving userbase, environment and economy to build upon going forward.

 

Weimer: How did you "algorithmically generate pieces of art" on a technical level?

SolaVerse: The properties that define the SOLA-STARS were processed by a series of automated scripts that combined and organized them to generate a limited set of 2,000 distinct and unique combinations. Once the DNA for each star had been created, the image processing library on the server assembled the individual elements that represent the properties of the star, modified them to fit the parameters and rendered them.

The final result is a collection of 2,000 unique 800px by 800px JPEG image files that were produced without human input. Each image will be allocated to one of the ERC721 tokens as part of our "reveal" when the token sales are complete.

This also ties in with our Fair Launch protocol - proving that ZERO “rare” stars were held back for anyone, and everyone has an equal and fair chance to get any of the stars - we have no idea which star will be connected to which token until the reveal happens.

Weimer: Your website mentions the ability to own more than just a SOLA-STAR. What's the benefit of owning a SOLA-PLANET?

SolaVerse: Just like a SOLA-STAR, your SOLA-PLANET will be a piece of real estate. Not only will you be distributed the token rewards by staking your planet, you will also earn a share of the rewards for everything that happens on your planet! More details on planets will be released closer to their launch in 2022.

Weimer: Is there any real world application of owning a star?

SolaVerse: Plans are underway to host launch events in London and Los Angeles at the inception of The SolaVerse, and we can confirm that SOLA-STAR holders will gain access to their very own private events, including our launch parties. Over time, we will expand the future events that we hold for all community members whether you hold an NFT, play our Play2Earn game(s), take part in our metaverse or anything in between. Additionally, SOLA-STAR owners are free to form their own real world groups, to collaborate with their SOLA-PLANET holders or to form guilds that have real world activities outside of TSV. As for TSV official events, some will simply require a SOLA-STAR in your wallet to be able to ‘mint’ a ticket (gas free, don’t fret) while others may require you to hold a SOLA-STAR and purchase access to the event using $SOLA. Some events may even be so exclusive that they are only open to the first 200 ticket buyers. There are many avenues and adventures that await, but remember that the most exclusive of these events will require NFTs to gain access to the ticketing function.

Weimer: There is often a metaphor that buying an NFT is much like paying to name a star in the 90's. Is this project kind of a tongue-in-cheek joke poking fun at that?

SolaVerse: It wasn’t originally! But our community members shared their passion on how much they wanted to be able to name their star - so we listened! This does tie in nicely to the Founding Stars that we mentioned earlier though. A bit like the Million Dollar Homepage, being able to name your star and have it showcased on the main website just gives SOLA-STARS another potential benefit!

Weimer: How will people who don't own an NFT benefit from playing the game? What will that look like for them vs. someone who owns a planet or solar system?

SolaVerse: Our Play2Earn game will be free to play for everyone. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to connect and play our game - as long as they have a web 3 wallet! (Metamask is a good example of this). A player will land on our website, enter the game and connect with their wallet. They will be able to play the game just like any SOLA-STAR or SOLA-PLANET holder would be able to - the only difference is the rewards generate - by holding one of those NFTs you will multiply your rewards tremendously.

Weimer: For someone who doesn't like playing video games, how is this project still relevant to them or do you not want non-gamers involved?

SolaVerse: To investors, traders, artists, collectors, developers, geeks and everything in between - we are a home for you! Our play2earn game is just the first project that we’ll be building within The SolaVerse. Many people think that a metaverse has to be gaming related and we want to prove that wrong. We plan to increase the overall usability and reason to use a metaverse as a platform. Content delivery is already a huge thing - and we want to build a metaverse that can incorporate that into it’s backbone and foundation and bring huge audiences directly into the metaverse.

Weimer: What other projects are you inspired by?

SolaVerse: There are so many. Vitalik Buterin and what he’s created with Ethereum is an inspiration to me. The potential of smart contracts has only just begun to be explored so I’m always keeping my ear to the ground on what developments there are. I’m a huge fan of what BAYC are doing and the community that they’re building. I've taken a lot of inspiration from them on the way we’re trying to build and engage with our community.

Weimer: What are some things you're scared of going wrong?

SolaVerse: We were scared of everything going wrong to be honest, which is why we put in so much work before we even announced the project. From website crashes to stolen wallet keys - we’ve worried about it all. We hope that we’ve done everything right and we always have multiple different sets of eyes to check over the final decisions and products. But you can never be 100% sure. We will be looking to onboard a cyber security team/firm soon after the sale to ensure that going forward we are always continuing to develop our security policies and practices.

Weimer: The unknown and cryptic space-language in your roadmap is done to add to the mystery and aura of the project I assume. What about people who want to know more about the project's details. What should they do to learn more?

SolaVerse: Our roadmap and branding is cryptic at heart. We have always enjoyed mystery. However if you would like to learn more about the project in a more detailed and concise way, we would recommend reading our whitepaper which details all of the current plans and ideas that we have and breaks down the tokenomics of our upcoming token, $SOLA.

Weimer: As your Discord community expands, how are you going to manage spam and scams?

SolaVerse: In the most secure and ruthless way! Scammers are getting deeper and deeper into the cracks of the NFT space and it’s getting to the point where you can’t connect your wallet anywhere without 100% making sure that you’re connecting to the right place. But the best bit of advice we and anyone can give right now is get a hardware wallet! Hardware wallets will keep your funds and your NFTs safe. Most of us have had to learn the hard way, but you don’t need to, do the smart thing and get your hardware wallet set up and transfer everything onto it - there’s plenty of really good YouTube videos explaining it all - I’d personally recommend a Ledger - we use the Nano X’s at TSV.

Weimer: Will SOLA-STARS and SOLA-PLANETS be the only NFTs in The SolaVerse?

SolaVerse: Simply put, no! We actually have 3 levels of NFTs planned for The SolaVerse. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. The Primary NFTs are the stars and planets which create the foundation of The SolaVerse (these earn token rewards for activity that takes place in the metaverse). Secondary NFTs will be things like in-game items and skins for those items. Finally Tertiary NFTs will be disposable items like ‘Speed Up’ credits and Extra Energy for example.

In early 2022 the development will begin on our in-house marketplace which will host a huge range of unique NFTs. This will allow us to create a hub of activity and allow users to easily trade their NFTs.

Weimer: Finally, is there anything you'd like to tease for the first time?

SolaVerse: In Q3 next year, we will start exploring the development of land—in space… on your planets. Where you’ll be able to purchase/sell/rent out ‘continents’ and on the continents we have something very special planned. But, we can’t go that far today. We’ll be releasing teasers over the coming weeks and months on our Discord so make sure you don’t miss out.

If you mint a SOLA-STAR before November 30th and don’t list it for sale before January 1st, your star will achieve the ‘Founding Star’ status - which basically gives a star a permanent advertising spot on our website! So, if you haven’t got one yet, be quick! You can mint one with a MetaMask wallet or TrustWallet (and many other wallets) by visiting our website or visiting our Discord server for a How To Mint tutorial. We still can’t believe that we launched just a few weeks ago and our community has reached 40,000 members already! And is growing by the day! It’s been incredible.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.