Video game company and 3D engine provider Epic Games has been very active in NFT games lately, first with the launch of its first blockchain-based title, Blankos Block Party, and then with a second addition announced on Friday. .
The space strategy game Star Atlas, described as one of the projects of nft games the most ambitious and based on Solana has just hit the Epic Games Store as a limited demo, although the game will likely not be finalized for a few years.
Launch of a demo of the game NFT Star Atlas
The demo, described as “pre-alpha” and named Star Atlas: Showroom, allows you to see the Unreal Engine 5 technology that powers the game in action. Thanks to the demo, those who have bought an NFT Star Atlas will be able to explore a 3D environment and view the ships and vehicles they have acquired as NFTs.
Moreover, it should be noted that this demo of Star Atlas is only accessible to NFT holders of the game. Obtaining an access key indeed requires owning a ship and joining one of the factions of the game.
AMTA, the company that develops Star Atlas, however, clarified through its CEO that the demo also offers a single non-NFT ship to explore, and that certain access codes will be given to certain non-owners.
It is also expected that the Showroom demo will be updated later with additional features. These include multiplayer mode, live chat, and the ability for owners of NFT vessels to fly them.
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A game development toolkit on the Solana blockchain
Along with the Star Atlas demo, Epic Games also launched a toolkit on Friday that will make it easier for other video game companies to integrate their own games with the Solana blockchain.
Named Foundation Software Development Kit (F-KIT), this toolkit for developers is an open-source SDK integrating a system letting users sign transactions to perform actions in the game.
The release of the F-KIT as an open-source tool means that “mainstream studios now have a faster lane” for building games on Solana, according to the Epic Games boss.
He also clarified that it will be possible to extend the kit to other blockchains, such as Ethereum, stressing that ultimately the goal for the company is to encourage the industry to “build experiences that expand the Star Atlas universe.”
When will the final version of the NFT Star Atlas game be released?
Despite the immediate availability of a demo, it’s important to point out that players should expect development of the final game to take several more years. Indeed, the Star Atlas demo released on Friday is just a taste of the future full gaming experience.
In fact, the CEO of Epic has estimated that it will take another five or six years of development to arrive at the final and complete version of Star Atlas.
However, the launch of the demo is a very encouraging first step. Apart from the features that will be added by the end of the year and in 2023 to the demo, Epic Games plans to release a complete “vertical slice” of the game, i.e. a fully functional, but limited portion of the game that will give a much clearer idea of how the game will render in the end.
“We still have a long way to go,” said the CEO. “But the idea is to continuously release these iterative features to constantly get more engagement.”
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