CCP reveals game world details and playtest dates for new blockchain game set in EVE universe
CCP Games, developer and publisher of EVE Online, has finally released new information about the highly anticipated upcoming blockchain game “Project Awakening.”
According to a pair of March 13 posts on the game’s official website, the next Project Awakening playtest/hackathon will take place on May 21. Signups for the closed beta are currently live as of the time of this article’s publication.
The posts also gave us our first glimpse at details surrounding the game world and its lore. Per CCP Project Awakening will be a single-shard survival experience — meaning gamers won’t be split across instances. It’s set in “the dark expanse of space where civilization has decayed in the ruin of its own ambition.” Gameplay will purportedly revolve around survival, rebuilding a “broken world,” and combat.
Project Awakening will have some form of blockchain gaming built into it, according to CCP, however it remains unclear exactly what this will look like at launch.
Per a CCP blog post:
“CCP Games is creating a persistent world bound by digital physics, where composability and programmability will enable players to build and collaborate on top, outside of and within the emergent game environment - unlocking boundless creativity for third-party development via blockchain technology and cryptography.”
It’s possible this could indicate that the game might support some form of digital asset or real estate ownership or other form of blockchain-based commoditization, but so far details are scarce.
Another March 13 blog post appears to have been written from the perspective of one of the game’s non-player characters. It’s evidently meant to lay out some of the game’s lore.
But, with lines such as “too long the gate network hasn’t carried thinking meat through its veins,” it’s more of an interesting teaser of what’s to come than an informative view into the game world itself.
Cointelegraph reached out to the company for further details concerning the hackathon and what testers can expect. CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson told Cointelegraph that:
"Playtesters will be building on top of the Carbon Development Platform, using the game's systems to create new features and functionality within the game world. Familiarity with the Solidity programming language will be useful, but not a requirement. Our first hackathon last year shaped our understanding of the platform's potential, and with the upcoming hackathon, we expect an escalation of creativity and ingenuity from the community."
Pétursson also said the company didn’t have a launch window to share yet.
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