Hi everyone,
This is my first post on Hive, I was thinking about what really makes me happy and it is actually very obvious, happiness to me is all about discovering new things and finding out how they work. So, I decided to contact people who came up with something new recently and interview them. What better way is there to find out what is actually going on?
For my first in depth interview, I am very happy to be able to talk to Elindos Phar, the inventor and creator of EXODE, the first game ever built entirely on HIVE.
Hi Elindos,
First of all, let me quickly introduce myself. I am one the very early ‘heavy’ Alpha investors in Splinterlands (of course Steemmonsters back then), besides that I am also an avid player and have played over 22k ranked games. In the recent seasons, I have ended in the top 10 of the ranked leader board more than once, which, to be honest is getting insanely difficult these days. I absolutely love gaming in general and it has been amazing to be a part of the Splinterlands community and see the progress this game has made. As my nickname kind of gives it away, I am also very curious about a lot of things in life, that’s how I found out about Steem in the first place, a couple of years ago. At the moment I am specifically more curious about new games emerging on the newly forked chain, called Hive. I did not really do a lot of research concerning the game you are developing, because I wanted this interview to be a blank canvas, sort of speak, so it can kind of go with the flow, if that's ok with you?
That's absolutely great! I admire everything you have achieved on Splinterlands, congrats! I used to play Splinterlands too, quite a lot, like one year ago.
Are you done playing SL now?
Yes. Because too much to do as well, on the programming side!
So, let me start by asking a couple of questions about you personally… Who are you?
I am Elindos and I am a hardcore programmer and game creator. I have been involved in several creations, starting as early as 8 years old. The first ones should not count, I suppose..
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What have you done on Steem/Hive before this game?
Programming wise I mean?
Oh! Programming wise that's exactly the point: I came to the Steem blockchain as player. As many of us did, and are still certainly. The JS (Justin Sun) events last February and March made me realize I was not contributing to the blockchain as much as I could. To be honest, that stirred something in me. And strongly! That is exactly when I started speaking about making a new game.
Cool! What do you do in real life? I guess you are a professional coder and work as an independent or do you work for a company?
I program and make games since my early years, as independent. The true indie! I also created, published, distributed boardgames, However I had to pause at times to get some funding back. I made some techs too on my own. I worked at that times in IT, mostly in artificial intelligence or back-end engineering.
Wow, impressive...
I read somewhere that the title of your new game (and gameplay) has something to do with with the steem/hive debacle?
Is that true?
Haha! I did not know that there were rumours going on about that. But no, EXODE was imagined years ago, based on a little prototype at that time. It has a story base, and a strong gameplay based on its own theme. It was also exposed to the blockchain even before the fork happened.
Ah, that's funny indeed, but like you said it does fit the current situation really well. Did you completely abandon Steem?
Everything went at a very quick pace. I was to ready to launch EXODE, and then all of a sudden I had to pick a blockchain to go to. Even technically, you have to choose one. It's a hot item, but I think it's important to be truly honest. I have nothing against the Steem community, however, I really disapprove of some actions at the top and how they unfolded. I know a lot of developers who went to Hive, so I chose HIVE immediately. These last few weeks, I progressively left Steem, even as a blogger.
Thanks for that intro, now I want to pretend I am a complete noob and just found out about this game called EXODE
How do I start this game? I see I can buy packs, but there are so many options, what to choose?
To start off into EXODE universe, you just have to pick one of the entry starters. They can be found on our website and are currently at 5$ (will be 10$). Other packs are there to augment your gameplay options.
How much money do you think you need to invest to start and have a good experience?
A good experience starts at 10 USD in my opinion. This is a combination of all three starting characters, I would add a few boosters (collectible elements), up to your own budget, they are at 2 USD piece.
The major gameplay situation though - and collectible value I mean - begins with contracts and exclusive offers on our presale.
We call these the "Glorious Eight".
Does that mean if I buy the 10 usd (all three) I can play three different roles?
Exactly! One of the starter characters is the Navy Lieutenant. He is our guy to fight aliens in space, with a disciplined crew, a combat frigate. The second one is the Ark Scientist. This role can design new components, such as medicine, narcotics, etc for the player market. The third one is more targeted at large colony management. Don't send that Elected Leader into combat :)
OK, so if I buy only one of the three, I am stuck to that role. Can I add roles later in the game?
Yes, as there is a player market, and several Origins (characters) will be sold by players. Four secret Origins are found only in our boosters, meaning the alpha collection has 7 different possible gameplays.
The contracts you mention, who creates them? You? Or other players?
Contracts, that's something very specific in EXODE. They are "lifetime contracts", but it's a gameplay term actually. You don't really sign anything as a player, this just means that, in regards to the EXODE universe, your account will receive resources from the faction, or corporation, named in that contract. For example, the Rekatron Weapon Drops contract, will drop unique weapons every week. The Syndicate Contract does even more than this, as the Syndicate is a huge criminal faction in EXODE.
You have to pay for these contracts?
Yes, it is a one time fee, but the contract packs give lifetime, weekly drops to your inventory, that you can resell. They have huge value in gameplay options and market. They must be purchased; otherwise this would have destroyed any added value for player-made things.
So, if I don't buy a contract I can't really play the game?
No, not at all! To launch a game in EXODE, you only need two things: an Origin card, such as the Navy Lieutenant card, and a ship card. Both are in any starter. Contracts are assets for midterm value.
Aaah, and what will you be able to do when the game launches with an origin card and a ship card?
Or is that still a secret?
EXODE has two game modes and we want to make each of these two immense. The first one is evacuation. EXODE is a desperate time when humanity gets slaughtered. Evacuation, or EVAC, is what you begin with in EXODE. It's a highly emotional space trip into an emergency situation, with a battle going on, and you are giving orders to your crew.
Your Origin card defines the random unique crew you will receive.
And your Ship card, defines many other things, such as your passenger capacity, cargo hold, and other mechanics we use.
Ok, so you will travel into space, in search for what? A planet?
You will activate warp and jump into the vast unknown. In EXODE universe, this is what is called an "unrestricted space jump". A no return trip, transporting you to unknown coordinates. That's the only kind of desperate action that can make you escape - at least for a little while. Once you have completed your jump, you will be able to scan for a first planet.
You can skip this one, and scan another; but aliens will detect you in space.
So it's more cautious to settle quickly and then be safe. EXODE is all about decisions.
Cool and once you settled you can build your colony?
Yes, once you land, the "warning" beeps will stop. You can finally settle, unpack the resources you escaped with. And start exploring this new planet. You will receive random resources from your EVAC
and of course, you have also picked up some passengers before escaping. These passengers, together with your crew, will be your first citizens.
Ok, now let's say I bought the 10 usd 3 starter pack, does that mean I can EVAC to three different planets?
Yes, but to avoid people being too confused with three colonies at once, we manage the game flow a bit differently. Your first colony must be stable and good, before you can launch another EVAC if you would like.
How long do you think that will take?
That's really made for players and game flow, and not anything about us. I was thinking three days if people know how to do their stuff, so maybe 2 to 4 days.
However we'll have to test that and see player feedback
If you have more planets will that be an advantage in the game?
First, I have to talk about how you can get more planets. There are two ways to have several planets. As we have just discussed, you could launch all your different Origin types to find different planets. However, there is also another way. There are 3 steps in a game: Evacuation... Colonization... and Space Exploration. When exploring new planets, you can settle new colonies.
Now, what happens if you have several? It's harder to manage and to defend. Each colony must stay undetected by aliens. But as long as you manage that, you can explore the benefits of each planet. They all have their own unique materials, fauna and flora specifics, that you can exploit.
What is the end goal of the game?
To be the ruler of space?
There are many objectives to follow long term. Season ranking rewards, daily missions, etc. Each one of these can give you rewards with a different value. You can also try to invent a new type of fuel and become the new fuel magnate! Remember though, when I spoke of the 3 steps? Actually, there is a fourth step. That's something that I will talk about for the very first time.
Existing! Tell me more!!
The fourth step is what we call "the END GAME", this is where your personal story leads up to. In EXODE we want one thing, to create truly unique game experience. If you have survived long enough in the game, you can unlock what we call the "End game option". Different paths can lead to different "end stories". You could fight the aliens, in one epic battle, or investigate who they are and try to settle a truce. There are several end game options we will develop. These are put in place for long term players. They are optional: if you prefer to keep at what you were doing, you can. You can also go for your Legacy Rewards and go out in a blazing glory during a dynamic event that will be announced to all players. End game events are meant to be huge, epic moments, with lasting rewards and effects.
Wow, excellent!
If you created a colony and failed, you earn rewards in EXODE - we call that Legacy Rewards. End game options are not for trial and error. They are there for the best veterans, the seasoned ones. The ones who mastered the dangers of EXODE, and have discovered some new mysteries.
Rewards in end game options could even be a new Origin card.
Ah, so you can also fail when you try to create a colony?
Would you lose your ship card and other cards?
You never lose your assets, the cards and packs you purchased from EXODE, we call them "permanent assets" for a reason! Your Origin and ship is "connected" to your game account as long as the game exists. If you lose the end game? Your cards return to your account and are ready to start a new game after a period of cool down.
How long is the cooldown?
that depends on the duration of the game you played. Playing a game a long time unlocks many interesting rewards, all related to a "drop table" from the Origin you played. Losing one such "long" game would put your Origin on cool down for possibly 2-3 days top. That's up still up for debate. By doing that we want one thing though: to encourage you to try your other Origins!
Interesting, seems like there is a lot going on in EXODE.
Thanks for explaining all of that so far.
Now, I would like to talk a bit about the economics of the game, I have tried many games on Steem (like drugwars, nextcolony, splinterlands) and in each one of those it does mean that the more you invest the easier it will be to reach the top, I could say even impossible to reach the top on the rankings if you don't invest as least as much as the other top players, will that also be the case for EXODE?
EXODE has many game mechanics. You have interesting options if you invest early, or if you invest more. But in the end, you only need to have one origin card, one ship card, some crew, passengers and crates. And one planet. Every player has aliens after him. Every player has orders to give, and decisions to take. Every player gains experience on his cards when he plays them, and levels them up.
There are Elite cards you can have - which are the same as goldfoil in SL and we don't make players loot or destroy each other.
EXODE is not pay to win.
Ok, but there will be rankings with rewards at the end of a season or something like that?
Yes indeed! There is a competition amongst the players for these rankings. We'll have different rankings however. So, suppose you have a superb ship, some legendary stuff, the question is, how high to the top of the rankings can that bring you? You still begin with only one planet - yours. You still have only one ship, and you must repair it before exploring again. Your citizens can only do so much in a day. The interesting thing here will be about the player produced market. Suppose a player purchases colonies, resources, citizens, his colony will be big. The bigger his colony, more intelligent decisions are required in order not to fail. Season rankings can give you several rewards: supply cards that you can distribute to your colonies, new launch assets for any new game (or to resell), and some EXOFUEL too, depending on your rank!
I am guessing not everything is fixed yet and still open to change?
Well, we have decided on plenty of things regarding the colonization gameplay. For other things - which, in everything we said above, are all looking for a perfect balance and have many options on the table. We'll have to adjust, mature, and pick the right options.
I have a couple more questions, hope that's ok?
It is!
First one, will you create something like DEC in Splinterlands?
We already have our new token, and it is eXode Fuel (EXOFUEL). It will find its usage in colonization gameplay. You will be able to earn it in daily missions but also to produce it on your colony. EXOFUEL will be used as fuel for your ships exploring space!
Will you be able to burn your cards and get EXOFUEL in return?
That was something SL did. It makes sense in an economic aspect, but that part has not been decided yet for EXODE. I think we need to focus on many other things firs and can decide about this later.
Alright, can you sell your cards already on the market?
Yes, you can! We already released our live market as it was part of our roadmap. The market is only used by a few people at the moment, and but that's normal, we are at the beginning stages of the game. We wanted it set up, and tested, before the card opening event. We plan to improve it in the coming days.
Nice
So, as an investor I would like to know a couple of things..
How can I know you won't stop developing in a couple of months and my investment is gone?
I think everyone who knows me for some time on our Discord has discovered how fully I am into this. I work 15-18 hours a day on EXODE, I release daily updates to about everything we create. This can speak about dedication. I am a "mature indie". I have worked in enough IT stuff and companies to know what I want in life. And what I want is for EXODE to EXPLODE. This game has an immense potential. There will be a client game and steam executable. And quite soon, even. And to say something from the heart: The crisis, the lockdown, has changed everything in many families. For me, it gave even more focus. I have organized my life to complete one objective, and that is EXODE. I can pretty much say no to clients and jobs. EXODE... is me! I imagined this project many years ago. And now it's happening! I am thrilled to the stars!
It's really nice to hear so much motivation!
Also, we are on blockchain. Which means a lot in "replaying blockchain", scanning assets back. I will publish EXODE game rulesets as well, to make things more comprehensive.(edited)
Are you alone in the development of the game?
If you mean as "developers", in the current day, yes. By the way, this means developer meetings are lightning fast :).
In the whole team though there are many artists, including a dedicated composer. I also made an announcement about ShinoXL, a top profile graphic artist, who joined the team recently. And there are our community managers.
Very nice.
One last thing I need to ask about, how are you going to handle the bots?
Are they allowed?
Haha, by sending them back to space! :) Bots are forbidden in EXODE.
That's actually quite funny for a game in space: no bots allowed!
Still, I know that it is a struggle for any blockchain game these days, so you have a solution to keep them out?
Oh yes. I have been a bot owner in games which authorize them. There is a post about it - where I asked bot owners not to hurt their game and not to engage in player tournaments. I know that allowing no automation API - no way to play a game by API - makes it hard already. It defeats the purpose. But in my past, I have also programmed pretty intense multi programs AI to even run graphic bots who could play any game. That's just one of the fun things I did to test waters. So, I know how to become a true evil nightmare to bots. Aside from banning IPs - I do read my logs, and am always one click away from reporting IPs, people beware - I could even do more. But I think I would not even have to go there.
Also, come to think of it - the whole process of EXODE, the cool down when origins fail, the fact that failing early gives no reward, and the dangers of aliens.
All of this makes it a nightmare and non-profitable aspect for bots.
That sounds solid.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for this interview! I know EXODE is in development, but it already reveals itself as a full, ambitious game. I think the blockchain merges in an excellent way with everything EXODE. I want players to have a great game to enjoy, and I want to deploy it soon :) See you soon in EXODE, pilots!
Alright, that's it for me now, this was super interesting, thanks a lot! Maybe one final question: why do I need to buy the 80 usd card?
The syndicate contract? Not only because Yakuzas are cool. But also because this contract drop table has epic ships, epic syndicate officers, plenty of nice criminal weapons, narcotics, and so much stuff. But also, the Kumicho legendary - their kingpin. And yes. Because Cyberpunk Yakuzas are cool, too
Haha, epic!!!
As of now, EXODE has more than 100 space captains, and is nearing 2000 packs sold!
At the end of this month (April 2020), all prices will increase. This is when EXODE becomes released as a playable game! EXODE presale will then last until end May; then many things, all the remaining presale contracts, special crew, escort ships, etc - will be burnt.
Hope to see you in the game!
TC