Taking Blockchain Gaming to the Stars

One does not go to space without first figuring out where one will go, and what one will do once they get there. However, that's exactly how I started this adventure, I went in cold, and I went in fast. First impressions are always important, and Exoplanet.io wowed me, I was expecting something very basic in 3D. It turned out to be a mistake on my part. What I got is a proper spacecraft that you can use to fly around to explore this universe, with fancy spaced out music to keep you company.

Be Cool It's Only a Demo

Do keep in mind that I was only exploring in a demo version of ExoPlanets' world. Looking around, all I could see were three planets and a couple of space stations. I decided to take a look at the ominous looking floating space stations wishing to start a fight. Unfortunately, it was only for show, but man! Did they look cool. Who knows they could be a future setup for another feature to be included in the game.

Doing the Homework

After doing some space tourism at the space stations, I decided to take a look at the Exoplanet's Galaxy page to see what three planets I was looking at. I mean going in cold at that point did not seem like the right approach. In my search I discovered the following:

"NASA’s database currently contains approximately 3,700 confirmed exoplanets, and since our game is scientifically accurate, that is the total number of exoplanets the game will ever have,.." Exoplanet.io

Accessing NASA's Archives 

I tried but obviously failed, to figure out what planets I was looking at since there were thousands of them. The search was not entirely fruitless. I found a lot of amazing planets for when the game will launch. I quickly became very excited at the thought of owning my very own planet. That's right you can own the planets! I'm not talking about in-game currency. I am talking crypto monetary value and real ownership. Take a look at the screenshot above. The game has CryptoMatch so that every planet is linked to a specific cryptocurrency. Nice right? So I dug a little further and took a closer look at the details, and ExoPlanets was not joking, each planet has links to the official planet's wiki, and Nasa's Exoplanet Archive. It's the real thing.

Continuing the Journey 

With all this research I decided to pick up where I left off and went straight to a planet to do some good old-fashioned mining. As you can see above, you turn into a drone, and you whizz around from resource to resource collecting all essential minerals.

Now as you mine on the planets, you'll earn some in-game currency. You'll keep it all if you own the planet, or you'll have to give a share of your earnings to the person who's planet you're mining on. Depending on how much activity there is on your planet, the planet's lifeforms will evolve into a spacefaring civilization that'll automatically mine in nearby planets expanding your Galactic Empire.

What's the Verdict?

Essentially the more you play, the more your planet will evolve, the more planets you can mine, and the bigger your empire will become. All in all, I would recommend doing some research into which planet or planets to buy, and before buying, ask yourself if you're really interested in creating a real galactic empire. This game is not a casual game, and if you are ready to commit to it, commit to it early while there are still planets to buy, coming into this game halfway from launch will make it very difficult for you to grow and get a leg up in the universe.