BABY AA
Arcadeum Arena (AA) is the love-child of OP Games and the Arcadians. The game is so deeply interlaced within the history of the two that we must go back in time to have a better grasp of what AA is all about and what it means to the entire OP Games ecosystem.
OP Games has been developing blockchain games since 2017. When the crypto bull run of Dec 2020 took off, and with it the explosion of NFTs and blockchain gaming, the company saw years of belief and enthusiasm in the space gain massive traction almost overnight. Under the leadership of Paul Gadi and Chase Freo, there was no hesitation to hop on the ship and go all-in on the mission — the mission to educate and onboard gamers and game devs from Web 2 to Web 3. The journey meant putting into light the many use-cases of this technology that benefit creators and consumers alike. Part of this path included dropping an NFT collection (Arcadians) and creating a game for it to showcase what true Web 3 gaming could do. And so, the Arcadians assembled on the ETH blockchain and its cute little baby avatar-battler game was born for the company and the entire community to nurture and develop into an upstanding, respectable citizen of the metaverse.
OPG’s AVATAR BATTLER
Referred to as “our avatar-battler” in the earlier days, Arcadeum Arena falls into the auto-chess player, avatar-battler category of games. This sub-genre of strategy games highlights chess-like components allowing players to strategically place characters on a grid during a “set-up” phase before battling it out with an opponent’s characters absent of any more direct input from both players.
For Arcadeum Arena, your “pieces” are the Arcadians. The way you strategize placement lies in the unique skills and abilities of each class of Arcadians: Knight, Tech, Wizard, Assassin and Gunner.At present, the game is as simple as that. But the beautiful thing about it lies not only in its ability to grow, but in its destiny to grow. The fact that it is living in a platform that breathes collaborative game building and is indeed, THE game of this platform puts it in an exciting position where possibilities are almost literally endless.
TODDLER-BATTLER
AA has already grown so much in just its first 6 months. From a 2-man team back in October (Paul Gadi and Marc Polican), to the addition of Jay Gavarra, Arcadeum Arena is now being developed through a full partnership with Altitude Games. What started as a clunky, 3v3, turn-based auto-battler with little to no features is now a 4v4 slugfest with new landscapes, new character skills and dope animations! Of course, the game is still in its….let’s call it toddler stage. There is so much to improve. But it’s really cool that gamers, devs and the community are coming together to help build it out.
With this, AA carries the essence of OP Games’ deepest identity. The name Arcadeum Arena actually came from a naming contest held in our Discord. There’s a lot of work ahead with NFT/wallet integration, PVE, rarity implications, skills, Arcadian upgrades, and arena terrain features all being prototyped — many of these builds coming from feedback and suggestions from the community. Shoutout to the entire OP Games/Arcadians community! Such an awesome collection of people.
The mid-term dream for OP Games’ precious battler is this: Seamless NFT integration. Playable NFTs from different projects jam-packed with complex skills and abilities based on traits and rarity. Upgradeable weapons and skills attainable via XP points and/or game tokens. Slick art, music and effects and more. The long-term dream? That’s an ever-evolving, interlaced vision that each and every person in the OPG community has a say in.
ARCADIA, FOREVAH!
With all that being said, I have come to an irrefutable conclusion: Arcadeum Arena is as precious to OP Games and the Arcadians as Vibranium is to Wakanda. Okay, maybe without the world-changing, life-altering implications, but the analogy is sound in a number of ways!
- OPG may be able to live without it but things wouldn’t be the same. AA has been THE game of the company since the launch of the Arcadians.
- Being OPG’s representation of what can be done with Web 3 gaming, AA’s growth and development is crucial to the success of the OP Games ecosystem.
- As the beloved baby of Arcadia, AA has become the community’s treasure, a precious resource we all want to build, develop and protect together.
- If a massive success, AA can make the OPG ecosystem the richest, most powerful entity in the entire pluriverse to the extent that Ultron and the Avengers have to battle it out in a face-melting battle of epicly wild proportions in order to secure control of life as we know it.
Okay, that escalated quickly. But in Web 3, things do escalate rather quickly. But if you take a moment to think about it, with technology moving at the current pace and Web 3 opening all kinds of doors and possibilities, who is to say Arcadeum Arena can’t have world-changing, life-altering implications?
Play Arcadeum Arena here: https://alpha.outplay.games/
