The Ever-Expanding Arcadia

OP Games
6 min readMay 31, 2022

The stage is set for a new era of gaming and game development. In this world, creators take ownership of their work in ways that have not been possible prior to Web 3. In this world, game development is collaborative. In this world, the amalgamation of all forward-moving tech and its integration into culture will transform the gaming experience into the stuff of dreams.

By nature of Web 3, this new world will be a world of many worlds. A mega, multi-dimensional metaverse of creation and innovation. There will be a place for everyone and everything.

And though a fully-functioning metaverse may still be some distance away, the trajectory is inevitable. The momentum of emerging blockchain technology and the steadfast conviction in how it can change lives are all the legs we need to start creating and turning this dream into reality.

The team at OPGames is impassioned to be at the forefront of this new wave of creation. We are helping build the new world by building our place in it.

And our place is in Arcadia.

How’s this for a surprise sneak peek of the Arcadians Comics first edition?

Arcadia is just like the retro arcade halls of the past — except in the metaverse. This is the basic idea. But with the power of Web 3 and blockchain technology, the experience of stepping into this virtual world of fun and adventure will indeed resemble more and more the gaming fantasies we’ve been dreaming of for years. This may take time but building must start somewhere.

Arcadia is where everything we are building towards comes to life. It is the platform that will host a growing library of games built with OP Games’ SDK’s. Here, players can play all kinds of games, pick their favorite to host a tournament and challenge friends. You can explore the world with your favorite NFT avatars and progress in the metagame through various quests. As time goes by, the community will be more and more involved in decision-making and the overall direction.

Genesis Arcadians NFTs are uber precious.

As you might’ve gathered. The magic of Arcadia lies in the limitless possibilities provided by the platform’s design. OP Games is building Arcadia not only as an incubator of games and a vestibule into Web 3, but eventually as an open world, flexible and welcoming to all kinds of fun gaming integrations and features.

Right now, Arcadia is up and running — consistently featuring new games from partner developers, hosting tournaments and providing an enjoyable space for the community to just come in and play games. Our founders continue to push forward and wave our flag around the Web 3 gaming space. On the back-end, the team is constantly working on builds, improvements and integrations both big and small. Find frequent updates on our Discord.

We already have a bunch of tournament ready games on the platform!

Though we have come a long way since the birth of the platform, we are definitely still early. What is the vision for the platform and what could it look like in the near future?

To make it easier to imagine, let’s compare some of the things we’re trying to achieve with Arcadia to some familiar games and concepts.

Similar to the Loot Project, we look to develop Arcadia by advocating a more decentralized approach to building and a culture of freedom and creation. The Loot Project does this by using their obscure “loot NFTs” to allow developers and the community to take creative control of where the project goes. We aim to achieve the same effect with the Arcadians (Arcadians are loot!), and with our open-source tooling and game legos. Developers and creators can use our software development kits (SDK’s) to create as they wish and enhance features in a way that builds up the entire platform and gaming experience.

Create games, characters, narratives and more around Loot bags.

Some concepts from legendary open world and role-playing games can also be thrown into the mix.

Like Ragnarok or Grand Theft Auto, your adventure in Arcadia will be a nonlinear experience with many ways to reach an objective or goal. You can explore the world freely and discover quests and achievements to improve your characters level and experience. You can deck out your character with accessories and upgrades purchased from the shop or marketplace. The world is the game!

What’s more exciting than a world full of adventure?

Now, imagine all of these things housed within an Arcade hall of games. The games are built by developers onboarded by OP Games and the players moving around the arcade are you and the rest of the community via your Arcadians. You use your Arcadians to traverse the different games while playing the metagame in between to level up. A higher-level Arcadian gives you more power and access and unlocks more rewarding quests and rarer drops. Can NFT avatars from other projects intermingle, live and progress in Arcadia in the same way? That’s the plan.

Arcadia will be a jacked up Arcade you can instantly access online.

The closest thing to the dream state is something like Ready Player One or closer to what we’re doing specifically, Wreck It Ralph. Yep, everyone in the space is fantasizing about a metaverse just like the magical, interoperable ones presented in these blockbuster movies. Has the narrative been overused in Web 3? Maybe. Is it what everyone wants to see? YES. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? These movies introduced to us what an expansive, all-encompassing, kick-ass virtual reality could look like in the near future and it looks nothing short of incredible.

Replace Ralph with an Arcadian for the desired effect!

At present we are building towards awesome game-focused integrations like Tournament SDK’s and a Permissionless Player vs. Player Contract. These will allow players to create their own tournaments and freely challenge other players to battle. Wagers and bets in the works too! You could come into Arcadia with a couple friends, choose a game and organize a little tournament with your desired prize pot. Talk about a sweet hangout alternative for the crew.

Blockchain Integration will let you use your NFTs on the platform and allow every game on Arcadia to connect to cryptocurrency wallets of different blockchains. This means Arcadia can accept different currencies for purchases, payments and rewards.

Of course, the leaderboards will be a beaut to look at. Arcadia will publish leaderboards of various categories. All-time leaders per game, tournament/cup winners, previous champs, team and community rankings and the like. You guessed right, the team behind Arcadia loves gaming and juicy competition.

As mentioned in the World Paper, “The World is the Game — Arcadia is a living, breathing, dynamic place. The actions of the players, and the results from the games played over a period, can change things about the World and the experience of playing in it.”

Arcadia’s elasticity pervades the entire platform, from partner devs using our SDK’s and building on top of our game legos to community collaboration and the effects of in-game player decisions.

It’s an all-out gaming metaverse designed to grow and develop through Web 3 principles and cooperation amongst like-minded individuals. This is the ever-expanding Arcadia.

Visit Arcadia today at: https://alpha.outplay.games/
OP Games website: opgames.org
OP Games Discord:
discord.gg/opgames

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