How GamerHash’s Debut Game Became One of the Best Experiences in the Metaverse

A few years ago, the GamerHash crew got together, and asked a seemingly simple question: What would make a metaverse game so good that people would want to play it even if they weren’t earning rewards?

It’s no surprise that people play games for fun — 3.09 billion annual gamers can’t be wrong — but in the world of play-to-earn gaming, players are attracted by the rewards as much (if not more than) the actual gameplay experience. Now, we’re all for rewards, and our love for NFTs, Web3, crypto, etc. is why we’re here. But, we’re also gamers, readers, and storytellers. And we thought — yes, we’ll make sure our game players will earn rewards, but why not make a game that stands out beyond that, and enthralls people with its storytelling and worldbuilding too?

We were so innocent, back then. We had no idea that…

We had just set ourselves on a years-long quest to redefine what is possible with metaverse gaming.

The process

Everything seems possible when no one has told you that it isn’t. We decided from the outset that there would be no obstacles too large to overcome, and no boundaries we wouldn’t cross. Our vision was huge: we didn’t just want to create a game. We wanted to create a world.

We knew that if we ever got bored during the process of making the game, then players would get bored too! So we put creativity and spark into everything. Long brainstorming sessions into the night lead to intricate backstories for every NPC, from those who give you the quests to even that random dude in the corner tinkering with the water cooler. Random ideas at 3 AM led to frantic Slack messages which became writing sessions building out entire new plot lines.

Characters started to come alive. Plots grew into intrigues as we interlaced the narrative with secrets, easter eggs, backstories, and conflict. We started feeling bad for our brand hero, Astro, as he was about to enter a universe bigger and crazier than (we think) had ever been tried before on the metaverse!

It was slowly coming all together… but making this vision actually work in the Sandbox is a whole different story!

We’re proud partners of the Sandbox and believe that their platform provides an incredible tool for creators like us to use to bring our vision to life. The Sandbox, like all systems, has rules, restrictions, and parameters. And we’d brainstormed and written TRAVERSE as if none of these things existed. So, in other words… Our vision bumped against the hard wall of reality!

You see, TRAVERSE was planned to fully utilize the 2X2 chunk of our 6X6 metaverse land, making the most of the space we had in every possible direction (that’s left, right, and up!)… However, because of that, the game was just too big to play in one chunk.

The beginning of an end?

So, what did we do? Did we back down, lower the scale of our ambitions, and simplify TRAVERSE?

You’re kidding, right? You already know the answer. No. We kept everything.

Every plot, every secret, every character, and every quest. This required some creative writing to make sure our game could still be playable while sticking within the rules of the universe we designed. Luckily, after a lot of trial and error, as well as priceless feedback from the Sandbox team, we got there without sacrificing any part of our creative vision — not letting our own “lousy piece of tape” stop us! 🤪👇

That’s why, to make the size of the game more manageable, we broke TRAVERSE up into three chapters. Two of them are NOW live, having been released during The Sandbox’s May Fiesta. The third and final chapter will be released during the Alpha Season.

What about the result of our efforts?

Well, we couldn’t have described it better than Alvaro Lamarche Toloza, the Publishing Lead Line Producer of The Sandbox:

“Traverse is one of the highlights of the Game Maker fund, remarkable for its wealth of environmental storytelling and carefully designed narratives. GamerHash has evidently put a lot of effort in fleshing out a very detailed and unique world, meticulously crafted with gorgeous voxel art, featuring a multitude of over-the-top and absurd characters. This showcases to our community the impact of incorporating a touch of playful humor and extensively customized levels. We definitely believe that GamerHash is playing a big role in showing what can be created in The Sandbox, and we’re all quite excited to see what they will create next.”

A baptism of fire for our new, battle-ready team!

This was our first game project and it was a bit like attempting to climb Mount Everest on your first-ever hike. We got to the top but almost fell a thousand times along the way!

The thing that saw us through was relentlessly sticking to our vision, and suffusing literally everything with the spirit of play, mischief, and wonder which really is what gets us excited about the metaverse in the first place. What’s more, now that we’ve proven ourselves, become tighter as a team, and learned what it takes to bring creative dreams to life in the metaverse, we’re only excited for an even bigger adventure next! And as those who have already played our game know, TRAVERSE is just the start. It’s not the whole journey, but rather a taxi ride to the airport (or space station!). Now, we’re in a place where there are so many more possibilities to venture out beyond the stars and into the unknown.

Are you coming along for the ride? 😏

Join our community! 🚀

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How GamerHash’s Debut Game Became One of the Best Experiences in the Metaverse was originally published in GamerHash on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.