An Ark ship exploring a distant solar system.

When game developers talk about their upcoming games, they typically reference existing titles and focus on how they will improve on those experiences. That’s what makes talking about Parsec Frontiers so challenging. Our game is not an evolved version of Star Citizen, Endless Space or Game of War. It’s a totally new experience built from the ground up with blockchain in mind.

Parsec was born from a discussion on how blockchain technology could change gaming. Rather than rehashing an existing title to jump on the ICO bandwagon, we wanted to start with the fundamental question: What would the ultimate cryptocurrency game look like?

First of all it needs to be a game that is fun to play, set in a universe that can engage and entertain players for a long time. Secondly it should be a game where the values and content were not created by a game publisher, but by the actions of the players. All key assets should be on the chain and and the value created should be owned by the blockchain network. It would have to be interesting and potentially profitable to trade these assets between players, making the player driven economy the core of the game.

To achieve this, we decided to create a fresh start for humanity as the players colonize the Milky Way and build a new world together. Everything will be discovered, mined, processed and built after the game launches. This makes travel and exploration of our mostly unknown galaxy the heart of the game. Traveling to new solar systems will take significant time, increasing the excitement of what awaits you there. Will you find a habitable planet? Do the scans return the mineral compositions you were hoping for? Will you announce your findings and get to name the discovery, or will you follow the gold miners of old, keeping your discovery a secret until you’ve extracted the most valuable resources?

Trade is another big pillar. In many ways, Parsec is a gamification of trading. Every colonized planet will have its own stock exchange where any user (including those who view themselves as investors rather than players,) are free to trade anything from materials and constructed components, to completed objects and land deeds. If you want to move your goods to another exchange, you have to freighter it yourself or hire someone to do it for you.

And as history proves, where there is profit to be made, conflict will eventually arise. Like the rest of the game, combat in Parsec will be of a strategic nature, focusing on acquiring information and picking the right opportunities to act. When it’s introduced into the game, it will bring whole new dimensions of risk and reward to the already existing features. This is another reason why we think Parsec has such a great potential. Unlike traditional MMOs where players cap out and only return to do their daily dungeons, Parsec will totally change its nature along with the players’ actions, just like we would expect from a real world with territories, open markets and technology evolving over time.

Warfare, when introduced, will change the galaxy forever

Parsec Frontiers will become a part of your life, much like Facebook or Twitter. It is a virtual galaxy that you want to check regularly to see how your actions are progressing, to plan your next steps, monitor the current state of your assets, or to check if some poor merchant has fallen into your pirate trap. Our goal is that this game will stay with you for years to come, and that we will all be bragging about how we were the pioneers exploring the first neighbouring solar systems and giving humanity a fresh start.

The learn more about the project read the project whitepaper and join our Discord channel or the official Parsec Frontiers Twitter account.