ChronoForge’s first public playtest is scheduled for October 21, 2023, and registration is ongoing. ChronoForge is a radical action RPG from Minted Loot Studios, where the collective decisions of every player can literally make or break the world.
Players equip 12 combat classes to battle exotic enemies over time, from dinosaurs to space invaders. Raids and open-world harvesting minigames produce materials to upgrade community-managed airships known as ‘Trading Companies’, which provide top-notch crafting facilities and quest lines.
But the familiar ‘greed is good’ RPG progression path quickly spins into an epic twist that the Minted Loot team describes as ‘an MMO-scale social experiment and prisoner’s dilemma’. As an analogy to the global carbon emissions crisis, the community upgrades the trading company’s airships, smelt the best equipment, and use the noxious power source known as the Chronoforge to reach the endgame zone. If too many Chronoforges are active at once, a planetary rift will occur, wiping out everyone’s airships.
Players vote each week to decide whether the trading company will risk it all by activating the Chronoforge, attack its rivals, or vote for a global ban on Chronotech. The developers also expect the community to engage in a variety of collaborative, subversive, and covert strategies to swing trading company votes in their favor.
How this community-driven dilemma is resolved alongside the main quest is being kept secret. But what is certain is that every week, countless players make plans and vote on the fate of the world. This cycle increases player retention and creates a spectacular spectacle perfect for your streaming audience. The ChronoForge team believes that this community-driven, unknown recipe will make the game a viral success.
Art and NFTs
Despite the high-stakes game mechanics and story, Minted Loot wanted an art style that would clearly set it apart from the dark, disturbing atmosphere of recent giant RPGs. ChronoForge is a colorful, stylized adventure led by a menagerie of furry creatures that could appear in Disney’s Zootopia just like in World of Warcraft.
A whopping 12 races will be available at launch, 10 of which will be available exclusively as part of ChronoForge’s Genesis NFT Collection (available at Opensea https://opensea.io/collection/chronoforge). The Genesis Collection was released in animated pixel art format, but the transition to 3D rendering is imminent. No expense was spared to ensure that all equipment featured in the artwork can be used in-game as items with meaningful statistics.
Each NFT race has a variety of base stats and passive buffs designed to change play style rather than overpower it. Players can also earn in-game currency through raids to mint gear, mounts, and pets earned during gameplay.
Chronos and exploration certificate NFT (land)
The final bonus for Genesis holders is the creation of an exclusive utility token that can unlock one of 500 ‘Act of Exploration’ NFTs. Exploration deeds essentially own land and give the owner the right to tax other players within a specific deed area for gathering resources, while also earning a handy extra 50 votes in trading company votes and creating a nifty ‘exploration baron’. ‘It’s about winning the title.
Web2 Accessibility
The Minted Loot team is well aware that their ambitious gameplay vision requires a web2-sized player base, and they’ve kept all web3 aspects of the game explicitly ‘optional’ from the beginning. You can play the entire game for free without spending any cryptocurrency. Those looking for a full web3 experience or NFT proprietary assets can enjoy gas-free mining, trading, and support for both custodial and non-custodial wallets on the Immutable X protocol.
AI expansion
Although not fully funded yet, the team has also developed Mind Tome AI, a system that generates AI personalities and game mechanics for every playable character in ChronoForge. These characters keep secrets, respond to flattery and interrogation, and automatically generate unique missions and backstories that evolve based on the player’s accomplishments. “Mind Tome will transform millions of ChronoForge characters into new providers of quests and interactive puzzles with real gameplay outcomes.” – Lachlan Craigie, CEO and Principal AI Engineer at Minted Loot.
Minted Loot plans to make the tool available to other developers as a way to help scale the AI character creation process into the millions.
What game?
ChronoForge’s first public playtest is scheduled for October 21, 2023. The entire dungeon lets you try out every race and six of the game’s twelve combat classes. The team aims to complete first pass development with a fully polished experience by Q1 2024, with an early access build this quarter. You can jump into the community discord now and explore the #sneak-peeks channel to see new art and gameplay. Features under development. The ChronoForge Genesis collection consists of 7,500 unique adventurer characters, all of which will soon be upgraded to high-quality 3D characters.