‘To The Moon!’ is Releasing on Starcade!
Who can get the top score???
We are proud to announce that the first minigame for the STARCADE is now available! To The Moon is an endless jumper designed by Shahid Ahmad, a test of skill packed with thrilling action. As an astronaut, you’ll jump across the moon to collect gems while avoiding bomb fields and dangerous moon buggy mazes. Increase your score and gain new lives by jumping the bombs and navigating obstacles as long as possible while collecting gems. Be careful though, things can get out of control very quickly.
For our Launch Week, we are doing special PAL NFTs and $STARL token prizes for Top Scores and also for participating. The first Leaderboard for “To The Moon” starts Feb. 3, 2200 UTC and lasts exactly one week, ending Feb 10, 2200 UTC. Prizes will be rewarded once the weekly Leaderboard finishes. Scroll down for more details on our prizes!
Interview with Shahid Kamal Ahmad about To The Moon
By 3D Artist Space
Q. As the first of many games entering the Starcade, you are paving the way for future game developers and leading by example. When else in your career were you the trailblazer, innovating so that others could follow?
The example I’m most proud of is making PlayStation much more accessible for indie developers and making business terms for them better. Many other companies followed the example we set and business terms are now generally much more favourable to developers, much fairer and hardware platforms more welcoming of them than ever before.
Q. You have put a lot of time and effort into the development and testing of To The Moon. What lessons did you learn, and what has changed throughout the various iterations and prototypes?
The simpler the game, the more intensely you have to focus on the minutiae of the control. Things like how long the player is safe while in the air, what the blast radius should be, including affordances like autojumping so that you don’t have to keep hitting a separate jump button. The game speeds up a tiny bit as you approach the top of the screen, making it more exciting, and slows down a touch when you’re near the bottom so that you’re given a bit more leeway.
It’s detail that makes the controls of an arcade game feel good and I think I’ve managed to get a really nice feel for the game now.
Q. What is your all-time high score while playtesting? How long do you think it will take for somebody to break your high score?
I think it was around 330,000 and I think that will be beaten within 5 minutes of the game going live, probably by Ken!
Q. What previous experiences helped you to tackle the challenge of leading in this emerging industry?
You have to be prepared to put up with people not agreeing with what you’re doing. I’ve faced that many times in my life. You have to push ahead with what you believe in, or you end up living somebody else’s life. I’d rather live with disapproval than regret.
Q. What is your most interesting or favorite story from your career? What is your favorite episode of Code is Just?
There are too many stories to relate. I’d just recommend that people read my Code is Just thread. My favourite episode is the one where I accept the offer to do Jet Set Willy and commit to starting immediately.
6. What excites you the most about the future of video games? What lessons from early game development are worth remembering?
What excites me most about video games is their potential to make people feel better. They’re already doing that, and as the science evolves, I hope we find a place where they’re a truly exceptional force for good in the world and recognised as such.
The best lessons from the early days is that games really are for everyone.
Q. How is progress on Chimera 2 going? What inspired you to return to this classic after To The Moon?
It’s slowed down as I have many other commitments. I will be returning to it and have promised an update before March is over! I wanted to come back to it because for years I had sought backing, it never came through despite interest, and I thought that the only way this is going to happen is if I stop asking for permission and just do what I want to do. That’s what I always loved about games anyway, going my own way!
Q. What currently are your favorite games to play? Favorite films? Favorite books?
Right now I’m enjoying playing some of the earliest arcade games by Atari on the Atari 50 collection created by my friends at Digital Eclipse.
Favourite films? I don’t have much time for films lately. All my favourite movies are old. I did watch the latest Matrix recently though, and then watched the original again.
I’ve read 7 books so far this year, all about business, time management, focus, and so on. Boring, but I need every piece of knowledge about how to maximise my effectiveness given how many things I’m taking on!
How to get started and play:
To start playing “To The Moon”, head over to the STARCADE menu section of the STARL Marketplace. Click Connect Wallet, and create a Profile if you haven’t yet. Sign in.
You will need Pass Points to be able to play. You can buy Pass Points by clicking the yellow “Buy Pass Point” button. “To The Moon” costs 10 Pass Points per play (equal to $0.10), and Pass Points cost $0.01 each. Load up ahead of time so you can play multiple games. You’ll certainly want to.
Next, go down to the game listing of “To The Moon” and press Play Now. Another tab will open, and the game Connect window will show. Click Connect, and then log in. Metamask will pop up to ask you to Sign the message. Once you sign, you can click Play and be on your way to moon mayhem!
To The Moon Help:
- WASD or cursor keys to move and jump over bombs.
- Player will auto jump over bombs if there is a space beyond them
- Hit SPACE to use an EMP: It blows up bombs and stops buggies
- Extra life for every 250 blue gems, up to 3 max.
- Extra EMP for every 100,000 points, up to 3.
Gamescreen Explained:
- Top overall score is on top right.
- Your score is top center.
- Blue Gems count bottom right.
- EMP count bottom left.
- Extra life on top left.
- Pass Point Count on bottom center.
Leaderboard:
One of the major updates to Starcade is the Leaderboard! Every game play score gets logged to the Leaderboard. Every player’s top score will be in the Top Score list. Only the highest score per player will be shown. Every one of your personal scores will be logged in the “Your Scores” section.
Battle for the Top Score and get bragging rights and prizes!
The first Leaderboard for TTM starts Feb. 3, 2200 UTC and ends on Feb 10, 2200 UTC. Head over to the STARCADE and join the fun!
TTM Launch Prizes:
Play “To The Moon” and win a chance to get a PAL NFT or $STARL tokens! Players will not only be rewarded for top scores, but also just for playing and participating. 5 LUCKY players will be chosen at random to win on top of the the top score prizes. You don’t have to be the best gamer to win a prize. Just have fun!
We will open the Leaderboard up for one-week durations. We want to encourage all to join and have fun, so we will be rewarding prizes for top scores and random players.
Top Score Prizes for Launch Week:
1st place: PAL + Special STARL Bonus
2nd place: PAL + Special STARL Bonus
3rd place: PAL + Special STARL Bonus
4th place: PAL NFT
5th place: PAL NFT
5 LUCKY players will also win a PAL at random, just for playing.
ANY player can win the random 5 PALS so it pays just to play. One PAL per Wallet. For more info on PALs, head here.
Once the Leaderboard time is up, we will announce the winners and start a new Leaderboard session. Prizes will differ each Leaderboard session as we continue to monitor play volume during the Beta phase of STARCADE and “To the Moon!”.
Please remember this is Beta phase, and some issues may arrive. If anything does, please notify in our Telegram or Discord channels and we will work hard to make sure you are issue free and having fun!
Huge thanks to Shahid, our Devs, and the Alpha testers!
We’d like to thank our developers for putting so much time and effort into the Pass Point system and all the connections to games now available, alpha testers of “To The Moon!”, and a HUGE thank you to Shahid Ahmad for all the work and patience he has had while we implemented the Starcade system. Implementing games into the Blockchain and creating unique ways of playing and earning is not an easy task. Massive respect to all who helped get here.
To learn more about the STARCADE, please visit its page on our new website here.
If you are a game developer and you’d like to submit your game to be connected to our STARCADE, please scroll down the STARCADE page and enter the ‘Submit Game’ form. We’d love to grow with you! Game developers who submit and are accepted will receive 70% of all their game play purchases.
