Flowstate Games unveils Web3 arcade game Smash Stars: Thunderdome and $2M funding

flow state game raises $2 million and launches Car Combat game, the first Web3 arcade game. Smash Stars: Thunderdome.

The Helsinki-based company has been working on it for several years and will adjust its strategy to incorporate its Web3 strategy and launch Smash Stars: Thunderdome in the spring, CEO Edvard Groundstroem said in an interview with GamesBeat. .

The idea was to develop an arcade full of free-to-play games that prioritize fun. Groundstroem showed us a demo of their first game. The game is a car brawling game where you control a car in his 2D arena in Smash Bros. style and kill enemies with car mounted cannons.

gameplay

Smash Stars: Thunderdome is currently gearing up to launch alpha testing in Q1 2023. Curb Roller features fast-paced multiplayer his gameplay accessible to everyone from beginner to expert, but may require a high level of mastery at best. Competitive level, said Groundstroem. A physics-based game where understanding the effects of gravity is key.

The game also has a variety of fun vehicles. Expressive collectibles, skins, emotes, action figures and more. That’s where NFTs come in. You can buy a vehicle as his NFT, or attach attachments to your vehicle to enhance its functionality. You will then be able to trade these items on the secondary market.

“Our long-term vision is to create a cross-platform arcade that is fun and accessible.
Multiplayer games utilize interoperable NFT content and are wrapped in social features.
We empower players to create their own experiences and content,” said Groundstroem.

Flowstate uses the blockchain’s immutable digital ledger to authenticate ownership of digital items such as cars and accessories, so the Web3 factor is embedded in the player’s asset ownership. You can play the game without spending money or customize your car and accessories via Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

“When we decided to look at what we could offer with Web3, we realized there weren’t many games that focused on instant gameplay and fun like instant fun,” Groundstroem said. says. “Not only was it something that resonated with our team, but it was also something that saw a clear market opening. I started looking at the kinds of games that we played.”

Flowstate Games partnered with Immutable X to implement Web3 technology. It is a game-focused layer 2 non-fungible token (NFT) scaling solution on Ethereum.

funding round

Play Ventures Future Fund led a $2 million pre-seed round with participation from Elite Game Developers founder Joakim Achrén and his syndicate of angel investors. Equilibrium, the builder of the core Web3 infrastructure, also participated.

Groundstroem is a veteran of modern mobile games that have moved to Web3.he is over 10 years old
Experienced in casual mobile games, the Flowstate team has a track record of working on:
Angry Birds 2 and
Drive ahead!

Groundstroem said: “This means making our games accessible to everyone, instantly free-to-play, and playable in the evergreen arcade he genre.”

Web3 plan

Web3 is controversial among game developers, with many accusing it of being full of scammers and uninteresting monetization-focused games. But he said, Groundstroem says Web3 will help take the team’s fun and accessibility principles to another level.

“Players can not only buy items as NFTs, but they can also play and get them for free. Our players own those items, so they have agency on what to do with those items. It’s going to happen,’ he said.

According to the company, Immutable X addresses issues that have plagued early Web3 adopters, including security, gas pricing, carbon neutrality, and scaling of NFT transactions.

Anton Backman, principal at Play Ventures, said in a statement:
The team is moving forward to build a category-defining game that leverages Web3’s open primitives. Arcade remains one of the most downloaded genres on mobile, and we’re excited to see how a player-driven economy can boost the “fun” of games. A founding team like Flowstate, with its strong and rapid game development experience, combined with an ever-increasing curiosity about new technologies, is one of the best bets for building a game in this nascent space. ”

I played the game over the web via Chrome on my desktop. I used the keyboard’s A and D keys to maneuver the car in one direction or another for him on a circular 2D track. Touch controls are also very easy on mobile.

If you go fast enough, you can make a full 360-degree loop on the track, but if you go slow enough, gravity can kick your car down and land you on your rival. If you land on your head, you will take damage. This game used his WebGL for graphics.

You can use the spacebar to jump and the gun will fire automatically. Enemies take damage when guns shoot other car avatars in the head. Fought Groundstrom in an ice cream truck.

“we [are experimenting] It can also be used with manual fire weapons or both of these auto-fire weapons,” Groundstroem said. “The soon-to-be-released demo will focus on auto-fire weapons to facilitate initial onboarding.”

Overcoming NFT Opposition

The company recognizes that many gamers and game developers don’t like Web3. Groundstroem pointed out that the company is not targeting hardcore gamers who are staunchly opposed to blockchain gaming. Rather, it focuses on web gamers and mobile he gamers who are more receptive to experimenting with new kinds of models.

“At the moment, many of the first-generation blockchain games require potentially hundreds of dollars to be paid up front before you can even try the game itself,” he said. “As an industry, we think we need to show that these items have utility. There’s a reason we believe being able to play is also important.”

As the company is focused on gaming, it has no plans to issue its own cryptocurrency token. He said that too often it takes months for his NFTs to be available for use in games after they are sold, during which time enthusiasm can wane. As such, the company wants to move quickly from announcing the project, building the community, and making the product available to players.

“We focused on this basic idea of ​​a core experience that is well known in vehicles and physics.”

The company considers these games part of the arcade. NFT’s Web3 interoperability allows the company to think about putting multiple gamers into the universe using interchangeable items.

“We are definitely overlooking this product in our long-term strategy,” he said. “Web3 and he are important to show NFT use cases to all kinds of players.”