5 minutes reading time
The year is 20X5 and humanity has fallen: now there are only Coindroids. The machines we designed to manage our finances have supplanted and destroyed the human race by turning our own economy against us. Now they battle each other in the ruins of our fallen cities, driven by a single directive: money is power. Battle your way to the top of the leaderboard through manual labor or the sweet power of automation.
I learned about Coindroids during DEFCON 28 and got hooked right away. Blockchain robot fights? Sign me up now! The idea is simple - each turn (block), robots attack each other to destroy and earn coins. You can also shield yourself or take cover, depending on the current state of your robot. Earn enough resources, and you can upgrade your equipment (guns, ammo, etc.) to take on bigger targets. Neat!
After taking 2nd place in the contest, I wanted to continue and work with the network. So I started contributing to the community, forked defcoin to port the current upstream codebase, and started the p2pool network.
In the distant future the species of the galaxy are embroiled in a race for Alpha Matter, the rare and dangerous substance that fuels galactic civilization. Players take command of Structs, a race of sentient machines, and must forge alliances, conquer enemies and expand their influence to control Alpha Matter and the fate of the galaxy.
Slowninja's new project, Structs, is taking the picnic to the next level! The new space-based strategy concept widens the optics from a single unit commander to an army operator (Alpha Base)! Alpha Matter is the main and most precious resource in the game, so mining operations becomes the top priority, with strategy development based around it. It fuels Power Plants and Reactors needed for energy production. One could play it safe and invest Alpha in the guild's Reactors in contrast to the local planet's Power Plants (the player can control only one active planet at any moment in the game).
In Structs, players command an Alpha Base - a planetary mining operation designed to harness a planet’s native Alpha Ore - and a Fleet to protect the Alpha Base, or raid opposing Alpha Bases.
Guilds have a heavy influence on the game universe and are "the lifeblood of Structs". They are the source of the game's decentralized nature, the backbone of team growth, and content moderation. It is encouraged to join or create one - you would want to have all the vectors to be able to fine-tune your strategy and game style and influence the game itself. The ability to craft guild-specific assets opens up interesting avenues, not only for traders. Another nice feature of Guilds is Automated Defenses, which allow for the outsourcing of home planets' defenses to guild members. Your guild could also provide help guides, troubleshoot the game account, or assist with its recovery.
With the ability to govern the game itself, these player-based factions have limitless possibilities.
In Structs, the game and the infrastructure are one and the same. Guilds operate Reactors, which serve as the main power source for Structs and are synonymous with Proof of Stake (PoS) validators. This means that the Structs game is kept secure and progressing by the very community playing it. The game cannot be shut down at the whim of a publisher's bottom line, ensuring that as long as there are players to play it, Structs will remain online.
Another way to "play" the game is by running a validator node (operating a Reactor). It requires go and ignite to be installed, a handful of RAM and some cores, respectfully - full node shenanigans, if I could put it that way. Fun things are seldom free, so you also need some alpha. During the testnet 74, players are required to stake 200 alpha to spin Reactors, which is likely the case for the upcoming testnet 75 (although one should be able to source some on the Discord server).
Reactors convert fuel into Energy that is required for all in-game activities, so operating one (or a cluster?) might reward players outside the game just as well.
With another testnet coming up, there is still some distance to go before Structs is ready for public launch. But the impressive progress so far shows lots and lots of potential, already fast-driven by the project's strong community. So we might be there very soon—it definitely feels like it when I am reading the documentation.