A First Look at PlanetQuest

Featuring procedurally generated planets and adventures, PlanetQuest puts players on a quest to find Quantum, a rare, mysterious energy left behind by an alien civilization. In their roles as galactic explorers, players discover planets, explore them for resources, and fight against other factions for planetary control.

Today we’ll take a first look at PlanetQuest, an upcoming space exploration game that focuses on ground missions and faction conflict. The team recently released their whitepaper and from it we get a good overview of the game.

Players engage in adventures on faraway planets. Each completed adventure earns Quantum ($PQX), and sometimes, parts for special equipment or artifacts. The game will feature an in-game marketplace, where players can buy and sell parts. PlanetQuest also plans to create a rental system, allowing players to rent out valuable equipment rather than selling it outright. They want to keep NFT inflation down by creating reasons or incentives to burn existing NFTs, such as breaking down old equipment for parts or destroying a planet to harvest the last of its Quantum energy!

Story Drive Game Development

PlanetQuest wants the players to help build and create their story. And some of that has already begun! On their Discord server, they have released several story story sections over the past few months, with players voting on how the protagonists should react. The result of these votes has then driven the story forward onto the next section, and the next vote! How this story affects gameplay remains to be seen. But players can already earn points on their ‘Passport’ by participating.

I love that the developers recognize that players create content by playing their game. And building in processes to tap into the player actions to drive further content is very forward thinking.

The game features three factions, the Empire, the Federation, and the Union. Players choose a faction when starting, which affects the Planets they can visit and who they fight against in PvP encounters. It’s unclear if there will be faction specific gear or quests.

Gameplay Information

Players visit planets for missions. Planets can be owned by players. Owned planets are represented by an NFT, and belong to the owning player’s faction. Only players from that faction are allowed to adventure on the planet. On the other hand, unowned planets are open to everyone. However, the presence of other factions comes with the potential for confrontation and conflict. But with increased danger, there is the potential for increased rewards!

The team plans for the game to have a 3D, top-down perspective, and run in a browser. No download needed. They have partnered with Immutable X and Starkware to make entry into the game as frictionless as possible. The game will be free to play. Starting players begin by selecting a Common planet as their home base. As they adventure and complete missions, opportunities for exploration of rarer planets and unexplored systems open up. Planet sale expected in Q1 of 2022.

PQX token

Quantum, or PQX, is the utility token for PlanetQuest. In-game uses for PQX include engaging with the marketplace, constructing gear, interplanetary transport, planet naming, and even the activation of ancient artifacts!

The max supply for the PQX token is 2.5 billion, with expected full distribution over the next six years. Public and private sales (no details announced yet) account for 17% of the supply, while the team receives 22.5%, with another 2.5% reserved for ‘advisors’, and 5% kept in reserve. Four percent of the tokens will go into liquidity pools, leaving the remaining 46% for distribution as rewards.

Players earn PQX token by owning Planet and Guild NFTs, though not necessarily in a passive manner. Planet owners need to encourage lots of player activity in their domain, while Guild owners must convince successful Planet owners to join their organization.

In addition anyone owning gear NFTs has the option of renting them out. NFT renting and loaning is quickly becoming an important part of the next phase of gaming NFTs. So it’s a good sign that the PlanetQuest team already has plans for including rentals in their game.

The Genesis Engine

PlanetQuest features generative planets. With their generator, affectionately dubbed the Genesis Engine, the devs can create new planets at any time.

The Engine creates planets with a series of rules to mimic natural laws and guide their formation. For example, the amount of water on a planet can affect the number of clouds and the amount and types of vegetation on the planet. Planet temperature changes the size of the icecaps. These, and many more factors, are all run through the Genesis Engine to create a unique world for each mint. Even planets with multiple moons and rings can be generated!

The planets are rendered in full 3D. The team plans to continue expanding on the graphics, perhaps even showing weather patterns and other details to bring the planets to life! Planetary adventures will also be procedurally generated.

Future Plans

The PlanetQuest team has a very broad picture in mind for their universe. They want to create more than just a game. They want to build a story, and bring it to life in other medium such as art and comic books. Even a television series or movie!

So while we don’t have a lot of nitty-gritty details about gameplay or planet claiming or initial token and NFT sales, PlanetQuest is definitely a game to keep an eye on. Especially with a potential Planet (land) sale happening in the near future. For further details, tune into their AMA on Discord on February 16th.

Phil Hall has been a gaming enthusiast since birth and a crypto enthusiast since 2017. He enjoys new discoveries and sharing those with others via blogging and photography. You can follow him on Twitter or read his other articles on Medium.