Build and Share Maps in The Seventh Seal

Seventh Seal, the turn-based strategy game being built on the WAX blockchain, has been quietly running alpha testing for a while and building out their game capabilities. The latest release brings us to an important milestone for the game, the ability to play other people’s maps!

I don’t think there are many gamers who would pass on a chance to create a map or level for a game they enjoy. But the Seventh Seal plans to harness that creativity and reward the best map makers with Mana tokens. The more your map is played, the more rewards you receive!

Though map sharing only works on the WAX testnet for the moment, aspiring map creators can setup a testnet WAX account using the Anchor program, create maps with the Cartographer, and then publish them to the blockchain for anyone to play. Published maps are available in both single player and multiplayer modes. Pretty cool! Especially since this is one of the main selling points for the game!

Building Maps in The Seventh Seal

Map making in The Seventh Seal is not just for fun. It can also generate passive income. Mapmakers create maps using special NFT tiles. These tiles come in a variety of terrain, and most importantly, different rarities. Higher rarity tiles generate more Mana, which is distributed to players as rewards after the match. But it’s not all about the Mana. Maps also have to be fun and interesting to play. Otherwise they won’t have many visitors.

Map creation is no longer a one way trip for your tiles. When we first talked about The Seventh Seal a while back, they planned to burn the tile NFTs on map creation. But, after some discussion with the community and other folks involved with other WAX projects, they decided to instead create a staking contract. When a player builds and publishes a map, the tiles used for the map are stored with the smart contract. Then, if the map owner decides to scrap their map, all of the tiles for that map are returned to them.

So it’s really a win-win situation overall. There is no monetary loss or cost involved in creating maps (aside from the time spent). So this encourages everyone to try creating a map. And as more maps are made, the more competition there is for players. And so Cartographers will refine, revamp, and remake their maps to produce even higher quality encounters. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing map ideas from other players, and also trying my hand at creating my own awesome map!

What is The Seventh Seal?

The Seventh Seal is a synchronous, turn-based strategy game built on the WAX blockchain. The premise of the game is pretty basic, but it still allows for many strategic opportunities. Players own Builders and Soldiers. Builders can build Farms, clear Forest tiles, and create Villages (if far enough away from other Villages). Soldiers fight, though they can also clear Forests.

Villages produce Soldiers and Builders, maximum of one per turn per Village. The number of owned Farms and Villages limits your unit totals. The game features a hex map with various terrain, some impassable. With synchronous turns, planning your moves can require careful thought.

The game supports both a single player mode, and multiplayer. In PvP competitions, the winning player receives Mana as reward, a fungible token on the WAX blockchain. The Seventh Seal also allows for players to make their own maps and earn rewards when players battle using their maps.

The Seventh Seal is currently in alpha testing. And thought the team has given no official dates, I would expect a beta launch in the next few months and possibly an official launch later in the year.

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.