decrypt.co
Ethereum NFT card-battling game Parallel only launched its open beta at the end of last month, but Parallel Studios is already charging ahead into its next crypto game—and it’s being built on Solana instead.
Colony, which the studio has previously teased, has now been extensively detailed in a whitepaper released late Thursday, offering a deep dive into a game that will build upon the foundations of the Parallel universe with very different gameplay—and on a new chain, too.
Described as a “survival simulation” game, Colony is powered by generative AI and is played by autonomous “agents” that you cannot directly control. You’ll kickstart your agents by answering a handful of questions to set their base personality, but it will evolve over time.
Your AI-powered agent will have a mind of its own. You can give your agent suggestions, but they may not always obey.
Colony Whitepaper Now Available
Explore how our AI-powered survival simulation game is set to redefine the gaming landscape.https://t.co/obTRFCXF3u pic.twitter.com/jUkKEIBomi— Parallel (@ParallelTCG) March 15, 2024
“For example, a user may suggest to their avatar: ‘Perhaps you should plant an apple tree in order to have food in the future?’” the whitepaper reads. “Avatars will respond to suggestions, in some cases interpreting them in light of other objectives they may have—even potentially rejecting their owner’s suggestion if they deem it to be out of character or in conflict with another objective they are pursuing.”
“In such cases, an owner may find themselves debating with or cajoling their avatar to complete the task,” it continues. “Eventually the avatar will settle upon its intended objectives—occasionally even disregarding its owner’s suggestions—and begin to pursue the tasks it has deemed most advantageous, without its owner directly controlling each action.”
Colony will initially be built around the existing Parallel Avatar NFTs, of which 11,001 exist on Ethereum. The whitepaper suggests that PRIME token holders could vote on a governance proposal to expand that number to mint more on Solana.
That’s because the game will include a “breeding” mechanism to yield more agents over time, akin to Axie Infinity and its colorful monster generations. The PRIME token from Ethereum will be used in the game as a wrapped token bridged to Solana and also awarded to players as in-game crypto rewards.
You’ll need to own an NFT avatar to earn crypto rewards, however. A “free-to-play” version will also be available, but those users won’t be able to earn PRIME rewards, hold onto items, mint items as unique NFTs, or transfer items outside of the game. In any case, even “free” players will have to pay to cover the costs of the large language model (LLM) powering the AI.
“Users must still provide funding to cover fees associated with their agent’s use of the underlying LLMs during game sessions,” the whitepaper reads. “This is structured in the same manner as the full, reward-eligible version of Colony, where players are also funding the LLM calls of their avatars from funds the owner has deposited into the avatar’s wallet.”
𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗻𝘆
Colony is a never ending game that is powered by AI where all in simulation items are onchain. You’re paired with a @Parallel Avatar who acts as boots on the ground and you work together and share onchain resources to navigate an ever expanding… pic.twitter.com/YGRpuvdU4K
— Parallel (@ParallelTCG) July 22, 2023
The Parallel team expects to launch a public alpha version of Colony in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025. The whitepaper provides plenty more detail, but we’re sure to see and hear more about the game in the months ahead—particularly with Parallel gaining steam lately.
The Colony announcement appears to have juiced the price of PRIME in the process, with the token surging 22% over the last 24 hours to a current price above $21. It rose even higher early Friday, setting a new all-time high price of $23.39 per data from CoinGecko.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.