UPDATES
March 18, 2024

Futureverse News - March 2024

Welcome to the March 2024 edition of Futureverse News, your monthly update on everything from the Futureverse ecosystem.

Message from Leadership

I’m honoured to be able to share that I have recently taken on the mantle of Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Futureverse. Stepping up to lead alongside Aaron, Shara, Marco, and Dan is an opportunity I’m grateful for and I’m looking forward to doing all I can to ensure we keep delivering the best possible products to market.

But it’s not about me, so I want to give a special shout out to the Futureverse team; the talented, somewhat crazy group of people I spend my days with. You’re all rockstars and without the team we have there’s just no way we could contemplate looking, let alone actually moving, in the direction we are heading.

Likewise, our community. Of late its really felt like there’s been a collective ‘aha’ moment around what Futureverse is and where its heading and the role our community has had in that messaging is huge. We see you - keep doing what you are doing. You are such an important part of this and we’re excited to be able to keep delivering on the vision that is the open metaverse with your help.

We’re in for an epic year. It’s looking jam packed, as I’m sure you’ve all come to expect, but we’re excited to continue this momentum.

Onwards!

Ben Jordan - Chief Product Officer, Futureverse

Products

The Third Kingdom Begins

A glimpse at The Third Kingdom has us all shaking in anticipation as we gear up for the upcoming strategy simulation game, developed in partnership with Walker Labs.

We’re excited to reveal that a number of our friends and communities will join us on a collective journey of exploration and discovery in The Third Kingdom: Walker World, Cool Cats, Doodles, Pudgy Penguins, and Deadfellaz.

The Third Kingdom will see players dive into an uncharted domain as land owners, embarking on a harvesting journey in pursuit of valuable resources, and a share of up to 312,500,000 ROOT in Season 1 alone.

SurrealScapes and Prysms, two collectibles at the heart of the The Third Kingdom, are set to release soon, both providing access to the game experience and abundant rewards awaiting your discovery.

SurrealScapes, the collection of privately-owned land parcels, will be exclusively gifted to eligible holders within the following collections: FLUF World Burrows, FLUF World Scenes & Sounds: Mystic Valley, FLUF World Scenes & Sounds: Dancing in the Shroomlight, Walker World: Genesis Walkers, Walker World: Women, Walker World: The Lost Walkers, Walker World Squads, Walker World Mutants, and Cool Cats. Doodles, Deadfellaz, and Pudgy Penguins collections will be added to the list of collections eligible for SurrealScapes soon. The snapshots have now been taken.

Prysms, your key to accessing The Third Kingdom game and unearthing the treasures within SurrealScapes, are launching soon in a price discovery sale. Each Prysm purchased in this sale will be premium, boasting superior trait advantages in The Third Kingdom game. Don't miss this chance to secure these essential game assets ready for The Third Kingdom's launch.

To learn more about the upcoming game experience, SurrealScapes release, Prysms sale and more, check out the full blog here.

Introducing OPEN

Excitement brewed at SXSW as the Futureverse co-founders Aaron McDonald and Shara Senderoff dropped the OPEN teaser, the hero experience in The Readyverse. OPEN is the first genre-defining AAA metaverse gaming experience, integrating top-tier IP through web3 tech. The multi-biome, multi-IP, multi-mode gaming experience allows for interoperability with beloved IP in a range of different formats, from simple skins to full immersive experiences.

OPEN is being built through a joint venture between Readyverse Studios and Walker Labs. Readyverse Studios is the publisher and Walker Labs is the game developer.

The Readyverse is a next-gen immersive and interoperable launcher for discovering metaverse games and experiences integrating web3 and AIGC technologies. It enables users, developers, and brands to create interconnected experiences.

About Readyverse Studios

Readyverse Studios is a first-of-its-kind next-gen technology and experience studio co-founded by Futureverse Co-Founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, as well as Ernest Cline, the best-selling novelist and renowned creator of the groundbreaking franchise Ready Player One and Dan Farah, Ready Player One film producer. For more visit: readyverse.com

About Walker Labs

Walker Labs is a venture-backed videogame and next-gen web technology developer with a strategy to combine experienced AAA veterans with best in class web-tech developers to create never-seen-before experiences in gaming and digital social spaces. Walker Labs is a seasoned team of senior game developers that hail from Epic Games, DICE, Microsoft, PlayStation, Mojang, Remedy, Ubisoft, Lucasfilm, Electronic Arts and more. For more visit: walkerlabs.io

The Next Legends: Open Alpha Now Live

Muhammad Ali - The Next Legends Open Alpha is now live! That’s right, it’s finally time to begin your journey. Coach your own AI Boxer in Open Alpha and become the next legend.

Open Alpha offers you an exclusive opportunity to get early access to the game, so that we can test and gather feedback on the experience before the next release. Your feedback during this period will be used to identify any bugs and prioritise future roadmap of optimizations.

How to play?

You can learn more about the game in our blog

Please note, as this is an Open Alpha, we are still working through some known bugs and community feedback is crucial for us in refining this experiences, so please share you feedback with us here or in Futureverse Discord.

Evolving ASM: The Metaverse AI Protocol

As AI takes center stage, Altered State Machine is even more relevant today than it was when the journey began 5 years ago. In our new paper, Evolving ASM: The Metaverse AI Protocol, we unveil the evolution of ASM on The Root Network, including the introduction of The Murmur Matrix, DOC (Dynamic Object Creator), UBF (Universal Blueprint Framework) and a significant evolution of our B.R.A.I.N. concept.

Seekers Upgrade & SYLO Staking

Seekers have undergone an exciting update that will empower Seeker owners with new capabilities and the ability to stake SYLO tokens!

Own a Seeker? Your Seeker can now work for you so you can start receiving SYLO tokens as sweet sweet rewards! Staking SYLO strengthens the Seeker Network, which is essential for powering various Sylo services, crucial for an open metaverse. Here’s how to get started:

1. Make sure you have a Seeker
Your Seeker needs to have been updated to OS 2.0 and be on The Root Network so you can begin staking. You can do this via Seekers.xyz. You’ll also need some SYLO token.

2. Get staking!
Login to Seekers.xyz using your FuturePass and click through to Network, which is in the upper centre of the screen after selecting a Seeker. From here you’ll be able to see your staking portfolio and browse the available nodes that you can stake against.

3. Add your stake to a node
After selecting a node you can stake SYLO token and start receiving rewards. The rewards cycle is 7 days, but you can stake now and be eligible to receive rewards in the next rewards cycle. Once staked, you can withdraw at anytime, however the staked amount will remain locked for 7 days.

Read more about Seekers Staking here.

FutureScore Quests

Quest 007: The Strike is Complete

Thanks to all who joined the mayhem in Gods & Goblins auto-brawler game - Grumble, and helped test the stream-to-play technology. Rewards will be distributed to your FuturePass in the coming weeks.

Quest 008: The Update is Live

Introducing Quest 008: The Update, where we call on you to update your Seeker to unleash their full potential and move one step closer to putting your Seeker to work.

To complete this Quest, simply bridge a Seeker to The Root Network in your FuturePass Dashboard, then head over to seekers.xyz, select a Seeker and initiate the Seeker OS 2.0 update to reveal its unique Power, Classes and Attributes.

The Quest closes on March 18 PT. Rewards are based on Quest completion and your FutureScore, and will be distributed after the Quest’s conclusion.

Note: Once updated, a Seeker cannot be used again to complete the Quest. If an ‘updated’ Seeker is transferred, the wallet that originally completed the update will be rewarded for the Quest.

FuturePass Dashboard

Tickets

Tickets are your key to unlock some parts of the games and experiences we release, with the first use cases in The Next Legends, where training costs 6 tickets, and Raicers, where entering a paid race will cost 1 ticket.

To purchase tickets simply log into your FuturePass, navigate to the ‘Tokens’ tab, click on ‘Buy Tickets’, and choose the amount you wish to purchase.

Note: Tickets & gas are paid for in ASTO on The Root Network. If you don’t have ASTO on The Root Network you can either purchase and bridge ASTO using this guide, or trade for another token using either MOAI or Dexter. Ensure your tickets are in the main FuturePass account you’ll use to access our games and experiences. Tickets are non-transferable and will be linked to the FuturePass they are purchased from.

Multi-Token Gas Fees

We're thrilled to announce an enhancement to the FuturePass Dashboard: Multi-token gas fees! Now, when you send or bridge assets, or when you buy tickets through FuturePass, you have even more flexibility in how you pay your gas fees.

In addition to XRP you can now utilize ROOT, ASTO, SYLO, USDC, USDT, ETH, VTX and DAI on The Root Network to cover your gas fees. This means you have more options to manage your transactions efficiently and conveniently.

Raicers: Launching Soon

We can’t wait to introduce you all to Raicers, our new AI-driven racing manager game where you equip your Kart with an All-Star Driver and ASM Brain for the terrain you’re racing on, and then watch them battle it out with up to 11 other Karts in a simulated race.

Karts are now available for purchase, or free claim if you hold an eligible Futureverse collectible (ASM Genesis Brains and ATEM Club Cards). Once you have your Kart and toolkit of parts, head to your FuturePass, navigate to ‘Collectibles’, select your vehicle type, and hit ‘Customize’. Check out this step-by-step guide to minting and configuring a Kart.

Learn more about the upcoming game in our blog post here.

Ecosystem

ROOT Staking Cycle End & Vortex Distribution

The Root Network’s Staking Cycle 2.0 has completed and the stats are out!

Every 90 day reward cycle fees from gas and network activity, along with bootstrap rewards fill The Vortex, Vortex tokens are then awarded those who helped secure the network.

Vortex tokens represent a percentage of The Vortex’s total underlying pool (excluding current cycle), ROOT, XRP, SYLO, ASTO and more.

If you’ve been staking to The Root Network, your Vortex tokens will now be in your FuturePass and can be redeemed to claim the underlying tokens in the Staking Dashboard.

CENNZ → ROOT Burn to Swap

The CENNZ → ROOT burn to swap is now live, with the first cycle ending March 31 NZST. You can start the process here.

Key steps for the burn to swap:

A reminder this opportunity is entirely optional. CENNZnet is an open source, decentralised community project and anyone is welcome to continue to build and support CENNZnet on an ongoing basis.

Learn more about the process here.

Token Listings

Root on HTX (Huobi)

ROOT is now listed on HTX (Huobi). This exciting development opens new avenues for ROOT's accessibility and trading opportunities.

Note: It is crucial to note that HTX will be utilizing ERC20 ROOT (wrapped ROOT tokens on Ethereum). Therefore, when withdrawing from this exchange, ensure you employ an Ethereum address. If uncertain, it's advisable to initiate a small test transaction first.

Visit HTX's Twitter for more details.

ASTO on Bitget and BingX

Altered State Machine’s ASTO token is now listed on Bitget and BingX

Find out more about Bitget here and BingX here.

SYLO on Bitget

The SYLO token is being listed on Bitget, with deposits now open and trading starting 09:00, Mar 18 (UTC).

Find out more here.

Ottó Governance

In a significant move towards true decentralization, Ottó Blockchain has launched its governance system, marking a pivotal moment for community engagement.

This new framework allows participants to directly influence the blockchain's future from their Ottó dashboard—reviewing, creating, and voting on proposals vetted by the Ottó Council. Designed to cultivate a robust, community-backed network of projects, the governance initiative empowers members to participate with confidence, ensuring the network evolves smoothly through effective protocols.

As we embark on this journey, we encourage the Ottó community to actively engage and discuss future proposals in the governance section of the Discord, connect with council members, and share insights that will help shape Ottó's direction.

Podcasts & Events

Readyverse Studios SXSW Panel

SXSW has always been a monumental event on the calendar pre-merge into Futureverse, and this year was no different. This year, we unveiled something monumental: the teaser for OPEN. OPEN marks the dawn of a new era in gaming – the first-ever AAA metaverse experience that redefines genres, integrating top-tier IP using web3 technology. This revolutionary gaming platform offers a multi-biome, multi-IP, multi-mode experience, allowing seamless interaction with beloved intellectual properties in various formats, from simple skins to fully immersive adventures.

Drawing inspiration from the visionary futurist Ernest Cline's seminal work, "Ready Player One," which captivated audiences worldwide and bridged the chasm between science fiction and reality, OPEN is poised to reshape the entertainment landscape. Co-founded by Cline, alongside Ready Player One producer Dan Farah, and industry stalwarts Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, the recently announced Readyverse Studios embarks on a mission to create the ultimate metaverse destination and spoke about it during this years SXSW in Texas.

During our panel, the Readyverse Studios Co-Founders made their inaugural public appearance, delving into the significance of interoperability in the metaverse, the requisite technological advancements, and their profound insights into the pivotal role of intellectual property in the open metaverse. They envision this as the next phase in the internet's captivating evolution, where brands and IP converge to redefine the boundaries of entertainment and technology.

Listen to the recording here.

Candy Digital X (Twitter) Space with Aaron & Shara

Futureverse Co-Founders Aaron and Shara featured on a space hosted by Candy Digital where they spoke about how today's emerging tech will shape the future of engagement between fans and creators.

Listen to the recording here.

Outlier Ventures FV Cohort X (Twitter) Space

Aaron joined the Outlier Ventures team space to discuss the Futureverse Base Camp accelerator program, with appearances from the seven selected startups within the first cohort.

Listen to the recording here.

On The Chain Podcast

Today Aaron joined On The Chain hosts Chip & Jeff to discuss XRP, The Root Network, Readyverse, ASM, JEN, AI, and more.

Spotlight - Ben Jordan

What is your role at Futureverse?

Chief Product Officer

What do you enjoy most about about your role?

The way it keeps me thinking. In any given week there is so much going on I literally have no choice but to keep up. I’m consistently blown away by the degree of intricacy in each and every corner of this organisation and its exciting to see how these complex ideas bubble up and come together into the vision we put to market. This is a big, complex, fun problem - the kind that keeps you on your toes and brings a good amount of satisfaction to see come together.

What is your favourite FV collection?

I came from Sylo before Futureverse, so the Seekers collection we released will always be close to my heart. We learned a lot delivering that collection. We took on some new risks which ended up working (like the mint mechanic) and we ended up rolling out a collection that the community really appreciated. That team continues to deliver, its really cool to see the the vision we laid out coming together.

What are some of your interests outside of work?

Six weeks ago our second child was born, so at the moment there isn’t much time for interests beyond feed, burp, sleep, repeat. When I have a little more time on my hands I love a round of golf, something I did a lot of growing up. Nowadays I like to keep just close enough to the game to feel like I could get back into it when I have a lot more time on my hands.

And caffeine. Can I class that as an interest?

If you could collaborate with anyone, living or dead, on a project for Futureverse, who would it be and why?

Steve Jobs. That man was a miracle worker in terms of branding and vision and I get the feeling he could be very effective under the guidance of our Shara ;)

Content Creator of the Month - helendelzany

Let the applause echo as we proudly unveil Helen, our esteemed Content Creator of the Month for February!

Helen, an enchanting storyteller celebrated for her unique and creative style and deep affection for Futureverse and the McDonni brothers, has devoted substantial time to crafting beautiful, hilarious, and highly entertaining stories featuring key members of our beloved Futureverse ecosystem. Her creative prowess and passion have earned her the well-deserved title of Content Creator of the Month.

Let's all GET ON THE BUS and join in a resounding celebration of Helen's remarkable dedication to our community!

To stay connected, follow her amazing content, and show your support, follow Helen on all her socials: X and Discord.

Congratulations, Helen! We take immense pride in having you as a cherished part of this amazing community.