Our Creative Vision
The future is bright, Agents!
We recently unveiled our 2023 roadmap for Life Beyond, making sure that you were aware of all the exciting things we’ve got in development. There’s a lot of amazing things on the horizon, and we’re forever grateful to you all for joining us in this adventure. As a result, we thought it would be a great opportunity to set the stage for everything to come. Life Beyond has changed a lot since we launched our first Alpha, particularly due to the incredible support we’ve received from Animoca Brands. If you’re going to help us with the evolution of the game, you need to be given the big picture.
A couple weeks ago, we gave our Founders and best partners the opportunity to get a sneak peak at some of the incredible things to come for Life Beyond in an exclusive presentation. They also had the opportunity to also ask us about some of the burning questions they had, which we’ve summarised in our Q&A article. However, now it’s time for you to get excited too, since there’s something for everyone here; from story, to art, to… well, you’ll just have to read on to find out.
Grab a hot drink, get some water, make yourself cosy, and enjoy immersing yourself in the journey you’re about to embark on. Just as well you’re here early on; the world of Dolos is vast, and there’s as much to explore as there is to gain.
What is Life Beyond?
The feeling of a game, the stakes of reality.
This is our mantra. It’s our intention to make Life Beyond a global experience, moving beyond the boundaries of a simple game. The Life Beyond MMO is absolutely key to our vision, but it isn’t the only part of the experience.
Traditional Web2 gaming has the fantastic potential to let people interact with one another, building lasting connections in a way that might otherwise not be possible. That being said, your time investment usually only sees rewards in-game, with you having little to show from it in wider life. We’re not looking to take you away from the physical world, we’re looking to enrich your lives regardless of where you are and see you rewarded appropriately. To this end, it’s our intention to make Life Beyond device-agnostic- we want you to be able to interact with your Dolos adventures on whatever device you have available, wherever you are. Mobile apps, web interactivity, physical products- all are on the cards.
It’s our intention to develop Life Beyond with the community. That’s not just a pretty statement either; we’re fully committed to developing alongside all of you. In order to make our vision a reality, it has to be a collective endeavour. Everyone is a stakeholder, and everyone has the capability to see how their love and time has shaped the world around them.
Life Beyond…Where?
Life Beyond takes place on the planet of Dolos. It’s a new discovery, it’s mostly unexplored, and it’s absolutely vital. Life on Earth at the close of the 21st century isn’t looking great. There’s massive economic disparity, environmental collapse, resource scarcity, and everything’s controlled by massive corporations whose actions rarely benefit the wider population. Colonisation showed some initial promise, with work on Mars beginning its first stumbling efforts, but the crises kept coming, and work was slow.
However, in 2081, everything changed. Alien ruins were found on Mars- the first confirmation of intelligent life beyond Earth. Only a year later, something miraculous happened; a massive wormhole opened in Mars orbit, shocking everyone with its sudden appearance.
Drones were sent in. Nothing for months, and tensions grew within interested parties. Then…contact. Stable pictures came through, and they showed Dolos. A new, habitable planet, ripe for exploration.
After much posturing and debate, a ship was designed and built, filled with members of the corporations with enough sway to send representatives. With the expedition led by DEEP, the Columbus1 travelled through the wormhole, and arrived in a new solar system.
A New Frontier
As the first teams were sent to explore, it quickly became apparent that Dolos contained more promise than anyone’s wildest hopes. Incredible biodiversity. Breathable air. Strange, miraculous alien technology. All of it, just waiting to be discovered. All of it, just waiting to be used.
Now it’s become clear that Dolos is not as hospitable as it first appeared. Not only is the weather frequently brutal, with massive electromagnetic storms sweeping the planet, but the alien vestiges are not so lifeless as they initially appeared. Strange, hostile robotic constructs appear out of seemingly nowhere to ravage anything human-made, threatening everything that pioneers have built. Though initially limited to seemingly reactive aggression towards exploration efforts, in recent times the danger has grown, as shown by a brutal assault on DEEP’s Base Of Operations during celebrations.
It’s become clear that every step of Dolos’ exploration, every move towards colonisation will be a fight. That’s where you come in.
The Three Pillars
Life Beyond’s gameplay is structured around three pillars: pioneering, settling, and governing. These will inform everything that occurs on the surface of Dolos, and will have far ranging effects on gameplay and systems that will only become apparent as players make the world their own.
- Pioneering: Discover new areas and new dangers. Conquer regions, ripping them from the control of the constructs. Secure regions one by one, making them safe and preparing them for habitation.
- Settling: Claim your land. Develop an expertise and build a business, following your passions to make your experience unique. Trade with other settlers, and make everyone’s life richer.
- Governing: Foster discussions with people across the region. Decide what you want the burgeoning civilization to look like, and what form ruling should take. Help grow a society on a new world.
What’s Next For Life Beyond?
As previously mentioned, it’s our intention to develop Life Beyond with the community. To that end, we know you need to be kept informed of our plans, and we’re planning on keeping channels open from now on. So, here’s what’s on Dolos’ horizon…
The Hub
It’s time to prepare for Dolos. Opening during the week of March 20th, the Hub is a persistent social area that will be your new starting point for all the content we’ll be adding in the upcoming year. Situated in a private room onboard the Columbus1, you’ll be able to meet other players beginning their adventures, all set against the backdrop of wide panoramic views of Dolos below.
Once unlocked, the Hub will be open 24/7 for you. Access will be token-gated initially, with Founders granted first entry, so please visit our website for specific entry criteria and times. As time goes on, more and more experiences will become available to players via the Hub, so make sure to look out for more updates in the coming months. Furthermore, please get in contact on our Discord if you have any ideas about how to improve features as they release- the Hub’s evolution will be directly shaped by your feedback.
Discord Survey
A couple weeks ago we launched a survey on our Discord, and we’d love you to participate.
The responses to the survey will enable us to better understand you, our community, and how you want to experience the world we’re building. Life Beyond is for all of us, and your voice will help us make sure it turns into something great.
2023 Roadmap
We have far more plans for the upcoming year than we have space to share here, but luckily we go into full detail in our article on the 2023 Roadmap. Just to whet your appetite though, we’ve got many exciting things coming up that will help you begin your Life Beyond journey in earnest, and we’re looking forward to taking those first steps with you. We also won’t be alone, as there are a few exciting partnerships on the horizon that we’ll be announcing very soon, alongside some other surprises that you’ll have to wait to see unveiled…
Founder Key and Agent Zero Jacket
Though we want to continue growing together as a community, we believe it’s vital to protect the value of exclusive items for their existing holders by maintaining scarcity. After consulting our Founders community and agreeing on the correct course of action, we’ll be stopping the minting of our Founder Keys and Agent Zero Jacket NFTs on March 17th. The remaining supply of both NFTs will be placed in our treasury and granted to the Life Beyond DAO treasury in the future.
If you’re reading this just after publication, there’s still time to mint before it ends, so make sure to grab either a Founder Key or an Agent Zero Jacket NFT if you want access to some of the many benefits they unlock for the future. Especially since we just added even more perks, such as a patch of land on Dolos and a shiny new avatar…
A New Art Direction
You talked, and we listened. Our current art style was great for quickly making the first iterations of Life Beyond, but the time has come to evolve in response to your feedback. We’re very pleased to announce that we’ll be updating the art direction of the game to better fit the world we want to portray.
We hope that you’re as excited with this new look as we are- the days of “cartoony” visuals are ending soon, and the future is looking great.
Just as a point of note, we understand that it might be confusing that we’re releasing the Hub with the “old” art style. However, we wanted to let you all experience the world as soon as possible, and start making the connections that you’ll take onto Dolos. Rest assured, once it’s ready the Hub will be getting the look it deserves, so keep your eyes peeled for news on that front, coming this year.
The Future is Bright
That’s all for now, and we hope you’ve enjoyed finding out more about what’s coming for Life Beyond. Rest assured that we’ve got more exciting news on the way, so keep your eyes on all our social channels for all sorts of updates and reveals in the near future.
Until next time, Agents!
-The Darewise Team
