DEFY Alpha Walkthrough: How to Get Connected and Play the Game
This article is meant to help you get acquainted with the steps to successfully get yourself in-game as well as a visual guide on how to play the game.
Note: This article is a work-in-progress and will be updated periodically as alpha progresses and more features gets introduced and polished
Downloading the DEFY App
You can find the download link to the latest version of the DEFY app here:
Download for iOS (via testflight)
Download for Android
Note: DEFY is currently in its alpha phase where access is only available for Premium Mask holders. Generic Masks and free-to-play access will be available sometime later this quarter.
Once you have successfully installed the application and opened it, you will see the following dashboard screen with the Sign In option at the top.
You will need to set up an account and connect your wallet that holds the Virtual Private Mask (VPM).
For the time being the available options to sign in includes Facebook, Google, and Apple ID.
You will then be prompted to create a username. This will be the name displayed and associated to your profile.
Once you have chosen your username, you will be required to connect your wallet using WalletConnect.
For now, we utilize WalletConnect integration that allows you to connect your wallet both through MetaMask mobile and most browser based wallets. We will be working on a web portal for linking your wallet in the near future.
For the purpose of this guide an example using MetaMask mobile will be shown.
Note: The web-to-mobile sync feature for MetaMask has been currently disabled, therefore you would have to set up your wallet manually with the MetaMask mobile app if you had been using a browser extension previously.
Select ‘Connect’, and you would be redirected to the app with a new option to ‘Link Wallet with Profile’.
When you have successfully connected your wallet, it will request for you to sign a message to validate ownership of the wallet — this gets done through MetaMask or whichever wallet you use, and will not cost any gas fees.
Upon successfully having connected your wallet you will have an additional option of choosing mask. This is for users who own multiple masks.
If you own multiple masks within the wallet, you may choose and swap between your masks as and when you like by going back to ‘Edit Profile’, and your profile image will change based on the mask you have set as active.
Once you have successfully gotten through all of the above steps, you should notice the main dashboard with your account name and current active mask at the top.
You can now start exploring the game!
Playing the Game
In this earliest version of Alpha your objective is to earn FCOIN and pledge them for $DEFY tokens. You achieve this by successfully executing the following six steps in-game.
Scan. Hack. Steal. Bank. Decrypt. Pledge.
- Scan for nearby Future Systems network towers
- Hack a tower via a mini-game puzzle
- Steal wallets that gets scattered around the area when tower is hacked
- Bank wallets by leaving the area
- Decrypt wallets via a mini-game puzzle
- Pledge FCOIN earned from decrypting wallets to $DEFY
Note: The AR game is still being integrated and will go live in a future build later in the alpha period. This includes drone encounters and battles.
Scan for nearby Future Systems network towers
Future Systems network towers are equipped with a cloaking device which conceals them from the naked eye. Your VPM contains a scanning device, which will send out a pulse, revealing the locations and hexagons of nearby towers.
As observed in the video above, from the main dashboard select the map tile at the top, followed by pressing and holding the green button below to scan for nearby towers.
You will notice several hexagonal grids appear around your location. Each hexagonal grid contains one tower at its center, however, you do not have to walk towards it. You may initiate hacking the tower from anywhere within the grid.
Note: You cannot hack a tower from a different grid than your own
You may also notice different coloured circles among the towers. This denotes the security level classification of the tower based on the value of FCOIN within the wallets in a given grid.
Green: Low Security. Holds up to 1,200 FCOIN
Yellow: Medium Security. Holds up to 2,800 FCOIN
Orange: High Security. Holds up to 6,400 FCOIN
*Red: Maximum Security. Holds up to 9,600 FCOIN
If remained unhacked, each tower’s security level cycles through the four levels — increasing every few hours as they gather more funds over time. After the maximum level it will roll over to low security as Future Systems has successfully transferred funds over to their HQ, effectively emptying the wallets thus restarting at the lowest level for security.
When a tower is hacked and wallets are scattered, it goes offline for about an hour. When it returns back online, its security level will either be the same as it was before, or lower — depending on how many wallets the previous Operative managed to steal from the area. The tower will then resume its natural cycle of increasing in security level every few hours as it remains unhacked.
Hacking the Tower
Hacking involves connecting to the tower and completing a series of challenges, within a time limit, to gain access to the data.
During each challenge, a code will be shown, along with a grid of characters. Correctly find the code in the grid to complete the challenge. Successfully complete the required number of challenges to gain access to the data.
The time limit for completing the challenges represents how long you have until Future Systems traces you and kicks you out of the system. The time limit is based on the security level of the tower.
Having successfully hacked a tower, the wallets maintained by that tower are now visible and scattered around the grid. You will need to visit a wallet’s location to steal the wallet’s data file.
Stealing Wallets
Note: These scattered wallets are visible to anyone in the area. This means if another Operatives enters the same grid as you while those scattered wallets are still active, they too can steal them for themselves.
As you may observe in the videos above, transferring the data when stealing a wallet takes a small amount of time.
Stolen wallets will appear in your inventory as an unbanked wallet. You will need to leave the grid to bank these wallets. This will be done automatically when you move out of the area.
Decrypting Wallets
To initiate the process of decrypting the wallets you have collected, return to the main dashboard, scroll down to the wallet tile, and simply tap them to bank the wallets one at a time.
Decrypting involves a mini-game of swiping numbers and finding access codes to complete the hack.
Note: You will not be able to decrypt wallets whilst still within the grid as they remain unbanked. Leave the grid and bank the wallets before decrypting them. Attempting to decrypt unbanked wallets will lead to the following notification:
Wallets with higher levels of security classification take a longer time to hack as more access codes are required to be found to complete the process.
Tip: If you find yourself stuck, you can click on shuffle below to reset the grid of numbers.
Pledge FCOIN for $DEFY
Now that you have earned some FCOIN it is time to look at how you can go about pledging them to the revolution in order to gain $DEFY tokens.
Return to the main dashboard and locate the tile for FCOIN contribution.
You will notice the amount of FCOIN you own displayed within the contribution section.
Press and hold the ‘+’ button and watch your contribution increase while the number of FCOIN remaining decreases. Once you have filled in however many FCOIN you want to contribute, swipe the ‘slide to pledge’ area and it will deduct the pledged amount from your balance to send it towards the DEFY Organization.
You can also view the total number of FCOIN pledged among every Operatives, which will be useful to note for the group task of pledging 500,000 FCOIN over the span of Mission 1.
Note: The current Mission 1 has a maximum cap of 2,500 FCOIN that can be pledged in a 24 hours span per mask.
Energy
Each mask comes with 100 energy, and throughout the alpha period Operatives will regain energy at the rate of one energy per minute.
The following actions cost energy:
Scanning for nearby towers: 5 Energy
Hacking a tower: 10 Energy
Stealing a wallet: 10 Energy
Decrypting a wallet: 5 Energy
If you have not already, do read our article on Alpha detailing the rewards specific to our ongoing Mission 1!
Player Feedback and Bug Reporting
Your feedback on how we can improve the gameplay is valuable and we would like to hear your thoughts, as well as provide an avenue for reporting bugs (and provide rewards for being the first to report them!)
Do refer to the appropriate Alpha channels over on our Discord server for more information.
About DEFY Labs
DEFY Labs is passionate about building the next generation tools and platforms that allow users to view and interact with NFTs and other digital collectibles in the real world. DEFY Labs’ vision of the metaverse is one that involves merging the virtual and physical worlds in a compelling and inspiring way.
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