Highlights from AMA with Highstreet CEO Travis Wu and Binance
Travis Wu, the CEO of Highstreet, the leading retail-focused metaverse, took part in an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) with members from Binance’s English-language Telegram channel on February 10, 2023. The talk focused on the development of the Highstreet World Metaverse, the challenges of building a metaverse compatible with virtual reality (VR), and the CEO’s thoughts on social media giants entering the metaverse space.
Here’s what Travis discussed to offer a look into Highstreet World’s development:
- The initial home offering for All-Terrain Trailers on Animoca Archipelago went smoothly in Q4 2022. Features are being developed for players to embark on quests in the region and will be completed in nine months.
- The team is working to develop Binance Beach, including a future IHO, unique shops, and technical integration with Binance.
- Development to bring MMO elements is underway. A major patch is expected in Q4 2023.
- Quests in Highstreet’s MMO will involve the Forever FOMO Duck Squad NFT collection.
- Headsets created by Apple and Meta will help VR metaverse adoption — and Highstreet is working to build a VR-headset compatible wallet system.
- The team is already researching AI-powered NPCs, with future developments expected soon.
- The challenges of building a metaverse aren’t only technical — Highstreet is timing its partnerships to ensure all communities involved get the most out of new collaborations.
In addition, Travis answered several questions from those who tuned in to the AMA, which took place on Binance’s English Telegram channel.
To end the AMA, the Highstreet team asked five questions to the Binance English Telegram channel, and airdropped US$5,000 worth of BUSD tokens to users who answered all the questions correctly. If you are interested in participating in future AMAs with members of the Highstreet team, follow Highstreet on Discord, Telegram, and Twitter for updates!
Highstreet World, as Travis said, “aims to be an MMORPG that serves as the backbone to a new, flourishing digital world, filled with commerce, culture, and of course, good old-fashioned gaming.”
Travis explained that although Highstreet World may appear to look like any other MMO, the devil is in the details. Highstreet World is designed to include monsters to defeat, abilities to develop, characters to level up, and places to explore.
One of the unique features of Highstreet is its collaboration with brands and companies to help drive stories within the metaverse. Travis explained that while the main storyline is crafted in-house by their design team, it is written with flexibility, allowing brand stories and narratives to be easily integrated into the quest line. This unique approach means that Highstreet will never be complete, as there will always be new brands to collaborate with and new regions for players to explore. As Travis put it, “The tapestry [of Highstreet] becomes even more vibrant.”
Animoca Archipelago and the All-Terrain Trailer Sale
The Animoca Archipelago is a region created to celebrate the ecosystem of the Animoca Brands Group. The theme of the region is to “settle the Wild West” from a business perspective, mirroring what Animoca is doing with Web3. The region’s geography is a chain of small islands located in close proximity to one another, with each island possessing different biomes that affect the foliage and creatures that players can encounter.
The theme of exploration paved the way for the RV or All-Terrain Trailer sale, which was the initial home offering (IHO) for the region that took place in Q4 2022. The Animoca Archipelago is designed for wilderness-loving adventurers, and the homes are mobile and powered by various types of power sources, allowing for an endless expedition in the region. The Highstreet team spent a significant amount of time developing the RVs’ functionalities, ensuring that the homes have a range of entertaining features.
However, Animoca Archipelago as a whole will take longer to develop, as it is one of the first full regions that Highstreet is creating. The team is building new optimization techniques and rendering technology to create an explorable open-world VR experience. Currently, the projected timeline for completion is about nine months.
Binance Beach
Like Pokémon towns with their core functionalities, every region in Highstreet has its essential elements, such as an IHO to populate it with residents, shops to buy both digital and physical (phygital) items, and training grounds. However, what sets each region apart are the unique differences they offer. Highstreet City is a metropolis with homes that reflect the style of highrises and luxury condos, while the Animoca Archipelago is an untamed land filled with danger and excitement, with RVs or trailers as homes. In contrast, Binance Beach is a relaxing tropical beach town, with buildings that embody a seaside Greek town vibe.
Homes in Binance Beach are beautiful beach houses featuring outdoor showers, barbecue grills, and an oceanside dive shop vibe. Highstreet’s team is working on integrating the ability to make API calls to the Binance platform directly within the game. While this has been challenging due to Binance’s extensive KYC requirements, the team hopes to find a middle ground, starting with passive showcases and introductions to their initial game offering (IGO) programs or presenting new listing research like a museum exhibit.
The team envisions Binance Beach as a region where Binance can put on a show worthy of the metaverse, providing an exciting introduction to the world of crypto for newcomers playing the game for fun.
MMO Elements in Highstreet World
During a recent appearance on Binance Live, Travis made a timeline announcement regarding the MMO portion of Highstreet. The process will be gradual, with a collective set of features unveiled round by round, with the goal being to release full game loops that players can engage in. Over time, the team plans to expand these game loops and incrementally make the game bigger. Travis estimated that it will take approximately nine months to release a big patch that will make the game look like an MMO.
However, prior to that, several releases are in the pipeline, with the first set to launch in the first half of 2023. This release will feature a quest system that incorporates the Forever FOMO Duck Squad NFT collection, which will, through future releases, incorporate an item collection and level up system.
Challenges of Building a Metaverse
According to Travis, from a technical perspective, developing an MMORPG in VR is an extraordinary undertaking. Even with the game design and system ready to be built out, there are many steps involved in building the game logic, rendering everything on the screen, and tying all endpoints into smart contracts. The smart contract team must build, test, and audit the smart contracts to ensure they are gas-efficient for customers and safe from exploits.
Meanwhile, the art team is busy building endless streams of 3D models, shaders, textures, animations, and more, including building assets with different optimization techniques for scenes that need to be browser-ready. The drop team and operations team must work together with the development schedule to ensure partnerships are pulled in at the right time, avoiding any party waiting around for the other.
Despite the challenges, Travis emphasized that Highstreet’s team has worked hard to build many individual systems over the past year, including homes, pets, Highstreet Campus, commerce and shops, and re-theming for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. He expressed gratitude to those who appreciate Highstreet’s content, acknowledging the hard work and long hours required.
Tech Giants Entering the Metaverse
According to Travis, the Web3 world has been a closed community, with mainstream gaming having moved beyond browser-based games due to the lack of computing power. Now, browser-based games are becoming popular again because of crypto and the way wallets are integrated into browsers. However, Travis believes that it is the right time for the industry to move away from low-hanging fruit.
As a VR game, the biggest obstacle Highstreet faces is adoption. The future of immersive gaming lies in VR, but not everyone agrees. For Highstreet to enact its vision, it requires heavy hitters like Meta and Apple to place headsets into the hands of millions, even billions of users around the world. Travis is excited about what Meta and Apple are bringing to the table in terms of hardware.
However, Meta and Apple’s devices are built within walled gardens and won’t support crypto wallets out of the box. As a result, Highstreet’s R&D team is working on building a wallet system that is natively compatible with popular head-mounted displays.
After speaking with the Binance team for the AMA, Travis took questions from members of the Telegram channel, with two notable answers.
Travis stated that Highstreet has been experimenting heavily with AI-powered NPCs, although they are not quite AI-generated characters, referencing the Twitter post below.
Travis also said that the team is working to build a wallet that specifically works with Highstreet’s VR-compatible game.
To end the AMA, Travis said, “Highstreet’s goal is to create a game with elements similar to those found in traditional MMOs, such as characters to level up and monsters to defeat, while also offering robust world-building to satisfy casual players.”
For more information about Highstreet, including its tokenomics and whitepaper, please refer to this article.
As Highstreet continues to develop its expansive metaverse, the platform has partnered with several notable brands to bring its vision to life. For example, Highstreet recently partnered with a major pop culture icon’s streetwear brand and plans to develop an entire region and branded experience devoted to the megastar. Last year, Highstreet partnered with BuerBear to release a collectible art toy, and joined up with Jonathan Koon’s 8-Bit by Mostly Heard Rarely Seen to offer one-of-a-kind apparel in stores around the world.
For more information about Highstreet, including its development plans and future AMAs, please visit Highstreet’s Twitter, Telegram, and Discord.
About Highstreet
Highstreet is a commerce-centered metaverse integrating shopping with gaming. While products from brands bring an endless supply of cosmetics, bridging character customizations with real world fashion, an MMORPG backbone further adds utility to them, allowing players to craft unique NFTs to either profit or elevate their gameplay. As Highstreet’s phygital products continue to gain traction both online through E-commerce storefronts like Shopify and offline through various department stores around the world, Highstreet’s Metaverse grows steadily through land sales to brand partners; accumulating new stories to be shared and discovered by players around the world.
Website | Twitter | Telegram | Discord | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
General Inquiries: info@highstreet.market
Press: flora@highstreet.market
Contact for Brands: merchants@highstreet.market
