Looking to the Hash Rush Beta

Looking to the Hash Rush Beta

Over the last few months, Hash Rush has been coming together really well and it has been a lot of fun to see our community react to the new features that we are adding to the game. However, in the quest for a good beta launch, we are constantly looking at what is needed in order to give you all the proper Hash Rush experience. After a long look at our progress, we still feel that additional features and elements of polish are needed before we can officially start the Hash Rush beta.

The main cause of the delay is that Hash Rush is an extremely ambitious project that is very unique in its gameplay, theme, and style. While this is a major strength for us, it also means that a lot more attention has to be put into first planning the game, and then developing it as there are no pre-trodden paths for us to really follow. With Hash Rush, we are the proud trailblazers!

This time, instead of setting an ambitious timeline for ourselves, we have decided that the best course of action is to be entirely open with you, our community, regarding what the game needs to have before we will move to the beta.

By being open with what features we will have in the game before the beta starts we also can explain to our community, new and old, what our ultimate vision for Hash Rush is, something that until now we have not been that successful at.

Before we move Hash Rush to the beta, the following features will need to be in the game. The points below are the main categories that are being worked on for the game.

Crafting — Combat — Bounty Challenge — Marketplace — In-Game Purchases

Crafting

Alongside the marketplace that allows free players to convert their items to RUSH Coin, another essential feature that makes Hash Rush a ‘Play-to-Earn’ game rather than ‘Pay-to-Win’ is the crafting system.

When exploring their planet, players can find and recover special crafting materials, these materials are then used to craft items via blueprints that the player can earn from Daily Quests and Bounty Challenges.

Using these crafting materials and blueprints, the players are able to craft:

• Visual Customization items
• Convenience items
• Enhancement items
• Special Limited-Edition items

This feature will allow all players, given time and perseverance, the ability to craft any desired in-game item rather than buying them.

Combat

As Hash Rush is predominately a Player Vs. Environment (PvE) games, the AI/Behaviors of the enemies are what make this a game of skill rather than one of merely going through the motions. Furthermore, combat plays a vital role in the replayability of the game.

As this is such a large section, we have broken it down into three parts:

• Phases of Resistance
• Player Actions That Affect Phases of Resistance
• Next Planet Phase

Phases of Resistance

The players in Hash Rush will mine Crypto Crystals, and these crystals are part of a world-spanning hive-mind known as the Crystal Virus. The goal of the virus is to resist the player at every opportunity. As the player grows in power, so will the Crystal Virus’ efforts to stop and destroy the player.

Ultimately, the Crystal Virus is the representation of the Computer AI as it opposes the player.

Each Phase includes all the features of the previous Phases.

Phase 1: Fog

1. The first level of the Crystal Virus defence
2. Player units gain fear when they travel into the Fog
3. Buildings placed in the Fog will suffer increased degradation.

Phase 2: Single Attacks

1. The second level of the Crystal Virus defence
2. In this phase, single enemy units of equal or greater level than the players’ units are spawned.
3. These units will use the Hunt or Wreck AI
4. Defeated enemy units will drop Crypto Crystals that the player can pick up

Phase 3: Waves of Attackers

1. The third level of the Crystal Virus defence
2. Multiple units of equal or greater level than the player’s units are spawned
3. These units function and behave in the same way as the second level of the Crystal Virus defence

Phase 4: Crystal Outpost

1. The fourth level of the Crystal Virus defence
2. Found in all biomes other than where the player starts
3. These are the spawn points for enemy units in the previous two stages
4. Defensive buildings and units are always equal to the higher player unit
5. The outposts are an entrance to an instance and have a mini-boss that needs to be defeated
6. Once the mini-boss is defeated, the player will be able to build in that area

Phase 5: Crystal Base

1. The fifth level of the Crystal Virus defence
2. Found in a single biome on the opposite side of the world from where the player starts
3. Like the Crystal Outpost, this is a spawn point for enemy units
4. Defensive buildings here are always at a greater level than the player’s units
5. The boss is the Crystal Titan, the final boss of the world

Phase 6: Crystal Titan

1. The sixth and final level of the Crystal Virus defence
2. If the player has not defeated the Crystal Titan before this phase starts, the Crystal Titan will appear on the main world and march across the biomes.
3. The Crystal Titan targets the closest player building
4. The Crystal Titan will only target player units that are in its path towards the targetted player building
5. If all the player buildings are destroyed (except the Voyager’s Bastion which cannot be destroyed), the Titan will retreat to the Crystal Base
6. Once the player defeats the Crystal Titan, the world will stop providing Crystals via mines

The progression through the stages depends on the player’s actions and can overlap. For example, the Crystal Outposts will exist on the map in phase one. However, the enemy units will not be aggressively attacking the player. Therefore, it is possible for an aggressive player to neutralise the Outposts before the particular stage starts. However, to defeat the Outpost boss, the player will need a considerable amount of units (worker and combat) that will trigger the start of stage 4 naturally.

Player Actions That Affect Phases of Resistance

The strength of the Crystal Virus is dynamic and will automatically change based upon one or more of the following:

• The Player has mined X amount of Crypto Crystals
• The Player has harvested X amount of Y resource
• The Player has built X number of buildings
• The Player has built X number of Y building
• The Player has summoned X number of workers
• The Player has trained X number of military units
• The Player has built X building to level Y
• The Player has levelled X military unit to level Y
• The Player has buildings in X number of biomes

It is important to know that the phases will reset based on the player’s circumstances. For example, if the player enters stage 6 and the Crystal Titan destroys the player’s buildings and units, once the destruction is complete, the Titan will return to the Crystal Base, and the phase of resistance will reset to level 1 — the Fog.

Next Planet Phase

Once the Crystal Titan has been defeated, and the player has collected all the Crystals possible, they will be sent to a new planet to start over again. When this happens, the player keeps their in-game items and their knowledge of the game allowing them to play more efficiently in the next cycle. Additionally, players will receive special prizes when the move to the next planet, with the prize becoming progressively better in relation to how complete the planet is. For example, a player that moves their planet is 50% complete will get a worse prize than a player that moves when their planet is 90% complete. The best prizes are NFT’s which are awarded to players who move planets that are 75% complete or more.

It is also important to note that players can move to the next planet at any point, however in order to win a prize, they will need to complete at least 10% of the planet.

Bounty Challenge

The Bounty Challenge represents the main player versus player challenge at the launch of Hash Rush. Bounty Challenges are contests that will be offered on a regular basis to players of similar experience and skill levels.

Players who choose to enter a Bounty Challenge will have a set amount of time to gather Crystals on their planets and turn those Crystals in; these crystals are obtainable via extraction from special crystal nodes (the player builds a mining camp on them) or by defeating enemy units. At the end of the period, a leaderboard is formed showing how many Crystals each player extracted and submitted to the challenge. Their position on this leaderboard puts them into a certain rank, which in turn provides specific rewards. These rewards will range from valuable in-game items (in the form of NFTs) to cash prizes for the top players (in the form of a cryptocurrency).

Peer-to-Peer Marketplace

Working hand in hand with the monetisation is the game’s in-game marketplace, which is designed as a Peer-to-Peer marketplace. All items that the player crafts, wins, purchases, or earns, can be sold on the marketplace. The medium of exchange on the marketplace is the same RUSH Coin (hard currency) as is used in the in-game shop. This allows free players who are active to sell their prizes to other players, allowing them to gain RUSH Coin for use in the in-game shop.

In-Game Purchases

Hash Rush is intended to be a Free-2-Play (F2P) game, meaning that players will not need to spend any money to join and enjoy the game. However, in the interest of supporting the game and providing funds for its improvement and advancement various monetisation features must be developed. It is in this part of the game that the player will most notice the blockchain additions, as it allows us to create a much fairer game for everyone, with much more options that possible in non-blockchain using games.

The intended monetisation of Hash Rush will follow the standards set by the existing F2P market which are:

A hard (premium currency) that is used to in-game item purchases from our item shop. This currency will be an ERC20 token that we have created called the RUSH Coin and is available for players to purchase via in-game options or external partnered exchanges. Furthermore, all items sold in the Peer-to-Peer Marketplace will be for RUSH Coin. Please see the sections on the Marketplace and Crafting to learn more about this and how this game allows players to earn by playing the game.

RUSH Coin will be used to purchase the following items in the In-Game Shop:

• Skins for Units (colours and patterns)
• Add-Ons for Units
• Decorative and aesthetic buildings
• Convenience Buffs
• Enhancements

To balance the game and avoid the stigma of Pay-To-Win, all buffs and enhancements will have corresponding minute-Long items that the players earn via in-game rewards; this is in addition to the point mentioned above regarding the Marketplace and Crafting.

For example, A Free Player can earn eight (8) 10% Production Boosts that each last 15 minutes. A Paying Player can buy a single 10% Production Boost that lasts for 2 hours. The Free Player can have the same Boost for the same length of time; they must log in to keep reapplying it.

These items will also be given out as rewards from our Bounty Challenge and our special events; this offers our players an additional ‘free’ way to earn the valuable in-game items.

The Game Loop

The game loop is what keeps the game exciting to players over a more extended period and represents the replayability of the game. The loop consists of:

1. Build
2. Mine
3. Defend
4. Trade
5. Earn

As the player plays through the game, it will keep on looping. First, the player must build their base and resource infrastructure to support their units. Then the player will start to mine Crystals to take part in the Bounty Challenge. As they mine Crystals and build their base, the planet will react to them, and the player will progress through the various phases of resistance, forcing the player to defend themselves. By defending themselves, the player is able to gather rare resources to craft items, which in turn can be sold on the marketplace. Finally, by playing through the loop, the player can earn RUSH Coin, NFTs or various cryptocurrencies.

As the player gains experience, and as the game is developed, the loop will expand to include more points of interest, however, the cycle explained above is the core loop that the player will experience no matter what stage of the game they are playing in.