Splinterlands Land Expansion Adventures
I wouldn't like to be in the shoes of the Splinterlands team when it comes to the land expansion of the game. People are getting anxious (myself included) and want to see land, and the team ends up repeating the same responses because progress is what it is...
At first, it was by choice, to release SPS before the land expansion. And that took land out of the drawing board for quite some time.
But then, land slowly got back into their attention, together with other products that were worked on at the same time.
When they did that, they discovered that land expansion is a far more complex task than initially estimated.
They have broken it down into several phases:
- Prerequisites
1.1. Tech Modernization Phase 1
1.2. Non-Card Market - Land Phase 1
- Land Phase 2+
Of the elements described above, Tech Modernization Phase 1 is the furthest into development. But its rollout was attempted two times already (from what I know), and each time they had to take it down because something wasn't quite right. The most recent time was during yesterday's planned maintenance.
From the information shared during town halls, I could see this is giving them unexpected issues and they would be more than happy to finally roll it out and move on with it.
And the pressure is high since Tech Modernization is a prerequisite for land expansion. From my understanding, it is also a prerequisite for Non-Card Market too, so that will not be released before Tech Modernization is.
It's like 3 trains using the same railway line and the one ahead has the engine break. And the engine used to replace it breaks too.
I'm not sure how this is going to affect plans the second time Tech Modernization was taken down after yesterday's rollout, but before that happened the team still wanted to release Land Phase 1 until the end of the year, which is two months away.
That doesn't mean the gameplay for land, in phase 1 we should expect:
- revealing and converting Land claims into Land deeds
- surveying Land deed NFTs and revealing their properties
- buying and selling Land NFTs
- QA testing
According to the roadmap, that is still slated for Q4 this year:
Although by the looks of it, this page hasn't been updated in a while.
The land game mechanics is expected in phase 2 and after, and that will be in 2023, without more narrow details on "wen", which is understandable with so many loose ends.
What I don't see on this roadmap that was previously on the radar was Tech Modernization Phase 2. It looks like issues with Phase 1 might've pushed it further into the future.
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I would rather see them get it right than to panic however. I don't know how they are going to pull it off because it will mean the whole fundamentals of the game will change with power ups between battles as a result of owning land etc. They need to get it right.
Actually, this is the same as owning cards, to some degree. Someone who doesn't own land will be able to rent it, and, there will be another market for the products of the land, which are the items and spells. Those are the elements that will affect battles. Someone could own or rent no land but buy (rent?) the needed items and spells from the market and go on with playing at the top level. At the same time, someone could own a region and sell(/rent?) every product from their land and have zero bonus for their own battles.
That being said, I agree they need to be careful with the fundamentals, but it wouldn't be the first and probably not the last time when fundamentals will need revising for various reasons.
It needs to be extensively tested to ensure no unintended consequences and break the game.
That's for the second part, the game mechanics. That's another reason why they don't show a deadline for it. Converting claims to deeds (phase 1) shouldn't have any influence on the gameplay.
Sometimes progress runs into problems. I am sure they will get it figured out. Thanks for the update.
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Exactly.
I hope it fits in well with the game.mechanics.
Yeah, that is very important, to not mess up what already works with the extra step in preparing the battle.
Land has been pushed back way too much and I am wondering how it will change the battles in the game. I don't have any land and I don't really think I will be buying any of the land items unless I am forced to.
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I don't think you'll be forced to buy any items or spells. But not having them will be a considerable disadvantage in battles. That's because you apply them after you see the enemy's lineup and you can make choices based on his/her choices (and vice versa).
They just need to work on it. Soccer isn't important. Lands are.
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Apparently, it is important to them. I still believe their main product is Splinterlands (and will continue to be after all the new releases) and land is a major evolution for the game that will raise the interest of players wanting an additional game mode and more than likely new players from the outside.
I agree with 100% of what you just said :)
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