TL:DR
Wow, so much has happened in February, good thing we had an extra day to get it all done! Here’s where we were in the short form. We were guests on two different X Spaces taking advantage of two different, powerful marketing opportunities. We are inching closer to that first Alpha release, and updates to the environment are shaping up. The AI NPC work had additions all in service of getting as much realism into the world as possible. The Blockchain group has expanded capabilities for Mine Runner, and the Community section covers the ever-important staking rewards criteria. Let’s get to it!
Studio Update
There were a couple of very big marketing opportunities in the month of February, Mike and Linus were very busy! The first was our announcement with the KuCoin exchange partnership. The founders appeared on X Spaces that KuCoin hosted and covered topics like where the project is going and how the partnership will be invaluable to the community. If you are trying to point friends to our project and where they can get the $NETVR token, feel free to send them to KuCoin.
Next was the appearance that Mike and Linus had on the streaming show Killer Whales! The project, not to spoil it for those who missed, received SWIMs from all of the hosts, something that happens rarely. They all had good reviews of the work we’ve done so far, which is obvious validation for the project. The founders also appeared on the X Spaces hosted by Killer Whales, and if you have not had a chance to hear that conversation, we encourage you to listen here: https://twitter.com/KillerWhalesTV/status/1762127900059549750. And of course check out the entire Killer Whales series on HELLO labs.
There is more marketing to come to help support the Alpha release, so as busy as February was, we expect March and April to be even more exciting!
Development Update
Even with all these marketing opportunities, the team continues to move to the first Alpha release this month! Explore images below showcasing the ongoing work at the NetVRk Center, situated in the southern region of our map. We think that the addition of our original take on parametric architecture to the center structure will blow people away. There are new boats in the scene, and new interior decorations that have been added, lots of new items to explore and enjoy.
We know you all have one question; Wen Alpha? We will in the very near term start to leak hints and clues across all our social media that will point at this much anticipated date on the calendar. So be sure that you are signed up in the various channels.
AI Update
The AI update as we head into the first Alpha includes an update to the Large Language Model (LLM) that our AI characters will be using, after training it on our servers. This will be deployed in the Alpha along with a new NPC being added in the launch area. This new face will be something to unveil with the Alpha release.
There is more to the AI NPCs than just what they say! With the drive toward realistic conversations, the team has been working on an emotion data table that is to be driven by tags and prompts. These gestures, along with head tracking and blinking, are shaping up to give the most realism seen in any metaverse project to date.
Another subtle but important addition to the system done in February is a NPC replication setup which allows a number of players to connect to multiple NPCs. The result of this work is that players will be able to overhear conversations being held by multiple other player/NPC combinations. Again, this may seem subtle, but our experience to this point is that the missing subtle items are the parts that make interactions feel unnatural. The last 10% of the work makes 90% of the impact!
Blockchain Team Update
The blockchain team has implemented significant upgrades to the core smart contracts of the Mine Runner game on both the Ethereum and Polygon networks. The “cashin” and “cashout” contracts, essential for the game’s play-and-earn features, have been updated to support transactions with the new NETVR token. The “cashin” contract facilitates the loading of coins into the game, while the “cashout” contract allows players to withdraw tokens earned in-game from Metacrite.
In addition to these upgrades, the team is also managing the airdrop process for users who held the old token prior to the migration. This team is crushing it!
Community Update
NETVR Staking Pools!
Once again, the Community team is hard at work for the sake of our community! And that time to keep compliant has come around again! If you want to stake your $NETVR tokens the only way to qualify for the upcoming staking pools is via the next Zealy contest. But don’t wait! You can already now start to qualify by completing Boost Zone quests in Zealy. The XP you earn now via the Boost Zone quests will carry over to the next contest, giving you a head start and an advantage over others. Start earning XP today to get access to $NETVR staking pools.
Qualify for NETVR Staking Pools Now!
It is also a good time to remind everyone that you can keep in touch with all of our progress and our announcements via both our official Telegram group and our official Discord server. And you can always follow us on X as well. We look forward to seeing you there!
