Weekly UpdateTime for a weekly update from us. This is a joint update with more Crowdsale details and a sneak-peek into the game itself.
Use Of ProceedsThis is our projected use of proceeds gathered during CryptoTycoon Crowdsale:
Game Development: 40%This goes to develop the client for Windows and Mac platforms.
Network Development: 25%Game Master node development and the development/tweaks of our MMO Barracuda Protocol required specifically for CryptoTycoon.
Design & Creative: 15%2D graphics, VFX, music and SFX, 3D models, UI/UX, game design and script.
Marketing & PR: 20%Massive word-spread across social media, getting to editorials and online magazines, running CPC/CPA campaigns to grow the community further.
CryptoTycoon: Components
CryptoTycoon is an "Easy to Learn, Hard to Master" type of game. The easy part is that you've got just these 5 components to build Rigs of any complexity and performance:
- Motherboard
- CPU
- GPU
- AC/DC (Power Supply)
- CU (Cooling Unit)
All components are assigned a Tech Level, and you start at Tech 1 (T1). Your Tycoon can learn to use components of a higher Tech Level, the maximum is T5 for Engineers and T4 for everybody else. Time to learn a higher Tech Level is calculated using a complex formula, but a rough estimate is that it takes a considerable amount of time to progress from T1 to T5. As considerable as 1 year.
The Tech Levels system is very similar to the one in EvE Online. If you played EvE, you pretty much know it already. CryptoTycoon is quite similar to EvE in terms of time required to level up your Tycoon, it has been one of the games we got ideas from.
Now to the components themselves.
MotherboardThe core of any Rig, you always build your Rig around the Motherboard. The Motherboard provides the slots to connect other components to it and combine them as a Rig. Motherboards are grouped by Socket Types and can have different amount of PCI slots available. A higher Tech Level motherboard is capable of carrying more PCI slots.
CPUCPUs are mining components. CPUs have the properties such as Hashrate, Heat Level, Power Req. Hashrate adds to the Rig's overall hashrate, the higher that value is the more coins you mine. Heat Level adds to the Rig's overall heat level, the lower that value is the better. Power Req. stands for the amount of power that component consumes under normal conditions (not Overclocked, not Throttled). CPUs and ASICs are considered the same component, just a different Tech Level. For e.g. T1 are normal CPUs, T3 are ASICs, T5 are quantum processors.
GPUGPUs are mining components. GPUs have the same properties as the CPUs. The difference is in the game design - GPUs need more Power, they provide a higher Hashrate, they've got a higher Heat Level. CryptoTycoon is a game of choice, so there is always a choice to mine safer or mine faster with a risk of frying your entire Rig.
CU (Cooling Unit)For the cases when you don't want to fry your Rig, there is a special component - a Cooling Unit. This unit simply keeps the Rig's Heat Level in check. The trick is that the CU occupies almost as many slots as the Motherboard. There is once again a choice to have a bigger Rig and risk to have all go to waste, or play it safe and trade performance for more CUs. Tough choice, but make it wrong and you'll be out for quite some time; that'd really be a "c u" for your Rig.
AC/DC (Power Supply)These guys make sure the Rig works and there's enough Power for all components to function at their peak levels. Power Supplies come in heavily once you start Overclocking your Rigs, or once some of your components run out of Health (so they need more Power). Having extra Power Supplies is never a problem since they are tiny and come cheap. The tricky part is that components run out of Health fast dragging the entire Rig down with them, eventually frying the whole thing. Of course, you could plug an extra Power Supply, right? Kind of. The time window to react to a Power Surge is very small, literally a few seconds. It's easy to miss. Thus, once again a choice - occupy your precious Motherboard slots with more Power Supplies, or hope nothing will ever go wrong (could be, with a high level Tycoon, say, up to T3 in Electronics and T4 in Power Supplies, and T2 in Power Management, and... that'd take probably a few months to learn already, btw).
There is much more to say about the components properties. Peek into our game design file regarding some of the components specs:
That's just a tip of an iceberg. So that's right, it's "Hard to Master" and we believe only the geekiest of techies (or the techi-est of the geeks) will be able to master it. At times CryptoTycoon requires extreme commitment and dedication from you, but in the end you are rewarded nicely with a Rig that runs smoothly. A smoothly run Rig produces lots of coins, that you are going to sell on the open market. Make profit and buy more components, build a better Rig. Team up with your friends and start a Corp. Rinse and repeat till you are a force to be reckoned with - a powerful Alliance, an inventor and researcher, a manufacturer, a real tycoon.
