Next week we start rolling Serum City out to VIPs as the architects dismantle the fourth wall and encourage direct feedback with the Faraway Founders. It’s an opportunity for those involved to influence the game design - a game that will actively elevate holders and that of the Mutant Cartel World. 

Everyone is eager for its arrival, and we know that anticipation can boil into frustration in the absence of regular comms. We also know the natural shifts in game-building timelines are felt more acutely in web3, and we intend to address this moving forward.

Pending feedback from our VIP Beta, Serum City Season One will launch in January 2024. Read on to learn more about the decisions and what to expect in upcoming seasons.

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TLDR:

• VIPs will enter a private Beta with their feedback intended to improve the first experience for our wider holders that follow.
• We call it Season Zero as this is the MVP. It’s taken eight months to build and we’ll be rapidly deploying new mechanics and fine-tuning them in the run-up to commercial launch.
• We’ll update timelines well in advance on the arrival of Season Two and Three
• Season Two will introduce multiple new communities, cross-game incentives, the Apecoin Prize Pool, and a major gameplay mechanic.
• Season One performance will affect your Season Two Rank [See Infographic]
• Season Three will uplift all elements and also intends to remove the token gate for mass-market launch, introduce a mobile option and add another major gameplay mechanic. 
• New opportunities delayed the anticipated launch date, but have exponentially increased the future plans with the game. 
• Lessons learnt from recent game launches have been calibrated into our own improvements.
• Some comms need to be strategically withheld to ensure partnerships, confidentiality, security and the most optimum launch is coordinated. 
• Avoiding a Christmas launch by extending into January. As this is a competitive leaderboard based season, it’s important everyone is able to battle for first place at the same time.

Everything we’ve done is intended to give this game, and those attached to it, the best opportunity and environment to succeed.

Season Zero

We use Season One interchangeably with Season Zero, as we’re opening the game with the scaffolding and decorators still very present.

There are some major mechanics to deploy as we progress to commercial release, but we believe those most invested in our world will offer the best opportunity to improve its experience.

Each season will progress the story of the Mutant Cartel World, introduce multiple updates and deploy a major thematic mechanic. 

Season One (Zero) focuses on building your section of the city, familiarising yourself with the story and competing for a position on the leaderboard using the Capsule of Kaos.

The core gameplay loop will be fully polished and deployed before mass-market launch. Active combat components will be introduced that make use of the items you craft, the NFTs you own and your progress in Serum City. 

Application Of IP

A core tenet of Novel Labs is helping our collectors create. When we talk about developing IP, it’s always with the intention of deploying characters and storytelling into games, transmedia and major partnerships. 

The first cohort of community-generated characters will feature in Season Zero as a proof of concept and we’ll look to expand this initiative by enriching their roles, increasing their presence and incorporating other communities, characters, and layers into future seasons. 

To accommodate the range of characters presented in Season One, we needed to add a variety of new features and mechanics - such as territory disputes with rivals, callers at the Pirate Radio Station and having to incentivize your tenants to cough up the rent.

Fused Hounds Appearance

With the timelines of Serum City Season One and Fused Hounds Stage Two falling in close proximity, we felt it was only right that the new collection was given its own presence.

Fused Hounds will be able to mint Hound HQ passes and will also access a unique building during Season One.

Technical Plumbing 

In addition to all the styling updates and visible functionality, there’s also a large body of work that goes into dramatically improving the web3 plumbing.

Building games on the blockchain is new territory and we learn from those bravely charting the space with us. Solutions to tackle challenges like slow transactions and gas costs are overcome in the engine rooms and take a large lift that goes largely unseen to the untrained eye, but adds significant value to the overall experience. 

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An enormous amount of work has gone into this game over the last year from both teams, and we truly hope it delivers on the expectations of our community. This is only the beginning of Serum City.