Sci-Fi NFT comic project lays foundation for CCG development
The year is 2142 AD. A dystopian future controlled by corporations is shaken when the last Bitcoin (BTC) is mined, and Satoshi Nakamoto’s long-dormant wallet is awakened and used to dismantle their control. The physical, virtual and astral realms are all disrupted as entheogenic spirits, angels and demons battle it out as artificial intelligence (AI) battles AI to free sentient entities in the Metaverse.
It’s the stage for a non-fungible token-powered (NFT) comics project led by an ambitious team of former game developers from Serbia. The Web3 platform combines the ever-popular collectability of comics with the world of NFTs to establish the lore of a virtual tabletop RPG board game that is in pre-production.
Dušan Žica, CEO and COO of 2142, jumps right into the project’s premise in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. After working as a copywriter and advertising director for 11 years, Žica switched to the world of video game development for the past seven years before the idea of 2142 was born at the end of 2021.
Frustrated by the amount of copy collections in the NFT space, his team envisioned a GameFi comic where users create, collect and compile panels and pages from the 2142 AD comic series, from the first volume, before participating in a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) for to guide the course of the story’s progress and end.
Cointelegraph explored the Web3 website to begin the process of minting and compiling the first issue of the comic 2142. Paying gas fees gives users a small bundle of free, randomized NFTs, which provide the first pieces of the comic puzzle.
As Žica explains, users will need to purchase a total of 15 to 20 packs to complete the first 34-page comic issue. These packs can give a user two of the same panels or pages, but the ERC-20 NFTs can be bought and sold on 2142’s proprietary NFT marketplace as well as platforms like OpenSea, which allow collectors to complete comics.
The first issue of 2142 AD will also feature randomized covers, adding to the unique collectability of the comics, which are stamped in a complete, single NFT upon completion:
“We have different covers, which are based on random models, different characters and combinations. When you burn the entire collection of panels, you get one NFT problem. The case should have an intrinsic value because of this rarity.”
Seasoned comic book collectors are used to paying anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars for the latest copy or rare edition of their favorite comics. A bundle of 21 NFTs will cost around $30, and users must acquire at least 15 bundles to receive an airdrop of a character, location, and item from the 2142 universe that can then be used to create new, five-sided spin- off webcomics based on the user’s choice.
“In this way we actually decentralize and randomize world building, it’s a new concept and we’re not aware of anyone doing it,” Žica said.
These characters, locations, and items essentially form part of the pre-production of the team’s long-term goal of creating a trading card video game and tabletop RPG in the vein of Cyberpunk 2020, Kult, and The World of Darkness. Žica said that the real value of NFT’s intellectual property will be realized and executed in a video game.
“We are in the process of pre-production on a CCG video game, as we all come from video game production backgrounds. It’s going to be a big part of pre-production, it can help us grow our community and improve our world building.”
The 2142 team also wanted to avoid attracting NFT flippers who have become part of the space, picking up new digital collectibles in hopes of making big profits.
Žica admitted that their Ethereum-based NFTs would be available on platforms like OpenSea — in a similar way to Reddit’s collectible NFT avatars being listed and sold for a premium on the popular marketplace.
According to the project outline, members of 2142 DAO will be entitled to a revenue share in the developing tabletop RPG, CCG video game and animated series.
