In a recent keynote address, Digital Chocolate CEO, Trip Hawkins, announced NanoVerse – the new online virtual goods platform from DC. NanoVerse will let users purchase NanoStars.
Our virtual items, called NanoStars, are actually virtual online characters with a lot of human foibles and personality. And they are purchased in online “packs” in a fashion that mimics how trading cards have always been sold (but they are online, not actual paper). And best of all, they work in more than one game and can transform into completely new and different items in different apps.
When I first heard Trip speak of this, Magic: The Gathering from Wizards of the Coast jumped to mind. While I’ve really gotten into said game, I’ve wondered for a long time why WOTC hasn’t gone after the iPhone gaming market. MTG seems like a perfect fit – especially for PvP game play. Sure enough, Trip went on to compare NanoVerse to this exact trading card game.
Our goal with NanoStars is to bring the benefits of TCGs to a much larger audience that wants to play simpler online and mobile social games. One key goal is to do something akin to, “Pokemon for Grownups” by having our virtual items be amusing characters rather than just objects, things, or functions.
The idea that NanoStars a person purchases can adapt to differing game play environments is a very interesting concept. The same goes for objects like a sword. Who wants to buy a sword when you could buy a ‘weapon’ that is a sword for some games and a club or a laser pistol for other games?
To kick things off Digital Chocolate is working on NanoCastles, an online virtual trading card game where you and your opponent each have a castle and are trying to build up your royal family. Again, we’ll let Trip explain the game.
The game has an online deck of 52 conventional playing cards built in and each player draws 4 of these cards to start the game. Then each turn you can draw and replace one card, with the hope of getting four kings or other face cards like the queen.
It is a bit unclear to me whether NanoStars are characters or objects (or both). In Trip’s blog post, he begins by calling them out as characters but later he implies they are used as power-ups. Perhaps they do both. I’m not sure right now. Either way, it’s a very interesting idea I’m anxious to see come to fruition.
