Ember Sword Drops Origins Collection on Rarible: Hear from the Founder

Ember Sword is one of the biggest names in web3 gaming right now. With killer artwork and a team that are beyond dedicated, this game surely has a bright future ahead. 

Created by Bright Star Studios, founded by Mark Laursen and Joris Huijbregts in 2018, Ember Sword is a quality game focused on onboarding the next million to web3. Which is why Rarible is super proud to be partnering with them on this drop.

We sat down with Mark to hear his story of founding a thriving web3 gaming company, and what makes a good video game. Keep reading to learn more.

The Ember Sword Origins Collection is minting on Rarible

The Ember Sword Origins Collection drop is an NFT bundle loaded with amazing features:

• 3 unique, one-time-only skins
• 3 in-game emotes
• A one-of-a-kind weapon skin
• 1,000 $EMBER tokens (with tons of in-game uses)

For a full rundown on how this collection works, and how you'll receive all these items, check out Ember Sword's blog post.

Minting now on Rarible, this NFT will make you one of the very first players to have any kind of cosmetic in Ember Sword! It also grants you priority entry to the Early Access launch. If you’re big on web3 gaming, or even just curious, this is the drop for you.

The early days

Mark Laursen was a hardcore gamer before he started building games. He was an undefeated world champion in World of Warcraft for over 2 years, and a top four professional counter-strike player. This guy knows gaming, and he knows first hand the problems in the gaming industry. 

One of the biggest pain points for him was the way games restrict the trading of in-game items, leading them to be sold on the black market:

“It was crazy risky, people getting scammed, and banned left and right, and we knew we could do better as an industry. We created Ember Sword in 2018 because we wanted to fix this very broken ecosystem between the players and the developers”. 

Changing the game

NFTs offer the perfect solution to this problem — with each transaction recorded and traceable, it’s easier to keep prices fair and to avoid scams. As well as creating a safer environment for trading, NFTs can bring tons of new functionality to in-game items: “The really cool part of this is all the exciting things you can embed into the collectible items. For example, we are creating our skins to carry information such as where and how the item was used and by which epic player. So the item itself becomes a part of the game's history and legacy”.

Ember Sword is a fantasy MMORPG game, full of interesting characters and immersive landscapes all executed in a style that the team lovingly calls “wonky steampunk!”

“The game is set on Thanabus, a moon that is in a state of repair and evolution after being ravaged by a huge FLUX storm. The creatures have been mutated, the once friendly robots are now unpredictable, and the citizens piece together what they can to survive”. 

The key to good gameplay

Everyone on the Ember Sword team has tons of experience playing games as well as building them. They bring this expertise to every element of Ember Sword, but there are three things in particular that they find are central to good gameplay: freedom to choose, freedom to earn/ trade, and instant accessibility.

Freedom to Choose:

The classless, sandbox gameplay means everyone has the freedom to play the way they want to, and not be forced in any direction they don't want to go.

Freedom to Earn and Trade

There are no pay-to-win mechanics in Ember Sword. There is, however, a vibrant game economy, through which players can shape the actual world in which they play. Land and skins are available to purchase (as NFTs) and trade freely, empowering players to build the game they want, on their own terms.

Instantly Accessible & Social

Powered by their own custom engine, the team at Ember Sword are making the game accessible to any player, on any device within seconds: “You no longer have to wait for downloads, patches or try to find your friends in the game. With just one click — you are playing with your friends”.

Ember Sword has just finished its Beta 1 test stage. This was a huge success with over 113k sessions played. Next up is the public testnet, and finally the early access version of the game will go live on Mainnet (where you’ll have early access if you mint this NFT).

You can find out what to expect for early access here. At each stage of testing the team at Ember Sword will be reviewing and improving their game, always putting players first. Check out the Ember Sword drop here.