Sprite sheets, Metaverse, Book of Lore, and more
On July 30th, at roughly 8:30 am, a crow perched upon the Secret Tower, and the Tower came alive. Within a frenzied timespan of 20 minutes, our community had summoned all ten thousand Wizards, and the Secret Tower closed once again. It was an historic moment in NFT history, and our team suddenly realized we had become Cult leaders, with a Discord full of passionate Wizards. Over the following weeks, we studiously knocked off each item on our Roadmap 1.0, and with every milestone our ambitions grew larger.
Roadmap 1.0 is nearly complete. We have decided to release Roadmap 2.0, which more accurately reflects our larger ambitions:
First a few caveats: The order of these items is in flux. We may complete these milestones in a slightly different order than what is presented, but we think it’s a pretty good estimation. Also, two items from Roadmap 1.0 are carried over, namely Forgotten Souls and the Warriors Guild. And for those wondering, the commercial rights milestone will be clearly spelled out in a near future blog post. And finally, there will be many other surprises along the way. This Roadmap only covers a few of the major milestones.
As for Roadmap 2.0, here it is in text form:
Let’s discuss these one by one
Currently, our Wizards exist as beautiful static images minted as NFTs. But FR Wizards are meant for so much more...
Elf is currently undertaking the arduous task of drawing the front, side, and back views of every single head, body, and familiar in the collection. This equates to roughly 240 pieces of art being tripled, for a total of 720 new sprites! Then we will take these parts and assemble them in the exact combinations of our 10k collection.
This means, as a Wizard holder, you will receive the front, right side, back, and left side of your Wizard and your Wizard’s familiar. These turnarounds will not apply to spells, items, staffs, or runes.
It’s a lot to take on, but Elf is roughly half way through. So why are we doing this?
If you want your Wizard to walk around in a metaverse, they will need to walk in all directions!
We will use these turnarounds to extract walk cycles, emotes, battle stances, and other poses required for full interaction in the metaverse.
We are talking to many partners about allowing Wizards to walk freely in other metas. Additionally, we are making moves to create our own meta based on the current map of the Forgotten Runes world.
This meta will be a place for Wizards to socialize, adventure, and battle monsters. There is so much to say about this meta, but more details will need to wait for a future blog post.
Another interesting use for these turnarounds will leverage the creativity of our community. Currently you can download your Wizard in easily editable parts.
Our Cult members have been making AMAZING art and animations with their Wizards and sharing them on social media. With these new sprites, our holders will be able to expand their artistic expressions and show Wizards doing things from any angle!
In addition to sprites, probably the most exciting development is the Book of Lore. This device will be a groundbreaking feature unique to Forgotten Runes, something no other NFT project has.
Since launch, our holders have been creating a staggering amount of artwork, animation, stories, poems, and other media expressions to supplement their Wizards. They have been building out their characters, bringing life to them. We knew this lore development needed to be saved on the blockchain, so that it could be preserved forever along with the Wizards themselves. Hence, the Forgotten Runes Book of Lore.
This Book will be an online compendium where any Wizard holder can attach art, stories, poems, or any NFT artifact to Wizards they own. Over time, we imagine this tome will become a massive wealth of information detailing the biographical history of each Wizard. We believe that a Wizard with well developed lore can become a legendary NFT.
In the near future, The Secret Tower on our website will undergo a subtle transformation. Wizard holders will have the opportunity to commit the unspeakable act of burning their Wizard!!! This act, while incredibly risky, will destroy the Wizard but may potentially return a mysterious Ghost Wizard. The exact details of the Great Burning have yet to be revealed, but for those who choose to take part in this even, be warned:
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
-Gandalf the Grey
The Forgotten Runes comic book will be one of the earliest ways the community will learn about the larger metanarrative. With approximately 20 pages of spellbinding lore, readers will learn about the magic system, the political intrigue, and several characters in this seminal issue.
Perhaps one of the things we are most excited about is the animated version of the Forgotten Runes Wizards. We are currently in talks with a few animation studios in Los Angeles, and one in particular seems very promising. We look forward to sharing more details about this in the coming months ahead.
When the time is right, and only then, we intend a companion Warrior drop to the Wizards. But why Warriors?
Every good book, film, and video game in the Fantasy genre needs this power balance of the brains (Wizards) and the brawn (Warriors). Indeed, it is an established trope: Wizards & Warriors, Swords & Sorcery, Might & Magic.
We believe this dynamic will be crucial in our own books, animations, and games. If we have a large metaverse of 10k Wizards, we will need other power dynamics to cooperate with or to challenge them! Though Warriors will arrive much later, we see Wizards as the emissaries to our universe.
The Wizards will shape this world in its nascent creation. In due time, they will be long established in this world- settled in Hedge Wizard Wood, populated in Calista’s Citadel, and fortified in the Blue Wizard Bastion. They will be well learned in the Forgotten Runes. Their power and wisdom will pervade across the land.
But even the very wise cannot see all ends... How will the Wizards respond to the arrival of the Warriors?