With the $FU money airdrop being teased a few days ago, I’ve finally decided to set aside some time to write up this quick post about my favorite crypto game: OpenSeason.

This third person shooter combines CT lore and NFT utility with battle royale gameplay. Identical to the premise of other BRs like Fortnite, you’re dropped into a large battlefield and compete for weapons and loot. The map shrinks periodically and the last player standing wins. Pretty straightforward. Healing and boosting mechanics are very similar to PUBG.

The developer team behind OpenSeason is Fractional Uprising Studios. Their mission: “Augment and enhance NFT brands by adding utility to their JPGs through the creation of video games, music, videos, and lore.”

Sticking true to their mission, OpenSeason incorporates NFT collections. Currently, playable characters are Milady, Remilio, PEPE, Bored Ape, KanpaiPanda, and RetroDoge. In a recent update, all in-game models were reworked to have the same proportions and hitboxes, so there is no inherent advantage to playing any NFT. OpenSeason is FU studios’ first production and thus far, it has been fully funded by the mint of studio memberships. No VCs, no token presale (more on $FU and the upcoming airdrop later).

Being a filthy casual past my gaming prime with boomer reaction times as sluggish as a sloth, I’ll spare you my horrid gameplay. Instead, I’m referring you to the curated tweet of this AF. It’s a highlight reel covering all available maps by Wirelyss who is… uh… pretty decent.

The game is live on the EpicGames store and can be downloaded for free. However, a membership is presently needed to play the Alpha version and there are two ways to obtain one:

1. Owning a FU membership NFT

The “FU Studios Membership” is a collection of 6,000 NFTs that originally minted on scatter for 0.05 ETH in 2023. At the moment, the floor price on Blur is 0.0862 ETH. Pretty high asks driven by the following benefits that come with owning one:

• Access to OpenSeason Alpha and early access to all future productions by FU studios
• Holders will receive 10% of the total $FU supply and 5% of the generated profits
• Ability to earn $FU during the Beta version

2. Owning an “Upgraded NFT”

The cheaper option is simply upgrading one of the whitelisted NFTs (Milady, BoredApe, Remilio etc.). If you already own one of these, you can pay 0.05 ETH to update your NFT. Here, perks are:

• Access to OpenSeason Alpha and all future productions by FU studios
• Ability to earn $FU during the Beta version

 

Once the Beta concludes, regular game passes will be launched and available for everyone. Meaning, soon there will be a third way to obtain a membership. Fringe benefits will include:

• Access to OpenSeason (post-beta)
• Ability to earn $FU after official product launch

All Eyez On $FU Money

Since OpenSeason: Season 1 is starting soon, the TGE for $FU should be sooner than later. As the team puts it, $FU will be a mullet coin – utility in the front, meme in the back. It’s set to launch on Arbitrum and will support the ecosystem, connect OpenSeason with future productions, as well as introduce several new game mechanics. As the game matures, more and more utility will be added, but nothing is set in stone. Here’s the breakdown:

1. Win-To-Earn

The $FU token will introduce modified play-to-earn mechanics that I would best describe as skill-based-earning:

First of all, you can simply collect beans, in-game collectibles akin to coins in Super Mario, by running around. With the Beta version going live, beans will be convertible to $FU – straightforward P2E. However, winning games, climbing ranks on the leaderboard, and unlocking achievements will all earn you experience points. Experience points will also be exchangeable for $FU and winning boosts your rewards drastically. Thus, excelling in the game equates to higher earnings.

2. Access to Exclusive Perks & Items

Users will also be able to purchase “exclusive features” by spending and burning $FU. These include collectibles for the game – rare weapons, characters, and items. Additional perks will entail access to restricted areas and unlocking unique animations & emotes. Lastly, you will be able to mint a membership by burning $FU – giving owners the right to distribute game passes. How much of this utility – especially the latter – will be available immediately following the Beta is unclear. To align logically, I suspect the game pass mint mechanic won’t be live until the public launch.

Airdrop & Token Distribution

Total Max Supply: 621 Million

• 10% – Airdrop to Studio Membership NFT holders:

At TGE, 10% of the total supply is distributed to Studio Membership holders. In total, three snapshots determine the allocation amount. The first two snapshots have already been taken, sometime between the start of the mint and now, and act as multipliers. The final third and most important snapshot will be taken on the day of the TGE.

Only holders captured in the third snapshot qualify for the airdrop. The first two merely reward longtime holders by increasing the airdrop amount.

• 5% – Liquidity Pool:

A portion of the funds generated from the membership mints and 5% of the total $FU supply are used to seed the ETH/FU liquidity pool. The ETH collected from txn fees is used to fund development.

• 20% – Team:

20% of the total supply is distributed between team members & founders, linearly vested over 6 months.

• 30% – Community

30% of the total supply will be allocated to FU studios productions and used for marketing purposes, mainly user acquisition and exposure. Paraphrasing, the team intends to establish a points system that determines distribution in accordance with the applicable incentive structure.

This sounds a bit convoluted but just entails $FU distribution to holders of experience points, i.e. players. As mentioned earlier, users earn experience points by winning games, climbing ranks, and unlocking achievements. Points can be exchanged for $FU tokens and are dispensed from this community pool.

• 35% – Future Productions

35% of the total supply is retained to fund future productions and locked for one year. FU Studios mentions that they are open to taking requests from external teams wanting to become part of the ecosystem. An inclusion is tied to a stringent application process. Requests must lay out a detailed description of the production idea and the intended revenue model. Here, the team provides several examples such as game tournaments & wagering systems, sale of game characters & items, and FU Ads. If interested, you can find more details in their docs.

I’ve followed this project for over a year now and although the Alpha is far from perfect, it has already earned a special place in my heart. Back in the day, I was an avid PUBG player and have always been reminiscent of the Erangel gaming experience. Nothing was as exciting as landing in Pochinki clutching early battles or as nostalgic as playing squad games with your internet friends.

I first played OpenSeason on the day of the Alpha release, and although the game mechanics felt super clunky and my pc crashed 30mins in, I still had genuine adrenaline rushes reminding me of the good old PUBG days. Since then, the dev team has made impressive improvements to the overall gameplay – be that upgrading character models or improving in-game mechanics, weapons, and controls.

Today, my main points of criticism are:

• Opponents mainly being bots unless you hit peak activity hours
• The game still being too hardware intensive
• Ammunition tends to be too sparse (depending on the biome)
• Reach of melee attacks is excessive

That being said, the game is in closed Alpha and expectations should be managed accordingly – after all, these are still the early stages of development. Besides Heroes of Mavia, OpenSeason is the only crypto-adjacent game I genuinely enjoy playing and I remain bullish on the team continuing to ship meaningful updates.

Disclosure: I hold a Studio Membership NFT.