May 31, 2023
Preparing for Life in Upland
It’s no secret that Upland is an ever-evolving ecosystem, as we are constantly working on new ways to make the experience more dynamic and engaging. As such, we are excited to announce our newest efforts to prepare for the introduction of Life, which will be powered by the STEM token!
Similar to the launch of property development, the preparation for life will first come to Upland in the form of two new assets. The first will be map assets that simulate the mechanics of living creatures; each will have a set of behaviors that determines how they should be nurtured. The second will be PROTEM, a temporary currency that will be ultimately redeemable 1:1 for STEM. This gives the Upland team an opportunity to test and optimize this groundbreaking system before a full release in the future.
What are STEM and PROTEM?
Ultimately, STEM will be the token responsible for sustaining all living things in the Upland metaverse, like trees, animals, or plants. Life will be designed to reflect the real world, which means that living assets will require nourishment in the form of STEM. Prior to the full release of STEM and Life, we will use a substitute currency called PROTEM, which will be redeemable 1:1 with STEM upon its eventual release. An initial supply of PROTEM will be distributed to all totem holders. For each totem the player holds, they will receive a fixed amount of PROTEM when totems are activated.
In tandem with PROTEM, we will release a collection of map assets that visually represent different lifeforms; these assets will be referred to as “totems.” Players will need to spend PROTEM to nurture their totems and keep them healthy; successfully nurturing a totem will generate additional PROTEM. This mini-game will serve to simulate the interaction between STEM and Life, and the objective of the game will be to generate as much PROTEM as possible. This game is designed to simulate the mechanics of Life, however, it will be an exaggerated version of how Life will eventually work in Upland. In other words, it’s Life on steroids.
“Living” Map Assets, or “Totems”
Each totem will have a unique set of visual traits representing five different behaviors that set it apart from every other totem; this means each totem is a 1-of-1 asset. The unique combination of their behaviors will determine the optimal way to spend and harvest PROTEM. This will be based on the following:
- Input - The total amount of PROTEM that can be spent in a cycle
- Frequency - Determines how often PROTEM will need to be spent
- Harvest Cap - The maximum amount of PROTEM that can be accumulated before it needs to be harvested
- Output - Determines how much PROTEM can be earned relative to the Input
- Stamina - Determines what earnings penalty the player might incur if Inputs are missed
Based on these behaviors, players will need to optimize how they spend PROTEM to ensure the livelihood of their totems. If the player nurtures the totem correctly, it will reward them with additional PROTEM. Failure to nurture totems properly can result in diminished or lost PROTEM returns.
Totems will have a finite supply, meaning additional totems will never be minted beyond this drop. Additionally, totems will only be active during predefined cycles of 30 days. Once a new cycle begins, players can activate the totems and will need to spend PROTEM to keep them “alive.” After the cycle ends, players will no longer be able to spend PROTEM on their totems for that specific cycle. Early results of the simulation will determine when and how often cycles will occur.
The Genesis Totem
Each year, Genesis Week celebrates the anniversary of the first minted property in Upland, otherwise referred to as the “genesis” property. So in the spirit of all things Genesis, we will be awarding a one-of-a-kind, highly exclusive “Genesis Totem” to one lucky player in Upland! This super rare totem will be the only totem that comes with all of the most favorable behaviors.
Each of the behaviors described above will be represented visually on the totem itself. The Genesis Totem’s “Output” will be expressed as a Llama; the first and only of its kind. Other characteristics include the “Fluid” style (for Input), circle base (for Stamina), gold color (for Frequency), and maximum size (for Harvest Cap). The combination of these behaviors makes the Genesis Totem the most desirable totem in existence.
That’s all we can say for now, so stay tuned for more details about Genesis Week activities over the next few weeks.
What’s Next?
Testing STEM with PROTEM is an exciting opportunity to test the waters for Life in Upland, and we’re incredibly excited to see what this project will do for the Upland ecosystem. The Upland team is hard at work on delivering the first iteration of PROTEM (and totems) sometime in the near future; we’ll have more details as we get closer to launch.
Be sure to let us know what you think about what life can bring to Upland on Twitter and Discord!