June 09, 2022
Q2 Roadmap and AMA
Genesis Week is in full force, and we are having a blast celebrating Upland’s birthday with you all! As always, we have been incredibly busy behind the scenes–building and innovating for the ever-evolving metaverse. So today, we’re happy to be sharing more details on a variety of new systems such as Cars, Manufacturing, Outdoor Decor, Governance, Developer Tools, Legits, and the NFT Portal (it’s a lot, we know!). These systems all carry huge implications for the future of the metaverse, and will serve as the building blocks for Upland’s transition into a more mature platform and economy.
As always, we will be hosting a special Roadmap Panel & AMA LIVE in Las Vegas alongside our incredible community. Tune in for a special edition of the Roadmap Update featuring not just co-CEOs Idan Zuckerman and Dirk Lueth, but also several members of our amazing product team! So, make sure you don’t miss out this Friday, June 10th, at 11:00 AM PT, LIVE on YouTube. Please head over to the #genesis-ama channel in Discord to submit your questions for the AMA. We will also be taking questions live from in-person attendees as well as viewers in the stream, we can’t wait to see you there! You can also check out our fully-updated Roadmap here on the Upland website.
No doubt you’ve been patiently waiting for updates, but, before we jump into what to expect in Q3 of 2022, we’d like to highlight some of our accomplishments since we last spoke…
Looking Back on Q2
Halfway through 2022, we’ve made tremendous strides in the development of the Upland metaverse. Back in March, we kicked things off with an update to Treasure Hunting Tiers and Rewards to better match our new city tiering framework. We also expanded the Metaventure program by introducing NFLPA Fan Shops & initiating Venture Dues for Metaventure owners.
In April, we introduced the second part of the Collections Rework, which included collection holding periods for one-time UPX rewards. We also opened up new applications for a major expansion of Metaventures through the introduction of several new Block Explorer Shops. We also introduced the Spark Login Bonus, which allows all players an opportunity regularly earn one of the most lucrative currencies in the Upland metaverse. The Master Builders contest also introduced the first opportunity for players to design unique models for specific cities in Upland. Beyond the contest rewards, it functioned as an early test for Community Governance by encouraging players to vote on which models would be deployed to each city.
May brought even more changes to Metaventures with the introduction of Sub-Merchants, allowing all players to take an active role in the Metaventure economy. Additionally, we upped the NFT-to-USD Cap, paving the way for more robust economic activity by significantly increasing the limits on USD transactions.
Already in June and in preparation for Genesis Week, we have introduced a variety of new in-game activities for the community like Treasure Rush, the Genesis Challenge, and Cross-City Collections. We’ve also made significant improvements on existing mechanics including a refresh of the Tour Experience, and optimizations to the Thrifty Trader Challenge. The first iteration of manufacturing is already deployed with the MV Motors factory, and the first manufactured item–the Car NFT–is ready to launch any day now. Perhaps the most exciting of all these developments was the launch of our very first Hackathon, alongside an early build of our new 3rd Party Developer Tools! This is a huge step towards Upland’s growth as a platform that allows anyone to build an experience by leveraging assets in the Upland ecosystem. And if that isn’t enough, we are also proud to host our very first LIVE City Opening alongside our incredible community in celebration of Genesis Week.
Q3 Roadmap Goals
The following projects are currently in development, some of these items may be delivered in Q2, while others will likely be delivered in Q3 of 2022…
Cars
Manufacturing
Manufacturing will serve as the backbone for all 3D objects that live on top of the Upland metaverse. Although Cars will be the first application, manufacturing is a massive new system that will lay the groundwork for Outdoor Decor, Structure Ornaments, Cars, and more. In other words, this system is going to make it a lot easier to deploy the aforementioned features, which means it’s a huge milestone for us! Expect to see manufacturing deploy in Upland very soon!
The Car NFT
Also in the near future, after manufacturing gets going, the Car NFT will finally arrive! Cars will set the stage for the introduction of Private Transportation, Ridesharing & Cargo, Racing, and so much more! Cars will kick off a huge transformation in the way that players interact with each other, as well as the Upland ecosystem.
Of course, not all of these features will arrive at once, so players should expect a phased rollout where features will be released steadily over time. First, manufacturing of the first Cars will begin. Shortly after, they will become available for sale via Showrooms, a brand new Metaventure that will facilitate secondary market transactions for all 3D objects. After that, we plan to introduce the ability to travel between cities while the ability to transport players and cargo after that. Of course, we plan to support all of these features with a fully-fledged secondary marketplace.
Racing
Racing is being developed in parallel with the above features, so players can expect early prototypes of racing to be delivered alongside them. Racing will be one of the first, immersive, fully 3D experiences in Upland, and will create countless opportunities for players to play, earn, and connect like never before. When Racing initially rolls out, the first race tracks will be created by the team, but in the future players will be allowed (and encouraged!) to design and host their own races! Significant progress has also been made with our physics engine for racing–we’ll have a sneak preview for you guys very soon. We are aiming to deploy our first playable demo of racing in Q3 of this year (this will not include drivers just yet), so car owners will be able to race for fun in the near future. Initially, players will be racing against AI before we enable the ability to compete against your fellow Uplanders.
Metaventures
Outdoor Decor
As previously mentioned, manufacturing enables the deployment of new NFTs that take physical form on top of the Upland map and require Spark to manufacture. Among them is Outdoor Decor, which will allow players to decorate their properties with all different kinds of NFTs–all designed by the players! These could be objects like lawn ornaments, fences, statues, and so much more. Much like Cars, Outdoor Decor will be distributed via Showrooms, further bolstering the infrastructure of Metaventures.
Structure Ornaments
We are also actively working to introduce manufacturing and distribution for Structure Ornaments as well! Gone will be the days of ad-hoc Ornament contests, soon, players will be able to design and sell their very own Structure Ornaments right inside of Upland.
Naturally, all user-generated content (Ornaments and Decor) will be subject to approval by the Upland team, and will need to pass a series of checks in order to be approved for integration. It’s important that we protect the integrity of the Upland ecosystem to avoid things like IP violations, violence, or hate speech.
NFT Galleries
NFTs that are brought into the Upland metaverse will require a means of trading between other Uplanders, and the most natural method to support this market is Metaventures. Once the NFT Portal is fully operational, we will look to introduce NFT Galleries to serve as a secondary marketplace for these NFTs.
Legits
NFLPA Legit Collections
Development for NFLPA Legit collections is well underway, and will aim to be delivered before the start of the 2022 football season. After NFLPA collections go live, players will have the ability to place their Legits into collections (much like property collections) to further boost their fan scores. Legits that are held in a collection will have a multiplier applied to their base fan points. Completing Legits collections will be an important strategy for improving each player’s odds of minting the best Mementos. Once collections are deployed, expect for Autographs and Replicas to follow soon after.
2022 NFLPA Legits
Of course, the 2022 football season is right around the corner, which means we are beginning preparations for next season’s collection of NFLPA Legits! As mentioned, Legit Collections will be live for this season, which means that your fan points will have more of an impact than ever.
The new season will also include the introduction of new Essential Variants for a larger variety of Essential drops.
Future Legits Partners
Legits are a dynamic suite of NFTs, fit for a variety of sports franchises, brands, artists, and more. We are proud to announce that we will soon be introducing a brand new sports franchise as an official Upland partner! We can’t say much more right now, but will have more details for you soon.
Community Governance & Voting Mechanics
Community Governance
Sometime in Q3, players can expect to see the arrival of the first mechanisms for Community Governance! First and foremost, players will need to be able to designate a home address. Once their address is set, they will earn the ability to vote on resolutions pertaining to their neighborhoods and cities, and eventually, Upland as a whole.
Initially, these resolutions will mostly be ongoing resolutions focused on the approval and disapproval of models in their respective communities. Over time, the scale of these resolutions will grow, and will ultimately result in the community’s ability to contribute towards critical decisions in Upland.
User-Generated Content
We are gearing up to significantly increase the volume and scale of User-Generated content in the Upland metaverse. Currently, there are 3 planned pathways for the introduction of structure-related UGC. First, is contributing a unique design to your neighborhood of city. Second, is selling your designs via Metaventures to other Uplanders. Third, is the replication of real-world properties by working directly with the Upland design team to bring the metaverse to life.
Downloadable PFP
Once you assign a home address to you Upland account, you’ll be able to export a version of your Block Explorer that has unique identifiers for your newfound community as a PFP (Picture for Proof or Profile Picture). We highly encourage everyone to make use of these new PFPs to support their communities in style.
NFT Portal
It’s been a while since we’ve discussed the NFT Portal, but we’re happy to share that we are very close to deploying support for Reclaims (returning NFTs to the blockchain of origin). Soon after, we will begin preparations to support the “Download” flow that allows players to export their NFTs outside of Upland. Following that, we will start working towards enabling the transfer of NFTs from the Ethereum blockchain!
Some of you might be wondering why the radio silence in recent months. The short story is that we wanted to make sure there would be sufficient utility for NFTs that were transferred into the Upland ecosystem before moving ahead. NFT Galleries will allow for the creation of entirely new marketplaces, and Developer Tools will offer the ability for developers to leverage all of the technical infrastructure of the Upland platform to build new experiences in the Upland ecosystem; all using non-native NFTs! For example, in the future these NFTs could be sold in Metaventures, swapped and traded in bundles, jointly owned by groups of Uplanders, and so much more.
3rd Party Development
3rd Party Developer Tools
It should be clear by now that we are placing massive emphasis on the community’s impact through user-generated content and developer capabilities. The Genesis Hackathon marked the first use of developer tools that went beyond read-only APIs, allowing developers actually use their Upland NFTs in entirely new ways! Through the use of our new Escrow and Resolution services, players can authorize external applications to make use of the Upland assets; subject to their approval of course.
This is one of the biggest developments in Upland’s young history, and will pave the way for countless new experiences for all Uplanders. Imagine for a second, new asset management services, games built using your Cars, BEs, or Outdoor Decor, community platforms, and so much more! The possibilities really are endless, and we are so excited to open the floodgates and let everyone build in the Upland ecosystem.
Miscellaneous Developments
3D Asset Management
With the arrival of manufactured NFTs, players will need a way to manage their 3D items (which will manifest physically on the Upland map!). Items that are manufactured will be managed automatically, but players will gain the ability to customize the placement of their items on properties. A core mechanism for this type of asset management will be the ability to manage multiple items on a property. Eventually, this will extend to Structures as well, so good news for you property owners with huge lots!
Replenishing the Upland Pool & Minting New UPX
In Q3 of this year, we will be taking steps to replenish the Upland Pool’s UPX reserves to support the ongoing development of the metaverse–as per the whitepaper. Expect for to see more details on this initiative in the coming months.
Closing Thoughts
As you can see, there really is a lot going on behind the scenes these days, and we can’t wait to continue delivering critical infrastructure updates that will usher Upland into a new age! We hope you have all been enjoying the Genesis Week celebration, we look forward to celebrating with you all LIVE in-person tomorrow morning. As always, thank you all for your continue support of the Upland platform!