Published on: 16/09/2022

Mythical Games Releases Blankos Block Party On Epic

Los Angeles-based game studio Mythical Games has released an early access version of its first-ever title, Blankos Block Party, on the Epic Games Store. A full release is slated for September 28.

Co-developed with Third Kind Games, Blankos Block Party is a Web3 multiplayer party game focused on player customization and world-building featuring playable characters that the player actually owns.

“We’ve been working for years to get some of these networks to start. We spent over a year with Epic working through this. On the eve of our full launch, we’re excited to welcome the Epic Games Store community to our vibrant player base which has already created over one million accounts thus far,” said Jamie Jackson, the chief creative officer at Mythical Games.

Blankos Block Party’s characters are dubbed “playable NFTs” by Mythical Games chief executive officer John Linden. By owning these “playable NFTs”, players will be able to become stakeholders in the game’s play-to-earn economy.

The playable NFTs can be leveled up through gameplay, merged to improve their strength and even sold on a marketplace to allow players to financially benefit from their time in-game. Mythical Games chose the Epic Games Store due to the platform’s mainstream appeal and the two company’s goals and principles aligning.

“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been working for years to get some of these networks to start. We spent over a year with Epic working through this,” said Linden. “The game did really well outside the stores. The challenge is so many of the mainstream gamers are aggregated to the stores. It’s what they’re used to, accessing games through Steam or Epic or Xbox.”

Mythical Games has three other projects announced on its official website. NFL Rivals, a blockchain fantasy sports game projected for an early 2023 release, Nitro Nation and Epic Spell Wars: Magic Fight.

Mythical Games’ development challenges and goals

Linden noted that the game experienced developmental issues due to how new blockchain gaming was, adding that the studio discussed various features and aspects of the game with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board early on since he didn’t want to create problems later on.

Mythical Games also talked with PEGI in Europe and the International Age Rating Coalition to ensure that the company would be prepared to handle any situation, such as refund requests or fraud claims in the sales process.

“We wanted to make sure and we worked with them on the best practices. It took longer because it wasn’t a normal game. We’re excited at how this plays out and we are pretty bullish,” said Linden.

Linden recognized that the general gaming community is against NFTs due to their poor reputation. Therefore, he focused on creating a Web3 game that players will want to play with no prior crypto experience needed to have a fulfilling experience, rather than trying to sell NFTs to an audience that doesn’t want them.

“We’re not beating our chests and saying this is a Web3 game and this is on the blockchain. We’re unique that way. You don’t need to know what a wallet is. You don’t need to know what cryptocurrency is. You can literally just play it,” Linden said.

“But from an access perspective, it is a big deal. It’s the first time the new economies are going to be played in a mainstream game on the App Store.”