Dark Frontiers is a web3 action-based third-person MMORPG set in an alternate version of space. Players immerse themselves in surviving on a captivating yet harsh alien moon, where resourcefulness and creativity are tested through combat and strategic adaptation. The game's ecosystem is intricately tied to NFTs and its token - $DARK, and it operates on the BSC Network.

The economy of Dark Frontiers outlined here is a living document that will see updates and changes as the game receives updates that add new mechanics and content.

NFTs

In Dark Frontiers, there are two types of NFTs. The two major categories are NFT Blueprints and NFT items.

NFT items are further classified as NFT suits, NFT weapons, and NFT tools. All main in-game equipment in Dark Frontiers are NFTs.

There are only two ways you can obtain equippable/crafted NFTs - the first and primary way of obtaining NFT suits, weapons, or tools is to craft them. Players are only able to craft regular and not limited edition NFTs. NFTs that are special edition, like the Binance NFT and Gamestarter edition suits, aren't craftable. The second and more straightforward way is to buy an already crafted version on the marketplace. More details on these methods can be found further below.

NFT Tiers

All main in-game equipment NFTs have varying stats and random unique abilities based on tier. NFTs initially come in 3 tiers, with more tiers planned to be added later:

Alpha NFTs: Base stats, Spacesuits: 1 random ability, Weapons: 1 random ability
Beta NFTs: Base stats+, Spacesuits: 2 random abilities, Weapons: 1 random ability
Gamma NFTs: Base stats++, Spacesuits: 3 random abilities, Weapons: 1 random ability

Each tier offers better equipment stats and more possible stat upgrades. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma space suits will offer an increasing amount of random abilities. Weapons have +1 random ability across all tiers.

NFT Repairs

All NFTs will reduce in health by some percentage when a player dies while using those NFTs. When an NFT item’s health drops to 0, it cannot be used until it is repaired again.

NFTs of higher tier degrade slower, but this comes at a higher repair cost. Players don’t need to wait for an item to lose all its health before repairing, NFT items can be repaired at any time but can only be done at the repair store NPC. When degrading, items will not lose stats or abilities.

NFT Crafting

The primary way of obtaining NFT suits, weapons, or tools is to craft them. To do so, players will need to obtain an NFT Blueprint from the Dark Frontiers Marketplace using $DARK.

After purchasing NFT blueprints, they can be found at storage NPCs usually located in outposts. An NFT blueprint’s only function is to be used to craft the NFT item it represents. Not only do players need an NFT blueprint but they will also need DFCC, specific resources found in the game world as well as the appropriate skill level to craft those NFTs. NFT blueprints are one-time use, once used the NFT changes into the crafted version of the NFT.

Generally speaking, the lowest tier items don’t require any level in the appropriate crafting skill, but higher tier items will require players to level up their crafting skill before being able to craft stronger items. Crafting skills level up by using the corresponding crafting skill (crafting weapons for the weaponsmith skill and suits for the armorsmith skill).

Trading NFTs

The alternative method of obtaining NFTs is to purchase them from other users on the Dark Frontiers Marketplace or from the official store section, if there are NFTs available at that moment.

Users can sell their NFT blueprints or already crafted NFTs on the marketplace for $DARK. Since the only level requirement for obtaining NFTs is their crafting skills, players who want stronger gear faster can bypass this by going straight to the marketplace instead of trying to craft NFTs themselves, focusing instead on other aspects of the game.

Trades made on the Dark Frontiers marketplace have a 10% fee: 5% goes towards the $DARK token burn, while the other 5% is used for rewards for in-game and other activities.

NFT Merging

Crafting higher-tier NFTs isn’t the only way to upgrade your gear. Collecting enough of the same NFTs grants you the ability to merge them into a more powerful version of the same NFT. This way you can go from having Alpha-tier NFTs to Gamma. Note that not all NFTs are eligible to be merged. Special and limited-time NFTs will not be able to be merged.

To merge NFTs you will need to obtain multiple copies of the same NFT and use $DARK to merge them all together.

Three Alpha Tier NFTs merge into One Beta Tier NFT, and Six Beta Tier NFTs merge into One Gamma Tier NFT. Just like NFT crafting, players won't be able to merge limited edition NFTs to create a higher tier limited edition NFT, since those NFTs have a capped supply.

Tokens

Dark Frontiers follows a dual token economy. $DARK is the premium currency of Dark Frontiers and will be necessary for all NFT-related activities such as crafting, upgrading, and merging, and is more difficult to obtain. Meanwhile, $DFCC is an additional system of in-game credits in Dark Frontiers. Due to the very high number and frequency of in-game transactions, these credits will not be on the blockchain but can be converted to its token form $DFCC (Dark Frontiers Corp Credits) via the in-game bank NPC.

$DARK Token

Users can use $DARK in the Dark Frontiers marketplace to purchase crafted NFTs or NFT blueprints. NFT blueprints can either be limited in quantity from a special collection or default NFT blueprints that are always available.

On certain occasions crafted NFTs or NFT skins can be available directly in the store and auction, in limited quantities. Crafted NFTs can also be bought from other users either in the user store directly or user auction by participating in bidding.

$DARK is also used to obtain lands (when available) or buy them from other users.

After the Land update, land owners will also be able to build certain buildings and upgrades on their lands with $DARK for the land to start producing resources and other items on their land without needing to gather them in-game themselves.

$DARK can also be used to enter exclusive PVP events as an entry ticket. These events would provide sought-after rewards like more $DARK, exclusive NFTs, blueprints, skins, and more.

$DARK is only obtainable through exchanges and during special events and tournaments that have $DARK listed as a reward.

Tokenomics

$DFCC Token and DFCC In-Game Currency

$DFCC is the secondary utility token in Dark Frontiers. It’s an unlimited supply token, earnable and spendable in-game and it comes in two forms. $DFCC in token form, which is tradable and transferable, and DFCC is the in-game currency of the game.

Since players obtain and spend DFCC at a frequent rate, players initially receive only DFCC in its in-game currency form, where they can spend it on various in-game activities.

Players can easily convert their DFCC in-game currency into its token form $DFCC by visiting the in-game bank and selecting how much they wish to convert. The in-game currency converts $DFCC with a 1:1 ratio. Once the DFCC is locked in-game at the bank, players can go to the dashboard to take out after a short cooldown.

$DFCC in its in-game currency form is used for a variety of actions in the game. It’s used to buy non-NFT items like consumables, ammo, etc., crafting, and repairing your gear.

DFCC is only obtainable in its in-game currency form through quests, selling items to NPCs or other players, and various PVP modes.

Land

NFT Land in Dark Frontiers refers to virtual plots of land that players can purchase and own on the blockchain. These plots of land can be used to earn rewards, earn in-game resources, and boost rewards in guild-based activities.

Currently, you can acquire NFT land through our marketplace. It is no longer possible to craft new lands. Lands in Dark Frontiers are limited in availability, with a set number of plots available for crafting. New lands will only appear with the arrival of new planets or map expansions of the game.

After the Land update, land owners will also be able to build certain buildings and upgrades on their lands with $DARK for the land to start producing resources and other items on their land without needing to gather them in-game themselves.

Game Mechanics

Quests

Quests are story-driven tasks of varying length, difficulty, and complexity. There are over 70 quests in the game, that fall into one of these categories: Main/Story Quests, Side Quests, Repeatable Quests, and Guild Quests.

Quest rewards vary from quest to quest, and the type of quest it is, but generally the rewards range from XP, DFCC, and various resources and items. Guild quests specifically earn the Guild influence points.

Exploration and Open World

Dark Frontiers is set on a captivating yet harsh alien moon - Luna. Luna is divided into distinct areas, each with distinct enemies, area bosses, visual style, resources, and quests. The five zones are The Containment Zone, Desiccation Zone, Reactor Zone, and Contact Zone as well as the Lunar Outpost and its surrounding area.
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Apart from these zones, there are multiple points of interest in and on the borders of these zones, like outposts, PVP arenas, open-world PVP zones, and more.
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There is no fast travel in Dark Frontiers, but there is a metro system that can take you to various points of interest around the map, for the cost of an entry ticket.

O² Mechanics

Survival on an alien moon doesn’t come easy. Each suit is equipped with oxygen tanks of varied sizes. The Binance NFT edition suits have the highest tank capacity, with Gamma being the only spacesuit in the game with unlimited O².

Other suits in the game have a much smaller O² capacity. O² can be refilled in two ways:

Being in an Outpost or similar safe zone with oxygen, O² is refilled automatically.

The other method is using O² tank refill items. Since most suits will have a limited tank size, players will have to prep accordingly before they head out, balancing how many O² tank refills they take with them. More refills mean you’re less likely to run out of O², however, each refill takes up precious limited inventory space. Refills also have their own capacity, and lower tier tank refills might not refill the whole O² tank in a spacesuit.

Additionally, players aren't able to swap their spacesuits while out exploring. Spacesuit swapping is restricted to safe zones where oxygen is present like the outposts.

PVP Boxing

One of the available PVP modes in Dark Frontiers is the PVP Boxing Arena. The arena is available in the main outpost of the game and is only available in 1v1 format.

This mode only allows the use of fists, meaning no weapons, even swords, are available.

The winner of the match is the player who depletes their opponent’s health to 0 or pushes their opponent out of the boxing ring.

The winner gains one point to their score on the leaderboard and $DFCC. If there is an ongoing event or tournament in the Boxing Arena, the leaderboard score can count towards their rank in the ongoing event.

Open World PVP

In the open world of Luna, there are Open World PVP zones. These areas are marked on the map and players are notified when they enter the zone.

Everyone in the zone can kill other players in the zone and also be killed. On death, players drop all their non-NFT items and a portion of their DFCC. The player that defeated that player is able to pick up the dropped items and DFCC.

To prevent players from loosing their items and DFCC, it is advised to go out exploring only with the necessary items and DFCC, storing everything else in Storage Services and Banks, to not lose out if they happen to die while exploring.

Outside Open World PVP zones and Safezones (outposts, bases, PVP arena lobbies), players are able to enter combat with other players by toggling the PVP option. This allows players to kill or be killed anywhere outside Safezones, however killing players here will give you a crime level.

Crime and Prison System

Players can kill other players in the open world, except in safe zones (Outposts, bases, PVP arena lobbies). Players who kill other players in the Open World PVP zones are given a criminal tag. Crime can be used to secure resource farming locations or to block off other players from a Boss you want to fight yourself since resources, bosses, and enemies are shared among all players and aren’t instanced.

Being a criminal, however, comes with major consequences. Firstly, criminals are shot on sigh by guard bots near outpost and other key areas of the game, restricting the access to shops and storage to criminals.

Another major threat to them are other players that play as bounty hunters and try to take you in. Bounty hunters who defeat a criminal get all their non-NFT items and a DFCC bounty reward.

Once defeated, criminals respawn in prison where they must serve their sentence depending on their crime level. They can shorten their sentence by mining crystals, which they can do with a special pickaxe that’s provided to them. Once players submit their mined crystals to one of the deposit areas, their sentence is slightly reduced.

The only other way to remove your criminal status is to hunt Aliens to slowly reduce your crime level and survive long enough until it completely drops to 0.

PVP Deathmatch

One of the main PVP modes in Dark Frontiers is the team deathmatch. Players are randomly matched with other players into teams of 1v1 up to 10v10.

This mode allows the use of all weapons and gear. The winning team of the match is the team that defeats all their opponent’s health to 0. If both teams have members who are still alive after the timer runs out, the team that has killed the most players wins. If the amount of players is the same on both teams by the end of the match, the match ends in a draw and everyone is rewarded half the normal amount of DFCC and no points are awarded.

Each member of the winning team gains one point to their score on the leaderboard and DFCC. If there is an ongoing event or tournament in the Deathmatch Arena, the leaderboard score can count towards their rank in the ongoing event.

Guilds

Guilds are player-created and governed in-game organizations with a common goal. Guilds can have many purposes depending on the creators of the guilds. A guild could be focused on effectively raiding bosses, community and socializing, guild PVP sieges, helping newcomers, and so on. Whatever it is, every member of a guild works together towards that goal.

Guilds can have a limited amount of members, but this number can be greatly expanded by increasing the influence of the Guild. Guild influence is obtained through Guild Quests and PVP Siges, and there is no cap on influence.

Guilds also have their shareable storage for all members, where they can pool together resources and give away items that they don’t need or want.

The only way to become part of the Guild is to be invited by the Guild leader or officers.

PVP Siege

The PVP siege mode is the ultimate battlefield in Dark Frontiers. Here two Guilds battle for control over an outpost. There is more than one Outpost on Luna, each with their own zones of influence.

Registration

The siege event occurs once a week with two opposing parties - the defending side and the attacking side. If there is no Guild that is currently occupying the outpost, then two guilds fight to capture the outpost instead.

The defending Guild is always automatically registered into the event, meanwhile attacking guilds can register through the Guild menu and are entered into a raffle for the chance to fight this week.

Once the attackers are chosen, both the attacking guild and the deafening guild are prompted to pick a day and time for the battle.

The Battle (PVP)

The event takes up to 60 minutes where during the event, the attackers must capture the flag in the outpost and bring it back to their base, meanwhile, the defenders must protect it at all costs. During the event fallen players can respawn and continue fighting.

If the defenders manage to wait out the attack, they remain the victors and continue to occupy the outpost.
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The attackers on the other hand must capture the flag, return to their base, and wait until the event ends, to be victorious.

If the attacking side wins, the defenders lose control of the outpost, and for the next week, the new guild will reap the benefits of the outpost.

Rewards And Benefits

The victorious Guild gets to claim the outpost for a week, until the next Siege Event. While the Guild owns the outpost they receive the benefit of taxing shops in the surrounding from non-guild members, the tax going to the Guild treasury. Guilds that own Land can boost their taxes even further, and the more Land the Guild as a whole has, the greater the multiplier.

Bosses

Boss content is intended for end-game players. These are powerful enemies that either require a very strong build or sometimes even a team of experienced players.

Once players have collected enough of the same type of special resources, they can destroy them near the entrance to the boss chamber area for a chance to gain the main NFT (spacesuit, weapons, tool) components or other end-game items.

Bosses like other alien NPCs and resources are shared among all players on the server, so if a boss is defeated by a team on one server, that boss is gone for all players on the server, only respawning after a longer time period.

In-Game Time Limited Events

Certain game updates will feature time limited events with exclusive rewards like NFTs, $DARK, Blueprints and more!

These events will vary in their mechanics each time, featuring different gameplay mechanics, goals and storylines. Some may even progress the story of Dark Frontiers further, while other will be purely gameplay based. Limited events can be either PVE based or PVP based.

Trading (NPCs and Players)

There are two types of trading in Dark Frontiers, not counting the NFT marketplace. Players can trade in-game items (not NFTs) in-game with either NPC shops or other players for items or DFCC.

Each store in Dark Frontiers offers different prices for different items. A crystal sold to an NPC in an area where crystals are easily available might sell for less than in an area where crystals are harder to come by. And this is true for all items and shops.

Another method is trading with other players. You can invite players you see to trade. Usually, players will discuss what they are trading with each other and for how much before initiating trades, but there is no regulation for player trading.

Both players need to lock in their trade and then accept the trade for the trade to be successful.

Skills and Leveling Up

Dark Frontiers doesn’t have a singular character level to level up. Instead, each player has skills that are leveled up independently of each other, based on how much you use the associated skill.

Some skills are required to craft equipment: tools, spacesuits, and weapons. Other skills increase your proficiency in using specific weapon types, and many other skills.

When a player character dies, some skills randomly degrade (up to -3 levels max, 2-5 random skills). Skills only degrade in PVE scenarios. Participating and dying in PVP arenas and PVP Sieges does not degrade your skills.

Abilities

All spacesuits and weapons come with random abilities. Alpha tier spacesuits get 1 random ability, Beta gets 2, and Gamma gets 3. Weapons on the other hand can only have 1 ability no matter the tier it is.

Resource Gathering

Resource gathering is another major aspect of Dark Frontiers. The world map is filled with a variety of useful materials to collect either by using tools to extract them or by killing hostile aliens.

Each alien has a chance of dropping certain items, depending on what type of alien it is.

The other types of resources are stationary ones like crystals, plants, gas pockets, etc. Each unique area on the map has its resource type and resources that require special tools to extract them.

Resources are shared among all the players in the server, so if another player harvests a resource, that resource will disappear for all players, respawning after a short time again.

Resources can then either be sold to NPC merchants, traded with other players, refined into higher-tier items, or used in crafting recipes.

Crafting (Non-NFT Items)

Crafting is used not only to create NFT suits, weapons, and tools but also a variety of other items. Certain items fall into different categories that need to be leveled up before crafting better items, just like with NFT higher-tier crafting.

You are able to craft ammo, and consumable items like health and stamina packs, refine materials, crafting materials needed for NFTs or other items.

The Dark Frontiers PVE mode is set to release this year, with a public test coming out before then. Subscriber to our newsletter, and sign up for the already live PVP mode to start you DARK adventure!