The age of the Metaverse is upon us, and its ease of use in gaming, entertainment, crypto markets, and other scenarios is a major draw for users looking to connect with like-minded people. It's not just a new experience shaped by everyone involved in the Metaverse—It also provides a completely innovative imagination space.
HighstreetBlending this creative mindset with the crypto community’s growing belief in physical interaction with virtual spaces. People’s identities are already half digital and half physical, so the way people interact with the objects they own should reflect this proposition. That's why Highstreet is building a core platform of hybrid IRL virtual experiences that put people at the forefront of this innovative change.
for a deeper understandingHighstreet and the MetaverseAnd other topics, on December 28, 2021, CryptoJ specially invited Highstreet Co-Founder&CEO, Travis Wu as a guest in this issue of AMA "Exploring Diversified Interactive Experience-Reimagining New Models of Entertainment and Retail in the Highstreet Metaverse".
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Talking about Highstreet
At the beginning of the AMA, Travis Wu and us briefly introduced the birth background and vision of Highstreet, and summarized the main features of Highstreet in a few sentences or keywords.
Travis said that what Highstreet brought to the Metaverse worlda few highlights：
technologytechnologyFulfill their dreams of Ready player one or Sword Art Online.
The Highstreet world is aMetaverse Service Platform, allowing other projects, brands, and games to build their projects on the Metaverse platform, in the Metaverse,Interactive operabilityIt is the most basic functional characteristic.
The Highstreet world combines physical and digital products into in-game items, allowing Highstreet to infuse digital products early in the development of the MetaverseIntrinsic Value, at this stage, digital value has not yet spread to the general public.
Highstreet Market is one in the Highstreet worldlimited edition market, as various brands enter the Metaverseaisle. Products are sold in limited quantities according to a custom curve, which ensures the liquidity of buyers and provides a new merchantAutomatic price discovery mechanism. The Highstreet market is almost a hub for KOLs, artists and trends, and high-end luxury brands.launch platform, so that suppliers can focus on promoting, while Highstreet provides monetization profit mechanism.
Highstreet'sCustomized side chainCompatible with any chain, currently being testedBSC and ETH will also explore Avalanche in the future, so that users do not have to differentiate between the two asset network categories until later when applying. This allows for an easier and gradual path to non-cryptocurrency adoption. The game server is also directly connected to the Web2 e-commerce infrastructure, providing digital products and existing retailtext。
team background
When getting to know a project for the first time, many people will be more concerned about the background of the team members behind it. Travis then gave a brief introduction to the Highstreet team members and shared some interesting stories behind the team. He pointed out:
Highstreet doesn't discuss this much, and that's because the team at Highstreet isn't like many other blockchain projects.
large investmentlarge investment, this year alone, in the field of DeFi, Metaverse and NFTMore than 15 investments. Academic background is biomedical computing with a main focus on computer vision, having applied this skill in the VR industry for the past 6 years.
other members includeJenny Guo, is the co-founder of LumiereVR. She studied creative direction at Columbia University (Columbia). She also has experience working with brands and auction houses through Sotheby's. With the continuous integration of digital art and traditional art, this A little proved to be very valuable.
Highstreet's core team also includesFlora FangexistexistNEM has many years of work experience, her original background was in games and art design, but she has since achieved great success in operations, so she now serves as Highstreet'schief operating officer. In terms of technology, there areJack Qiao, worked at Lumiere for 6 years, and developed various software with himself, using computer vision to create mixed reality overlays to virtual worlds. He now manages our team of over 25 engineers and is responsible for the Metaverse, Smart Contracts, and Networking teams.
Other members also includeMatt Conn/VSol, he has many years of experience as a game producer and has released games on every platform that users can think of, from Nintendo switch to PS4.
Highstreet team members also from Mckinsey (Mckinsey)Gary Mao, who has a heritage background and is a well-known investor in traditional collectibles, with his own Pokemon card fund.
The team at Highstreet has grown to haveNearly 60 peoplesecondary title
Financing & Cooperation Progress
Highstreet has received extensive attention from the market as it continues to move forward. Travis shared with us the progress of Highstreet's current financing, cooperation, and phased progress so far as follows:
existdiversificationof.
existencryption field, Highstreet has (backed) big names like Binance, Huobi, Animioca, and Mechanism Capital, and as users have come to expect from other metaverse crypto projects, Highstreet also has support fromTraditional venture capital industryInvestors such as Palmdrive Capital and Cherubic Ventures.
Most investors arelong term investorimage description
Some investors display, source: official website
Besides VCs, Highstreet also has industry players like HTC, who have backed Highstreet's founders since 2016, and who have various synergies in product development in the VR hardware space.
Highstreet also has "Dragon Ball" and "OnePiece" like Japan's Akatsuki Inc.Large-scale IP game copyrightSupported by gaming giants.
Highstreet's fundraising strategy has never been about money, it's about building aInteroperable Metaverse Partnerships. That's why Highstreet also invited someFounder of a major tech companyAs investors, these companies include Rotten Tomato, Twitch, Crunchyroll, Kabam, Fitbit, and more.
Highstreet is pleased to announce that it has completed the 2021All milestones expected, Highstreet has set up an online market, tested it with its own drop, and now has 5 other markets lined up, and inInvest in the first quarter of 2022use.
Highstreet already provides the Metaversealpha experience, and tested it among some influential people. Viveport will also meet HTC'spartnership, which will be announced soon in the new year. Highstreet has completed private and public placements, tokens are traded on Uniswap, PancakeSwap and Binance, which enables tokens to be marketedhealthy float。
Highstreet took the opposite view on the lock-up period of investors and took the risk of allowing major investors to unlock 15-18% on the first day of CEX. It lowers prices for hyperinflation, but at the same time allows items to beRebuild at a more reasonable pricediversificationdiversificationThe group of token holders has a higher chance of eventually becoming users than previous investors.
So excited for 2022, Highstreet will be announcing it in the days leading up to the new yearIPOsecondary title
GameFi, metaverse development track
Recently, Metaverse, GameFi, and NFT have become one of the hottest topics in the market. As a member of this track, Travis shared how to view the current development status of this field, why Highstreet also chose to join this track and other topics :
What I personally find interesting here is that the concept of the Metaverse suddenly became the hottest buzzword, and seemingly overnight, everyone turned to this space. For most of Highstreet's core members, the team has been doing this for over 6 years. Whether the market is good or bad, Highstreet will move towards its ownideal forward。
Highstreet has raised capital in the past, seen the hype evaporate completely from the market, and seen the highs and lows of the hype cycle too many times to ignore it entirely now. Highstreet welcomes new excitement in the industry, but it won't take the project down any path it hasn't taken before.
Today's metaverse still has manydeficiencies need to be filled. The encrypted and non-encrypted aspects are only the beginning, whether it is possible to create in a metaverse environmentsustainable income, allowing the return on people's time to flow naturally without breaking the financial situation, which isGameFi 1.0 transition to GameFi 2.0when things need to happen. Games need to be genuinely fun and worthy of people's time.
The market has seen a lot of virtual spaces where people can chat, hang out, and create simple scenes to share. These already existed in VRchat and Roblox, but when adding on-chain functionality, their valuation suddenly skyrocketed 100x, which is also very dangerous because no one can clearly go from just chatting and displaying NFT go. This is why Highstreet is so in the metaversefocus on business。
Highstreet has a background in MMORPG games and has social interaction as naturally as it does in video games, but at the end of the day still needs to connect the world not just crypto markets and games, in order to generate aSustainability in the metaversesecondary title
Pros and cons of Play to earn
The hot "Play to earn" mode in the GameFi field has also become one of the core highlights of many metaverses. Travis asked how to understand the "Play to earn" mode and mechanism, where are the advantages and disadvantages of this mode, and whether Highstreet also cited it. Shared this model and other topics:
turning pointturning point, really attracted investors. Most studios have a hard time attracting funding because the rewards aren't easy to predict, but the stakes are high. However, in Gamefi, the question of why users would log into your game starts to disappear,large amount of capitalNow rush into this nascent industry.
some ofThere is a good side and a bad sideartistartistChanceChance, the bad side is the bad actors that plague the industry. Many people who have nothing to do with the creative industries are getting a lot of money, which has led to the disappointment of many and brought a "bad history" to an industry that already hasNegative impact。
There are many axy infinity on the marketDual Token System, but when the game loop itself isn't verysound, you need to rely onendless incomeWhen it comes to attracting players, it will eventually run out. This has been seen in SLP's issues and will likely continue to be seen in other gamessimilar questions。
Many games, especially mobile games, aren't designed to last long, and when a game becomes stale, studios move on to other titles, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. This may just be something investors have to get used to.
Another problem is that GameFi has given the traditional game industrybring emotionstimetime, if enough good projects show up in GameFi, then this kind of problem will eventually disappear.
Highstreet also adoptedDual Token System, but yields are derived from those from player timeBrands gaining value, it's still in its early stages, so can't say it's the answer to all your questions, but it will be a start. The team will continue to see if this works in the long-term. The main question for the team was whether GameFi could actuallytrain players, or everyone is just a symbolic farmer, maybe this is the industry's biggest test, that is, whether players are really interested in the game or notsecondary title。
The Solera Continent of the Metaverse World
In the Highstreet metaverse world, there is a continent called "Solera" and many mysterious islands. Travis pointed out when talking about the main components, scenery, functions and gameplay of the Highstreet metaverse world:
Solerais the continent of the Highstreet world, players start and finish on a small island northwest of SoleraTutorials and Trials, then take the lovely Solera Express to the city of Highstreet on Solera's north coast.
Highstreet has a complete set oflegend, including how digital products first crossed from the real world to the virtual world through wormhole portals, and how Fomo Ducks first came to live in these regions, but leaving that story for the curious, it's all on our gitbook white paper .
The first major regions to open will be Binance Beach, Avax Alps, Animoca Archipelago, and Republic Realm. Each of these regions has its own uniqueCulture, Architecture and Ecosystems. For example,Binance Beachof people live in houses on the beach, and the entire area is a metaverse embodiment of the Binance NFT platform. on the other hand,Avax Alpsimage description
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Design highlights
In addition to introducing the concept of the metaverse, Travis said about the design highlights of Highstreet, how to improve playability, and attract more users to participate:
Highstreet took great care to design around this specific themedegrees of freedom。
About playability:While designing the world of Highstreet there was indeed a strong VR purism in mind, however it is also developingHighstreet View,This is abrowser-based window, anyone can enter Highstreet's Metaverse world. While not able to participate in the MMORPG portion of the game, it is possible to create a character and interact with the social and economic aspects of the gameinteractive. If you decide to buy VR at a later date, the characters can be transferred over. Highstreet also has a mobile game in developmentHighstreet Challenge, will be set in the same universe. Here, players take on a different role, and instead of being an explorer like on PC/VR, they'll become the BeastTamer, a different race of creatures native to Solera. Tired of humans expanding their territories, they attack PC/VR players by breeding and incarnating monsters, and fight explorers through settlements.
Regarding interoperability:Highstreet has established itself as aMetaverse as a Service, so from any traditional, fashion or blockchain brand, project can develop on the basis by reserving one or more hex-based lands and allow virtual developers to establish their presence in the world of Highstreet (More information on this will be revealed in a future official article). In addition, among technology partners, Highstreet uses Unity as the game engine and has been working closely with the team to share some GameFi and cryptocurrency-based innovations on the engine. Highstreet's avatar system uses Tafi, which is compatible with RTFKT's recent Clonex avatars.
Highstreet believes the Metaverse should beopen and decentralized, but before that, there are some technologies that need to keep up. For example, it is possible to start the game without a cryptocurrency wallet, because the items in the game can be kept. However, to claim assets, a wallet is required to claim them.
in the future,Want to create high-quality virtual sets and assets as easily as shooting 4k video with your phonesecondary title
Highstreet Differentiation
When it comes to the concept of metaverse, many people may first think of The Sandbox and Decentraland. Compared with these two projects, what are the characteristics and differentiated advantages of Highstreet, Travis said:
For Highstreet, one of the easiest differentiators is the degree to which Highstreet has integrated physical goods into its identity.
However, if you look at the game itself, Highstreet makes a distinction based on the player's progress. While Decentraland allows people to socialize and perhaps gain wealth through activities like gambling, there's really no reason to go past some activity here or there. It's sort of like a simplified browser version of VRChat.
The Sandbox, on the other hand, is following the trajectory of Roblox and RecRoom, where small mini-games create super-dense social experiences.
At its core, Highstreet World is an MMORPG where players log in to progress through the game. New quests to complete, new islands to explore, new monsters to hunt, in addition to pushing the player forward as they level up and acquire new abilities.
with eachability to unlockimage description
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FOMO Ducks
Highstreet incorporates a unique NFT element - FOMO Ducks. Travis gave us a brief introduction, sharing the specific functions of these FOMO Ducks, the total amount, how users get them, whether they can be traded, etc.:
A total of7500 FOMO Ducks, which has some special ducks named after the user's favoritePop CultureBased on characters from Disney princesses to anime, fantasy games to celebrities, these adorable ducks are your guide to the world of Highstreet, available attrade on opensea, and regularly have special privileges.
The first public facility was announced earlier this year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, where holders had the opportunity to send their ducks into the Lunar Vault for vouchers traded one-for-one with High tokens. Currently, the campaign is for duck owners to stake their ducks for a niceStaking bonusaward.
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Target Audience
Regarding the target user group of Highstreet, and whether users who do not have encrypted tokens or do not understand the encryption industry can also experience the Highstreet metaverse, Travis said:
Highstreet targets VR purists and those interested in MMORPGsgame lovers. If you enjoy exploring an endless expanse and building a new identity, then you might be Highstreet's target audience.
If you want to own your own house, do it to your likingcustom made, and invite friends to share the rich resources of Metaverse, then you are also the target audience.
Personally think that owning tokens is not so important, users canno tokensStart the game without, and during the gameget tokens. Highstreet is an MMORPG in which the token economic model is designed to be friendly to newbies in the cryptocurrency industry. Everyone can't live in a small bubble forever. For the development of the industry, we needToken Economic Model。
Token Economic Model
Regarding token value capture, Travis shared Highstreet’s token economic model, how to motivate users to hold tokens for a long time, what application scenarios tokens have, and whether they can be combined with “play to earn” and other topics. He said:
The world of Highstreet will adoptDual Token System，HIGHUsed to purchase limited edition products on the market, as well as commercial and residential real estate in the world of Highstreet. HIGH can also be used to attend special events in the Metaverse, from concerts to PFP club events.
the second token,STREET, also known in the Highstreet world asstreet credit, which will be deployed in-game shortly after the launch of the open alpha version.
STREET will be used for in-gamedaily purchases, from food and drink (HP and MP), to in-game digital gear. Although HIGH'sThe upper limit is 100 millionRecent Development Plan
Recent Development Plan
At the end of the AMA, Travis shared Highstreet's next development plan, whether there will be a new game version, and will cooperate with other projects such as GameFi and Metaverse. He said:
Highstreet's main focus in 2022 will beproduct development. Target is by the end of the first quarterOpen Alpha version, in this version, players have a core game circle that can go deep into various regions to explore, and a fully functional business core, hoping to completely become an extension of e-commerce and retail in the chaotic world.
Additionally, an upcomingHighstreet Ecological Fund, the fund has already made over 30 investments, so I'm excited to share with you all the new projects that will be compatible in the Metaverse.
