Diary of Agent M4 — Memories of planet Gerio with Lieutenant Wenn in the High-Risk Zone

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“The punaabs are a fascinating species, as diverse as the many stars in the skies, yet they all share one common trait, loyalty. A punaab never forgets a helping hand and will fight to the death for his leader, pack, or family.” Zoologist Argadal on the compendium — Fascinating Creatures of the Galaxy

When Wenn opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the beauty of the Milky Way.

Looking out his side window, he realized their gamble had paid off. The jump — made with rushed, partially random coordinates — had sent them here to this place with this majestic view: a calm, quiet blanket of stars.

But he realized nothing felt calm.

As his hearing returned — he always had trouble with his hearing after jumps ever since he had come too close to a sonic detonation during a mock fight at the Academy — Wenn realized he had never heard so many of the ship’s alarm bells going off at the same time.

But why? He turned to look out the opposite window and found white. All white.

They were careening towards an ice-covered planet at tremendous speed.

“Impact with an unknown planet in 25 seconds now 98% certain.” the A.I. announced above the din.

Wenn slammed on the controls. “Computer, take evasive maneuvers! Engage emergency thrusters!”

“Auto emergency thrusters were deactivated — an unsanctioned modification taken despite multiple warnings.” Wenn continued to steer left as hard as he could.

“Yago, wake up!!”

The Mierese still had his eyes tightly closed, but only out of fear. As he opened his eyes, he asked: “Did we die?”

“We will soon unless you can manually engage the reverse thrusters!”

As Yago reached for the controls, the ship’s shield started to succumb. The friction with the planet’s orbit started heating the fuselage of the Thrill of Life.

The ONI pushed the lever. A grinding sound screamed. The planet was so close now that they could see ice-capped mountain tops below.

“Ah, gods of the stars…!” Yago exclaimed as he tried to set the maneuvering thrusters into reverse.

For one beautiful moment the plan worked — until the sound of an explosion suggested the aging engines had given their last push.

“Impact in 20 seconds is now 100% certain.” The computer announced the hard truth in the same tone as someone would say good morning on a beautiful day.

The two friends exchanged glances. “I guess we go back to your plan,” said Wenn.

Yago gave him a puzzled look, trying to remember his plan.

“Buckle up and close our eyes.”

“Damnit, Wenn! I should have stopped that jump when I had the chance.” The Mierese said, eyes closed tight.

“Let’s go, Paw. It’s already time.” Fang said while gently but decisively shaked his sister out of the worlds of dreams back into the cold reality of Gerio.

“Just five more minutes.” Paw replied semi-consciously, pulling the leather blanket closer to his body. Fang decided to indulge his little sister this time and went ahead to prepare breakfast while looking through the window.

“A raging blizzard is bound to start soon. We really should get going. Otherwise, we won’t be able to work today.” Fang thought to himself.

They lived in their parent’s old burrow, made during the years when the Convergence war was at its peak. Even though their old home was built to last, and Paw did every possible bit of maintenance with the resources they could spare, the residence started to show signs of its age. This made it hard to survive the snowstorms, even for the two punaabs.

As he saw the reflection of his body in the window, he couldn’t help but sigh. Fang recalled a few years had passed since they lost their parents to the caves. Both inherited the vast white fur and blue eyes, and Fang couldn’t help but smile, thinking that it was unfair that only Paw got their mother’s talent for dealing with machines.

Instead, he had the muscular body of his father, great for mining work and fending off attacks from whatever crawled up from the abyss, but not much else. Even the strongest muscles couldn’t come up with a way to help them escape the cold claws of Gerio and its rulers.

The scent of cooked cribbe eggs did the trick of finally getting the young punaab on her paws. The smile on her face upon seeing the humble breakfast erased the concerns in Fang’s mind. “Everything is alright if we are together,” he concluded in silence and proceeded to set the table for a quick meal.

“Brother, you should totally become a chef. If you can make cribbe eggs taste this good, you have enough talent to open up a restaurant in Mergria.” Paw said with a smile. Fang dismissed the idea of opening a restaurant in the capital of the frozen world.

“If I’m ever opening up a restaurant, it won’t be for the rich and powerful but for people like you and me.” He replied absent-mindedly. “Could you please get us some water? I left the gallon close to the oven this morning to defrost.”

Paw promptly went for the gallon and started filling a small jar with water for them. Suddenly, as the pot neared half its capacity, a hint of red appeared in the sky, catching the punaab’s attention.

“Brother… you better see th–” before she could finish the sentence, a crimson sphere passed so close that plates, eggs and punaabs were all knocked to the floor.

“What was that?!. Are you ok, Paw?” Fang shouted while running to his sister’s side.

After a few seconds of shock, Paw answered:

“I… guess it was a ship…?”

Flashes of memories flooded Wenn’s mind. A cold night sleeping outside in the Salvage Yard, Xannah grabbing his hands, Clonk and Yago playing with wooden swords, the years in the Academy, and some unpleasant memories as well. He found it challenging to piece everything together.

He felt something gently touching his face. Snowflakes were falling on his cheeks.

Looking at his cabin, now open to the elements, he thought of Miss Boqu.doer, his professor at the Academy. He wasn’t sure if she would be congratulating them on surviving the Tufa Attack or admonishing them for their improvised actions ending in such a mess. But, truth be told, it was their only option, and since they didn’t explode, Wenn guessed this could still be called a victory.

As Wenn tried to rise out of his seat, he realized that every piece of his body was hurting. He might have one or two broken ribs, as he quickly learned while trying to stand up. The ship was in terrible shape, maybe even beyond recovery.

Wenn suddenly realized the absence of his Mierese friend.

“Yago?!!!” Wenn shouted. The cold air invaded his lungs, and his wounds ached with every call for his friend.

“Yago!! Answer me!!!” Wenn started to feel desperate as he passed through a fountain of steam in what used to be the galley. Moving despite the pain, he tried not to think because just the thought of something happening to his friend and brother was too much for him.

He left the ship, setting foot in what was quickly becoming a raging blizzard. He tried calling his friend’s name again, but to no avail, as the winds of the frozen world muffled his calls with their howls.

He was so cold that he barely felt the icy kiss of metal on his neck. But then he heard a grave voice:

“Don’t move, or you are dead, human.” shouted a high, heavily accented voice in the common language issued by the Council of Peace.

Wenn froze (in every sense of the word) From the corner of his eye, he could see a small punaab with fur as white as the planet’s snow, looking at someone behind him, which Wenn figured was the one pointing the gun at him. The little creature spoke in the punaab’s native language.

After answering with something that resembled a snarl, the mysterious attacker said in the common tongue:

“Raise your arms slowly and start explaining why you tried to destroy our home, human. If your answer isn’t satisfying enough, I’ll have you killed.”

“I’m afraid you’d be dead before even thinking about that.” Yago suddenly appeared from the other side of the ship, his dual blasters at hand.

As the punaab moved to react to Yago, Wenn turned, blaster in hand. Simultaneously, the smaller punaab also raised what seemed to be a laser rifle, aiming at Yago, and suddenly a standoff was formed.

Nervous eyes moved from one another, and the punaab girl shouted:

“Lay down your weapons. We mean you no harm, and if you just throw them down now, we will guarantee your safety.”

The other punaab, bigger and more muscular, replied on their tongue, adjusting his position while his eyes never left Wenn and Yago.

“I don’t like your friend’s behavior.” shouted Yago through the storm. “He looks up to no good, and I’m pretty fed up with crazy punaabs lately, young lady.”

The tension was escalating, and just as Wenn was about to make a move, a giant boar-like creature came running to the side of the punaab girl, crying and scared.

“Momo!” The larger punaab shouted, holstering her rifle immediately and tending to the scared animal, who carried leather bags filled with heavy equipment. She proceeded to caress the beast but was unable to calm him.

Wenn and Yago were still trying to process the new dynamic when they heard a terrifying sound. It was not the scream or roar of an ordinary beast. The two of them could feel the pressure of a predator coming.

The punaabs immediately turned to face the new threat, forgetting entirely about Wenn and Yago as they said in unison:

“Atoph.”

Weekly Project Report

Project: Showroom Alpha

each day we are one step closer.

Concept Art: DONE /// Art: BUILDING /// UX/UI: BUILDING /// Game Design: DONE /// Blockchain: BUILDING /// Game Play: BUILDING

Updates: Alpha quality is in progress for all art-related disciplines. Working on the interior ship landing pad. /// UX is locked. Continuing to refine Title Screen, In-game Menu, and Fast-Travel mockups. Prototyping animations for UI. HUD/Options/Pause menus are in progress. /// UX is ready, wireframes are done./// Continuing to work on UI general system (buttons/pop-ups/windows) and available locations system. Ship database implemented; General Interface logic in work (pop-ups system and manager).

Upcoming activities: Continue to work on Alpha-quality for all environment depts.: Replacing placeholders for vegetation. Interior and exterior lighting fine-tuning. Elevator interface VFX works. /// Wallet testing. Splash screen creation. /// Wallet testing. /// Continue to work on UI and locations system menu and Tools Hub.

Project: Galactic Marketplace

Blockchain: BUILDING /// UX/UI: BUILDING /// FRONT END: BUILDING

Updates: ATLAS staking program: Program implementation is on-going. /// Analyzed all feedback and started addressing the high fidelity designs. /// Building my order and bookmarks pages, finishing tweaks on the tree component.

Upcoming activities: Audit ongoing for marketplace program, update Factory to allow connecting to the site’s backend. /// Finalize high fidelity designs and support the front-end team. /// Finish filter sidebar, and update tables to use real-time mock data.

Project: System Polishing

Bug fixes: Timer position for upcoming ships. /// Player net worth not accurate on profile. /// Badges were not available on the player profile. /// Player location / avatar will not update on profile.

New Features: Fixed Amplitude instance initialization. Analytics Service is now deployed and ready to use. /// Bundle of GDPR compliance features. /// E2E testing framework deployed and ready to use.

Upcoming features: Redesign of play.staratlas.com menu system to enhance UX. /// Bugfix: (on mobile) Star Atlas logo overlaps navigation. /// Enhanced security protocols. /// Enhanced account switching with Phantom. /// Bugfix: Ships can’t be withdrawn from Faction Fleet if a rent account is missing

Project: SCREAM v1.0

Game Design: PROTOTYPING /// Blockchain: PROTOTYPING /// UX: PROTOTYPING /// UI Design: BUILDING /// Economy Design: R&D /// Front End: PROTOTYPING

Updates: Continuing to define explicit requirements for core gameplay mechanics and game systems design. Exploring rewards structure with Game Economics stakeholders. /// Continuing to build one program with locked in-game mechanics (status changed from Prototyping -> Building on that one program). /// Continuing low fidelity wireframes based on updated requirements. Continuing Information Architecture map. /// Continuing to assess economic implications of gameplay mechanics and SCREAM requirements. /// Adding gameplay depth to WebGL Proof of Concept. Adding depth to map functionality and started outliner.

Upcoming activities: Continue to define explicit requirements for core gameplay mechanics and incorporate feedback from SCREAM stakeholders. Validate gameplay loops playability with WebGL Proof of Concept. Assess feasibility of game mechanics with blockchain program proof of concepts. Validate economic viability from internal Game Economics team. Guide UX/UI design based on game mechanics. /// Test and refine prototypes across all SCREAM teams and stakeholders. Build, peer review, and test programs on testnet, then audit. /// Continue to iterate until wireframes are approved. Hand over wireframes to UI team /// Continue to analyze economic impacts of SCREAM to validate the viability of gameplay loops and key requirements. /// Validate gameplay loops and key SCREAM concepts with Proof of Concept

Project: DAO

UX/UI: BUILDING /// Front End: BUILDING /// Blockchain: BUILDING /// Economics: EXPLORATION

Updates: High-fidelity designs are in progress. /// Converting wireframes to base UI. /// Finalized scope for v0. /// Determining launch parameters for locker and governor programs

Upcoming activities: ATLAS staking designs. ///Start incorporating high-fidelity designs. /// Integrate rewards emission curve

ABOUT STAR ATLAS

Star Atlas is a next-gen gaming metaverse emerging from the confluence of state-of-the-art blockchain, real-time graphics, multiplayer video games, and decentralized financial technologies.

Using Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite, real-time graphics technology allows for cinematic quality video game visuals. In addition, blockchain technology using the Solana protocol establishes a largely serverless and secured gameplay experience. Non-fungible tokens obtained and traded within Star Atlas create an economy that replicates tangible world assets and ownership. To learn more, visit StarAtlas.com, join a faction at Play.StarAtlas.com and send your spaceships on a deep space mission by enrolling them in a Faction Fleet.

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Disclaimer

The updates in this report are provided for informational purposes only about the Star Atlas game and metaverse, for which ATMTA, Inc. is the lead developer. Except for statements of historical fact, the statements included herein are forward-looking statements that are based on the beliefs of ATMTA, Inc.’s management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to ATMTA, Inc.’s management. Although ATMTA, Inc.’s management believes these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. ATMTA, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties and include, without limitation, statements about ATMTA, Inc.’s business prospects, future developments, industry and market trends and conditions, strategies, objectives, and goals. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. No financial, tax, or legal advice is given or implied.

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Punaab Howl: Star Atlas Roadmap Scan #06 was originally published in Star Atlas on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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