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Balthazar Research Report: Life in Parallel

9.5/10 – Impressive

Pre released game score

Parallel is extremely impressive and well-rounded, even down to the smallest details. We strongly believe they are setting a precedent in the GameFi ecosystem and breaking new ground in storytelling as a whole.

Section scores

Background – 9.5
NFT Game Assets – 9.5
Website – 8
Artwork – 10
Team – 9.5
Whitepaper – 9.5
Socialnomics – 9

Read More on Explaining the Scoring.

Written by Nicholas Korsgård, Chief Gaming Officer, Kim Bjerkeli and Sigurd Thomassen, Game Strategists, Balthazar Alpha Team and Heidi Anette Laugsand Johansen

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what sort of game and experience you will get when you combine some of the greatest minds from the gaming, movie, and blockchain industries? Well, you get Parallel.

Following, you will have our Alpha Team leading you through an epic journey and experience in Parallel. It combines the most intriguing lore with a whitepaper, unlike anything we’ve seen before. The team is incredible and reigns on top in blockchain gaming. Our conviction in this GameFi project is unmatched.

Through this research report, the Alpha team looks into the NFT trading card game “Parallel,” set in a dystopian future where humankind diverged into five paths following a cataclysmic event on Earth. Thousands of years later, the five Parallels now converge again on Earth with conflicting interests. This Trading Card Game (TCG) combines traditional card games with modern technology, including NFTs and digital assets.

In addition, you will be reading about the card lineage system, card creation, generated cards, and the apparitions system, which allows the player to try out the game before investing in cards to add to their deck. The lore, new human races, gameplay, NFTs, and The Vault are some aspects we will be investigating. You will learn about the official website. Furthermore, we will present the Alpha team’s thoughts on this P2E NFT card game and ecosystem. So, brace yourself for the detail-oriented report on Parallel.

Background

Parallel is an NFT based trading card game (TCG) built on the play-to-earn (P2E) principle. The game is being developed by Parallel Studios, a game development company, within a decentralized ecosystem created by the Echelon Prime Foundation (Echelon). The utility token of the game, which is also used in the Echelon ecosystem, is called PRIME and is in limited supply with a cap of 111,111,111. PRIME serves as the tool for value transfer, rewards currency, and supports the participation in the governance of the Echelon ecosystem and community treasury.

PRIME uses the ERC-20 token standard on Ethereum. The game has a heavy focus on lore and on bringing new unique experiences to the player in the form of stunning art and the use of augmented and mixed reality.

Lore

Parallel’s story is set in an augmented reality (AR) with accessible geolocation to provide an authentic parallel world experience. The overall theme is a dystopian world with interstellar travel, and different people coming together with shared or unique values and identities.

After generations of humanity’s dwelling, Earth has nearly lost its ability to sustain life and is left scarred. Energy is scarce, and scientists are desperately searching for an attempt to save civilization. With desperate times come desperate measures, and they attempt a new form of fission, using anti-matter as fuel. This led to a cataclysmic tragedy known as “The Event.” The fission sites became hotspots for radiation which spread out all over the planet. With the apocalypse, humanity takes refugee in space, escaping the Earth.

The limited experience in space travel led to indistinguishable destination. To mitigate risk and increase the chances of survival for Earth’s legacy, humanity split into three paths. One expedition went to Mars, one to the moon, Europa, orbiting Jupiter, and one to the outskirts of the asteroid belt. However, while most of the humankind perished on Earth, some survived.

Life continued in Parallel, and as each Parallel of humanity recovered and gained prosperity, the old Earth was forgotten for a while. “The Event,” which was once known as a catastrophe was now known as “The Priming,” as it sparked a process of maturation that spanned thousands of years. This process finally came to fruition and resulted in an entire planet of pure harvestable energy. In their haste and ignorance, the humanity of old Earth ruined their way of life, but in turn, they sparked the next technological age unknowingly. Earth was safe again. For all life.

The other Parallels now sought to return and claim the riches of Earth’s newfound energy. Being isolated from each other since “The Event,” the Parallels met for the first time. As each of them claimed the right to Earth, Conflict was inevitable.

The picture was taken from https://twitter.com/ParallelNFT/status/1417875270925705216/photo/1.

Earthen

The ones left behind were struck by desperation and chaos. The world devolved into anarchy. Radiation ravaged the land and took the elderly first, but eventually, even the healthiest succumb to it. However, some people were immune to the effects. They had a skin condition that caused varied skin pigmentation. What had previously been seen as an imperfection was now the saving grace.

Less than one percent had this genetic trait, which led to the survival of the people of Earth. As time went on and only the immune were left, their communities grew, and Earth’s radiation became even stronger. With this, the Earthen people strengthened their bond with the planet and learned to control their newfound powers, which enabled them to control and manipulate nature as easily as their own limbs.

Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.

Marcolian

When humanity left Earth, one of the three ships went to Mars, as humanity already had a colony there. Not everyone agreed on how things should be, and some kept on to Earth’s old ideologies and did not want to give up their wealthy way of life in the austere Martian environment. These “elites” caused trouble and led to a conflict lasting for years.

The opposition, primarily scientists and people of an enlightened mind, limited the “elites” supply of food, water, and energy and eventually defeated them. Free from the religion and politics of old Earth, the colonists embraced science and reason. The terraforming of Mars accelerated under this meritocracy, and their civilization sprawled to life. Mars became a utopian metropolis. Over time the people changed alongside the planet. Drones took over the heavy labor. The people became tall and slender due to Mars’ low gravity.

With time, memories of Earth distorted, and Mars became the cradle of human civilization in their minds. After “The Priming” was complete, Marcolians set their eyes on Earth, and in their collective opinion, it was their birthright.

Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.

Augencore

Another of the three ships was “The Fortitude,” which decided not to bind humanity’s future to the resources of one astronomical body. The ship continued to explore the outskirts of the solar system in search of resources in asteroids and small moons. Over the years, the ship underwent several upgrades with materials they found on the way. The crew started modifying themselves with machinery to continue performing their responsibilities on the ship. “The Fortitude” was their home, and everyone played an essential role in running it. There were hardships, but the crew eventually found their course.

Thousands of years later, “The Fortitude” crew has transcended the definition of human race. They became an equivalent of cyborgs, a union of man and machine. Eventually, they came across a small asteroid field that seemed off. After thorough research, they discovered that the asteroids’ materials had remarkable properties and origination pointing towards Earth. “The Fortitude” was turned around and immediately set for Earth, the planet they once called home.

Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.

Kathari

The last ship of the exodus headed for Jupiter’s moon Europa. The ship drilled down into the seemingly endless layer of ice upon landing on the moon. Down there, there was no threat of radiation, and the temperature was more manageable. Within the layer of ice, they carved out their new home. Beneath them lay the great ocean of Europa, in which they harnessed the energy of flowing water.

Life was difficult, and due to a devastating terrorist attack on the colony’s ability to grow and harvest organic food, the Kathari had to go to desperate measures. To keep making food, it had to be genetically modified and artificially replicated. They did not know the long-term effects of this and what it would cost them. Over time the people became infertile, and eventually, there were no natural-born children. This resulted in cloning and eventually, genetically perfecting specimens.

Thousands of years later, the Archivists who created and maintained their genetic code rule with theistic intensity. The culture was spartan and stoic because “those that have never celebrated joy, cannot lament its absence.” However, deep down, people wanted more from life. There were tales of how life once was back on Earth and each human retained a chaotic splendor and individuality. Still unable to have children naturally, the Khatar wondered if the past could hold the key to their future beyond Europa. With the “Priming of Earth,” there were finally enough people speaking up to cause a rebellion within the Kathar rule.

Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.

Shroud

Long before the cataclysmic event on Earth, during a time when its inhabitants were optimistic about the future and the exploration of space, global cooperation for space exploration took place. The humans of Earth built a ship called “New Dawn” and sent it on a multi-generational journey towards the exoplanet Kepler-1649c.

Decades into their journey, they stumbled upon a previously unseen black hole in the middle of their path. In a scramble for survival, they tried to repurpose the ship’s propulsion system into a barrier to protect them from the gravitational forces of the black hole. According to the plan, it should work as a magnet with opposing poles and propel them away from the black hole’s event horizon. It did not go as planned, as when they executed the operation, they were still dragged towards the black hole. Weird things happened on board as gravitational forces pulled on the molecules of the passengers. At the final moment, the captain gathered his strength and was able to divert all the ship’s power to the barrier. The ship was shot out of the event horizon at incredible speeds and disappeared.

Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.
Image sourced from here.

Gameplay

Parallel draws inspiration from traditional trading card games (TGC) while also pushing boundaries of game design through the use of modern technology. The Parallel TCG centers around the Parallel Studio’s NFT collection, an expanding collection of digital assets focusing on the five factions (called Parallels). These Parallels are central to the expanding narrative.

During matches, players use decks of collectible NFTs to compete against other players. As with most other P2E games these days, the NFTs used in the play is player owned and allow the player to gain some real-world value for the time and effort spent in the game. However, Parallel is not planning on being just a P2E game. It aims to create an experience beyond the current settings.

Players can derive value from their NFTs through staking, card sharing, and market activity rewards, among other things. With the introduction of AR/MR gameplay, Parallel will bridge the gap between playing against random opponents online and playing in-person, and even against a friend. The goal is to eliminate spatial limitations and offer a unique experience.

The reward for winning a match is PRIME tokens. Parallel is the first game to utilize the Echelon ecosystem’s suite of smart contracts and the PRIME token. Players would have to strategically build and customize their NFT decks to skillfully surpass other players.

To play the game, a player needs at least one complete deck. A deck contains 40 cards and may have those cards from a single Parallel or combined with Universal cards. Universal cards do not belong to any of the five Parallels and may be used in all decks. In a 40 card deck, the player is limited to three copies of the same card, except legendary ones. They are limited to one copy.

Players can collect more than one deck and have decks in every Parallel. When starting a game, the player can choose which Parallel and deck to play for that specific game. There will not be attributes minted to the NFT cards, as this would mess up in-game balancing. The cards’ stats will be subject to change and balancing when the game is live.

This picture was taken from https://paper.parallel.life/prime-proposal.pdf.

Parallel will feature a few game modes eligible for PRIME earnings. For example, The Ladder mode will let players face each other one-on-one, affecting rank. Based on a player’s placement on the ladder, in-game rewards such as cards and cosmetics will be issued at the end of a monthly season.

Sectors is another game mode that is supposed to be highly playable. Players can play it as single-player or multiplayer. The gist of this game mode is that players build an initial 30-card deck from the choice of 10-card sets at the start of the match. The player(s) progress to the next battle if they win. Now, they get the choice of 5-card sets that replace some cards within the deck. The game rewards PRIME in the multiplayer sectors, and players can gain other rewards through the choose-your-own-adventure decisions.

Finally, we have the rookie queue intended for the newer players. Here players will have access to “rookie decks.” Rookie decks are immutable to begin with, but when a player progresses in the rookie queue, they earn the opportunity to customize it within the format of the game mode. The game will only match players battling it out in the rookie queue with other players using rookie decks. The game mode is meant as a training ground for new players and the ones looking for a casual gaming experience. Earnings from the rookie queue will be very limited.

NFT Game Assets

Parallel builds upon the concept of NFTs, and for this game, the team has worked relentlessly to bring some brilliant ideas. We’ll look into some clever solutions to how the game will retain the scarcity of each card as much as possible, all the while giving newer players access to cards they need for playing the game.

In Parallel, all cards with the same name do the same thing in-game, regardless of their edition and rarity. There are currently four editions of cards planned.

  • Special Edition (SE) – These cards are incredibly scarce NFTs. They have a “holofoil,” which indicates their rarity. This “holofoil” will distinguish it from other cards, visually. Thus, adding to the gravitas of owning one.
  • Perfect Loop (PL) – These cards are also limited collectibles, but instead of having a “holofoil,” these cards will have an animation in a perfect loop. When using a PL card in-game, it will display the animation.
  • First Edition – These cards are the first batch of cards minted for the gameplay. They will have “First Edition” artwork and a unique appearance in-game. Think of these as somewhat similar to a genesis release.
  • Card Continuum or Card Lineage – Additional editions of cards will be created when needed as part of “Card Continuum” or “Card Lineage,” depending on which path is chosen in development. You will learn more about it below.

Special Edition (SE)

Image sourced from here.

Perfect Loop (PL)

Image sourced from here.

First Edition

Image sourced from here.

The Parallel team has given strong considerations to managing the card population in the game. The team will introduce one or more card population management systems to address the demand for cards when the player base grows, while also keeping the scarcity of SE, PL, and First Edition cards.

Card Continuum (CC)

CC is a system where a set of cards can be reproduced to provide an entry point for new players. CC cards will have a marker denoting the generation they belong to. There may also be slight variations in art, card frame, and other features to separate them from the First Edition cards.

For a new edition to be triggered, an oracle will monitor the demand and engage when demand is high enough. When activated, a predetermined amount of cards will be minted. Each successive CC version will increase supply to accommodate a growing player base.

  • CC1: 2.1x original supply
  • CC2: 2.5x original supply
  • CC3: 2.8x original supply
  • CC4: 3x original supply

Each card will be functionally the same as other editions, and the only differentiating factor will be aesthetic.

CC System release schedule.

This picture was taken from https://paper.parallel.life/prime-proposal.pdf.

Card Lineage

Card lineage is a system that introduces card progression and card spawning. In this system, cards would gain experience points (XP). To get XP for the card, it needs to participate in a winning game. When the XP bar is full, the player can spend PRIME to level that card up, yielding a higher level card and a level-up reward. These rewards will range from temporary XP boosts to exclusive cosmetics. For each level, a card reaches, more XP and PRIME is required to level up. In addition, exclusive cards like SE and PL will have an inherent XP multiplier allowing for faster leveling.

For new cards to be created, players would have to pay PRIME to spawn a new version of a chosen card. There will be a cooldown period for generation to avoid spamming and to help the cards retain value. When a player wins a game, cards in the deck will reduce their cooldown. High-rarity cards will have a higher base cooldown, and higher level cards will have shorter cooldowns with reduced spawning costs.

Generated cards will be denoted as such, and only SE, PL, and First Edition cards will be able to spawn new cards initially. Generating new cards through the “Lineage System” will not negatively impact current generations’ rarity, unlike the CC System. However, in contrast to the CC system, spawning new cards allow for a dynamic card population. It favors maximum scarcity, and the game developers will not have to predict the player base’s growth and stimulate the card population. Instead, cards are subject to player-initiated organic growth.

There is still no decision on which system will be chosen to manage the card population or if the team will implement both strategies.

There is a chance to test the game through “Apparitions” for potential players who are still not convinced or can’t afford to buy a deck of cards. These are non-NFT cards that can be earned through gameplay or opened in non-NFT card packs sold by Parallel Studios. They have the same use-case as the other NFT cards but will make significantly less PRIME from the P2E system. Apparitions serve as an easy entry to the game before making more significant investments in the broader Echelon ecosystem.

Within the “Lineage System,” there will be something called bonds. Bonds will work like a guild, where participants can share cards with the people they form a bond. The bond structure encourages community and cooperation. A player can share their NFTs with the bond, and while the card is being used by someone else, the owner can not use it in their deck. This sharing is similar to delegation in Splinterlands. Bonds make for a great avenue of extra profit for players that hold many cards they cannot utilize, as lending out cards within a bond will give the owner a small portion of the PRIME earnings while they also rack up card XP and get reduced cooldowns. The person who borrows the card will earn PRIME as usual through gameplay.

Non-playable NFTs

This picture was taken from https://paper.parallel.life/prime-proposal.pdf.

In Parallel’s first NFT collection called “Alpha,” several digital assets are not meant for playing but still offer some functionality. These classes of NFTs are:

  • Keys
    • Prime Keys
    • Galaxy Keys
    • Overclock Keys
  • Catalyst Drive
  • Prime Drive
  • The Core
  • Masterpieces
  • Card Backs
  • Art Cards

Keys have several functions in the Echelon system, and there are several keys as well. They work both in and out of the game and can unlock functions in games developed by Parallel Studios, act as governance tokens, and increase the yield of PRIME when winning matches. The developers are still balancing and developing the function of keys, but there are only three types for now. In the future, we might see the addition of Morph Keys and Mirror Keys.

When combining a Prime Key and a Catalyst Drive (an asset card), you will get a Prime Drive. Prime Drives are cornerstones in the Echelon ecosystem and, when staked, give the owner a periodic claim to a portion of PRIME from the Echelon Cornerstone staking pool.

The Core is a card in the Parallel collection and an Echelon-approved Cornerstone NFT. The Core will also yield a claim to the Echelon Cornerstone staking pool, like the Prime Drive.

There is an original piece of art for every card in the game. These are called Masterpieces and are one of the NFTs. Owning one of these is exclusive, and they are also classified as Cornerstone NFTs. These grant the owner the benefits of the Echelon Cornerstone pool.

Card backs will modify the back of the cards a player uses in-game and are limited-edition game items.

Finally, we got Art Cards. These are scarce collectibles that can also be used as card backs in-game. Owning one of these will grant access to exclusive annual events hosted by the Parallel team. Masterpiece holders will also get an invitation to these events.

Parasets are complete sets of cards released during NFT pack drops, and each drop will have at least one paraset.

AR enabled NFTs

As previously mentioned, Parallel is striving to bring new unique experiences to players in the form of art and new technology like augmented and mixed reality. For example, the Twitter post below shows how the Parallel team has brought Kathari’s Reliant Gamma character to life. Employing technology like this goes hand in hand with the dream of Web3 and the Metaverse. Furthermore, having objects like the Reliant Gamma rigged for AR now makes it easier to use the model in other games outside of the TCG within the Echelon ecosystem.

Beyond the Parallel Trading Card Game

If you’ve read this far, you can see that Parallel Studios is not just making a trading card game. The lore and the ecosystem of NFTs go beyond the typical TCG efforts. As a result, this story will play out in multiple formats.

For example, the recent announcement that Parallel is partnering with Superconductor, founded by the Russo Brothers (which brought us Avengers: Infinity War and several other Marvel movies), could hint at something grandiose.

The Parallel team has stated that their ultimate goal for developing 3D AR assets like the one we’ve seen above is to be metaverse ready. Their version of the metaverse is less about a virtual world on your computer but more about overlaying the Parallel world to the one we live in. The studio leverages hardware to create AR experiences that supersede what is currently available in games like Pokémon Go. Furthermore, instead of just focusing on what is available in mobile technology now, they are building their 3D AR object library with the future technological growth under consideration.

For example, using AR glasses for an authentic experience in a Parallel world. AR/VR (Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality) glasses have already gained a lot of traction with the likes of Google Glass. Products like these can help replicate the real world into a Metaverse and provide easy shifts between the real and Parallel world.

Parallel website

It’s about time we look at the website platform and evaluate its performance on PCs and Mobile phones. We will be focusing on the aspects of the design and usability. For this testing, we have used devices like Samsung Galaxy S10+.

Desktop

When opening the Parallel website on a desktop, there is a gradient exposure to the website content. Other than that, there are no special effects. The website is visually pleasing with straightforward navigation. Thus, keeping things simple. Again, no special effects are used, and the balance of the picture and text works in harmony. The desktop website also promotes its social media platforms such as Twitter and Discord and offers official links to Opensea, the go-to NFT platform on Ethereum.

Overall, the desktop version is clean. We found no errors or potential issues. The simple design and easy-to-use interface keeps things user-friendly, as the visitor can find the menu easily on top of the website. However, there is no information about the investors, partners, or creators of this game on the main website.

Usually, this is an addition that most games typically include on their websites as it makes it easily accessible for the visitor. The lack of whitepaper links, among other resources, does pose a problem. You will have to join the official Discord, Twitter and other sources for more information.

https://parallel.life/

Mobile

When opening the website on a mobile device, it makes a great first impression as an aesthetically pleasing platform. The gradient effect, which we saw on a computer, works well on mobile. “Sign up” and “join community” are among the first words we see.

Additionally, there is a menu at the top right corner, which allows the user to explore more aspects of the mobile site. The color theme works well, and the globe is nicely balanced in the screen’s background. In the desktop version, the globe appears more prominent than on the mobile version, but both versions look appealing. The font size is decent and is easy to read by the users.

The flow of the mobile site is good, and there are no fancy effects that could disturb the mobile experience on this device. The user can swipe up and down with no issue.

The Verdict

There have been website tests on other NFT games where the Alpha team has felt a lack of information. However, this website maintains a nice balance of information while still giving the user the feel of this project.

The lack of visual and animation appeals work positively as they can be overwhelming, or even intrusive to the users. The website team has kept the design clean and professional, with original concepts. There are some slight changes in design when using different devices, like the size of the background art, but it still looks appealing on both devices.

Usually, the websites we’ve tested have promoted their investors, partners, and creators on the website and made them easy to find. However, Parallel has not focused on this aspect, and with Parallel’s reputation and the gravity of the project itself, we’re not sure it needs to.

Sometimes a simple website is better than one covered in effects, glitches, and dozens of pictures. The website is well-made with impeccable compatibility on the supported devices, making it highly responsive and interactive. It truly stands a test of class which the game and the developer team brings to the table.

Tokenomics

PRIME is the one token to rule it all in the Echelon ecosystem. It is designed to support P2E mechanisms in gaming in a novel way. In unison with the Echelon tech stack and governance modules, the PRIME token will give value to stakeholders of three main groups. These groups are Players and Collectors, Content Producers, and Ecosystem Managers.

Stakeholders

30% of the initial token supply is reserved for P2E mechanics, which comprises the players and collectors. However, in practice, it will be significantly more than 30%, as there are PRIME sinks that redistribute the spent PRIME back into the token supply; more on this later.

The P2E pool is for gaming projects leveraging the PRIME token and smart-contract system from the Echelon ecosystem. In addition, holders get access to several features and perks within the ecosystem, such as governance rights and priority NFT access on new sales.

The second group of stakeholders, Content Producers, will be able to build their projects within the Echelon ecosystem. They’ll be granted access to the whole suite of the ecosystem and the smart contracts. There is an incentive to make the assets and IP they build interoperable within the ecosystem and available to the other projects to unify the ecosystem and share development overhead.

Finally, the Ecosystem Managers. They are holders of PRIME and are responsible for the treasury allocations, smart contract auditing, and election of foundation members. In addition, elected members from the community can sit on the board of the Echelon Prime foundation. To be a board member, one has to stake PRIME for candidacy and as collateral to ensure responsible behavior. The board has oversight of the foundation and ensures that community-based decisions are fulfilled.

PRIME

The PRIME token is built on the ERC20 protocol, and the supply is fixed to 111,111,111 tokens. It has two primary purposes; feature access and governance. PRIME’s interactions with the blockchain are:

  • Skill-based PRIME emissions.
  • NFT gated redemption of physical or digital items via smart contracts.
  • NFT assets exchangeable on secondary markets.
  • DAO-based game and ecosystem decision making.

To ensure sufficient decentralization and distribution of PRIME, the Echelon foundation has set an initial distribution as follows:

  • 30% to the Echelon ecosystem P2E pool.
  • 4.26% to the PRIME staking pool.
  • 2% to the seed PRIMEset staking pool.
  • 11% to the Echelon-approved Primary NFT asset staking pool.
  • 4.25% to the Echelon-approved digital asset owners.
  • 2.25% to the PRIMEset holders.
  • 15.4% to the PRIME ecosystem founding team. This portion is subject to vesting with a one-year cliff, two years vesting and one-year lockup. Then 36 months distribution after that.
  • 4.6% to the Parallel Studios token reserve. They are the first to build a game and provide value to the Echelon ecosystem. They will be awarded this to support the game’s development.
  • 16.24% to the PRIME ecosystem investors. This portion is subject to immediate vesting and a one-year lockup with 36 months of distribution after that.
  • 10% to the Echelon Prime Foundation token reserve

This picture was taken from https://paper.echelon.io/echelon-whitepaper.pdf.

This picture was taken from https://paper.echelon.io/echelon-whitepaper.pdf.

The PRIME token cultivates community development and participation. It also works as a transfer of value between stakeholders in the ecosystem. The table below shows some examples of services and digital assets only accessible through PRIME. They are a part of what could be considered PRIME sinks.

TradableNon-Tradable
NFTsEvent entry
In-game cosmeticsGovernance access
NFT gated redemption of physical or digital itemsGovernance proposal creation
Swag or collectible purchasesSeason unlockable
Game specific PFPsSeason unlockable
Running drops on Echelon’s architecture
Use of geolocation standards
Unlock AR experiences
Unlock AR experiences

Because of the continuous PRIME supply to players through the P2E mechanics, the pricing for the items and services need to be continuously adjusted to account for potential over-supply. Through Oracles, the PRIME sinks will dynamically change the prices. However, unlike sinks or burn mechanics we see in many other P2E games, the PRIME spent will not leave the circulation. Instead, these tokens are redistributed into different pools like the P2E and staking contract. This style of inflation management is something we’ve seen Dogami do with their $DOGA economy. By following these modules, the game can potentially balance the economy as it scales.

From the initial token distribution, we can see that a portion goes to the PRIME staking pool and that a part of PRIME sink emissions will be added to this pool over time. The staking pool intends to reward holders that provide stability to the network by staking their PRIME. Staked PRIME could also unlock additional voting power when it comes to governance.

Estimated distribution through the P2E mechanism can be seen in the image below.

This picture was taken from https://paper.echelon.io/echelon-whitepaper.pdf.

Blockchain

What Chain Does The Game Run On?

Parallel and the Echelon Foundation are building on top of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum, as most know, is the largest cryptocurrency in volume after Bitcoin. It claims to be a technology that is home to digital money, global payments, and applications.

Our Thoughts On The Chain?

Ethereum is the most used smart-contract platform out there, surpassing the average of over 1 million daily transactions (to see more statistics on Ethereum, you can visit the Etherscan website). However, being the most popular blockchain for smart contracts also makes it expensive to use, as it still has its limitations in throughput. What has been Ethereum’s biggest drawback is the high cost of doing a transaction on the chain, also known as gas fees.

With the surge of popularity of NFTs in the past year, the cost of the transaction can often be higher than the actual price of the NFT.

For example, when we browsed the OpenSea NFT marketplace for Parallel cards, we tried to buy the “Formatician’s Exalt” card for 0.0005 ETH, approximately $1.68 at the time. However, we had to pay 0.010421 ETH to complete the transaction, which was $35—totaling $36.68 for the entire purchase.

This gas cost would be a big hurdle for players keen on getting into the game and buying cards to build their deck. However, from the Echelon Foundation’s whitepaper, we can see that they have accounted for Layer 2 (L2) solutions on-chain, so we can expect improvements in gas cost in the future. We suspect that using an L2 solution like Polygon (which we have written about in our articles on Nitro League and DEFY) will alleviate some of the problems on Ethereum.

This picture was taken from https://paper.echelon.io/echelon-whitepaper.pdf.

The Vault

In previous NFT drops from the Parallel team, the pack reservation system called PR[SYS] has handled the card distribution within the boundaries of Ethereum’s network conditions.

PR[SYS] released batches of cards depending on network congestion. However, Echelon recently upgraded this smart-contract system with “The Vault.” Through “The Vault,” card owners can choose when to send their cards to a preferred Ethereum wallet or if they want to keep them in The Vault.

The team has built this to let players avoid the high gas fees for a transaction on Ethereum. However, if a player wants to sell a card on the secondary marketplace, they must withdraw it from The Vault and pay for the transaction. Even though the cards are kept in The Vault and not in the player’s wallet, it is still tied to the account and wallet address that holds that specific contract.

The intention of using PR[SYS] over a regular NFT drop is to fulfill orders in a way that minimizes the impact on the Ethereum network and eliminates “gas wars” and bot purchases.

Below you can see the architecture of the distribution system.

This picture was taken from https://paper.echelon.io/echelon-whitepaper.pdf.

Inb0x

Inb0x is a messaging application built for web3. It uses end-to-end encryption allowing users to communicate via their Ethereum addresses safely. For example, a user can connect to Inb0x with their MetaMask wallet and chat with a person behind a different wallet, make offers on NFTs, etc. More wallets will eventually join Inb0x. ENS addresses are also integrated so that users can be addressed through their ENS domain.

Team

Who Is On The Team?

  • Eythan D’Amico – Co-Founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/eythan/
    • CPO and Co-Founder (Jul 2020 – current) at Blimp Homes.
    • CPO and Product Designer (Jul 2017 – Sep 2019) at Bunz.
  • Perry Haldenby – Co-Founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/perryhaldenby/
    • CTO and Co-Founder (Jul 2020 – current) at Blimp Homes.
    • CTO (Apr 2017 – Oct 2019) at Bunz.
  • Oscar Mar – Art Director and Co-Founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-mar/
    • Designer and founder (Jan 2018 – current) at Oscar Mar Studio.
    • Graphic Design Director (Mar 2013 – Jan 2018) at Ubisoft.
    • Motion designer and Concept artist (Apr 2009 – Feb 2013) at Ubisoft.
    • Lighter, motion and graphic designer (Mar 2007 – Feb 2009) at Electronic Arts.
  • Sascha Darius Mojtahedi – Co-Founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/sascha-darius-mojtahedi/
    • Advisor (Jul 2020 – current) at Blimp Homes.
    • CEO (Jan 2014 – Oct 2019) at Bunz.
  • Michael Rudin – VP of Strategy & Operations https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rudin-a646b998/
    • Marketing Director (Apr 2014 – Aug 2021) at Quail Financial Solutions.
  • Nacho Yagüe – Visual Development https://www.linkedin.com/in/nachoyague/
    • Studio Art Director (Oct 2017 – Jun 2021) at Gameloft.
    • Senior Concept Artist (Oct 2011 – Sep 2017) at Ubisoft.
    • Concept Artist, Senior Concept Artist, Lead Concept Artist and Art Director (Apr 2005 – Oct 2011) at various other game studios.
  • Oscar Cafaro – Lead Vehicle Designer https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-cafaro-077b5a44/
    • Concept Artist (Aug 2019 – Dec 2021) at Epic Games.
    • Concept Artist (Jul 2016 – Dec 2021) at Blizzard Entertainment.
    • Concept Artist (Oct 2019 – Jul 2021) at Gameloft.
    • Concept Artist (May 2018 – Aug 2019) at DreamWorks Animation.
    • Designer (Mar 2014 – Jun 2016) at Framestore.
  • Eddie Law – VP of Engineering https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-law/
    • Senior Software Engineer and Software Engineering Team Lead (Sep 2019 – Nov 2021) at Royal Bank of Canada.
    • Full-Stack Software Engineer (May 2017 – Sep 2019) at Bunz.
  • Paul Chan – COO https://www.linkedin.com/in/cerebrous/
    • Managing Director (Nov 2015 – current) at Cerebrous Inc.
  • Jonathan Ferguson – Senior Technical Artist https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-ferguson-97a33521/
    • Technical Art Director (Jan 2019 – Jan 2022) at IllFonic.
    • Senior Technical Artist ( Nov 2017 – Jan 2019) at Funcom.
  • Tommy Alvarez – Head of 3D & Immersive Content https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommywan/
    • Technology Development Group (TDG) (Sep 2018 – current) at Apple.
    • Senior / Project Lead Environment Artist (Jan 2017 – sep 2018) at ILMxLAB.
    • Expert Environment and Props Artist (Jun 2013 – Dec 2016) at Red Storm Entertainment
    • Senior Environment Artist (Aug 2012 – May 2013) at LucasArts.
    • Senior Level Artist and Lead 3D artist (Aug 2009 – Oct 2011) at Ubisoft.
  • Neptali Cisneros – UI Director https://www.linkedin.com/in/neptali-cisneros-28908831/
    • Freelance Principle Visual Designer/Animator (Jul 2021 – Jan 2022) at Epic Games.
    • Freelance Designer/Animation/Direction (Apr 2020 – Jul 2021) at 343 Industries.
    • Freelance Designer/Art Director (May 2019 – Dec 2019) at Riot Games).
    • Experience Designer (Jul 2018 – Mar 2019) at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development.
    • UI Artist/Visual Designer (Feb 2015 – Aug 2017) at Trayarch.
  • Ruben Henares – Technical Art Director https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubenhenares/
    • Senior Principal Technical Artist (Aug 2019 – Nov 2021) at Riot Games.
    • Lead Technical Artist (Nov 2018 – Aug 2019) at Apple.
    • Senior Technical Artist II (Aug 2017 – Nov 2018) at Blizzard
    • Technical Art Director (Nov 2011 – Aug 2017) at Red Storm Entertainment.
    • Lead Technical Artist (Aug 2009 – Sep 2011) at Ubisoft.

Other Notable Team Members

Team Assessment

The team at Parallel Studios consists of people with all sorts of experience from the game industry, the crypto space, and several other vital areas. Combined, they inherit experience work on AAA titles such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite, Assassins Creed, The Division, and more. Parallel Studio lists about 25 employees on their LinkedIn and heavily recruits in key areas such as; 3D & Immersive, Design, Engineering, and Tech Art, with more than 15 positions available on their website.

Parallel Studios has a solid foundation to build upon, and we’re excited to see what they can deliver as they advance.

Do They Have Relevant Experience?

As shown in the picture below, we see that members of Parallel Studios have a combined extensive experience that includes industry leaders such as Riot Games, Blizzard, and Ubisoft within the gaming space.

Oscar Mar, art director, and co-founder, has worked on projects such as Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six series.

Ruben Henares, technical art director, has worked on projects such as Diablo IV, Ghost Recon series, and Tom Clancy’s The Division. He has also worked as a lead technical artist at Apple and senior principal technical artist at Riot Games.

These two and several other professionals in the team set high expectations from the studio, especially within the design and art department.

The members at Parallel Studios make up a diverse portfolio from essential areas and inherit relevant experience from compelling work experiences. See the picture below for a quick overview of the expertise their team inherits.

Who Are Their Backers?

https://medium.com/parallel-life/paradigm-shift-9d03e48ca9fb

Almost every worthwhile project is backed by someone financially. Parallel is no different. Below is a list of what would be called “chads” in the industry as investors of Parallel Studios.

Roadmap

Parallel doesn’t have a roadmap. However, they have a timeline in their Discord. The timeline marks the events that have happened within the Parallel TCG so far.

Guild Facilitation

Delegation: Yes

They don’t have guilds within the Echelon ecosystem, but they do have Bonds. Bonds are user-created groups of players intended to exist across all games within the ecosystem. The purpose is to accrue benefits and features for each game that you can’t obtain without being a Bond member.

When a player joins a Bond, their in-game username will have an extension with the name of their Bond. So in the case of Balthazar, it could look like this: “Wizard // Balthazar.” As we’ve mentioned earlier, players within a Bond can share assets amongst themselves, so there will be benefits in grouping up.

Whitepaper

Link to the Parallel whitepaper: https://paper.parallel.life/prime-proposal.pdf

Link to the Echelon whitepaper: https://paper.echelon.io/echelon-whitepaper.pdf

Alpha team’s general thoughts on the whitepaper

Parallel’s whitepaper alongside the Echelon ecosystem’s one is by far the most detailed we’ve seen in any game to date. Amongst them, there are about 80 pages of pure information regarding the game and ecosystem. The authors have accounted for almost everything we feel the need to know.

The depth and detail of their tokenomics are immense. The mechanisms being built to prevent an economic collapse within the system in the form of PRIME sinks and dynamic price adjustments through oracles are comforting to see. We also like the idea of having a capped amount of tokens that implements a recycling module to bring them back into the system as players spend them. However, it is not just the tokenomics that impress us.

We get insight into their tech architecture, governance system, and how it all ties together in beautiful harmony. Although the game isn’t out yet, we still get a clear picture of what it will be. We don’t have a roadmap to look at, but where Parallel is going, we don’t need roads.

The Alpha team reads between the lines – big picture talk

Parallel’s potential is out of this world, literally. As a TCG, it will set a standard that will be hard to match with the clever tokenomics and P2E aspect. Furthermore, they have the next-gen AR technology. Also, thinking about the Metaverse and Web3, the lore within Parallel is immersive, interactive, and enticing. With the Russo Brothers onboard with their company Superconductor, bringing the universe and story to life surprised us in a good way. When titan’s of the traditional movie industry team up with one of the most promising Metaverse prospects, we expect fireworks. Could we see this story being told on a cinema screen down the line, or would we see a brand new way of telling stories? There’s much left to the anticipation.

With many NFT game projects, the initial cost of entry is usually quite high for the average gamer. This holds true for the Alpha collection in Parallel, but the team is making the game readily available and affordable for anyone who wants to play through the apparitions. We believe this is a healthy approach and would lay the groundwork for mainstream adoption while still rewarding early supporters in some sense.

Blockchain-wise, the transactions are still all on Ethereum. But with Polygon as an early investor and an obvious solution for Layer-2 scaling, we believe we’ll see some more action from Parallel and the Echelon ecosystem on Polygon in the future.

The project showcases the potential for the NFTs to become mainstream. There’s barely any room for doubt. It has everything as a metaverse mapped to the real world, accessible through AR technology like Google Glasses, in a story told by the legends like Russo Brothers, who gave us the finale for a decade-long superhero franchise (Avengers). The trading card game is just the beginning!

Socialnomics

Social media followers count

PlatformFollower count
Discord41,600
Twitter97,100
Instagram4,033

Parallel has a big following on Twitter, where they actively post news and updates to their followers. Here they have also posted winners of various events. The Discord server is equally active with daily updates, usually linking the Twitter content. There is also an open chat where any follower could ask questions and and receive timely response from the staff.

Correlatively, they have an entire channel section for official links, which makes it easy to find correct and trustworthy sources from Parallel. Parallel’s Instagram has over 300 posts, which consist primarily of art, updates of the game, and events. The followers often receive treats of video clips and updates for the game-to-be as well as NFTs. The content creators of Parallel are also unreserved when it comes to sharing their art creators and designers, which the Alpha team loves.

While their Instagram following isn’t the biggest, it looks like Parallel is making efforts to expand their reach on the social media platform with several updates per day. Their Twitter seems to be their primary channel where they share news, which is then posted on Discord for their 41,600 followers to see. The community appears to be strong and welcoming to newcomers, which is good news for anyone wanting to explore Parallel further.

Conclusion

After reading our research report on Parallel, we’re confident that you can relate to our excitement for the project. Their team is full of highly experienced individuals who have worked on prominent games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite, and Assassins Creed.

The whitepaper covers every nook and cranny to provide a holistic project view. Even though their roadmap is non-existent at this written moment, it doesn’t matter with the continuous Discord and Twitter updates.

Furthermore, the incorporation of next-generation AR technology will take the project to the next level. Parallel will build this game on Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain after Bitcoin. The downside to Ethereum is the high gas fees, and this economic aspect will be more evident when the game is launched. Nevertheless, Ethereum has been a hub for the most successful NFT projects.

Parallel is under development. You can conveniently follow their social media and Discord handles to keep yourself up to date regarding the content and information. The website is clear-cut with stunning visuals. If Parallel succeeds, as we think it will, it will revolutionize the P2E Arena. Imagine the NFTs that you can use in AR. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Count us in!

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