CLOSE Protocol

The Groong’hat, an evil alien race from the darker parts of the universe, has taken over Earth. 

You are Rad, a young man from the caves of the swamp lands. Life is terror. The aliens and their highly intelligent killing machines are everywhere, searching for humans to destroy.

You and your people have been hiding underground for as long as you can remember. Your last living relative, Uncle Harvey, left many years ago not to be seen again.

He left to search for the lost cryptocubes, highly potent computer storage devices from the days before the invasion, when human civilization was at its peak. Each contains a node of the mythical CLOSE Protocol blockchain.

Then the Groong’hat invaded. Human defense was destroyed within hours. The massacre that followed was beyond words, beyond imagination. Killer machines roamed to search and destroy, and the demon soldiers of the Groong’hat race, stripped of individual conscience, murdered everyone and everything in their way. 

They had a special interest in our culture, our knowledge, our art. Nothing seemed more important to them than to destroy it all. 

All computers, books, recordings, musical instruments, anything created by humans was eradicated. The few humans survived, reduced to vermin, hiding where they could, only moving in darkness when necessary to stay alive. 

Now you have received a letter from your beloved uncle. He has found a cryptocube, and recovered a node of the mythical CLOSE Protocol blockchain, the greatest collection of human art, history and information there ever was. The core of human society. The symbol of the golden age of mankind, when peace and prosperity finally ruled the earth, and everyone had what they needed.

The letter contains information only you can understand. He needs your help. You must leave immediately. You know where he is.

“I must go.” You stand with your back straight, as the soldier you are.

“I knew this day would come.” Gargar, the leader of your community, meets your eyes. He has never been your friend, but you hear grief in his voice. “I’m sorry I cannot help”. 

You leave the network of bunkers where your people have lived and died for generations. You surface, knowing how many have been killed even close to the entrances. Now you have to travel. 

You stay low, travel at night. Aircrafts. Killing machines. Grong’hats crawling by as you hide in the bushes. They sense you smell, sniffing in the air, moving around like cockroaches, like scorpions, like creeps. You crouch, your life depends on it. You have seen packs of these monsters attacking people before. It is not a good way to  die.

They move on. Some bigger objective pulls their controlled minds away. Probably there are more humans to kill, somewhere further down the hill. 

You reach the place your uncle told you to find. A place he showed you when you were still just a kid. The place your father died.

He’s not there. The bunker, where he was hiding, is locked. 

Daylight is breaking.

So that’s were the story starts. Now it’s up to you to tell the rest.

At first glance, the game looks like a traditional point and click adventure game, escape room style, but in this game you can trade the object you find and need, and actually make (and spend, if you want) real money. 

When mostvpoint and click adventures are based on one line of story, this one will have a network of possible combinations, creating reasons to keep playing and keep searching for new items and places, to get deeper and deeper into the world where it all plays out. You will have the possibility to access zones where just a few can enter, either by finding the NFT to unlock the path, or by buying it form another skilled player who already did. Some objects will give access to exclusive puzzles and minigames, 

There will be two ways to play the game. You can either play it as a normal web2 game, without any need of signing in. 

To play the complete game, with all its features, you will have to sign in with a NEAR wallet. Near Protocol is the blockchain where the game is being built, and the inspiration for the fictive blockchain giving name to the game. This version of the game will let you own the assets you find, and it will have a deeper and longer story. 

Most of the items you find in the game will be NFTs of limited editions. Each will help you move on in the game in different ways, and they will open doors and paths otherwise unreachable. 

The story is a complex tale of horrors and technology, where your ultimate objective is to make sure our culture, science and history is not lost forever, and to assure the survival of the human species.

The game is still under construction, and there is still a long way to go. The initial launch is set to May this year, but I will keep building, adding new paths, room and items to keep the game alive. 

We’re just getting started. 

Special thanks to Peter Salomonsen for being part of the team, creating the awesome game music and helping me with the coding, Human Guild who’s funding and support has made it all possible, the Paras team for inviting me to NEAR Protocol and giving me the help and opportunity to create games of my own, everyone else on NEAR Protocol who have been extremely helpful and welcoming all active fictionspawn.com readers and followers for being there on the way, and of course to all my friends and family.

This game wouldn’t have happened without you.

Note: The game is under construction, and things I plan now might still change. Please stay tuned for updates. I’m sorry I haven’t published here in a long time, I’ll be better from now on.

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