SpeedStar is a recently launched ‘work-to-earn’, horse-racing themed, Unity game built on the Harmony blockchain. It is the first of a suite of games to be launched by the Thai company, Hells Kitchen, and the team considers we are bringing a unique game to the blockchain. The team have chosen Harmony for several reasons, such as the proposed 1 second finality and we are planning to remain on the chain for the foreseeable future. We have previously been marketing the game in the Far East and are now actively developing closer links with Western markets.

The team are proud of the fact that the game has progressed from selling the initial NFTs to launching close to the finished game within only a matter of weeks. The presale of minted horses started on 27th January 2022 and sold out less than 2 weeks later on the 11th of February 2022. The actual game launched on 25th March 2022 and is relatively close to being fully functioning.


Therefore, we consider the rapid speed of deployment of the game to be noteworthy and potentially something that sets us apart from projects that remain in beta or in development for months on end. The belief in the project is such that the team envision SpeedStar will become one of the highest-grossing games on the Harmony blockchain.

Within SpeedStar there is no “Play to Earn” concept, but instead it is a “Work to Earn” philosophy. That’s because participants in the game will be rewarded with experience, fun, and financial rewards from working.

The game is currently playable on mainnet, and has active players throughout the world. The gameplay system is divided into 2 main groups; namely players and investors. The “racehorse” is in effect the game’s central theme. Consequently, every action of the player and investor is always related to this.

Players take on the role of taking care of the horses according to the career they choose (although level up bonuses are randomly ascribed). They could provide the necessary training to improve your horse’s stamina and results (Trainer). Obviously a horse can’t race by itself, so it needs someone to ride and guide it through the races (Jockey). There is also the option to play the game by caring for and treating any fatigue or illnesses of the horse (Therapist). Or finally the player might have the keen eye on lineage and pedigree in order to become an expert horse breeder (Breeder).

The game has a cleverly designed ‘dilemma’ element to it. So, a player might prefer a particular profession and hope to acquire the corresponding bonus aligned with this. However, there is always a risk in levelling up, where the player may gain a bonus they may not necessarily desire, and so would have to pay for the privilege of re-rolling or waiting until they gain more experience. This ‘risk to reward’ is a feature of the tactical gameplay, and means this could be considered a thinking person’s game due to the many nuances within.

Investors on the other hand focus on building ranches, buying facilities, buying racehorses, or even customizing their ranch. There are multiple revenue streams that can be created by the investor in order to make money. These include ranch asset management, investing in breeding race horses and selling them in the marketplace. There is the potential to develop racehorse teams to compete for prizes, or owning a racecourse to earn a return on race fees, owning a racecourse to earn a competition fee, or even betting on your own horses.

Farming earn $SPEED
The rewards for running the ranch are derived from various sources, such as the owner having racehorses use the facilities, or by staking various facilities there. The rewards are paid in $SPEED Tokens. These can be used to pay for various in-game activities such as the purchase of certain assets. They can also be used for hiring someone.

Breeding
There is the option of potentially selling horses that have been bred in-game. Initially 10,000 origin horses were minted that sold out. This number was only going to be enough horses for the game to start being played, and so it is anticipated a large number of horses will need to be bred to service future demand. The game uses a system of either purchasing ‘seed potions’ through a marketplace or through breeding in game.

Horse-racing
Horse racing is another way to gain rewards. If a player is good enough to win a race with their horse, they will earn a reward in the form of the Governance Token $STAR Tokens. In order to win, a skilled jockey will be needed to ride the horse, and this a can either be done by the player themselves or by hiring another player. The game is currently offering replays in game of the actual racing, but future updates include plans for live streaming of races.
Racecourse
There will also be limited options within the game to bid at auction for land to build a racecourse. When someone owns one, they can set the price of tickets for competitions, and potentially will be awarded a competition fee.

Bet license
There are other potential privileges for those who have racecourse land, as they can apply for a betting licence. These licenses are limited, and owners of them are rewarded through commission from the players betting in game.

Tax system
Players who are hired within the game will earn $SPEED. However, in order to maintain liquidity in the economy, players who are hired in the game will be taxed on their earnings. These taxes and the trading fees within the game are set by the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that will be established for holders of $STAR only. A system of voting will be implemented in order to restructure the in-game taxes and fees. Therefore, the majority vote will determine the direction of the economic system within the game, such as lowering the tax ceiling, or the raising of taxes to reduce liquidity within the system in order to keep the valuation of various assets constant.

Marketplace
We intend to launch our marketplace in Q2. Currently the project is using ToFuNFT and at time of writing over 34m ONE has been traded in SpeedStar NFTs on the platform.

Overview
As an overview, we are suggesting the actual gameplay is fun, innovative and really rather exciting! In line with the Harmony mission statement, we want to attract new players to the Harmony ecosystem, and believe our game can do so. We also consider SpeedStar are not simply paying lip-service to ‘accessibility’ and ‘inclusivity’, as the game can be played with no upfront costs and players can start earning tokens immediately. This work-to-earn philosophy has the potential to empower a number of people from developing nations, and this seems in keeping with the over-arching ethos of Harmony. Any person can play the game who has internet access and a suitable devise for playing the game. This can currently be played through MetaMask on mobile and laptop, and so can be played on android and iOS. The team also have plans to launch the game on the App Store and Google Play.