HV-MTL The Hunt

Objective

Yuga Labs sought to expand the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) universe through web3 gaming, building on the momentum from Dookey Dash and HV-MTL Forge. The Hunt was designed as a personalized adventure that celebrates player skill and strategy, serving as the final strategic milestone in the franchise's evolution.

Solution

The Hunt is a rogue-like dungeon crawler where players navigate five procedurally-generated biomes with their Heavy Metal mechs (HVs). The gameplay centers on three pillars: exploration and combat with varied enemy types, resource gathering and crafting to build custom equipment, and stat balancing to customize mech capabilities. Players enter 'The Rift', select from four available biomes and a difficulty level, and choose a specialization — explorer, fighter, or crafter — each with distinct stats and abilities. Expeditions cost energy scaled to difficulty; an HV's battery level doubles as its health bar, and running out before finding the exit costs the player half the items collected on that run. Crafting requires selecting a recipe, a mold, and three ingredients, with success-rate and rarity odds shown before committing; Gemstones can refine items to raise their rarity, Augments can be dismantled to recover their mold, and HVs have six Augment slots; Keys open Chests found in The Rift. Players progress through dynamically-changing landscapes and unlock exclusive content including the 'Shimmer Biome' at higher achievement levels. Boss Seasons introduce a 'forbidden zone' with elevated challenges and competitive leaderboards. The Hunt launched in September 2023 as a new phase within HV-MTL Forge, developed in collaboration with Press Play On Tape.

Results

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