Sometimes, you find projects that are so out there and different that you can’t stop thinking about them. Today, I’d like to take a look at an interactive art/game project by SuperTrip64 called SuperTrip.Land. There are many layers to this project, and although it has been in production for over a year it feels like it's just getting started. It is successful, having sold out of many of its initial NFT collections, and the Discord community is popular and active. While this project doesn’t take itself too seriously, it succeeds where other brand-sponsored activations do not. There’s so much to this project that I’m bound to leave out many hidden or less obvious features and mechanics.
The project incorporates many things that help it stand out from the pack:
Web-based Unity games with multiplayer (and iPadOS 16 compatibility)
Utility/game NFTs
Innovative and unique digital design and graphics
Interactive Discord communities (token-gated with NFTs)
Utilizing TikTok for organic marketing
Memefication and the usage of nostalgic internet culture to promote virality online
In this article, we’re going to touch on SuperTripLand’s origin, the usage of Unity as a key driver for success, the core experience of the game, the project’s social media presence, NFT sales, and key takeaways. Let’s get started.
Origin Story
It is unclear where the inspiration for this idea came from, but we know that Supertrip64 began posting graphic design heavily inspired by vaporwave, synthwave, and VHS nostalgia starting around May 2019. Most of their videos feature mashups of various cultural memes paired with psychedelic imagery and visual effects. Sometime around 2021, the emphasis shifted to this new SuperTrip style, with characters closely resembling the cheeky art of Animal Crossing and other Gamecube-era Nintendo games.
At some point, SuperTrip64 partnered up with GuavaGuy to be his right hand man. GuavaGuy presumably had the programming skills that SuperTrip lacked, and they’ve since become an unbelievably productive duo. In the span of little over a year, they’ve created an incredible Unity-based game and have sold NFTs tied to the game, created a Discord community, and reached over a million subscribers on TikTok with their eye-catching videos.
Unity Engine and Multiplatform Gameplay
The core experience of SuperTripLand is built with Unity, and that comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with app-less mobile games. In recent years, Unity engine has become an increasingly popular choice for developers creating online games and interactive experiences. According to Unity's website, the engine is used by over 50% of all mobile games and over 60% of all augmented reality and virtual reality experiences.Â
Unity's engine has been used to create some of the most popular and successful games in recent years, including Fortnite, Among Us, and Fall Guys. The engine's user base continues to grow rapidly, with over 2 billion devices currently running Unity-made experiences and over 1.5 million monthly active developers using the platform. With its ease of use, cross-platform compatibility, and robust feature set, it's no wonder that Unity has become the go-to choice for many developers looking to create online content.
Cross-play is key for mass adoption of games in 2023. You can play SuperTripLand on any computer, mobile device, and it is available for free within Apple’s App Store.
The Core Experience
Let’s munch into the meat and potatoes of the core experience here. Players are encouraged to make an account, and the main menu introduces you to all of the primary mechanics that are featured in the game. The Play Arena is a core component of the game, and is essentially a PvP game where you can fight others in a timed multiplayer arena utilizing items you’ve either acquired in-game or purchased within the shop. Oh, and the music and sound design in this game are incredible given the limited resources of a 2-person development team.
The game is chiefly divided (for now) into three distinct areas of play:
Neon Trip Mall Estates: Consists of Zen Zone, characters to chat with to initiate quests, and shopping
SuperTrip Arcade: A place to gamble your hard-earned TripCoins and play mini games
Santiago Shrine Arena: A competitive PvP zone where you fight to collect TripCoins and complete various quests
WAGMI World, one of many of the stores within Mall Estates that is still under development
This game is a deluge of cultural references, although the game tends to orient itself around the following internet memes/cultural niches:
Web3: Satoshi slots, WAGMI World, a MetaMask fox mask, and numerous Pepe appearances
Nintendo: The game design is reminiscent of classics like Banjo Kazooie and Mario 64. Levels and experiences are separated and instanced. An even blend of inspiration from Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and Gamecube
Vaporwave Culture: Floppy Disks, Windows 95 interfaces, Floral Shoppe (Vektroid), Smooth Jazz, Elevator music, glitch art, VHS pop, cyberpunk, hypnagogic pop, plunderphonics, vaportrap, Cloud rap, and Mallsoft
Religious and Spiritual: Illuminati, Rosicrucianism, The All-Seeing Eye, Esotericism, Heaven’s Gate, and persistent psychedelic drug references that permeate the entire experience
What this all amounts to is a kaleidoscopic experience that for many people is likely nostalgic, humorous, and paradoxical. The game is an ever-evolving space that changes weekly.
The references in this game are seemingly never ending. Upon entering the mall, you’re greeted by a colossal personal AI assistant named MALL-E, willing to help you with seemingly ‘any task’. MALL-E extends into the game’s Discord server, where members can interact with the MALL-E bot exactly like ChatGPT.
Social Media Presence
The project is active on Discord, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. With over 1.2 million followers on TikTok, the popularity proves the project is perfect for short-form viral content. Most of the videos have over 300k views, and the comment section of every video is filled with an equal distribution of ‘This better not be another NFT game!’ and ‘Where can I play this?!?!’. Instagram is more or less the same thing.
The project really shines on Discord, where the community is highly active in beta testing, streaming, sharing memes, trading NFTs, and teaching each other how to navigate the game’s intentionally cryptic gameplay. Players are incentivized to participate in the community on Discord in exchange for TripCoins (which are not a cryptocurrency).
But where do NFTs come into play with this game? How are players using them?
NFT Collections and Metrics
When I first looked into this game, I was initially very confused by the number of marketplaces and collections this game was connected to. Let’s break it down to make it as simple as possible.
64 Bit Ecstasy and Serenity NFTs: More common NFTs that act as skins within the game and were mintable for fairly cheap (~0.05 ETH) in February of 2023.
Supertrippies: Supertrippies act like player boosts. If you own one, you apply the skin to your character after verifying ownership within Discord, giving you a decidedly unique appearance. They also allow you to earn more TripCoins and give you numerous perks within the game. I’ve never come across a more unique collection of NFTs, and the level of effort in the design is incredible.
SuperTripNexus: Elite in-game items, most of which are heavily influenced by Nintendo 64.
SuperTripShorts: A collection of SuperTrip64’s exclusive 1 of 1 pieces prior to creating SuperTripLand. The collection is 3 distinct pieces of digital art.
SuperRare Collection SuperTrip NFTs: Another marketplace for two additional pieces of digital art created by SuperTrip64 prior to the creation of the game.
Foundation SuperTrip64 NFTs: Another additional marketplace for more pieces of digital art by SuperTrip64.
Phew! That’s a lot of art. But what about the volume on these collections?
Average price per NFT for the Supertrippies collection has soared, with a low average of 0.237Ξ per to now 1.95Ξ as of writing. Total volume since inception for Supertrippies is sitting at ~160Ξ.Â
64 Bit Ecstasy and Serenity NFTs also had similar volume at 114Ξ, with the floor price for these more common NFT sitting comfortably at 0.0343Ξ.
With this game continuing to gain traction and additional followers on social media, I suspect that the floor price for all of the collections mentioned above will rise as the game crawls slowly towards a state of completion.Â
Key Takeaways
This is a very idiosyncratic art project and game, and there’s a myriad of reasons why a brand wouldn’t want to make something like this. There are numerous drug and cult references, and it is definitely made for internet people that have a hankering for nostalgia and sharing Pepe memes online. It is because of these reasons that the project is successful. It goes to places that many projects are seemingly incapable or unwilling to go. Despite this, I still think brands should take a hard look at this project to learn how they could better connect with the audiences they’re trying to connect with and sell to.
Takeaways Include:
Memes are cultural currency. Creating a game you can play anywhere stuffed to the brim with references you immediately get allows for an instant connection, pulling people in. Memes bring people in, good gameplay mechanics and community get people to stay.
NFTs are used in this game as an enhancement, and are not required to enjoy the experience. You don’t have to pay to play this game. However, the NFTs are so well done and thoughtfully created that they would be worth collecting even if there wasn’t a game.
Community is key. From online ranking for scores within the arena to voting on submitted ideas for the game, this game is best experiences with others. The Discord maximizes the usage of NFTs, and there is plenty of room for growth in terms of utility for the NFTs that have already been released.
The art is really, really good. Even if there wasn’t a game, the artwork for the NFT collections is among the best I’ve ever seen, and the 1 of 1’s are astonishingly detailed.
The gameplay is simple, and the mechanics are more like early 2000’s games and simpler Roblox games. This, combined with the art, makes the game a breeze throughout.
There’s no substitute for hard work and intelligence. The people who made this game poured their blood, sweat, and tears into it. Commissioned metaverse experiences feel exactly like what they are, produced and curated by people not earnestly invested in the experience over the long haul.
That’s it! I really wanted to bring more eyeballs to this project, and I hope the focus and attention to detail you’ve seen with some of the artwork here has proven interesting or at least humorous. This is an incredible project, and I’ve never found something more delightful or clever in terms of both art and game projects within the NFT space. The creators deserve all the success that comes to them with this project, and I will be following it in the months and years to follow. Who knows, maybe they’ll even port the game over to Sega Dreamcast.
Thanks, and I’ll be back next week with another piece,
Chris
SuperTripLand: Memes, Dreams, and How Brands Can Learn From Eccentrics