Alien Worlds: an in-depth look at a popular blockchain game

Key points

• AlienWorlds.io is a popular sci‑fi gaming metaverse on the Wax blockchain built on a play‑to‑earn model.
• It is among the most active virtual worlds: Alien Worlds has more than 7m registered users, about 200,000 of whom log in daily.
• The in‑game economy revolves around the native token Trillium (TLM), issued on Wax, BNB Chain and Ethereum.
• An active market exists for in‑game NFTs and digital land, and the economy is governed by a network of “planetary DAOs”.

Who built Alien Worlds?

The blockchain game Alien Worlds was developed by the Swiss firm Dacoco, founded in Crypto Valley Zug by blockchain developers Michael Yates and Rob Allen together with financier Sarojini McKenna. The founders previously played an important role in launching EOS and several other blockchain projects.

Funding came in several stages. Shortly before the test launch on December 4, 2020, the developers held a Dutch auction of virtual land plots as non‑fungible tokens (NFTs), raising about $1m.

In a seed round in February 2021, Dacoco received investment from Korean fund HG Ventures. A private token sale followed in March, with ten venture funds participating, including Animoca Brend. Across the two rounds the team raised more than $2m.

TLM issuance and utility

The native token Trillium (TLM) was issued simultaneously on the Wax, BNB Chain and Ethereum blockchains. The in‑game cross‑chain bridge Teleport lets users move TLM between these chains. This requires installing and connecting both Wax Cloud Wallet and MetaMask.

The maximum supply of TLM is 10bn tokens, a little over 3bn of which are already in circulation. Over 1bn TLM was sold to strategic investors in spring 2021, and 150m was distributed via Binance Launchpool. 

The remainder is earmarked for daily allocations to planetary DAOs, community and creator support, marketing and other purposes.

TLM can be used in several ways:

• mined by players on “land plots”;
• upgrading in‑game items, taking part in quests and battles;
• voting on planetary DAO initiatives;
• staking in missions (BEP‑20 TLM only).

TLM trades on major centralised exchanges, including Binance, Gate.io, Kucoin and Kraken, as well as on decentralised platforms (PancakeSwap).

How does gameplay work in Alien Worlds?

Alien Worlds runs in the browser on both desktop and mobile. Before registering, you need an account in Wax Cloud Wallet.

Unlike many NFT games using the Play2Earn model, Alien Worlds does not require an upfront investment. Every new player receives a free tool—a shovel with minimal efficiency—and can immediately start mining TLM. The mined coins can be freely withdrawn.

To start mining TLM, you need to:

• choose one of six planets;
• select a land plot on that planet;
• equip a mining tool in one of three available slots.

Choosing a planet and plot requires transactions on the Wax blockchain, which must be approved in Wax Cloud Wallet.

The mining loop consists of clicking “Mine”, then “Claim Mine”, approving the transaction in the Wax Cloud Wallet pop‑up, and receiving the payout (about 0.002–0.01 TLM with the “standard” shovel). A tool cooldown then follows—about 80 seconds for the free shovel and up to several hours for the most powerful tools—after which the process can be repeated.

Besides TLM there is a small chance to receive NFT Points, which can be exchanged for digital items to use or sell on the marketplace.

Another gameplay component is missions, presented as expeditions to distant planets. In practice these are short staking campaigns lasting one to four weeks, with rewards in TLM and valuable NFTs. Staking takes place on BNB Chain and requires connecting MetaMask or another compatible browser wallet.

What NFTs exist in Alien Worlds?

Gameplay relies on various non‑fungible tokens (NFTs) issued on the Wax blockchain. There are six types:

• tools, which mine TLM on land plots with varying efficiency;
• avatars, which add identity but do not affect gameplay;
• minions, which enable PvP battles introduced with the Thunderdome update;
• minion weapons, which boost character stats;
• artifacts, which also enhance minion attributes;
• land plots on planets, which let owners collect rent from miners.

The two most popular marketplaces for buying and selling in‑game NFTs on Wax are AtomicHub and NFTHive. They connect via Wax Cloud Wallet, with settlement in WAXP, the native coin of the Wax blockchain.

All NFT types (except land) have six rarity tiers. They also feature a Shine attribute with five levels: Stone, Gold, Stardust, Antimatter and X‑Dimension.

Four NFTs of the same rarity and Shine can be combined into one with the next Shine level. This costs from 100 to 2000 TLM, depending on rarity and Shine.

What is digital land for in Alien Worlds?

The Alien Worlds universe currently consists of six planets, each divided into 150–200 plots represented as NFTs. 

On December 4, 2020, the initial land sale offered 3,000 plots (out of 3,343) at a starting price of 0.7457 ETH (under $350 at the time). Today plots can be bought only on the secondary market, starting from about $1,800.

There are 20 land types (rocky, desert, volcanic, and so on). Each type differs by several base parameters:

• Recharge multiplier — can either speed up or slow down tool recovery;
• Mining power — increases or decreases the amount of TLM mined;
• NFT power — increases or decreases the chance of an NFT Point drop while mining;
• Commission — the fee a landowner takes from a miner’s yield, ranging from 0% to 25%.

Landowners can choose to make plots open to miners or charge for access, payable in WAXP. Owners on some planets can also run miner incentive programmes, such as chances to receive in‑game NFTs.

Each planet in the Alien Worlds Federation is governed by a planetary DAO of TLM holders. Every planet has its own treasury and a five‑member council, re‑elected weekly by players who stake their TLM.

Every day, planets receive an allocation of TLM that can be distributed to stakers and landowners or directed to miner incentives to increase a planet’s appeal.

How much can you earn in Alien Worlds?

Because the game follows a play‑to‑earn model, most players join Alien Worlds to make money.

Potential income sources include:

• mining TLM on land and via missions;
• selling NFTs obtained from mining and missions on marketplaces;
• rewards for staking TLM in planetary DAOs;
• for landowners: a share of the planetary treasury and commissions from miners in TLM.

Mining yields were at their peak in early 2021, before TLM’s listing on Binance. With basic tools it was possible to mine crypto worth a few dollars after a couple of hours of play. As the player base grew and TLM’s price fell, returns dropped sharply.

Specialised profitability calculators show that as of October 2022, one free shovel yields no more than 2–4 TLM in 24 hours of continuous play—worth under $0.10 at current prices. Buying more efficient NFT tools can multiply output and reduce time spent, but requires an upfront outlay of roughly $20–50.

What problems does Alien Worlds face?

In 2021, amid the NFT and play‑to‑earn boom, Alien Worlds had hundreds of thousands of active players. Research suggests that a significant share of accounts were bots—programs automating TLM mining. Although the developers tried to build robust anti‑bot protections, they appear not to have succeeded.

A study conducted in summer 2021 identified several large botnets, comprising thousands of accounts and capturing a substantial portion of the TLM allocated daily by planetary DAOs.

According to the report, one botnet earned up to 160 TLM per minute—about 10% of total daily token issuance. Another, controlling more than 6,000 accounts, earned and sold TLM and NFTs worth over $33m in a few months.

Bot activity declined alongside TLM’s price in spring 2022. Today, Alien Worlds bots sell for $200–800, and a mining bot’s source code has been published on GitHub.

How is Alien Worlds evolving?

Alien Worlds aims to become a metaverse: offering varied gameplay and enabling third‑party developers to expand the world.

In May 2022, applications opened for the Galactic Hubs grant programme to support external teams building projects for the Alien Worlds metaverse and Web3 infrastructure around it.

In July 2022, Dacoco partnered with the high‑performance Zilliqa blockchain to create a gaming hub that will integrate esports projects already live on Zilliqa.

The most anticipated update, announced in autumn 2021, is the launch of Thunderdome: a PvP arena in the style of Battle Royal. Players will deploy minions, their weapons and artifacts, and receive TLM for participating in battles.

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