Introducing Influence: A High-Potential Cross-Chain Game on Starknet, Trial Play Available Before April 10
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Introducing Influence: A High-Potential Cross-Chain Game on Starknet, Trial Play Available Before April 10
This beginner's guide will teach you how to survive and thrive in Adalia.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy WILLIAM M. PEASTER
Translated by TechFlow
I'm deeply involved in the world of crypto gaming, and the Starknet gaming ecosystem is one of my favorites.
One project I've been following with great interest is Influence, a space-based strategic colony game—a blockchain title that blends elements of traditional games like Eve Online and Stellaris.
In Influence, players compete for dominance and control over newly forming colonies within the Adalia asteroid belt. The game's pre-release version is open and playable until April 10, with the official launch coming soon after—making now the perfect time to dive in.
But you're not sure where to start? Don't worry. I asked Jean-Paul Faraj, one of the builders behind Influence, if he'd be willing to create a beginner's guide—and he kindly agreed.
This introductory guide will help you understand how to survive and thrive in Adalia while earning $SWAY (the in-game currency of Influence, launching later this year).
How to Play Influence on Starknet
Influence Game Basics
Gameplay in Influence revolves around resource gathering, trade, and player-driven diplomacy.
Players must make strategic decisions to expand their territory, establish trade routes, develop resources, and build infrastructure and industries to generate wealth and influence within the game world.
There are many ways to play, but at the heart of competitive gameplay lies finding your unique niche—whether solo or cooperative—and striving to control your share of the economy in Adalia.
Starting with Your Crew
Influence is a slow-paced game where every action carries significant weight, and players always have abundant choices.
Players take on the role of a crew, which can consist of one or more members across five primary professions: Miners, Merchants, Engineers, Scientists, and Pilots.
You can assemble any combination of these roles into your crew, and then your adventure begins. One thing to remember: the more crew members you have in a given class, the more efficient you become at performing related actions—but this comes at the cost of slower speed and reduced efficiency in other areas.
Realistic Orbital Mechanics and Physics
The game is set in a realistic asteroid belt where each asteroid has its own orbital mechanics, dynamically simulated in real-time. This guides players to make strategic decisions about when and where to travel based on an asteroid’s current or future position.
Realistic Production Chains
The game features nearly 200 player-crafted goods, ranging from hulls and electronics to mining equipment and warehouses.
Each item may require dozens of refining, manufacturing, and processing steps—all modeled from real-world processes, adjusted to ensure engaging gameplay. You don’t need a degree in chemistry, mechanical, electrical engineering, or organic chemistry—but having one might help!
Player-Driven Markets and Supply Chains
Influence will feature realistic economic dynamics as players organize and collaborate on where to mine specific resources, how to navigate their ships across the belt, and how to form fluid markets that meet others’ demands. This gameplay element ensures players can discover opportunities anytime—finding unmet needs and filling the gaps!
Pace of Play
As a slow-paced, highly strategic game, Influence is designed to unfold over months or even years, with goals defined by you.
Every choice has multiple potential outcomes, and the actions you take represent only a fraction of the overall experience. Moreover, each action takes time to complete. Building something isn’t instantaneous—it could take several days depending on your crew composition. So does traversing the asteroid belt, as journeys may span up to a month of real-time.
Persistence
Influence is a sandbox environment—non-linear, with no predetermined storylines. Furthermore, it is a persistent, on-chain world, making your characters and in-game items permanent, as they are all stored on Starknet’s public blockchain infrastructure.
This on-chain nature allows the game to continue evolving independently of the developer studio, enabling players full visibility and access to every in-game action since all activities are recorded on-chain. We’ll witness stories of economic warfare, sabotage, espionage, and the rise and fall of empires—all unfolding transparently on-chain for anyone to engage with.
Core Gameplay Mechanics
In Influence, core player activities include:
-
Harvesting 22 raw materials from 11 different types of asteroids
-
Producing items using refineries, factories, bioreactors, and shipyards
-
Building and expanding settlements along the belt
-
Traveling across the belt and transporting cargo via ships
-
Managing and trading on player-driven markets
-
Managing and leasing plots of land on controlled asteroids
These actions allow players to steadily build up their settlements. However, always keep in mind what else is happening across the belt. If you want to compete and earn the most $SWAY, it’s all about supply and demand!
Admittedly, due to its vast scale and initial learning curve, Influence may feel overwhelming at first. To help with this, we’ve provided extensive knowledge in our Unstoppable Games Wiki. We also have a series of tutorials on YouTube, and our Discord community is filled with helpful resources and members.
$SWAY Overview
$SWAY is the core utility token and in-game currency of Influence, usable in any tool or game built around the Influence ecosystem. Players can earn $SWAY by:
-
Extracting resources or manufacturing goods and selling them on the market
-
Managing markets and collecting fees from each transaction
-
Renting out your asteroid plots or crew members to other players
-
Providing liquidity on markets to earn incentives set by market owners
-
Trading and exploiting arbitrage opportunities
$SWAY Supply
-
Initial supply: 130 billion
-
60 billion unlocked and tradable at launch
-
Supply inflates based on player activity to maintain stability, then cycles back into the player economy through gameplay.
-
$SWAY inflation is split between two parts: team and community
SWAY inflation is programmatically distributed via a “regulator.” In short, inflation occurs periodically, with the amount determined by increases or decreases in SWAY usage by the player base during a given period. The higher the usage compared to the previous cycle, the more tokens are emitted. If $SWAY usage declines in the next cycle, emissions return to baseline levels.
Final Thoughts
Remember, until April 10, anyone can join the public test for free. There’s no client to download—the game runs entirely in-browser. However, it operates on Starknet L2 of Ethereum, so players will need to download a wallet to participate.
Despite being complex and imaginative, one of Influence’s standout pillars is that it is fully built on-chain, giving players, communities, and third-party builders unparalleled access to contribute alongside the creators. Already, there are nearly 15 third-party tools, and the game only launched its public test a few weeks ago! Expect much more to come.
Moreover, as the game grows, so will its community, and new ways to play will emerge. On top of that, over 50% of the $SWAY tokens are being distributed to the community, with portions available through providing feedback, creating content, and completing tasks.
Finally, Influence is one of the earliest flagship games in the Starknet ecosystem. With Starknet recently announcing a $50 million STRK fund dedicated to supporting gaming projects, players and builders here may have even greater opportunities ahead!
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@WPeaster
