Genopets is one of the most recognizable names in blockchain gaming and it also championed an entire subgenre: move-to-earn. Now, the earning portion of the game is live with the introduction of Habitat Management.

We first covered Genopets in early 2022 where I wrote: “Some of the other projects working near Move-to-Earn (not all offer the ability to earn crypto, just progress) struck me as a little dry; a good idea poorly executed. Genopets is a fleshed-out idea that marries a number of popular fundamentals.” The project has progressed a long way this year and now we’re looking at a more complete game.

What Is Genopets?

Genopets is a Move-to-Earn game on the Solana blockchain. That summary doesn’t do the game much justice, however, as Genopets is a complex beast. In the introductory Medium post, they mention that inspiration is drawn from Pokémon and Tamagotchis, which is clear to see; the Genopets you own are a sort of mix of the two, with your phone being the device that holds the “Tamagotchi”.  However, gameplay is more complicated than just keeping a bleeping pixel-pet alive.

To level up your Genopet and ready it for battle, you need to gain XP which you achieve by steps — real-life steps, and this converts to energy for your Genopet. This is where the player’s health comes in and where the move-to-earn subgenre is formed. The more you move, the more energy your pet gets, and the more you can play areas of the game that level up and evolve your Genopet, including battling.

Genopets: Moving to Earn

In a recent announcement, Genopets launched Habitats which are at the heart of the player-created economy and earning. As you can see in the flow chart above, both free and paid gameplay ultimately leads to earning, but the bulk of the methods for this involve habitats.

A Habitat is an NFT that acts as a home for your Genopet, but also a “powerful engine for economic activity.” In your Habitat you “can perform Alchemy, Terraform, Refine, and Harvest KI on Mainframe.” These are essentially professions and crafting. Alchemy is the creation of items, Terraforming is the creation of Habitats, and Refining is the processing of materials for use in Alchemy.

One interesting feature I’d like to highlight is that these Habitats are procedurally generated, and thus, unique — that’s a nice touch.

The launching of Habitats unlocks the bulk of the game and as more players get invited into the beta, we’re going to see exactly what sort of depth Genopets has. I was interested in the project at the start of 2022, and the way things are going, I’m going to be even more interested by the end of it.