This week we’re entering the home stretch of the first wave release of our Mirandus-Themed Town Star Skin Packs by dropping the first 2000 of Pack 7. This pack is a special treat because it comes with tons of extras and bonuses.

Every single reimagined Mirandus-themed building in this pack also comes with a dedicated “worker” unit. It’s almost like you’re getting 10 new skins instead of 5! You’ll also find Dragon Voucher 7/10 in this pack, which will get you one step closer to having your very own playable Dragon Familiar in the world of Mirandus.

Someone Else’s Skin

Have you considered all the possibilities of owning game skins as NFTs? Building and minting on the blockchain allows for real player ownership of your assets, including skins. This means that should you ever grow tired of a particular skin (and we doubt you will), you can list and sell it on Opensea. With Gala Games, you won’t find restrictive terms that forbid you to exchange your in-game items for real money. On the contrary, we encourage it and intend to create as many ways as possible to facilitate trade between players. You can collect, play, transfer or sell your skins. They’re your skins.

Hopefully this historic first round of Gala Games NFT skins will give you all a taste of what NFTs can do for in-game assets. Considering that we are building a platform that will eventually contain (at least) dozens of games, each with their own assets and economy, the possibilities for value and utility are endless. These Mirandus-Themed Town Star Skins will always be remembered as the first.

Digging into Pack 7

Pack 7 is bursting with unique assets and creative value. Every building has a story, and every building comes with a character unit that enriches the experience. Because most of these are more advanced buildings in Town Star, these new characters usually won’t join your game until later in the weekly competition, but they’re well worth the wait.

Forklift

The medieval Forklift comes with a double bonus. Let’s start with the building that houses the Forklift. The first image was chosen because it looked more thoroughly period than the other, and the yellow thatched roof gave it a more authentic appearance.

The Forklift itself was designed in an incredibly imaginative way that is almost believable as a contraption of the Middle Ages, running on simple mechanics and gears.

Forklift Driver

Several options were presented for the Forklift driver. From his yellow hard hat to his bulging belly, the original was full of character. The artists were certain of one thing: The Forklift driver needed a hammer. We think you’ll agree.

Here’s an interesting snippet of discussion from the art team regarding the… stature of the driver:

“His concept suggests he is a strong body character, but his 3D model is using the fat body. The main difference is the strong model carries items on his shoulders and the fat model carries it on his front side. Should we maintain the original fat body for the Medieval Skin?”

Freight Pier

As the enhanced water shipping system, it was important for the Freight Pier to look more powerful than the original Trade Pier. This was easy to illustrate using the long modern freight ship, but carrying that idea over to the medieval style was a bit of a challenge for the art team. As usual, several options were first presented. Ultimately, the one with the most majestic (and fastest looking) sails was chosen.

The Freight Boat Captain was also a tough choice. Using the same character model as the original, a few different choices were presented.

Option 1 was approved as the final choice. This was lucky for the Captain, who ended up wearing the comfiest possible outfit for his sailing duties. Here he is, ready to set sail.

Mine

The Mine is another unit that consists of several pieces: The mine, the cart and the miner. Here’s an interesting build shot of the mine being reimagined in medieval style that will also give you an idea of how these mines were originally designed.

And here were two different options of mine appearance, one with large round poles and the other using planks and different coloring. The more detailed plank approach was chosen as the winner.

Like the other characters, the Mining Engineer was reimagined using the same basic character, but given a new medieval outfit. Some choices had to be made, and this was a tough one for the team to decide. The pickaxe is a great tool that has withstood the test of time and very little has changed about it through the generations, so every iteration of the Miner still holds his trusty pickaxe. Instead of the cup of coffee in the left hand of the modern version, the team opted for a sack. This Miner must now drink his coffee before hitting the mines for his long day’s work.

Nuclear Power

anachronistic — /əˌnakrəˈnistik/ — adjective
Belonging to a time or period other than that being portrayed.

Obviously there was no such thing as nuclear power in the Middle Ages, and (presumably) there will be no such thing in the fantasy world of Mirandus. This fact created a perfect opportunity for the art team to deconstruct and conceptualize the idea of nuclear power. They started by boiling it down to the simplest seat of “power” from the time period: The castle. The blocky version was chosen over the cylindrical, which looks more like a fairy tale castle than a seat of power.

Next there was the massive challenge of redesigning the Nuclear Engineer, who clearly could not be pictured in their blatantly modern HazMat suit. The first conceptual choice of the artist was to go with a Knight.

Adorable and well protected as these Knights were, the creators of Town Star had something different in mind. It was back to the drawing board for the art team. Later they emerged again with some variants on the Knights’ bosses.

Option 4 looks like some kind of nightmare villain. The beaked mask of option 3 looks like that of a Renaissance plague doctor, and the robes and book of option 2 make him seem like some sort of clergyman. Finally, the team was left with the clear choice of option 1, who looks like a person who truly calls the shots and commands power wherever he goes.

Windmill

The art team had the wind at their backs in redesigning the Windmill. Both building and operator only required simple makeovers in appearance. There was no need to dig deep in the concept, because windmills were used in the Middle Ages. In the end, the stone constructed Windmill was chosen over the wooden one.

The Miller is one of our favorite Town Star characters. From the piece of wheat that he casually holds in his mouth to the buckle down crossed arms and the hot shot raised eyebrow smirk, there was a lot of individuality to carry over into the Mirandus skin. After checking out the following options, it was decided that the floodwater brown pants and deep blue shirt were the way to go for the Miller.

There you have it! We told you there was a lot going on inside Pack 7, which is now live in the Town Star store. While supplies last, you can also pick up Packs 1–6, each containing a different set of building skins and a different 1/10 Dragon Voucher!

In the next Behind the Skins we’ll be jumping back to Mirandus-Themed Skin Pack 1, which contains reimagined medieval versions of some of the most basic and essential Town Star buildings. Then next week we’ll move onto Pack 8. Here’s a sneak peak… a conundrum of facial hair!

Good luck on all your Town Star builds in this week’s competition!