Life is a grand adventure and things are rarely as they seem. When the smallest and seemingly least capable inhabitants of the world think they have a handle on their destinies, the fates tend to give them a reroll, a do-over. The hopeless are often redeemed, the famished are sometimes renewed, and on some rare occasions, the characters in the background are lifted up into key, career-defining roles. This is one such story of an unlikely hero, overlooked and underestimated by everyone except for a true friend who appeared when he least expected one.

He was never given a name, but his new friend Jimmy had been calling him Diego in honor of the young ranch hand who gave Jimmy such a fair market price for the young pig. “Não tem muita carne neste,” human Diego had said with a chuckle, just before selling pig Diego to Jimmy for the last of his euros.

Now as Diego’s tiny body was nestled behind Jimmy’s protective arm, he squealed with delight, feeling safer than ever before and not knowing what adventures awaited the unlikely duo. Diego was the runt of his litter. He was not especially young, but had strangely stopped growing several months ago. The tiny pig had fought for everything he ever needed to survive: Mother’s teat, a place at the water hole, every single meal. When one by one his brothers and sisters were taken from his sight by hungry humans, Diego was glad to finally have space at the trough, but only until he realized the brutal end to which they were headed. When finally he was the last that remained of his litter, Diego had adamantly resolved to never become a meal.

When he met Jimmy, Diego knew right away that his immediate destiny was not to become a salty snack. Their companionship grew quickly and strongly, like two bullied children finding each other in the school cafeteria then becoming lifelong friends. The little pig felt strong and important at Jimmy’s side, as though together they could accomplish anything. He tried to maintain these feelings of strength as Jimmy carried him onto a medium sized airplane amid several shady-looking men, each armed with blades and guns.

After Jimmy strapped Diego into the seat next to his own, the last of the smuggling party settled in as well, then the plane began moving. At first it creeped along, but then rapidly picked up speed until finally with an exhilarating lift, Diego felt the airplane leave the ground. “If my brothers and sisters could only see me now,” the little pig thought to himself as the impossible happening described in the phrase when pigs fly became a reality. He desperately wanted to look out the window, so he squirmed and squealed to get Jimmy’s attention. As if reading Diego’s thoughts, Jimmy quickly unstrapped him and held him close to the glass. Diego watched in stupefied wonder as the ground flew away and the plane climbed higher and higher into the sky. Before long, the vast Pacific Ocean and the horizon was all Diego could see.

One of the smugglers cracked a quiet joke in Portuguese, a language which Jimmy understood very poorly. The rest of the men laughed heartily, with one in particular catching Diego’s attention. His mouth was full of shiny gold teeth, and his face wore a massive sickle-shaped scar from forehead to chin. Diego guessed that this must be the leader of the smuggling outfit. The little pig had no trust for these men, but he believed in Jimmy’s protection. “Uma bebida para meu amigo.” the gold-toothed man shouted louder than necessary, snapping his fingers and staring at Jimmy with a suspicious grin. Within moments, a few fizzy drinks adorned with colorful umbrellas were distributed by another of the smugglers.

“Para sua aventura!” the leader shouted to Jimmy, raising his own glass and gesturing for Jimmy to drink with him.

“Saúde,” the men shouted in unison before drinking together. Jimmy didn’t seem to enjoy the taste of the strange beverage, nor did he notice that all the smugglers’ eyes were on him as he drank. Once the drinks were gone, everyone settled in for a nap to pass the time during the long flight. Seeing that Jimmy was relaxing himself, Diego decided to get some shuteye as well. He wanted to be well rested for whatever adventure would come next.

Diego was the first to wake, and he knew immediately that something was wrong. Jimmy was sleeping soundly (a little too soundly), but the smugglers were all gone. His first reaction was relief to be rid of these strange men for whom he had no trust, but with further consideration, he began to wonder where the men might have gone. Diego suddenly smelled smoke and his curiosity quickly turned to terror. Still strapped tightly into his little seat, his only hope was to wake Jimmy. Jimmy would know what to do.

Diego summoned up every ounce of energy in his tiny pig body and mustered up his loudest roar from deep within. Jimmy was completely out, with a thick stream of drool falling from the lower corner of his mouth. The first mighty squeal was enough to make Jimmy stir, but he did not wake. Knowing that Jimmy would do the same for him and that their lives may depend on it, Diego dug even deeper, summoning an unknown force from the very depths of his fighting soul. He let loose a majestic squeal that would have made a lion quiver, causing Jimmy’s eyes to suddenly shoot open.

Many things happened very quickly in the moments that followed. Turning and looking toward the rear of the plane, Jimmy gasped and leapt to his feet. He then staggered toward the cockpit, shouting in horror as his greatest fear seemed to be confirmed. Diego was frozen in fear, and helplessly trapped beneath his safety restraints.

Rushing back and checking his pockets, Jimmy frantically cried, “They took my phone! The map!” He disappeared for a few moments somewhere in the back of the plane, where he could be heard making quite a commotion. He returned moments later with a funny-looking backpack, just in time for a deafening noise and a jolt to rock the whole plane. “We lost an engine! We’re going down,” Jimmy shouted to Diego as he released him from his seatbelt.

Wrapped up once again in Jimmy’s protective arm, Diego saw through the window that smoke was billowing from the wing where an engine had exploded. Perhaps the smugglers had cut a fuel line, causing hot gas to infiltrate the engine, then escaping quietly before the inevitable explosion that would crash the plane. But what did Diego the tiny pig know about the inner workings of airplanes and treasure-hunting sabotage? Pretty much nothing, but luckily the smugglers had somehow left a single parachute, which Jimmy was now wearing.

Diego could feel it now. The plane was going down, and fast, but Jimmy knew what to do. Diego held on tight to Jimmy’s forearm as Jimmy found and opened the emergency door, which was suddenly whipped out of sight into a blast of biting wind and noise. Jimmy shouted, “Hang on Diego,” and before the pig could utter a single squeal, the pair jumped from the open emergency door and careened wildly into the sky.

Jimmy hadn’t slept since getting off the boat three days ago, but somehow he was thinking more clearly than ever before. As he sat on the broken radiator in his less than hospitable hostel staring at the treasure map’s corner piece, he kept imagining what it would be like to have the treasure for himself.

Maybe it was the dream of having more than a messy shack, the same three sweatshirts and a from-the-ground-up gasoline delivery business. Jimmy could deliver lots of things, not just gasoline, but for some reason that’s all they ever wanted him to carry. Maybe it was the fact that after weeks on his own in the wide unknown world, Jimmy’s savings were brought down by a Parisian fortune teller and a fateful roll at the roulette table. Or maybe Jimmy just wanted a break from being everyone’s joke for a change. Whatever the reason, Jimmy had gone wild. The gloves were off, the cage was open, the chips were down, and the bodily substances were on a clear trajectory toward the blades of the fan. In the game of life, it was finally Jimmy’s turn.

Jimmy knew the sailors would be armed to the teeth, so he needed to move with extreme care and precision. He procured some graph paper and several pencils from the local paper-and-pencil store, and as a techno beat scheming montage played loudly in his mind, Jimmy put his head down and went to work on concocting his master plan.

“Oh, I’ll deliver,” Jimmy thought to himself as he recalled the action scenes in every James Bond movie he’d ever seen. “I’ll deliver that map right out from under their noses.” Then he laughed slyly to himself and penciled in a note that he should think of some better catch phrases.

Finally after a couple days of toil and with an extremely sore right hand, Jimmy stepped back and surveyed his plan for the heist. It was a good plan. No, it was a great plan. No, it was a super fantastic fabulous plan. But would it work?

Jimmy knew that he would definitely be spotted by one of the Renflouer’s guards if he tried to board from the dock, so his plan was to approach from the east, in the water. With a child’s pool toy for floatation and a wearable shark fin he made himself from stuff around the hostel, he would swim in completely unnoticed past the machine gun guard and the mutant man eating jellyfish that may prowl the shallow waters of the bay. He would climb the ladder near the boat’s bow, donning his thief disguise and sneaking by as many as seven guards who might be armed with machine guns.

Making his way to the door that led below, Jimmy would quickly pick the lock and slip down the stairs, disabling the cameras and motion detectors as he went. His biggest challenge would be the security laser grid surrounding the uncrackable safe in which the map was kept. He knew it would take some tough feats of acrobatics to get past them, which is why he had been doing three pushups each day in preparation. Cracking the safe would certainly trigger the alarms, so Jimmy would then need to cleverly disguise himself as one of the sailors to slip out in the turmoil following the robbery.

He knew it was going to be tough, but he was up to the challenge. There was no turning back, especially since he had already begun thinking of the hidden loot as “Jimmy’s Treasure.” On the day of the heist, Jimmy set out just before sunset, hoping luck was on his side.

On his way to the boat, Jimmy spotted the entire Renflouer crew at a streetside cabana bar, drunkenly singing a French karaoke rendition of Rupert Holmes’ The Pina Colada Song. After standing by and enjoying the song for a minute, which in the French language had a delightfully romantic feel, Jimmy realized (and exclaimed aloud) what this meant. “The boat is unguarded!”

Jimmy sauntered down the dock and boarded the Renflouer, a little disappointed that his homemade shark fin was going to waste. The boat was deserted, so he didn’t have to sneak past any guards. The door to below was unlocked and there were no security cameras. Jimmy was becoming increasingly frustrated that his carefully thought out plan was falling apart. There were no laser grids, no motion sensors, no machine gun guards hiding in the shadows. Jimmy’s heart sank. This was no Jimmy Bond moment. But then he saw the map, sitting plainly on top of the file cabinet that he had somehow mistakenly imagined as a safe.

Jimmy retrieved the corner piece from his pocket and laid it next to the remainder of the treasure map. It was a perfect fit. Just to be safe, he took out his phone and snapped a pic of the completed map. He was about to leave with the map when he was hit with a sudden attack of conscience. “What am I doing here,” Jimmy thought to himself. “They worked so hard to find this map, and I have a picture of it.” Jimmy left not only the sailors’ map, but the corner piece as well. After stubbing his toe on the stairs and screaming loudly like a baby for a few minutes, Jimmy disembarked from the Renflouer and vanished into the shadows like a ghost.

Back at his quiet hostel and feeling like a real nice dude, Jimmy looked for a few minutes at the treasure map’s image in his phone. Now he knew where the next leg of his adventure would take him: To the unforgiving jungles of the Andes mountains, where his treasure hunt would truly begin.

Welcome back, Gala Gamers, to the blog series that takes us deep into the creation process of the recently completed Mirandus-Themed Town Star Skins! Today we’ll be looking at Pack 3, but first, let’s go over a few details about what makes these skins so special.

These Skins are Owned Assets

Just like everything you’ll find in the Gala Games store, Mirandus-Themed Town Star Skins are assets that you actually own. That means that when you buy a pack, you’re getting a digital handful of tradable items. You’ve got some serious options, from deploying them in your town for an extra speed and production boost, to selling the skins individually on Opensea.io.

These Skins Give you In-Game Advantages

As you hardcore Town Star players know, competition is fierce in Gala’s flagship game of town and city builders. It’s free to play, but players can give themselves awesome head starts by purchasing or earning various NFT buildings and units. Skins are no exception to this rule. The more skin packs used in your Town Star game, the greater your in-game boost will be, up to a maximum of 25% to worker speed and 10% to craft production time. For more details on these bonuses, check out THIS POST.

These Skins Come with Dragon Vouchers

Each skin pack comes with a 1/10 Dragon Voucher. These vouchers can be resold on Opensea like any of our NFTs, but if you collect them all, then you’ll become the owner of a limited edition Dragon Familiar in Mirandus once the game is released.

Not only will your Dragon Familiar appear beside you like a badge of honor, but it will help you in your adventures, offering in-game benefits and assistance in multiple ways. This ain’t some cute puppy dog that will follow you around and occasionally make obnoxious barking sounds. It’s a Dragon. You know you want one.

Digging into Pack 3

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the units you’ll find in Mirandus-Themed Skin Pack 3. Each of these buildings has been reimagined with an authentic medieval feel to give your town a delightfully quaint Mirandus fantasy charm.

Bakery

Pictured above are the initial sketches presented by the art team. There were clearly some decisions to be made about the doors, windows and roof. Multiple options were colored before the final product was clear.

In the end, a more practical 2-sided roof was chosen as the final. The 4-sided roof seemed a bit unnecessary and complex for a Bakery. Notice how all examples utilize the striped pattern that is recognizable from the modern Bakery building.

Next up for reimagining was the Baker character who does all the hard work. Ironically, in the original image she carries a cake, but in the game she does not actually bake cakes. Instead, that is reserved for the pastry chef that comes with the Cakery. First, the Baker was presented in several options for authentic Middle Ages garb.

She looks a bit more cheerful in blue, don’t you think? Icing or no icing, that cake looks delicious!

Express Depot

The Express Depot is a quicker trade NFT that is awarded to members of Gala Gold. With its awesome flames and larger-than-life driver, this thing looks like it gets goods from point A to point B with unmatched speed. It was initially decided to use an ox for this kind of fast transporting in the Middle Ages, but there were still some details to nail down, mostly about the style of the wagon and the size of the ox.

Art Director Warren Marshall opted for the stronger looking ox to signify additional speed and power. Notice how its back muscles are bulging and its horns are longer than the other options. You wouldn’t want to be trapped in a stampede with that bad boy. Next up was the Express Depot Driver character.

If anyone could control that ox, it would be this guy. No riding crop is necessary. As long as he’s got a full wineskin, he’s good to go. The ox is the designated driver anyway.

Feed Mill

The Feed Mill was pretty simple to redesign into the Mirandus theme, but even the simplest units typically have a few options to choose from. This is the level of detailed planning that goes into every single visual asset created by Gala Games.

The first model was chosen simply because it looks more old fashioned. It is far more likely that a rancher in the Middle Ages would have used a mill made of stone and wood than metal.

Trough

Other than a bit of rustic wood treatment, the trough is essentially the same. From the Middle Ages until today, not much has changed about an open-top wooden box for storing feed. Some of today’s troughs may have fancy lids or other manners of protection from the elements that ensure longer freshness for the feed. Cows and sheep just aren’t that picky about where they get their food. Luckily, this simple skin unit (like all the others) will still count toward your in-game speed and production bonus.

Water Tower

Once upon a time, Town Star Water Towers were a place for extra water to be stored rather than being wasted. Player feedback eventually showed that most were not finding this type of Water Tower very useful, so the Water Tower went away for awhile. It then reappeared around the time of May Mayhem earlier this year with a new function, similar to that of the Fountains.

Now you can get a Water Tower in any one of 4 rarities: Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. Each Water Tower provides varying degrees of passive water to surrounding fields. While each of the 4 rarities have a different look, only 1 final Water Tower skin image was created. It started with two main options, pictured below.

It was decided to use a combination of the two, using the drop of water banner from #2 with the brown wooden construction and open top of #1.

As a red morning sun started to rise over the calm Ligurian Sea, a young adventurer named Jimmy lifted his head from the sack of grain that he had made his pillow the night before. Last night had taken a turn for the worst after a brave roulette spin cost Jimmy the rest of his travel money. Thanks to some crumbled euros and loose coins scattered throughout his pack, he had found enough to buy a bottle of something stiff (the drinking age is 18 in Monaco). Now as the previous night’s memories came back to him one by one between headache pains, Jimmy noticed the empty bottle lying next to him amid bits of fish carcasses.

“The boat leaves at dawn,” Jimmy suddenly remembered, hoping he was not already too late. Somehow last night between beach staggering and a brief live performance with some street buskers (Jimmy played the spoons), he had concocted a brilliant plan: Get a job, earn some honest pay, and for God’s sake, don’t lose it again in some gamble. The bucket drummer from the busking group said he was leaving bright and early on a fishing boat, and that the crew could always use more able-bodied workers like Jimmy. Jimmy had never been on a fishing boat before, but he figured it would be the perfect way to earn some money to get home. He knew the townsfolk were probably worried about him, and they were certainly missing his speedy and all-too-convenient neighbor deliveries.

Jimmy jumped to his feet, and with a mad crick in the neck, he took off toward the ship, which fortunately had not yet departed. “C’est l’enfant cuillère,” Jimmy’s bucket-drumming friend shouted from the deck. The announcement was met by an explosion of manly laughter from all over the ship. Apparently news of Jimmy’s percussive spoon talents had reached the crew. He was welcomed aboard, and not long after, the boat was headed out to open sea.

Jimmy had a lot of questions about his new job, especially now that he could no longer see the Monaco shore. His bucket drummer friend was named Claude. Claude spoke very little English and Jimmy’s French was less than conversational, so for his answers he turned to the captain of the boat, a British sailor named Sir Neville Falswain. Sir Neville wore a cocky smirk that showed off his multiple gold teeth. His blue coat waved in the wind like a hero’s cape as he stood like a pirate character from a rum label, master of his domain. As Jimmy approached the captain, the high morning sun’s light reflected from his uncovered glass eye, blinding Jimmy for just a moment.

“What have you gotten yourself into, lad,” the captain laughed in Jimmy’s direction without taking his good eye off the horizon.

Jimmy was nervous, but he felt an odd sense of trust for the grizzled skipper. He imagined the other sailors had great respect for (and a healthy fear of) this man. Jimmy was well experienced in being laughed at, so he responded boldly. “What are we out to catch today, sir?” His voice only cracked 2 or 3 times while speaking, so better than most of his verbal interactions.

Captain Falswain found no amusement in Jimmy’s question, but looked directly at the boy, then said, “Fortune and glory lad. Fortune and glory.” He continued to stare Jimmy down for several seconds, sizing him up and hopefully (for Jimmy’s sake) making a favorable assessment.

Finally the old fishing boat, called the Renflouer, reached its destination in the open waters of the Ligurian Sea, the northernmost branch of the Mediterranean. After piecing together information from the rest of the French-speaking crew, Jimmy had discovered that this crew would normally fish for tuna, but today another animal was on everyone’s mind: A narwhal. Narwhals are indigenous to lower arctic waters and rarely find their way this far south, but across the treasure-hunting underground of Europe fascinating stories were circulating of a particular wandering narwhal. That was the narwhal these fishers turned treasure hunters were seeking.

Not only would this narwhal be the only one in Mediterranean waters, but it would be recognizable for an especially peculiar item of decoration: A durable cloth map, pierced firmly to the base of its 3-meter spiraling tusk. The stories say the map leads to one of the largest treasures ever known. No one could say how the map ended up impaled on the tusk of a narwhal, but stranger things have happened in the seas.

As day turned into night, the Renflouer crew continued looking for the elusive narwhal. More days went by, and Jimmy watched as the sailors’ beards filled in like untrimmed bushes. Jimmy has never been able to grow a beard himself; he hoped the others wouldn’t notice. The ten mates exchanged stories, laughed together and sang traditional songs as each day they combed the waters in search of a unicorn of the sea.

The Renflouer’s tracking expert was a veteran of the Swiss armed forces named Maxime. His special system for luring the narwhal involved submerging a large air horn looking device and making a horrible noise beneath the water’s surface. According to Maxime, the noise would repel all underwater beasts in the vicinity except for narwhals, who would be driven into a fury and drawn in attack to its source. Captain Falswain had paid Maxime handsomely for his strangely specific narwhal tracking skills. He had also outfitted the bottom of his boat with a thin layer of lightweight steel, which all the sailors hoped would prove impenetrable by a narwhal’s tusk.

Finally one morning after nearly a week at sea, lookout spotted a narwhal in the distance after one of Maxime’s underwater noise blasts. It was furious, thrashing and splashing quickly through the water directly toward the boat. “Brace for impact,” shouted Captain Falswain. “This is our fellow!”

About 30 meters out from the boat, the narwhal suddenly vanished beneath the choppy water and there was a silence that seemed to go on for several minutes. The sailors looked about each other’s faces curiously, wondering if they had scared the beast off. Moments later their curiosity was answered as the largest narwhal they ever saw launched itself from the water off the Renflouer’s bow. Its head shook wildly in every direction as it began to sail through the air over the sailors’ heads. Everyone saw plain as day that the legends were true. There, firmly attached to the 5-meter narwhal’s forehead was a worn piece of parchment covered in mysterious markings.

The fearless captain was the first to action, leaping for the narwhal’s tail and grabbing its caudal fin. Claude and Jimmy then threw themselves at the beast, which emitted a loud shriek of annoyance but was barely slowed in its flight. If enough of the mates could just grab hold, they could stop the narwhal’s jump before it hurdled the boat. It took every last one of the crew to slow the momentum of the jumping creature, and finally it came crashing down onto the deck. Expertly dodging the flailing tusk, Maxime went straight for the map as the rest of the crew held the massive animal down. He ripped it loose from the narwhal’s face and nearly impaled himself as he slid the map up the tusk.

Jimmy watched with wonder, daydreaming about buried treasure as the crew continued to wrestle with the beast until it was safely back in the water. Nobody noticed when he picked up a torn piece of cloth (a corner that was separated from the map during the struggle) and quickly pocketed it.

Captain Falswain staggered toward Maxime and moved to snatch the map from his shaking hands. Jimmy swore that he saw a paused moment of high-stakes standoff between the two men, but Maxime gave up the map. The captain held it toward the sun and cackled wildly with a newfound power that almost sounded like madness. “What’d I tell you mates? Fortune and glory!” He slapped the map down onto the deck and studied it for a moment. His satisfaction quickly turned to rage as he noticed the crucial corner of the map that was missing. “Without this piece we’re barely further than where we started,” the captain fumed.

The Renflouer solemnly headed back toward the Monaco shore, full of silent sailors. The captain looked suspiciously from one mate to the next, wondering if someone had double crossed him. Jimmy pretended to sleep, hoping that nobody had seen him shove the missing corner of the map into his pocket. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but instinct was now telling the young delivery boy to lay low and hold onto the map’s missing piece, at least until he was safely back on land with cash in his pocket.

One thing was now clear to Jimmy. His vacation may be nearing its end, but his adventure was just beginning.

It’s time to show off some more exclusive Mirandus-Themed Town Star Skins, and today we’re digging into the contents of Pack 2. In this series, we’re sharing behind-the-scenes details, alternate art and creation stories. Basically we’re giving you an inside look at some of the most intricate and interesting details of the video game creation process, so enjoy!

The Dragon Familiar

As a gamer, when you hear the word “skins,” you may usually think of a lot of fluff with no real value. Thanks to the power of blockchain ownership and NFTs, we’re putting such preconceived notions to rest. These NFT skins are simply another way that Gala Games is able to return value and power to you, the players.

In addition to each skin being a limited supply NFT that can be traded on Opensea or transferred between accounts, these packs are giving you an opportunity to have a Dragon Familiar of your own in the world of Mirandus. All you need to do is collect all 10 Dragon Vouchers! You’ll find 1 Dragon Voucher in each of the 10 Mirandus-Themed Skin Packs.

This Dragon won’t be just for show, and it won’t simply follow you around like some familiars or pets in other games. The Dragon Familiar will play a strong role in your adventure, providing assistance and utility in multiple TBD ways. The bottom line is that you never know what treacherous dangers will be in store when you at last go adventuring in the fantasy world of Mirandus. It couldn’t possibly hurt to have a Dragon on your side.

Now with In-Game Bonuses!

Additionally, deploying your Mirandus-themed Skins in Town Star will give you an incredible in-game boost to both worker speed and production! The more packs you use, the greater your bonus will be! For more information on the in-game bonus, check out THIS POST!

Digging In — Mirandus-Themed Skin Pack 2

In Pack 2 you’ll find some more reimagined Town Star buildings that will be crucial to your success in any weekly competition: Chicken Coup, Fuel Storage, Oil Pump, Lumber Yard and Paved Road. Also found in this pack (as an extension of the Chicken Coup) is the hero that we all deserve: The masked chicken aka the Pecksecutioner, aka the Eggsecutioner!

Chicken Coup

What do foxes, coyotes, bears, hawks, owls, weasels, opossums, badgers, raccoons, bobcats and wolves have in common? Like humans, they all like to eat chicken. Even in the Middle Ages, keepers of livestock had to protect their birds from all sorts of predators day and night. That’s why the Mirandus-themed Chicken Coup is similarly fortified to the modern Town Star version. Every farmer and rancher knows that if you keep your chickens safe and sound, they’ll produce eggs more plentifully.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the ideas that went into the redesign of the chicken itself. The chicken may be the only character unit included in this pack of skins, but it will make an incredible addition to anyone’s Town Star collection. Clearly the art team knew that the stakes were high, because they first submitted 8 different options for the Mirandus chicken.

The team broke off into smaller groups and private meetings to deliberate. Some of the chickens above (such as the jungle safari chicken and the feathered hat chicken) were easy to eliminate from consideration, and others were harder. Led by Art Director Warren Marshall, the art team dug deep and went back to the drawing board, coming up several hours later with sore, sweaty hands and 4 final choices. One of them was destined to be the chosen one.

Fuel Storage

With the direction to make every Mirandus-themed equivalency as authentic as possible, our art team had a tough time coming up with a solid concept for the fuel storage. Obviously there were no oil-based fuels in the Middle Ages. Instead, “fuel” meant wood or coal, things that provided energy when burned. Finally, our artists imagined what liquid fuel storage would have looked like in medieval times and arrived at something similar to corked whiskey barrels. There were a couple different choices presented, and the one chosen favored one large barrel over three smaller ones.

Oil Pump

The oil pump in this form is anachronistic for the medieval time period, and while crude oil already had various uses in different parts of the world, they would be difficult to depict in any recognizable way. Documentation on the earliest known oil wells is found in Chinese records from around 300 AD. In the 9th century Middle East, petroleum products such as tar were refined and used to create pavement. It was not until the mid 1800s that petroleum was refined into paraffin and kerosene and the Oil Age truly began.

Our Mirandus-themed Oil Pump came out as a slightly redesigned all wood version of the modern oil pump that we all recognize.

Lumber Yard

There’s not much interesting to say about the Lumber Yard. Here it is, effectively storing lumber with a fresh Mirandus theme!

Paved Road

Throughout a Town Star weekly competition, the Paved Road becomes a crucial component of any player’s success. Certain industrial buildings must be placed next to Paved Roads, but most importantly, all your workers travel faster along these roads.

Throughout most of the world during the Middle Ages, paved roads meant stone roads. As mentioned above, tar-based pavements were used in some regions, but only where oil was naturally easy to find and harvest. For medieval Europe, roads were built of flat-sided stones (cobble). When applied to your Town Star build, these cobblestone Paved Roads come together for a beautiful old time look.

Mirandus-Themed Skin Packs are currently available in the Town Star store, but only in limited quantity, and there is no telling how long they will last. In this first (and lowest priced) wave of the packs’ release, only 2000 of each are available. Future sales and releases are TBD in both date and price, so right now is probably your cheapest chance to fill your collection and collect all 10 Dragon Vouchers.

Next time we’ll dig into Pack 3, from which you’ll absolutely love the Bakery and the Express Depot. Good luck on all your Town Star builds. May these skins bring you luck and tide you over for Mirandus, the incredible blockchain MMORPG that we’re all waiting for!

GET YOUR SKINS HERE!