Today we are absolutely thrilled to unveil the very first set of cards for our upcoming game The Lost Glitches – Syndicate Wars. Before we get to the main event, a preview of our very first set of cards, let’s set the stage with a brief recap about the Deep Sky Network, explain some of its peculiarities and reveal the overarching reason for the conflict between the syndicates.

Popcorn ready? Okay, let’s go!

The Deep Sky Network

1618 years ago, in the year 2134, humanity was faced with a virus that was unknowingly brought to Earth by the first explorers of Mars upon returning home. The unknown virus caused a global pandemic that wiped out 40% of the planet’s population. The event was so devastating, that it plunged the world into chaos and disarray. Through a lot of hardship and resilience, the survivors managed to band together to salvage, repair and improve upon that which had been lost. This new era of mankind became known as the “RE:initialization”. Researchers later found out that the survivors developed an immune response to the virus, which due to its fundamental structure was called the “pi cells”. Upon further research, it became evident that all of the pi cells, that were formed in the bodies of the survivors, were in constant communication with each other, across bodies and on a global scale. At the time, nobody understood why or what was being communicated, but the revelation captured the imagination of the brightest minds on the planet.

In the year 1618 after the “RE:initialization”, scientists had developed a new technology based on the pi cell structure and how it was communicating. The new technology enabled people to connect to the Deep Sky Network, a metaverse that replaced the internet. The Deep Sky Network was initially hailed as the next big step forward in mankind’s evolution. The brightest minds of the planet were set to crack the mystery of the pi cells and in the process were hoping to uncover invaluable information on the very nature of existence. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong: A bug caused a very large number of people to die in the real world, but they were not fully gone! Their minds somehow survived their bodies’ deaths and were permanently transferred into the Deep Sky Network. The bug was later called the “pi effect”, after it was found out that it affected anyone who connected to the Deep Sky Network for longer than 3 days, 1 hour, 41 minutes and 59 seconds without breaking the connection. In order to keep people safe, a forced logout was introduced, and while the intervention successfully prevented more people from dying, the people affected by the pi effect were lost in the depths of virtual reality, never to return to the real world again.  

They died in the real world but still live in the virtual reality as mental ghosts, a binary shadow of what they used to be.

They are called: The Lost Glitches!

Kyra and the memories of Glitches

In our recently released gameplay trailer, you are following Kyra into a glimpse of one of her memories from her childhood before she #Glitched and became a permanent resident of the Deep Sky Network. Memories connect us to a bigger and invisible part of ourselves, and for most people they stretch deep and all around us, just like the roots of the big apple tree on the hill from Kyra’s memory. Good memories bring joy and meaning to our lives. Without the ability to store memories, we are not able to form deep and meaningful connections or learn from our mistakes. We become like goldfish in an aquarium constantly hitting the glass boundary because we cannot remember the million times we already swam into it. We would not be able to remember those which we hold most dear, like our family, friends and loved ones. Neither would we be able to look back in awe at past successes and general life events that have shaped us and made us into who we are today. Without the ability to store memories we become lost, empty husks of our former selves. Kyra, just like most other Glitches, is very concerned about who she would become if she loses her memories. Take a moment to think about what it would mean to lose your own memories. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78A6SD5Do0&t

Who would you be?

You would still look like you, but the very essence of that which makes you you would be stripped away. A scary thought, which for our Lost Glitches has become a very real concern! Why? Because storage space for memories is severely limited in the Deep Sky Network.

Memory Storage Space as a Limited Resource

There are too many Glitches in need of memory storage space and the supply is scarce! Imagine you just had an amazing experience that you absolutely do not want to forget but just like a dream it is slowly slipping through your hands, becoming misty, nebulous, and then poof! – it disappears. And at some point you would not even know, because you would have forgotten that you had forgotten your memory. For many Glitches it is a nightmare and daily reality that they are constantly confronted with.

The number one thing that Glitches are fighting over is memory storage space, which is the scarcest resource in the Deep Sky Network. For Glitches like Kyra and many others, it is their memories which are their most treasured and expensive possession. If you were facing the same dilemma, and be given the choice between staying you, with all that is you, or slowly fading away to become an empty shell of your former self, wouldn’t you put up a fight? Wouldn’t you do anything in your power to preserve those precious memories?

Fight for your Memories and RAM

Since memory storage space is a limited resource, there is not enough space for everyone to save or reconstruct their individual memories. In the beginning of the Deep Sky Network some of the Glitches banded together, formed connections, split up territories and in doing so created the original syndicates. The territories and battlegrounds of each syndicate thematically reflect their members’ collective memories of the world before but also within the Deep Sky. You can think about it as the collective cultures, subcultures, philosophies, outlooks, values and visions of the members of a syndicate merging into one and giving shape and form to a syndicate’s territory. They are fragmented and stitched together from everyone’s limited memory. Glitches’ memories of life before the network but also within the Deep Sky are limited within its RAM, which is synonymous with a person’s memories of life. RAM refers to the limited amount of storage space available. The syndicates of the Deep Sky Network struggle to gain control over who can and who cannot store their memories. The more powerful a syndicate becomes and the larger its territory is, the more memory storage space is available for the members of the syndicate to remember and reconstruct their memories. Each Glitch can store only a limited amount of their personal, individual memories in the centralised database that powers the network, depending on how successful they and their syndicates are. The more successful they are, the more space they get and vice versa.

Everyone wants to preserve their own memories above the others and the situation is leading to a lot of conflict and is the reason for the wars between the syndicates. Glitches meet in the borderlands of the different territories to fight each other for the right to preserve their memories. In some of these areas nothing is permanently fixed, a place that was there yesterday might have changed and morphed into something different the next day or it could even be completely gone, just to reappear again somewhere else depending on who is in control of the area. Every win contributes to a syndicate’s territory, and even if it is just a single pixel on the grid, it can represent a priceless memory for a Glitch. All abilities, mercenaries and software of the Memory Set reflect this core theme.

Presenting the Memories Set: Card Preview

Are you ready? Without further ado, we proudly present you a preview of our first set of cards, a set that represents the core theme of the Deep Sky Network and our Glitches’ main concern and reason for strife and struggle: The Memories Set!

It is the first set of our game and it is made up of 400 cards. In the future, more sets will follow with around the same number of cards.

Are you excited? We are absolutely thrilled to finally showcase and highlight some of the cards that comprise the set! Here we go!

We hope you enjoyed this sneak peak, we’re excited for you to see them all soon!