It’s been two years since we caught up with LightningWorks impresario Geoff McCabe, creator of the Starblind comic, and to say he’s been busy in the interim would be an understatement.
As well as scripting over a dozen stories, GHubs grant recipient Geoff has been hard at work developing several video games, efforts he hopes will deepen the narrative of Alien Worlds as Tokenized Lore comes of age.
At the core of his vision is the aforementioned Starblind, a “circus-like” saga whose charismatic protagonist Ash has appeared at several Web3 industry events, with Geoff stepping into his shoes in full cosplay.
We recently spoke to Geoff about the evolution of Starblind, the challenges of lore-building, and how interactive comics and games could breathe new life into the metaverse.
Starblind’s Obsessive Firestarter
For Geoff, Starblind is more than a project. “I consider it my life’s work,” he says, “the culmination of a lifetime of passion and study of storytelling, universe-building, art direction, and entertainment. Thousands of hours of my personal time are going to this.”
Interestingly, the story of ringleader Ash draws inspiration from Geoff’s roots as co-founder and performer in Seattle’s Pyrosutra fire circus. “Despite being fairly introverted, I’m an entertainer at heart,” he admits. “Comics and games are the perfect medium for me.”
While Starblind #0 proved the concept, its successor (Starblind #1) showcases enhanced artwork and interactivity and further issues are in the pipeline, each expanding a “universe-within-a-universe” built on Kevin J. Anderson’s foundational lore.
“Starblind Zero was very successful in its small release and we proved that people will buy multiples of a single comic when we give them a good reason to: the average person spent almost $60 buying 20! You can’t replicate that in print, but it makes sense when properly gamified like we did.”
In recent months, Geoff has been working on over a dozen scripts simultaneously, and four video games to support this world, likening his obsessiveness and toil to Mozart’s in Amadeus. “I believe Tokenized Lore needs an anchor series, our own Star Wars Trilogy, to help everyone truly visualize the richness of this world.”
The Promise and Perils of Tokenized Lore
Unsurprisingly, LightningWorks founder Geoff has kept track of the growth of Tokenized Lore, feeding multiple canonized stories into LLMs to build glossaries, create a cross-reference guide, and get a better grasp of timelines
“I’m terrified I’ll do something in print, which is very expensive, and then it turns out to conflict with the lore!” he laughs. He’s also aware of the urgency of sending his own lore contributions out into the world.
“While I’m working towards a big reveal, someone else might get lore approved that conflicts with it. That’s why it’s so important to have a foundational series like Starblind that everyone else can SEE, HEAR, and PLAY: it’ll help everyone take the whole universe forward more cohesively. Everyone appreciates lore more when it’s part of something they can actually see.”
Siege Worlds Takes Shape
One of the biggest focuses for Geoff has been Siege Worlds, a first-person shooter that has been designed to bring Starblind to life.
“Siege Worlds was my pre-existing game that at one point had over 200 daily players, and this was after many critics had written web3 games off as dead,” says Geoff.
“It’s genuinely very fun, with a game world built for Alien Worlds and related to the stories, set on an island covered with giant mushrooms. It’s nearly done and in playtesting now, with two new playable characters, specialized weapons related to them, and all new monsters.”
When released, Siege Worlds will join a library of community-driven games such as Milky Way Miner, Mercenary Battlegrounds, Mayhem, Meta Battler, and Planetary Defence. With Alien Worlds providing the scaffolding, the ecosystem is turning into a haven of dynamic spinoff games characterized by lore, digital collectibles, and decentralized governance.
Webtoons, AI, and the Next Frontier
When not developing games and comics, Geoff has been busy on the conference circuit: in November he moderated the “Tokenize Everything” panel at Blockchain Jungle in Costa Rica, complete with cosplay giveaways and live manga art.
“The main takeaway was the real passion for what we’re doing by so many people,” says Geoff. “When we’ve done events at comic con here, we get lost in a crowd, and the average person doesn’t always want to deal with NFTs or crypto. But at a blockchain conference, everyone is genuinely excited. They say things like, ‘Wow, you’re actually doing something useful in web3!’ and they appreciate the high quality.”
Geoff is candid about Web3 gaming, saying it needs “something really cool to recharge the space. Tokenized Lore has the potential to do it and Alien Worlds is the clear leader, at least on the philosophical level. The mining aspect is also phenomenally cool, but it needs to be grounded in something easier to play. I’ve been working on a new secret game with that in mind.”
Looking ahead, his plan is to move away from overly-complex comics and into a Webtoons-type format. “The Webtoons are free and interactive, and sales come from micro-NFTs in the $1 range, that take all the fun and addictive parts that made Starblind Zero successful and ramp them up to be even better. So I’ve been building that and I think what I’m doing is pretty spectacular… of course, lots and lots of every type of AI is involved!”
Quizzed about what readers and players can expect from him going forward, Geoff promises “an amazing story with tons of secrets, great reveals, and shocking, iconic, sexy, and unforgettable scenes” as well as a tech stack featuring multiple AI-powered Starblind characters.
With Starblind as the anchor, Siege Worlds as the gateway, and Tokenized Lore as the canvas, Geoff McCabe is playing his part in turning Alien Worlds into a sprawling sci-fi epic.