The already released warrior NFT collection from Gossamer World is being completely re-made and reissued to come up to the standards of Canadian production company Bron.
Gossamer World is a multi-pronged web3 project based on the 2006 novel Gossamer by Lois Lowry. An Netflix animated series, NFT collection and online role-playing game are all outputs of the project.
In a community Twitter Spaces forum at the weekend, Feature head of product Kennedy Baird announced that the existing warrior NFTs were not good enough and would be re-issued with new artwork from Bron.
“The current collection does not match with the high standard stipulated by Bron. The new collection is going to be a lot more cohesive with the original design of the IP [intellectual property]. This increases the integration … with the other iterations of Gossamer that are in production.”
Feature is the web3 production company working with Bron on the blockchain elements of the project. Baird said those holding the existing warrior NFTs would be given new versions, based on the rarity of the original NFT. They would not look the same.
“[For example] The person who has the current number 1 ranked warrior will have the number 1 ranked warrior. But it will be visually different and have different traits.”
“[They will have] All new shields and weapons and helmets and armor, which is extremely exciting, because the quality of what’s being produced is absolutely fantastic.”
The Gossamer story involves a girl character being transported into a fairy dream-world set in a forest. The Netflix series and the game are being produced using Unreal Engine 5.
Orientalism inspiration
During the forum, hosted by Feature founder Steven Ilous, Bron art director Brendan Heffernan spoke of his creative process and moving from his live-action background into art direction for games.
“The trick in movies is to let the audience know the world is bigger without actually producing it … always planting in a design the question of what’s around the corner … this took a step forward [with Gossamer] because we know that someone will actually go around the corner when this is a game. It will be taken off us, and the audience will start telling their own stories.”
Heffernan used the Arabian Nights stories and the aesthetic of Orientalism – the 19th-century art movement that romanticised Asian cultures – in designing Gossamer World.
“I was looking at the Orientalists first, because I really like the Arabian Nights and dreams … and although Middle Eastern Moorish architecture wouldn’t exist in a forest, because this is a fantasy dreamworld, we looked at that period.”
Heffernan, who is a New Zealander, has worked on high-profile film productions such as The Hobbit and Thor: Ragnarok.
While no official announcement has been made for the timing of the Gossamer Netflix series, Heffernan lists the year of production as 2020 in his online resume, and the release is expected some time this year (2023). The series stars Thomasin McKenzie, Forest Whitaker, Vera Farmiga and Richard E Grant as voice actors.
The entire project roadmap is not yet available. Baird said he expected NFT previews “to start rolling out soon.”
Enjoy our reporting? Sign up for the Pharos newsletter and receive an update every week for free.
