As somebody who has been mostly and basically only involved with Splinterlands since I joined Hive back in 2018, I didn't consider other games worth playing.

This was the case until recently, when I started engaging more with the social network on Hive and read other members' posts about the games they are playing. One of them was Rising Star. It seemed interesting enough to try out and, also important with blockchain games, profitable.

As with basically all other games on this blockchain, it takes a bit to get started as there are several tutorials but many of them are written from the perspective of players who have been in the game for months, and may neglect aspects which are important to newcomers.

Therefore I thought I would share what I learned over my first week of playing. Some details may still be blurry or incorrect, but it should be enough information to get you started with the game.

What type of game is it?

The genre could be described as collectible trading card grinding role-playing game. You start off with a hero who has only few fans and even less musical talent. For performing before an audience he gains experience and you gain Starbits. Starbits are the in-game currency you can use to buy booster packs or individual trading cards from the market. There are different kinds of cards to collect.

Kinds of cards

There are people cards. For example your musical hero belongs to this category. By acquiring a better musician your stats will increase and you will get access to higher level missions with better rewards in terms of XP and Starbits. Once you unlock band slots by progressing in the story, you can even add people to the band instead of only replacing your lead singer.

Then there's instruments. Each person can hold an instrument that will give them an additional stats boost.

Even if all your slots are full with your best cards you can still boost your band's stats further by acquiring boosters (that is a card type, not a pack in this context). For instance there are booster cards that will give you additional XP for each mission completed while you hold that card in your inventory. Boosters do not require band slots, so you can hold as many of them as you want to.

Just like people you can later also add a vehicle to your band, that will again boost their stats. It is also required to have a vehicle in order to progress in the story.

There's also cards categorized as Others and Crafted. I think these may safely be ignored when starting your journey in the game. The crafted feature does not even seem to be live yet.

How to play?

Couldn't be easier. Go to missions, select "Illegal Busking" as that is the only mission available in the beginning and click start:

A timer appears where the start button was. Once it's down to zero, you will get your reward for the mission and are ready to start the next one:

Each mission requires energy. The percentage displayed in the mission description is what will be subtracted from your energy level displayed here when you start the mission:

When the mission has finished you will in your log at the lower part of the mission screen how many Starbits you got for completing it:

Sometimes you get lucky and in addition to Starbits you will notice that you found a consumable. This could be "fans", "pizza", "coffee" or a "clover". Fans and pizza are the most important out of these. Fans will give you access to higher level missions and increase your Starbit rewards. They will leave you again after a while, so use them in missions as soon as you get them. This may be difficult because you may run out of energy and can't use your fans to their maximum potential. This is where pizza comes into play. The pizza instantly refills your energy to 100%. Coffee increases the rate at which your energy refills. Luck gained through clovers increases the chance of getting fans.

All of these effects are temporary so if you leave the game for a day, you will have to start all over again with the first mission "illegal busking". Personally I bought a fans booster which gave me a permanent boost of 100 fans once I reached level 5, so that I did not have to start over again every day. I think for just 10 Hive that was quite a bargain.

You do not need to invest anything into the game, though. It can be played as entirely free-to-play (and free-to-earn). Once you grind through the initial levels of the game and get enough Starbits, you can buy a booster pack which will give you three cards. Once you got your first fans from cards things will speed up exponentially. For example: The first mission only gives you 7.5 Starbits on average. The fourth, which you should unlock in about 4-5 days of playing is already at 155.5 Starbits payout on average.

Play on your mobile

This is something you should definitely do as it allows you to start a mission from where ever you are. Waiting until you get home in the evening would let the fans and luck gained from your last missions go to vain.

In the Settings menu you can generate a unique login link that will give you access to your profile from your mobile phone. No hassle with entering Hive keys or anything of the sort on your mobile device!

Achievements

Achievements will help you to get started with the game. Especially if you are playing the game F2P. This is because once you completed your first 100 missions you will get a free card. I got a Pizza Box (not sure if everybody gets the same) which is great because it allows me to use the pizza I found during missions when I want to (when I run low on energy that is) rather then consuming it immediately on finding it.

As you can see in the picture, there are even more freebies to be gotten from completing missions that I have yet to unlock!

And from a financial point of view?

The game definitely seems to be worth my time. Considering how little effort it takes to play a mission (one click only, really). The payout is great. I just completed my first 100 missions and I already earned 3800 Starbits (0.22 USD) and a Pizza Box card (worth 5 Hive). I invested 10 Hive into the fan booster, but I will have that back in no time. I'm already looking forward to unlocking more cards and also to increased rewards from higher level missions!

Want to get in the game?

Of course I would appreciate you signing up through my ref link, if this post raised your interest in the game. I'd get 1 Startbit (currently valued 0.00006 USD) for each mission you completed as my referral.
If you have any questions, drop a comment and I will try to help with getting started on your musical journey. :-)