In our recent X Spaces with the Somnia team, we discussed how we were experimenting with the chain by creating demos, prototypes and tools to identify how best to integrate the technology into our product. Last week during a packed community call we launched our most ambitious and exciting experiment yet: Chunked — an MMO sandbox game where every interaction is recorded directly on Somnia’s testnet.
It looks like a familiar blocky multiplayer sandbox but unlike a traditional game, every action from movement and mining to crafting and item ownership is processed, stored, and made visible on-chain in real time.The game is fast, persistent, and verifiable, built on an infrastructure we’ve been evolving to support a new kind of multiplayer experience.
Here’s everything you need to know about how we built it, what we’ve learned, and how you can get started :
Experimentation by Design
Chunked began as a testbed to explore the technical limits of Somnia’s network and our infrastructure layer, Etherbase. Rather than replicate a standard Web3 integration, we set out to build a fully on-chain game from the ground up.
Chunked demonstrates that fully persistent, real-time multiplayer experiences can be created directly on-chain without relying on conventional game architecture. The system is fast, composable, and built to be extended by both the core team and the wider developer community.
Built in Just 3 Weeks - And No one Believed it
Many in the community assumed Chunked had been in development for months. In reality, it was built in under three weeks.
One of the key reasons for this speed was our decision to eliminate the need for a traditional backend. No separate game server was required, instead all game logic and storage is handled directly on-chain. As Rob explained:“We didn't have to make a game server. There's no game server. It's just a blockchain. There's literally nothing that's not on-chain.”
The technical foundations also played a major role. Somnia’s EVM compatibility, combined with our years of experience building virtual experiences at scale, allowed us to move fast without compromising on performance.
“It would’ve been a lot more complicated if we had to have all these servers and everything… but we’ve got systems and infrastructure that helps to make sure we can handle scale,” explained Montague Moran (Monty), one of the lead engineers on the project.
He also emphasised the importance of choosing the right blockchain:“The EVM capability is critical. You can’t do this on loads of other blockchains because they just don’t have the same EVM capability.”
Built to be Open
From the outset, we didn’t want to simply clone an existing property and add a layer of token ownership, instead we wanted to really demonstrate what can be achieved with virtual worlds when built using a high performance blockchain, meaning that ownership, extension, and participation are baked in from the start.
Every block mined in Chunked is represented as an ERC-1155 token. Player actions are recorded directly on-chain, making the entire game state transparent and accessible. What would traditionally be locked inside a server is instead opened up to anyone who wants to read from it, build on it, or create something entirely new.
As Rob explained, “It's all about making it something so it's not owned by one group but it's a community of people that are able to project into this thing and extend it. Whenever you mine any block, it's an actual 1155 token, which you now own in your wallet. You can trade it with other people, you can build a DAPP to extend that.”
Ownership isn’t limited to assets. The game architecture is modular and remixable by design. The contracts are open-sourced, and everything has been built to encourage developers to fork, adapt, or build their own experiences using the same core components.
“You can trade, you can build applications, you can extend the game yourself from the source code,” Rob added.
The same principle applies to economic systems. The infrastructure doesn’t dictate how items are exchanged, it simply enables it.
“One of the values of putting this on-chain is that it allows people to interoperate with this experience,” said Monty.
Rob also highlighted how easy it is to imagine player-built marketplaces emerging: “Having a marketplace for the different blocks — so if you have the time to mine some diamond ore and someone else wants to buy that to make their house look awesome, it's all on-chain, it's all tokens. So that's really easy for us to put in. But even better, we don't have to make that, someone else could make the trading Dapp, we've just made the low-level contracts.”
Chunked provides a foundation that others can adapt, remix, and build upon in entirely new directions and we’re excited to see what the community creates.
What's Next?
Chunked is live for playtesting and the MSquared and Somnia teams plan to expand it based on how the community engages. This could include deeper crafting mechanics and land ownership, but development will be shaped by what people build and share.
The goal is to show what’s possible, so play it. Modify it. Use it to test your ideas or as a foundation for something entirely new.
