Flat Mars Ltd are coming to Cardano and bringing the memes.
With some really cool looking artwork and a real sense of humour, Flat Mars poke fun at flat earthers, blockchain maxis and copy/paste NFT projects.
Have a read of our interview with the project.
Tell us a little about Flat Mars Ltd, what type of artwork is it, what size drop?
Flat Mars Ltd ( FML 🙂 ) is a space inspired, art-focused, conspiri-cnft collection consisting of 10,000 pieces. The artwork is 3d modelled and rendered out in layers.
Every piece is sculpted, modelled or hand drawn (outfit uv maps) by a single artist to ensure consistency and originality.
Where did the idea for the project come from?
As the layer one blockchain competition develops, NFT’s have played a huge role in consumer adoption. Ethereum has clearly been a front runner for NFT project development yet Cardano offers a beautiful option with their native asset functionality and cheaper fees; arguably a better home base to build an NFT project.
Although there are a few amazing projects trailblazing for Cardano, there is still a common theme of copy pasta derivatives and therefore opportunity to bring unique art to the Cardano ecosystem. As architects by day and Cardano enthusiasts by night, we believed we could contribute a well executed and original project to the ecosystem and help build Cardano’s identity as the place to be for emerging artists.
We love space, art, storytelling, and memes so the aliens were a fun fit for us as we developed the narrative of their existence.
What makes this project unique?
With a background in architecture we have extensive experience with 3d modelling and design. This meant we could develop the project in-house and not outsource or rely on any external artist and therefore maintain complete creative control over the project. This makes it easier to progress and change things on the fly without running through budgets or falling short of expectations.
Our goal was to commit to the quality and diversity of our little Flat Martians which has resulted in six months of modelling a large range of assets. We are trying to push the limits with the number of available traits with some outfits taking 8hrs + to create. The traits are also very “Cardano”, so to speak, as we have been involved with the community for a number of years and seek out ideas from the relationships we have built. Some of our traits have been created in our twitter post comment section; requests from new followers resulting in them having their own impact on the project which has made for some fun and interesting ideas that we couldn’t have come up with as individuals.
From the sneak previews and the Twitter interactions we’ve seen, humour seems to play a big part in the project?
Certainly!
Our Flat Martians (Flatties) have a somewhat cheeky appearance and are the intergalactical equivalent of Flat Earthers. There is something hilarious about the cultist behaviour and strong conviction of Flat Earthers; despite the overwhelming evidence available to disprove their claims. There is a striking irony in their conviction that reminds us of particular blockchain maxis that hate on Cardano, ignoring the plethora of well documented research bestowed upon them.
In a way, our branding was conceived within a metaphorical piss-take on blockchain cultism and has developed into a fun and light-hearted storyline (more to come).
We also love our memes, as do many of our community, and we enjoy engaging with everyone over some relaxed shit-posting and casual banter. Some of the content people have come up with has been hilarious. For the meme makers out there, post with #flatmemes and we will do our best to repost for you!
What about the team behind the project? Tell us a bit about the team, what are your background(s) and what has lead you to start this project.
It’s essentially a team of two: Brad (aka Darth ADA), Blane (aka Cardano Source). We’re both architects by trade and another architect mate (ADA FewTooMany) has recently joined us to help with layering, touching up colours, etc. We all met at University.
We both started NoFunLabs (Non Fungible Collaborations) a year ago and issued a Goguen Coin as a commemorative collectible during the summit. Later that year we helped out Veritree with a small 3d job for their coins just as a charitable donation and as of now they have planted around 450k trees and are on their way to a million. We’ve always wanted to do more work in the CNFT space but were waiting till we had something we were happy with rather than rushing and were playing with a few ideas before the Flatties. We’re honouring our original supporters of the Goguen Coin with a 1 for 1 free airdrop which will make up about 15% of the collection.
I think we both got into Cardano around 2018 and have always had it as our biggest holding and it is definitely the blockchain we are most passionate about.
Darth works part time as an architect and produced all the artwork and Cardano Source, who works in marketing and creates Cardano content, was the mastermind behind the Flat Mars branding. We are just about into the community management stage so will have a few more familiar folk representing us soon over twitter, discord, etc.
Mint City is taking care of the generation and minting who are an ambitious group and have been fun to collaborate with, so we are looking forward to seeing out the project with them.
Do you have a set in stone roadmap for the future of the project or are you expecting the roadmap to develop with the project?
Our initial commitment is to produce a high quality artwork that is priced accordingly, with a goal that anyone should be able to mint our project and feel content that they have purchased artwork of value.
Beyond that we have an array of ideas of where we can take the project. Too many to be achievable simultaneously so we are focusing on the mint and establishing community and then getting some direction from people who support our project. So far our ideas revolve around 3d assets, particularly utilising our background in architecture and 3d modelling. It makes sense to play to our strengths whilst referencing community feedback to push the project in the right direction and optimise our output.
We are keeping a keen eye on the metaverse scene and have been communicating with some creators to find out where our project might fit in. We won’t be building any metaverse or selling land personally (although a flat mars would look super cool) as we are keeping our pricing and budget realistic, but if there is an opportunity to collaborate and make our Martians compatible with other builders then that is definitely an option for the future.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far with this project?
The 3D modelling has been significantly difficult with the sheer scale and scope of the project. There have been many opportunities to take shortcuts but we have committed to producing and retouching everything, which has delayed us quite a bit.
I would also say building community can be quite a challenge for new projects. We have committed to doing this organically as it is the best way to ensure we are connecting with people and developing the project as intended, rather than posting into the algorithmic abyss of twitter.
Why did you choose to launch on Cardano?
As mentioned we are long term Cardano holders and believers so naturally it was the place to be. Affordable access is important so we don’t wreck our supporters with fees and there is also the environmental aspect of Ethereum mining that wouldn’t sit well with us. On top of that we love the community and have a lot of good relationships within the Cardano ecosystem so yeah, it just makes sense.
What project would you ideally love to do a collaboration with?
We are waiting for Equine to open source their project so we can copy paste it and race our aliens. I think they will need little UFO’s with bumper car mechanics, maybe destruction derby style where you can knock others off the edge of Mars. Damn, add another idea to the list…
Haha, realistically probably the 3D projects. I chat with the Dinoverse guys a bit so maybe we will do something with them in the future, however they seem to be one of few metaverse projects that didn’t “Flat Earth” their land so that might not sit well with the Martians.
Do you guys collect NFT’s too? What’s your favourite?
Typically I try to mint at least one of every project that has put considerable effort into their art. My first mints were Knitties and Cbits which I still have. Collectively we have a ridiculously irresponsible amount of NFT’s and discuss them frequently.
With our background in architecture Unsigned Algorithms have been our absolute favourite; arguably the number 1 art project on Cardano. We are also diamond handing ClayNation and pitches, who would be my top choice for community management and development; they are killing it big time!
Equine – looking forward to their development and we both have a horse in the race so to speak.
Bored Claude – hilarious and my fav take on the NFT space and we have created an asset or two inspired by him. We jump into his twitter space 9am UTC Thursdays if you want to chat (co-hosted with Earth Natives and Clay Lips) .
Cardano Trees & Refresh – some awesome onchain creators alongside unsigs
Dinoverse – Incredible 3d artists and friends of ours who have some cool stuff on the way
Too many to mention to be honest so apologies to the many I have forgotten. Anyone who commits to making Cardano art better and/or makes real world change, we are fans.
Thank you to the FML team for answering our questions, make sure you are following the project on twitter.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our interviews or take a look out our drop calendar to see what projects are minting soon.