Upland, the blockchain-based city-building metaverse, has announced a new feature called Troves. The system is currently in development and is designed to deepen player engagement by linking properties, structures, and quests into a more dynamic gameplay loop.
What Troves Are
Troves will be in-game items that reflect the output of services, goods, and cultural activity within neighborhoods. Players will earn Troves by interacting with various structures such as cafés, fire stations, and markets. Each building type will generate a specific category of Trove. Troves also come from gameplay actions like caring for plants or using future systems to be rolled out.
The system is tied to a quest mechanic: Residents make requests that must be met using Troves to befriend other characters, referred to as Uppies. For example, a resident might request five Coffees, three Milks and two Fire Extinguishers. Once the player collects those Troves and fulfills the request, they may befriend an Uppie, which further advances neighborhood progression.
While most Troves are account-bound (meaning only the player who earns them can use them), the system will include some tradable Troves. This introduces a new economic layer where players can trade select items, adding strategy and community interaction to Upland’s economy.
How Troves Work
To collect Troves, players will send their Block Explorer characters to specific service locations in their virtual cities. For example, they might visit a market or fire station to trigger a Trove reward. As Upland continues to grow, more kinds of Troves and new production areas will be introduced, such as farming structures and other future systems.
The introduction of Troves is part of Upland’s long-term vision to turn property ownership and neighborhood building into more than just buying and trading. With this update, the game encourages players to actively engage with their properties and neighborhoods by completing quests and growing resident communities.
The team behind Upland emphasized that Troves mark the beginning of a broader evolution, connecting existing gameplay systems with what’s coming next. They noted that Troves bring new meaning to owning multiple buildings and exploring multiple locations across cities.
