I see blockchain gaming as the future of video games. I also consider it the best possible vehicle for the road to blockchain mass adoption. What better way to teach people about blockchain than giving them hands-on experience that allows them to see and understand its benefits in real-time.
I’m extremely interested in Blockchain Games as both a consumer and an investor. Over the course of the past few weeks, I’ve created criteria that I use to analyze blockchain games.
The goal of the criteria is determining commonalities between successful games, as well as identifying other factors that may positively contribute to a games’ success. I used to use a similar process when I would analyze ICO’s for crypto accelerators, some of the criteria I used in the past still applies to gaming.
At the end of the day, we have to remember that these our businesses. You may absolutely love a certain blockchain game, but take a step back and look at its business model — if you’re going to invest your time in a game, it’s in your best interest to perform due diligence to ensure it’s not a game that might disappear when fundraising is complete.
At the moment, most people who play blockchain games are investors. They’re gamers, but they’re playing to make money. They saw what happened with CryptoKitties and want to catch the next wave. This is a problem, it’s not conducive to a positive gameplay experience.
We’re entering an interesting phase in blockchain gaming, where if we want the industry to grow, we need to transition into games that also accommodate casual players.
My criteria will likely change as I begin to learn more and more about the space, but here it is:
- The Team
- External Fundraising
- Public Fundraising Mechanism
- Ease of Play-to-Win vs Pay-to-Win
- User-friendliness/First Time User Experience
- Ease of Use for Non-crypto Savvy Users
- Blockchain Implementation Method
I don’t mention a couple of blockchain games that have already reached certain levels of growth and user acquisition. For example, Gods Unchained is doing amazing things for the space by being one of the first blockchain games attracting users from outside of the crypto community — but chances are if you’ve heard of blockchain games, you’ve heard of games like Gods Unchained and CryptoKitties.
For now, let’s look at what I believe are promising blockchain games on the horizon.
CryptoSpaceCommanders
Game Genre: MMORPG/Space Themed
Status: in Aplha, pre-sale active
Status: in Aplha, pre-sale active
CryptoSpaceCommanders is a space-themed MMORPG where players can acquire ships, mine resources, craft items and ships, battle Non-Player-Characters (PvE), and battle other players (PvP). I’ve written about them in the past as one of the games I’m most excited for right now.
Think of it like World of Warcraft or Eve Online if you owned all the assets you used in-game and could re-sell items that you grind to obtain.
The reason I have CryptoSpaceCommanders at the top of the list is that it’s a game that both has the team necessary to execute on its plan, and I genuinely enjoy playing it. The game is currently in Alpha, and is running a supply crate pre-sale where users can purchase crates at varied prices, all offering various ships and modules of differing rarities.
Some upcoming features that I’m really excited for are the in-game marketplace, that will allow players to trade with one another for cryptocurrency within the game itself, as opposed to sending their NFTs to third-party marketplaces such as OpenSea. CSC is also about to implement version 0.6 later this week, which introduce the mission system.
The mission system is incredibly complex and will offer new players the ability to play-to-earn.
What really excites me about the future of CSC is how focused they are on making this game easy to play for non-crypto savvy users. It’s really important to the CSC team that a user with no blockchain experience is able to get started in the CSC universe with ease.
This is one of the most important issues for a blockchain game to tackle. The blockchain gaming community isn’t that big, you see a lot of the same people if you spend enough time in the community.
If we, as an industry, want to grow — we need to focus on increasing the size of our target demographic from crypto-users, to gamers as a whole. I see CSC, and a couple of other games on this list as pioneers in doing just that.
CSC is being developed by Lucid Site. A Blockchain gaming studio based in Los Angeles, CA. The CSC team immediately checks all my boxes. The developers and designers have incredible experience in the space, and they’ve already taken on outside investment.
This means that they’ve been validated for their ability to produce quality games and that they have the funding necessary to focus on making this game an amazing game, over making it an extremely profitable game in the short term (like many of the past blockchain games we’ve witnessed).
The only area where CSC falls a little short is in user-friendliness and ease of use. But this is something they’re aware of, and actively working to fix. CryptoSpaceCommanders is an extremely deep game, with complex trading and crafting features that allow players nearly endless customization options.
At this point in time, it’s a little difficult to understand how to get started. There are plenty of guides scattered across the interwebz, but the game in its current state needs more information for new users, so the transition from “noob” to “pro” can happen at a faster rate.
I interviewed Lucid Sights’ CTO last week, and he mentioned that focusing on First Time User Experience is a high priority item for them. Judging by their track record and how adamantly they’ve prioritized game experience, it’s safe to assume that this pain-point won't be around for much longer.
CSC incorporates a hybrid blockchain solution: the game is built with Unity and held on central servers, but the game economy is blockchain-based. This allows them to scale the game and userbase at a rate impossible with Ethereums scalability issues, while still retaining all the benefits of blockchain in video games such as digital ownership, interoperability, etc.
CryptoSpaceCommanders is still undergoing it’s pre-sale through a supply crate sale. You can purchase a starter kit on their website as well as supply creates of various price and rarity.
If you don’t want to spend any money and go the completely Play-to-Win route, check out the game after 0.6 comes out this week- when missions will allow new players to earn there way up the ranks and start competing.
The website link above is a referral link, if you enjoyed this article please feel free to use it: all proceeds are reinvested into the game economy.
Blankos Block Party
Game Genre: Party Game
Status: Not yet released
Status: Not yet released
Blankos Block Party made the list largely due to the team behind it. I'm not a big fan of games of this genre, but at the same time am extremely excited to see what the team produces. Mythical Games has a pretty stacked team with executives and developers from some of the top grossing games in the world.
They recently completed a Series A investment round that brought in $16 million in funding: which gives them the freedom to focus on gameplay over innovative fundraising mechanisms.
There's very little information out on this game so far, but it checks most of the boxes based on info that I do have. Through reading over interviews some of its team members have done, it seems like Mythical will be focusing heavily on player-owned economies. Considering the Mythical team includes talent from Activision and Blizzard, I'm excited to see the economies that come out of this project.
I haven't been able to get in touch with the developers of Blankos Block Party and can't speak to their future plans. Regardless, this is a game that I'll be keeping a close eye on.
CryptoAssault
Game Genre: RTS-RPG
Status: Browser-based game currently playable. Pre-Sale supply crates available
Status: Browser-based game currently playable. Pre-Sale supply crates available
CryptoAssault holds a special place in my heart. It was the first blockchain game that really drew me into the space. It's also the first blockchain game I've played that incorporates a hybrid solution: handling only the economy on the Ethereum blockchain.
In CryptoAssault, you can purchase supply crates filled with Tanks, Jets, Mechs, and other assault vehicles. These vehicles (NFTs) can then be deployed to a map, where you can fight other players for land, resources, and more. CryptoAssault has built the game with Unity, and has some of the better graphics around compared to its competition.
While the CryptoAssault team isn't as well funded as the companies mentioned before, they bring a unique skillset to the table. The developers at CryptoAssault have been in the blockchain gaming space since it began. After speaking with the lead developer, I found that he had a wealth of knowledge around the space.
In a short period of time he conveyed everything that he's learned from the downfalls other games have seen, and how he plans to implement insights learned from the successes and failures of others to improve gameplay in CryptoAssault.
The game also has some exciting developments coming in the near future. On October 20th it's starting a tournament with a 100 Ethereum minimum guaranteed prize-pool. The prize pool will be added to as more players purchase entry into the tournament.
When we spoke about future plans, the CryptoAssault lead developer had a clear vision for what the game needs to evolve into. CryptoAssault players can look forward to upcoming features such as: crafting systems, in-game marketplace for trading resources, and the concept of permanent destruction.
I'll go more into these upcoming updates and the 100 ETH tournament in a follow up article specifically covering CryptoAssault and its future updates.
One element of blockchain games that’s pivotal for mainstream success is if it’s possible to “Play-to-win”. A common problem with blockchain games is that the early adopters spend so much money during pre-sale periods, it becomes nearly impossible to compete for new players (unless they want to spend a lot of money).
CryptoAssault is making efforts to alleviate this concern by implementing a Free-to-Play island where users will be able to practice, create strategies, and grow their army without spending any cryptocurrency.
Kingdoms Beyond
Game Genre: RPG - Turn Based Combat
Status: Browser-Based Game Currently Available, Pre-Sale currently active.
Status: Browser-Based Game Currently Available, Pre-Sale currently active.
If RuneScape and Pokemon had a baby, it would be Kingdoms Beyond. The game is still in extremely early stages, they only recently started their supply crate sale but have started to pick up some momentum after the release of their quest system.
The first good sign from this game in my eyes is that it's completely free-to-play. Users are given base characters when they create their accounts, and can unlock the same chests available in the supply crate sale in-game- allowing them to compete with players who are breaking their piggy banks for loot boxes.
After reaching out and speaking with the team, it's clear that making the game easy for non-crypto users to understand is one of their top priorities.
At first glance, I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy playing Kingdoms Beyond. But the next thing I knew it was 4 hours later and I'd brought my squad of Epic and Legendary heroes to Level 20. It creates a feeling of nostalgia. When I play Kingdoms Beyond it makes me feel like I'm getting in on the ground floor with a project that is simple and entertaining enough to draw in crowds from games like Pokemon, Team Fight Tactics, and more.
The game still has a long way to go for it to be a finished product. At the moment it has a very limited functionality, but the team has been avidly active in their community chats and have started to build a reputation for sticking to their roadmap.
Kingdoms Beyond is using an interesting asset backing feature that I haven't seen in other blockchain games.
Rare items you can find in supply crates are sometimes backed by a certain amount of Ethereum stored in the NFT smart contract. When you get a rare item, you can burn it to redeem the Ethereum, or use it in game. What's cool about this is that you can increase the amount of Ethereum the asset is backed by simply by leveling up your character.
It creates some interesting market mechanics and also sets an effective price floor for your item, ensuring it will never fall below a certain price in value.
I'd be amiss if I didn't bring up this last point. The only thing that concerns me about Kingdoms Beyond is the fact that they have an anonymous team. I've been burned by projects in the past with anonymous teams, and still carry a bit of that PTSD today. That being said, I reached out to the Kingdoms Beyond team directly, and they let me know that they'll be releasing information on the team in the near future.
The website link above is a referral link, if you enjoyed this article please feel free to use it: all proceeds are reinvested into the game economy.
I hope you enjoyed this article, I play and genuinely enjoy all of the games listed above besides Blankos (which I haven't played because it isn't out yet). I write about blockchain games because I truly believe that they are the best vehicle on the road to mass adoption, I want to see all the companies involved succeed because their success means our success.
The more attention and users games like these get, the better off the cryptocurrency market as a whole will be.
I'm not saying that games are going to be the sole driving force that pulls us into AltSzn, but they can definitely contribute in the longterm adoption of blockchain into both digital and physical infrastructure.
My only hope is that one day years from now I can say that I helped bring it to fruition.