A Spellcrafting #play2die Game in the Realms AW

[willemolding]

Introduction

Name or social handle of proposer: Wollum

Ethereum Mainnet Address: 0xc0017405E287476443Ab1B342B86f2ea92Ef9F73

ENS name (optional): wollum.eth

Twitter handle (optional): @willemolding1

Any relevant links/Websites (optional): Game rules working doc

Project Detail

We are currently designing and are looking for a grant to build a play2die game based in the Realms Autonomous World.

The concept for the game is a time-based spell crafting game. In a single play session you take the role of a mage who is crafting a powerful ritual spell. Initiating a spell requires a sacrifice ($LORDS) and the game requires periodic upkeep from the player in order to continue to increase the spells power and prevent it from descending into chaos and consuming you.

At any point in time there are a number of actions available to the player, some of which take real-world time to complete, and some which require a real-time cool-down period before they can be used again. For example: forage for ingredients, send familiar to hunt, stabilize spell, study, etc. The game is designed for play sessions to last days or weeks with short bursts of attention required from the player a number of times per day. This kind of engagement has been shown to be very popular for mobile games.

The game ends either when you are consumed (die) or if you elect to try and capture the spell in a stable form. Ending the game in the latter way yields a stabilized spell asset unique to this play through. Other game developers may wish to integrate with this asset in the future and assign value to various properties.

The game itself takes inspiration from digital pets like Tamagotchi, but also spell crafting games such as Magic: The Gathering. It is targeted at casual gamers as an approachable and low outlay way to engage with the AW using familiar mobile gaming patterns.

For a working document of the full rule set see this link.

The ingredients, history, elemental properties, chaos and power levels allow a spell to be visualized as a procedurally generated arcana circle. Each spell will be unique in its visualization and these can be shared by players

There will also be a leaderboard of current and historically most powerful mages.

We are applying for a grant to:

• Implement the base rules of the game using the Dojo framework
• Implement a simple text-based client
• Gather feedback and iterate on the rules to improve player engagement and overall fun

If this is successful the next phase would be to develop a mobile web client.

Character

Willem Olding (Wollum)

Wollum is the research team lead for ChainSafe systems, a blockchain R&D company. They have over 5 years experience working in crypto as a researcher and Rust developer.

Wollum has have previously developed a number of on-chain games notably a state-channel battle card game framework for Toshimon (specification and article). They are also a hackathon fanatic having participated in 4 in the last year alone. Their project Zipline was a winner at the EthBogota hackathon and they was part of the team who submitted the winning project in the Realms + Dojo Play2Die challenge in the Pragma Cairo 1.0 hackathon.

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

Martin Maurer (McSellerie)

McSellerie is a technical project manager for ChainSafe systems currently working with the ChainSafe Gaming SDK. They have been working in crypto since 2018 as a researcher and a technical project manager. Prior to that they were CEO of a game studio working with Unity for roughly 10 years.

McSellerie participate in hackathons frequently with a current focus on autonomous worlds. They was also part of Realms + Dojo Play2Die challenge and built Swash Buckler scoring second at EthGlobal Autonomous Worlds.

• GitHub
• LinkedIn

Jemma Sweeney (Lychee)

Lychee is a hobbiest game designer and pixel artist. Previously they have participated in a number of game jams, winning the 2020 Perfect Server game jam.

Timeline

We estimate around 14 weeks required to complete the design, implement the PoC and gather feedback from play testers. This is with a 5-10 hours per week time commitment from all involved.

Objectives

Objective	Contributor	Estimated deadline (yy/mm/dd)
Complete game design	Wollum + Lychee + McSellerie	23/09/15
Cairo Implementation	Wollum	23/10/30
Basic Client	Wollum + McSellerie	23/11/15
Testing / Quality Assurance	McSellerie + Lychee + Community	23/12/01

Ongoing

Objective	Contributor	Estimated deadline
Project Management	McSellerie	23/12/01

Grant Request

We are applying for the Frontinus House Genesis Grant (100,000 LORDS)

[Calcutatator]

10/10 Buidler proposal ser. Really think the more idle style games are uncharted territory within FOCG's so super excited to see what you guys produce! Congrats on all of the hackathon wins also 🙇‍♂️

• "Other game developers may wish to integrate with this asset in the future" - How do you see the current game design being leveraged by other builders?
• Is the plan for when the spell is consumed or stabilised will the spell then be an NFT?

Specification link for Toshimon is giving 404 FYI

[willemolding]

Thanks very much 😄

How do you see the current game design being leveraged by other builders?

Primarily I imagine it being a source of spell assets which might take on meaning in other games. For example a stabilized spell might give you access to a new attack type in loot survivor.

Is the plan for when the spell is consumed or stabilised will the spell then be an NFT?

For integration within the AW it could just be another world asset. Or as you say it could be converted to an NFT for integration with the greater Starknet and Ethereum ecosystems.

Specification link for Toshimon is giving 404 FYI

Fixed!

[palomato]

Very cool, I like this concept. Could also see spells easily being integrated as a module to other AW games.

Is there a benefit to being a top 3 on the leaderboard? For example Loot Survivor top 3 receive a small LORDS payout whenever someone pays LORDS to play.

*Suggestion for forest ingredient- Herbs!

[boorich]

Is there a benefit to being a top 3 on the leaderboard? For example Loot Survivor top 3 receive a small LORDS payout whenever someone pays LORDS to play.

It's an exciting feature, but we should keep in mind that we might need to attract different groups of players. There is undoubtedly a powerful incentive if players are rewarded with something like passive income based on their rank. On the other hand, AW games leave much room to implement a more friendly scheme to foster user retention and long-term motivation based on a sense of progression or maybe pressure invoked by supply and demand.

Things like access to precious recipes for crafting or sought-after spells come to my mind to make this less mechanic.

This post has got more details.