What does web3 bring to the table? Does web3 allow creators to be fairly compensated for their work? Can web3 allow game developers to make money to make games and not make games to make money? Will crypto gaming make publishers obsolete?
So you’re developing a game for the blockchain. You want to maintain your creative freedom and fund your game using blockchain technology. Similar to how platforms like Kickstarter and Patreon work, you’ll need to create some content to gather funds. What are the options on the blockchain?
Many blockchain games do NFT drops to get funded. But we at Moonstream have an even better way that can also help your game’s economy grow in the long run.
Minigames
While you’re developing the main game and designing its economy you can launch minigames in your game’s universe to keep people engaged. Although play to earn is dying off, those minigames can also provide income for your players. It boosts your economy and supports game development at the same time.
But wouldn’t creating minigames take too much precious time and resources away from the dev team? Not if you use Moonstream’s game engine.
Game mechanics
Moonstream provides ready-to-use fully on-chain mechanics that can be composed into minigames. This is what our library of mechanics looks like:
Staking mechanic. NFT characters receive a reward for “exploring” an area for a certain amount of time. The reward can be ERC20 tokens, achievements, experience points, on-chain lootboxes, etc.
Sacrifice mechanic. Players can sacrifice an ERC20 token to get a chance at winning a prize. Prizes can be any ERC20 or ERC1155 token (e.g. badges, lootboxes, etc.)
These two existing game mechanics are generally available, have supported millions of transactions, and have had over $800,000,000 in peak value locked in-contract.
Upcoming game mechanics:
Fortune Wheel mechanic. A raffle mechanic where the winner is randomly chosen based on points. More points mean a better chance of .
Multiplayer Choose Your Own Adventure mechanic. NFT characters can participate in an on-chain Choose Your Own Adventure experience. A game master tells a story and, every day, each token chooses which path of the story to expand on. Once the choices have been made, the game master reveals the correct choice (deterministic or random), and the players who chose the correct choice progress to the next stage. Players who make it to the end get a reward.
1v1 Autobattler. NFT characters can battle each other 1-on-1, using items and consumables to buff themselves and debuff their opponents. Winner receives a reward.
BattleRacer. Turn-based Mario Kart mechanic. Several players can race each other, using items and consumables to buff themselves and debuff their opponents.
Does it work?
That’s all well and good but do we have proof that adding on-chain minigames actually supports game economies? That we do. Just check out this smart contract usage report for the Dark Forest minigame within Crypto Unicorns game universe. You can see the surge in activity while the minigame was on.
Compared to just having NFT drops, minigames make your project more trustworthy since they actually have on-chain game mechanics. Minigames can also lend you more time to polish the main game because they’re not just cool NFT assets to look at but games to engage with.
To deploy on-chain mechanics to fund your web3 game or to support your game’s economy, reach out to Moonstream on our Discord or create a free account on moonstream.to.