Hi everyone!
I'm an indie developer working on a web3 game for the past year. Got into nfts as an artist, and after delving into generative arts in early2022, I decided to start working on gaming
With no illusions of lambos like the early 2021 dreams, I saw in web3 ways to engage digitally in ways that were nostalgic to old internet days, or trading paper TGC cards with friends. Not only that, i saw in blockchains ways to empower independent creators with the structure they offer, like contracts and marketplaces, things that would be prohibitive to the scope of an usual solo developer.
After seeing countless projects pump, hype and disappear, I decided the right thing to do would be to monetize only when i had something the collectors could already engage with. And i built my game to an early alpha stage. It's a turn based PvP with collectible characters and skins, an ode to oldschool rpgs mixed in with tabletop tcgs. I'll leave links in the bottom but first i want to ask you in regards to some anxieties i've been having while i get closer to launching it.
1 – P2E
What made web3gaming reach the broader audience was P2E, but i believe the way it was implemented was also it's pitfall and a reason for NFTs to be mocked. Not only that, i don't think it's okay to incentivize players to invest in the game's PL pools, so my game won't be using it's own currency but it's blockchain's native. Unfortunately, degening into defi and farming is what most of current web3 audience is after.
There's a contrast between gamers needs and investors wants. Do web3 audience really want games that are fun for the sake of enjoying them, or do you guys feel at least some level of finance incentive is needed for a game to find it's audience here?
2- Early Access
From a gamer perspective, even tough there's player progression in my roadmap in a future point unlocking characters and skins with victories, and as web3 demnds, would be able to sell those. Most games keep the dopamine wheel spinning by giving ranks and leaderboards, but i would only ship this progression later in development, probably in Q3 or Q4.
Indie games outside web3 can get by with quality gameplay even if most planned content is still unfinished. In web3, things that make it are usually backed by big money. This is NOT the case here. To survive twitter and discord hell, most NFT artists gotta output a crazy ammount of work. Can a game keep an audience satisfied by releasing 1-2 characters a month, while polishing and building the other systems?
Web3 communities a so much driven by hype and fomo, that i am afraid that a small game would not satisfy it's eager. Saying that fully aware that most projects that sold millions haven't shipped anything yet.
3 – Community and marketing
The same hype and fomo i mentioned above is what makes folks jump in projects and get rekt. With no capital for paid partnerships, it's been hard to pop into people's attention. I trully believe that when people start playing it they will demand their friends join in to beat each other and spellcast their rivalities away. Besides usual promotion on social platforms, do you guys have any tips to reach a broader audience?
Airdrops and whitelists are something i have considered but would prefer not to. It is an early access, after all, and there will be plenty of chances to jumping in if people missed
Not having an instant mint-out can be the death of an art project. Would that be the same to a game? Will nft enthusiats even look at stuff with less than 50k followers?
end of questions
will be now leaving the links to the game, but i'd really like if you'd share your toughts about these topics i raised
worked hard and put a lot of love into it, really want folks to have fun with it 😀
and for you that has read this far, here's some gameplay footage:
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/NFTGames/comments/11s4enq/can_nonp2e_indie_work_in_web3/
