“Chain Game Steam” is a battleground for chain game players. Immutable X, as a currently rare Layer 2 expansion solution + game platform, has an important gene to grow into a chain game Steam, and Gala Game has such a small and beautiful platform prototype. Can break circles in the Internet through chain games to attract users.
Original title: “GameFi Infrastructure Card Game: IMX, Gala, who can win the first game? 》
Written by: Jeff@Foresight Ventures
After the successful upgrade of EIP1559, the amount of ETH burned has attracted much attention. As of the time of writing, the entire network has burned nearly 70,000 ETH, of which 22.1% of the total amount of ETH destroyed by NFT+ chain game Gas Fee, which is equivalent to the total amount of ETH on Uniswap 2.25 times the amount destroyed. If the Summer of DeFi is a big test for all public chain (capacity expansion) projects, then the oncoming GameFi wave will undoubtedly open a new round of infrastructure card slot disputes.
We take the native asset ecology as the standard for dividing, and broadly group the current major public chains of GameFi into the following three categories: ETH on-chain expansion plan (Layer2), generalized sidechain for bridging assets (Sidechain), and independently operated public chains. Chain scheme.
Figure 1: The main infrastructure of current NFT and chain game projects
The side chain (independent public chain) inherits the volume of DeFi users and becomes the first stop for GameFi traffic entrance
According to DappRadar and Cryptoslam, the current leading public chains in the NFT and GameFI sectors are still ETH, Polygon, BSC and Flow. It is not difficult to understand that the logic of DeFi infrastructure capturing users is still established in the GameFi field, and users are looking for suitable investment (game) targets in the familiar ecology with the expectation of Play2Earn.
Figure 2: Top chain game rankings, Source: Dappradar
Figure 3: Ranking list of popular NFT projects, Source: CryptoSlam
As the ETH “super side chain”, BSC inherits the DeFi users on BSC under the blessing of the traffic center Binance Exchange. However, the chain game project running on BSC is more like a variant of the explosive game Axie. Mobox introduced the concept of mortgage loan NFT on the basis of Axie, and CryptoBaldes introduced the concept of NFT krypton upgrade to increase the winning rate on the basis of battle.
The most eye-catching sidechain performance is the Ronin sidechain that carries the explosive Axie explosion. At the same time, Polygon, as an ambitious ETH expansion sidechain, has also creatively handed over the answer sheet of ZedRun’s explosive horse racing game in a highly complete ecology. .
Flow, which owns the top-flow NFT project, has opened legal currency payment channels such as Ramp to directly exchange FUSD, and developed its own closed-loop ecosystem such as wallets, aiming to cultivate extremely sticky user habits. I think this is also the reason why NBA cards can stand out among many strong IP NFT projects. At present, Flow’s main RPG+NFT collection chain game project Chainmonster is open for public beta, and plans to land on the traditional game platform Steam in 2022. People are looking forward to Flow’s ability to break the circle. However, because Flow’s ecology is relatively closed-loop and single, it is slightly weaker in the important link of asset/NFT cross-chain bridging. It remains to be seen whether it can accept existing users on the chain.
Figure 4: ChainMonster, will be launched on Steam soon, Source: onFlow.org
Although GameFi can inherit the user base of DeFi, it is different from the mining and sales of DeFi users. In the Play2Earn mode, GameFi users prefer to temporarily save or permanently collect the Token/NFT obtained by the game, and sell it at a suitable time. Obtain higher returns. Every NFT collector or chain game player can deeply understand that in addition to the three conditions of cheapness, high efficiency, and cross-chain, the long-term security of assets should be considered as a necessary condition.
Therefore, even though high-performance chains such as side chains have become the first stop of GameFi traffic entrance, most of the upcoming chain games/NFT projects, from the perspective of asset security and development scalability, still choose ETH as the first public chain .
ETH Layer2 New Ecology——Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK) Expansion Solution Leads the New Direction of GameFi Infrastructure
Polygon acquired Hermez, adding to the ZK Rollup expansion plan. Polygon Studios has a comprehensive layout of the game ecology.
The continuously explosive chain game Axie Infinity uses the Ronin sidechain self-developed by its team, which carries the daily activity of more than 500,000 people. However, in order to achieve a low handling fee and fast confirmation experience, most side chains usually sacrifice “decentralization”, that is, asset security.
Even if the sidechain Polygon adopts a free and open node solution in the face of this problem, and provides users with two asset bridging tools, PoS bridge and Plasma bridge, the security of the former and the timeliness of the latter are still criticized.
The ETH Layer2 Rollup solution has been nominated and recommended many times by Ethereum founder Vitalik. ZK Rollup, with its simple and fast smart contract for deposit and withdrawal, not only guarantees asset security, but also greatly reduces the gas fee, and is praised as effective in the long-term cycle. Expansion plan. Although ZK is difficult to meet the complex contract general calculation function in a short time compared to Optimistic Rollup, the latter takes too long due to the withdrawal process, and ZK Rollup is still recognized by the market.
For more explanation about the expansion technology, please refer to this article: https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html
Figure 5: Polygon Studios Layout Polygon Chain Game Ecosystem
Therefore, after establishing Polygon Studios and determined to expand the chain game + NFT layout, Polygon then acquired Hermez Network for 250 million US dollars, and invested 1 billion US dollars as the Polygon ZK Rollup strategic research and development fund, placing a heavy bet to make up for the expansion of Polygon Eco-Layer 2 The blank of the scheme. However, ZK Rollup is the most difficult expansion solution to develop, and its launch time is still unknown. At the same time, it also provides a window period for other ZK expansion teams to “grab the beach”.
StarkWare blessed, Immutable X, born with a golden key, can become the leader of ZK Rollup in the field of chain games?
Immutable X’s predecessor team was Gods Unchained (hereinafter referred to as GU), a well-known chain game company. The legendary production team Fuel Games created a 5-day revenue record of 400 ETH during the market downturn in 2019, and created more than 4 million NFT games during the game’s public beta phase. Card (ERC721 format), and in the same year created a “sky price” NFT game card-Mythic worth 62,000 US dollars. Strong investor backgrounds such as Coinbase, FTX, and Animoca also make it a star team born with a golden key.
With the increasing number of users, the GU team set out to solve the real problem of congestion and expensive transactions on the ETH chain, and began to prepare and plan the Layer 2 expansion plan specifically for chain games (NFT). The development team was originally called Immutable, aiming to ensure the absolute security of user assets. Because of this, the side chain expansion plan was also abandoned.
Adhering to the solution idea of Immutable expansion = ETH expansion = NFT expansion, after comparing Optimistic and zero-knowledge proof (ZK) schemes, due to the former’s “anti-fraud proof”, the withdrawal process is too long and the disadvantage cannot be remedied. Immutable finally Abandoned Optimistic and chose the ZK expansion path. As mentioned above, the zero-knowledge proof can not realize general computing functions in a short time, but based on the current development level of chain games, it can meet simple needs such as NFT transaction synthesis, and it can be fast and free while ensuring maximum asset security. It is enough to become the most “easy to use” infrastructure.
When faced with the choice between Validium and ZK Rollup, the ZK expansion solution, Immutable was perfectly integrated with the StarkWare team to design a zero-knowledge proof solution suitable for the habits of chain game users. Validium’s data-free verification efficiency meets the light-asset and high-frequency transaction needs of game players. It also incorporates the data verification security of ZK Rollup, which meets the absolute security needs of low-frequency large-value asset transfers. In April 2021, Immutable X was launched in beta, saving NFT traders nearly 1.3 million dollars in gas fees in the first week of launch. In the introduction of the latest project test plan, we noticed that Immutable X calls itself the ZK Rollup Layer 2 expansion plan. We believe that the official version of Volition will bring us a smoother experience.
Figure 6: Volition ZK solution, Source: immutablex.medium.com
As mentioned above, the online gap of Polygon Layer 2 may provide Immutable X with an opportunity to seize the market share of Layer 2. I think there are three essential elements for public chain infrastructure to seize market share:
- Smooth, cheap and safe user experience
- Rich Dapp ecology
- Strong marketing and publicity capabilities
First of all, compared to the Polygon sidechain mentioned above, what kind of experience does Immutable bring to us?
Figure 7: Comparison of Immutable X and Polygon PoS chain usage process
The Layer 2 expansion scheme in the traditional concept often gives people the stereotype of being complicated and difficult to use. In the process of using ImmutableX, we found that in terms of user experience and safety, Immutable X can form a competitive relationship with Polygon sidechain at the same level:
- Immutable X’s deposit and withdrawal fluency and Gas Fee consumption are almost the same as Polygon.
- What’s more rare is that because Immutable X is Layer 2 native to ETH, it is no longer necessary to prepare Matic as a gas fee reserve in advance like using the Polygon public chain, which greatly simplifies the preparatory process of use (Polygon’s on-chain transfer is every The cost of Matic is very small, but whether you buy Matic from Cex or Dex, it will bring additional ETH Gas Fee expenses).
- Most importantly, Layer 2 greatly improves the security of assets compared to side chains.
As a Layer 2 solution of the ETH ecosystem, Immutable X can empower the prosperity of the entire ETH ecosystem. In recent hot events, the hottest chain game project releases are also closely integrated with the Immutable X ecosystem.
Although the highly anticipated 3A game Iluvium has not yet been launched, it reached a market value of nearly 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in full circulation in August, with a total of more than 70,000 followers. The game is designed with a complex and interesting monster battle system, which contains super high NFT synthetic trading opportunities. The game is expected to be launched on Immutable X in Q3 2021. The Guilds of Guardians auctioned out the sky-high price union, the first chain game team gold mode, individual players must join the guild to achieve Play2Earn, has captured more than 130,000 users to register for the internal test qualifications before going online, and will also be launched in Q4 2021 Immutable X. The classic Japanese NFT chain game My Crypto Heroes, with a DAU of up to 40,000, also plans to cooperate with Immutable X (the game also plans to develop a Polygon version).
Another core link of the chain game is the NFT transaction. In addition to integrating classic NFT Marketplaces such as Opensea, Immutable X has also developed a built-in Immutable Marketplace, which is like an NFT transaction “cross-project bridge” that integrates NFTs from different game ecosystems into the same In a market, its original “Metaorder” order mode also helps traders to filter their favorite NFTs in the fastest way. At the same time, in the recently updated project plan, immutable has put forward a new “carbon neutral” NFT transaction concept, which counts all the gas fees generated by NFT transactions, and handed over to the Immutable team to purchase carbon emission indicators from the project’s profit.
It is not difficult to find that Immutable X has locked in advance the hottest chain game projects and all potential users on the whole network through its complete ecological layout!
Figure 8: Schematic diagram of IMX ecology, Source: ETH icon is from Ethereum.org
At the same time, in order to encourage users to enter the Immutable X ecosystem, Immutable X’s platform token IMX has also been put on the agenda.
Although the IMX token white paper has not yet been released, it has begun to airdrop IMX tokens to early Gods Unchained players and Marketplace users. The official Medium also continues to post that new players still have the opportunity to receive IMX token airdrop rewards.
It is worth noting that, although there are currently only 600 ETH balances in Immutable X’s smart contract ETH, the number of daily deposits and withdrawals remains high, maintaining the level of 1,000 addresses per day. Although none of the current star games are online, potential players are actively trying to use Immutable X.
Figure 9: Immutable X ETH deposit and withdrawal status, Source: etherscan.io
We might as well imagine, in order to capture users, what token rights can IMX be granted? Community governance voting, platform income dividends, platform trading general tokens (cross-game NFT exchange), in-game test rights, NFT mortgage lending tokens… ImmutableX, full of imagination, can’t help but create more curiosity: Will there be a brand new game launching platform in the field of chain games, a STEAM in the field of chain games?
Can Gala blaze a new trail and become a “game hall” for chain games?
Gala Games and ERC1155
In addition to the fierce battle of Layer 2 mentioned above, the competition between chain game projects is more fierce. The ultra-fast financing speed and the valuation of game projects of one billion dollars at every turn make people feel the current market’s enthusiasm and expectations. However, most of the current chain game projects are based on a single game, and Metaverse auction-type chain game carriers such as The Sandbox and Decentraland are rare. Therefore, in the intense discussion of Metaverse + chain games, land auctions have also ushered in a new round The auction climax.
When it comes to land auction projects, another more unique ERC1155 project, Gala, can’t help but shine. Gala aims to build itself into a game compound platform-“Chain Game Hall”, which is a relatively rare platform-based blockchain game project in the field of chain games.
ERC1155 can be understood as a compatible version of ERC20Token and ERC721NFT. An unlimited number of ordinary Tokens and NFTs can be deployed in a smart contract, and multiple complex transactions can be packaged and submitted to the blockchain. I think this feature is extremely suitable for the development of NFT synthetic evolutionary games, especially suitable for characterizing game points, game coins and other game ecological economic tokens and their NFTs.
For a simple example, in a construction game, if the specified upgrade path is 10000 bricks = 1000 walls = 10 floors = 1 building, if you want to characterize the entire process through ERC721-NFT, you need to create at least 11011 different NFTs. And if you use ERC1155-NFT to characterize the entire process, you can create 10,000 brick Token (NFT), 1,000 wall NFT, 10 storey NFT and 1 tall building NFT. And the synthesis path of ERC1155-NFT is reversible, that is, if you destroy 10 floors of NFT, you can create 1 high-rise NFT, then destroy 1 high-rise, you can get 10 floors of NFT.
Similar to Immutable, Gala’s founder background also has a complete game gene. The founder Eric is one of the founders of the established social game company Zynga (stock code ZNGA, market value of 9.079 billion US dollars on August 18). Zynga’s peak time was around 2010. It was attached to Facebook’s powerful social network and developed web games to the extreme. It established its position as the world’s largest game manufacturer through explosive games such as “City Ville”. Success and failure are also failures. Due to the excessive reliance on Facebook’s social network, the misjudgment of the rise of mobile games has not been transformed in time. Zynga’s darkest moment is fixed in 2014 China’s major layoffs.
Fortunately, after absorbing previous experience, Gala successfully seized the new track of chain games, improved the user system in time, and created a social network attached to blockchain addresses. Russo (Polyient) commented that Gala is a content creation company that has built a long-term game ecosystem, and used strong marketing skills to attract mainstream Internet users to participate in the blockchain.
Ecological overview of the chain game arcade
As a universal token in the “Gala Game Hall”, Gala has functions such as community tokens, game tokens, game development (land auction), game launches, and NFT Marketplace.
As a game development platform and online platform, Gala takes advantage of the subtlety of the ERC1155 standard and integrates 5 original built-in games, namely: Town Star (farm construction game, open beta), Spider Tank Project, Mirandus (coming soon) Open beta), Fortified, Echoes of Empire. On the basis of both playability, each game also has a Play2Earn mode, that is, after collecting and synthesizing rare NFTs, earn Token rewards through the rarity ranking. Within 5 weeks of the launch of the TownHouse beta version, 1.8 million monthly active users were captured!
In July 2021, Gala Games received investment from the BSC Incubation Fund and interacted with the Gala token and the BSC chain to provide users with a variety of asset management methods.
In addition, Gala also recently released a new version of Game Stores, which aims to integrate game stores and NFT MarketPlace. Gala tokens can be used to purchase feature packs in the game to achieve functional evolution, and can also be used as an ecological currency to trade NFTs in the Gala Game Store. Gala Game Stores, as an NFT transaction aggregator, can help users simplify the NFT transaction process as much as possible. Through filtering, sorting and other functions, they can merge and purchase the NFT they need at one time, saving users the time to switch back and forth between different game stores.
At the same time, Gala tokens can also be used to purchase network nodes, and share revenue sharing with the entire community by participating in node pledges. As a unique platform-based game project, we are looking forward to the future development of Gala!
Figure 10: Overview of Gala ecology, Source: app.gala.games
Who can become a chain game Steam and master the traffic entrance?
The development process of chain games can refer to the development process of Internet games. The carrier may range from web pages to computer clients, from mobile pages to mobile apps, and from red and white machines to physical game consoles. I believe that the form of traffic entry will also be upgraded and iterated with the development of chain games. It may originate from the public chain ecology and develop into an integrated wallet, or it may explode from a web page that is popular around the world, or it may be a game console with a “cold wallet” function. The latest version of Google Horizon just released recently makes us believe that the future of Metaverse is not far away.
The current chain games are still in the early stage, and most of them use the two-step mode of actual operation recorded on the client server and asset allocation to the on-chain accounting. High-performance infrastructure is extremely important when the game involves high frequency and complexity of on-chain recording. In the long run, the side chain that lacks security, the congested Layer 1, will eventually be iterated by Layer 2 expansion and the ETH sharding scheme. Polygon, MakerDAO quickly realized this and quickly created the GameFi platform Gamefi.org in August. It can be seen that the chain game Steam is a must for chain gamers! Immutable X, as a currently rare Layer 2 expansion solution + game platform, has an important gene to grow into a chain game Steam.
“Small Game Hall” is also a game platform project that is likely to appear in the development of chain games. In order to quickly break the circle, chain games need a simple and easy-to-handle carrier to lower the threshold, and also need to acquire customers through simple Play2Earn model fission. We have also seen the prototype of this small and beautiful platform in Gala Game, which uses chain games to break circles on the Internet to attract users.
The explosion of the chain game is an important event that opened in the meta-universe era, and the traffic entrance of the chain game will also become a hotbed of users of the meta-universe. The battle for GameFi users is about to break out, let us look forward to it together!
Disclaimer: All articles of Foresight Ventures cannot be used as investment advice or recommendations. Investment is risky. Please evaluate your personal risk tolerance and make investment decisions prudently.
