Well, it would only be a matter of time until blockchain and AR collided, and it has in a game called Coin Hunt World! CHW is a game that has been around longer than most GameFi out there. Developed by Titanium Toaster Corp, this app gives users the opportunity to earn Bitcoin and Ethereum, and all they have to do is answer a multiple-choice trivia question correctly.

What Is Coin Hunt World?

In CHW, you are a Cubie who can wander around the world looking for keys and coin vaults. The app uses your location data to place you in an augmented world. In order to earn crypto, you will need to walk around and find keys, which then you can use to unlock coin vaults.

Once unlocked, you will be given three options for what category of question you would like to be asked, such as geography, wordplay, cinema, etc. Then you will need to answer a multiple-choice question from that category correctly. If you do, you will be granted Bitcoin or Ethereum randomly.

The faster you answer, the more you will earn. For blue coin vaults, the most common, you will earn up to $0.10 worth of crypto for each correct answer. Green vaults will grant you $1, yellow $10, red $100, and purple $1,000.

Although yellow, red, and purple vaults are out there, they are very rare! Don’t expect to find them everywhere. Green vaults are also rare, but you should be able to at least find one in your area.

A blue vault requires a blue key, while a green vault requires a green key, and so on. To get a green key, you will need to forge ten blue keys into one green. You can do so at a keybooth. First, you will need to claim the blue key at the booth, then you can click on the booth again to transform ten blue keys into one green. Each color level higher will require ten of the previous one.

There is nothing worse than arriving at a higher-tier coin vault and not having the necessary key to unlock it! Make sure you load up on your green keys when you can. Another important thing to know is that you can only unlock a unique vault once every 24 hours. So you will need to keep moving around in order to find other unique coin vaults to open. 

When you first start the game, you will want to make sure you get a green key as fast as possible. Once you have it, you can set up a headquarters where you can collect three free vaults a day. These won’t have any cryptocurrency in them, but they will have keys that are needed in the game. You will likely want to set up this headquarters at home or work so you can frequently claim the vaults.

Coin Hunt World also frequently has events where you can collect materials as well as the required blueprints to craft special Cubies. These don’t give you any benefit at the moment, but they are fun to collect! They just recently had a Chinese New Year event, that offered some really cool Cubies. In order to forge them, you will need to find a printshop in-game which are usually located at large grocery stores.

How Much Can You Earn?

So how much can you realistically make in Coin Hunt World? Well, it largely depends on where you physically live, and how much you get out of the house. Those who live in cities will have far more opportunities to earn crypto due to a higher concentration of coin vaults. If you live in a more rural area, don’t worry there will still be vaults for you to open as well, there just may be more spread out.

I’ve been playing for the past six months pretty passively. I don’t live in a city area, and I don’t go out all that much, but over the past six months, I have made $50 just from answering some quiz questions. I’ve heard stories of users making much more than that as well.

It’s that easy! It won’t make you a millionaire, but it’s a nice, basic game you can play to earn a little extra if you want. And if you have a good commute that passes a number of coin vaults, you could earn some extra Bitcoin and Ethereum every day!

In order to transfer your Bitcoin and Ethereum, you will need to set up an Uphold Wallet. Once connected, transfers happen between the game and your wallet every Tuesday, with a minimum of $10 per transfer. Remember to stay safe, and don’t play and drive! Let us know what you think of Coin Hunt World in our Discord.

If you are interested in checking out the game, you can earn two mystery boxes in your headquarters once it is set up by using a referral. You can DM my discord at Murtagh9050#8918 to ask for one.

To learn more, click here.

To see last week’s mobile game article on Gunfire Hero, click here.

Coin Hunt World is currently available on Android and iOS, but isn’t available in every country. Check out your app store to see if it is available where you are.

Lead image a composite using a photograph by David Grandmougin via Unsplash

The post AR, P2E, and Mobile: What Is Coin Hunt World? appeared first on Token Gamer.

Blockchain combines finance, NFTs, and games to bring not only the ability to earn passive income through its play-to-earn (P2E) scheme but other users such as investors and artists through GameFi and NFTs, too. Seeing the potential of the gaming industry, experts have developed several gaming-centric blockchains for building on.

This article will discuss the top blockchains used for developing blockchain games and why they are regarded as such. Before fully delving into that, I will give a surface explanation of the terms associated with blockchain gaming.

Terms Related to Blockchain Gaming

In the blockchain gaming industry, some terms are frequently used. They include:

Blockchain

This is a decentralized ledger with features like immutability, cryptography, interoperability, and programmability. These features make it possible to have permanent transaction records, own game collectibles, use game collectibles on other blockchains, and have seamless automated transactions, which are desirable in the blockchain gaming industry.

NFT

NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens, are digital valuables that cannot be interchanged for like items. NFTs exist in different forms, including artworks, pictures, music, videos, clips, cartoons, etc. Once given a unique digital identity, it becomes an individualized property.

GameFi

GameFi is the general term used in the blockchain industry to refer to blockchain games. It was merged as a single word from “gaming” and “finance.” It is a useful term since it intertwines gaming and decentralized finance. The most popular model in GameFi is the self-explanatory play-to-earn model.

How Can We Combine These Terms to Understand Blockchain Gaming?

A blockchain game, otherwise known as GameFi, is built on the blockchain that allows players to earn collectibles (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies on gaming platforms. Unlike usual games, blockchain games enable users to own whatever they make by playing, outside of the game. Players can then sell them, or (sometimes) use them in other games.

Many games currently exist and are built on different blockchains. Let’s consider some of the features required of blockchains to create them.

Features of a Blockchain Useful to Building Blockchain Games

Smart Contract Compatibility

Blockchains that can be used for creating blockchain games must be smart contract compatible. Smart contracts are programmed codes that get executed when certain conditions are met. For instance, smart contracts automatically send an NFT to a user once a gamer gets to a certain level. Smart contracts are necessary to carry out financial transactions in games, among other things. 

NFT Compatibility

In gaming, NFTs can be bought, resold, earned, etc. In other words, NFTs are one key element in the gaming economy. The most valuable blockchains for building blockchain games must be NFT compatible and, ideally, easily transferred.

Metaverse and Interoperability

This means items collected in blockchain games must be compatible for use in other games, be able to interact in the metaverse, and have access to several markets hosted on the blockchain for easy trade. Interoperability is still rare but is becoming more common, particularly with bridges as we have seen with WAX and BSC.

The Top Blockchains for Building Blockchain Games

There are several blockchains available for building blockchain games. However, those rated as the most effective embody the features outlined above, amongst other attractive features.

Ethereum

Ethereum is one of the most famous blockchains. Being one of the first blockchains built, it has maintained an indelible place in the hearts of industry experts. More than that, the Ethereum blockchain has continually sought to improve and adapt to suit the many platforms being developed on it.

The Ethereum blockchain is considered one of the best blockchains to build games since it can easily be termed one of the foremost blockchains, as well as being one of the first to offer smart contracts and NFTs. Hence, it is a good fit for blockchain gaming. Nevertheless, it has infamous drawbacks, such as transaction speeds, gas fees, and network speeds, though many layer 2 solutions overcome those.

It is no wonder some of the most widely played games have been built on it. Some include F1 Delta Time, Zed Run, Cryptokitties, Mirandus, and over 530 other games.

BSC

The BSC (Binance Smart Chain) is a blockchain network built for running smart contracts. It is popularly known for its lower transaction fees and high speed (being able to complete transactions within 3 seconds). Having these, in addition to NFT compatibility and interoperability across a ton of blockchains, BSC stands out as being one of the top blockchains for building games.

Built using the Ethereum model, it is the go-to blockchain for those running from high Ethereum fees. Several game makers are aware of the advantages of the BSC network and this has led to a massive influx of game makers to build their games on BSC. As such, the BSC blockchain is host to top-ranking games like Mobox: NFT Farmer, Squid NFT World, Battle Pets, and over 430 other games.

WAX

The WAX blockchain is rated as one of the top blockchains for building blockchain games for the following reasons:

• It is NFT and smart contract compatible.
• It is scalable, able to handle over 15 million transactions daily.
• Its users have access to thousands of dApps (decentralized applications) and the world’s most exciting NFT marketplaces, such as Atomic Hub and NeftyBlocks.
• It uses a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism to be eco-friendly, being 125,000x more efficient than networks using Proof of Work (PoW) like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Games available on the WAX blockchain include Alien Worlds, R-Planet, Kolobok Adventures, and over 60 other games.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, as we have several other blockchains on which some top-notch games have been built. Blockchains like Hive, Ronin, Polygon, EOS, Tron, and Immutable X are currently hosting over 100 great games worthy of note.

Conclusion

Blockchain gaming is changing the gaming industry as it was formerly known. It has revolutionized gaming by including features such as:

• Earning while playing games (play-to-earn)
• Complex virtual world creation with land ownership (metaverse)
• Game item ownership (through NFTs)

With these features and more to come, it is reasonable to expect an exponential rise in the number of games built on these top-rated blockchains.

Lead image by Error 420 on Unsplash

The post Top Blockchains to Build Games on and Why appeared first on Token Gamer.

Then, the R-Planet spaceship flew into a rough asteroid belt. Whales began taking profits, and given just how rich in Aether these people were, it was a cause for concern. As one player mentioned to me, “[the whale] had so much Aether he could have flooded the book every day.”

This was then compounded by some changes the R-Planet developers implemented, resulting in ways to make gargantuan hauls of the token through crafting and rigs, which snowballed and caused hyperinflation, crashing the game’s economy.

It was a real shame, R-Planet was something of a treasure in the WAX gaming space. Its economy was innovative and the concept of putting your idle NFTs to work for passive income is likely to hang around. But, can R-Planet recover from this hit?

Is This ‘Big Update’ R-Planet’s Last Chance Saloon?

I want to start with some praise. I have written several times about rug pulls — and R-Planet has shown zero evidence it is one or ever will be — but also, my regular readers will know I coined “rug slip” and tried to jam it into the crypto vernacular. For a full breakdown via the story of Crypto Mines, click here, but the overview is this: it’s a game that collapses but through developer error, not malicious intent.

When R-Planet’s economy experienced hyperinflation, it wouldn’t have been unthinkable for the developers, WECAN, to pull support for the project and focus on their two other titles, Prospectors and Tribal Books. But they didn’t. Whether they succeed in this economic resurrection or not, I appreciate the accountability and resilience shown.

Whether they can recover with this major game update is hard to say, particularly as someone who hasn’t dumped a whole lot of hours into R-Planet. The footnotes of what is to come are that they are adding a staking hub, the R-Planet DAO, its DAO token $RDAO, RDAO auctions, and metafarming. Unpacking the dynamics and mechanics of all of these is way too long and in places, I’m not certain I even fully understand, so read their comprehensive explanation.

There are a lot of positives in this update and I suspect it has taken a glut of hours to build. Nevertheless, the post does outline a few elements that its players will probably react poorly to. First and foremost is the heavy reduction in mining yield, which the developers said they’d never do.

In fairness, they are well aware they’ll come under fire for this, but state “it’s a necessary change that must be made to ensure the sustainability of the tokenomics moving forward into the next phase of the game.” If that turns out to be the case, or can even go a ways to reversing the collapse of the economy, then I suspect all will be forgiven.

The second (probable) bone of contention is the Claim Limit on mined Aether which will bottleneck how much you can withdraw to your account, regardless of how much you mined (i.e, it’s not a percentage cap.) This has the potential to smooth out the economy, perhaps, and would stop people immediately drawing down large hauls to swap for WAX, if that is something that commonly occurs. Regardless, I can’t imagine it will be well received that there is a new limit on how much you can withdraw of the Aether you mined.

Final Thoughts

I would like to see R-Planet return to its former glory. There were mistakes made that led to the nosedive of its token, but they don’t seem to have been as a result of greed or malicious intent. The developers have poured a lot of effort into this update and it would be a strong positive for R-Planet, WECAN, the players, and the WAX ecosystem if it puts the game back on the right path.

There is one other piece to the R-Planet puzzle that didn’t really fit anywhere else: R-Planet Conquest. It’s a new game that will be a part of the R-Planet metaverse, but as there is no in-game footage, I’m not going to make any comments about it, just acknowledge that there is another arm of the project that could become relevant to R-Planet’s revival.

What do you think? Let us know in our Discord or on Twitter.

The post Can R-Planet’s “Big Update” Resurrect Its Economy? appeared first on Token Gamer.

Gunfire Hero is the second game in the Step Hero multiverse, the first being Step Hero itself. STEP and HERO Tokens are shared between games, but at this point, it doesn’t look like NFTs are. The tokens are built on Binance Smart Chain with plans to become multi-chain in the future. Currently, Gunfire Hero is only available on Android devices.

Gameplay

The good news for those of you who are hesitant to commit to Blockchain games is that this one is completely free to play. You can jump right into the action and try it out for yourself, with no entry cost.

In Gunfire Hero, you take the role of the hero as you fight to clear different rooms and progress through different worlds. To pass each room you must dodge bullets, rockets, and even turtles with shotguns while your hero autofires back. When you have successfully cleared the room, you will auto collect any loot that you’ve earned (gear, STEP tokens, and crafting materials). Gear and material drops are pretty rare, but I find myself collecting a few STEP tokens at the end of each life.

On completion of each room, you will also gain experience that will periodically level up your hero. On each level, you will be given the chance to select one of three different perks offered to you. Choose wisely! All perks are good, but some are better than others. My personal favorites are double bullets and bouncing bullets. You will also come across Angel levels every so often that will grant you a free perk.

Within each world are a number of boss levels as well. These bosses are more difficult to beat, but also often reward you with better drops and health when defeated. If you are unable to beat any level, then your progress will be reset for that world, including any perks chosen, and you will start back at the first room of that world the next time you play.

If you manage to beat the eight worlds that are currently in the game, there is an endless world that will pull random levels from each of the previous eight for you to fight.

To encourage your progress, each world also has three milestones, and once reached, reward you with STEP tokens, gear, and energy.

If you are having difficulty progressing past a world, you can spend your HERO tokens on leveling up talents on the “Talent” page. There are twelve different talents that can be permanently upgraded (randomly). These range from extra damage, to better shields, to more health, etc. Remember that these do not get reset, so don’t worry about losing them if you don’t get past a level.

You can also equip gear and level up your hero on the “Loadout” page. Gear can greatly help you in battle. The four gear slots available are weapons, armor, glasses, and bullets. Each piece of gear will boost your stats in different ways to help you beat your enemies easier. If you acquire three of the same type of gear, you can merge them to upgrade the rarity. You can also level up your gear using STEP tokens and gear materials dropped in-game. Your hero is leveled up using hero materials and STEP tokens.

Hero materials currently only drop from the “Weekly Events”. These events rotate each day. Monday through Thursday events drop different hero materials, while Friday through Sunday events drop STEP coins. You can choose between easy, normal, hard, and nightmare difficulty each day, with the more challenging difficulties granting better prizes.

Play to Earn

While this game is Play-to-Earn (P2E), there currently are two roadblocks.

1. The first roadblock is that you must pass world seven before being able to cash out both your STEP tokens, as well as any gear you have acquired (NFTs).
2. The second roadblock is that you can only cash out during select times the developers allow, which are announced on their social channels.

While the world seven roadblock is challenging to get by, it does prevent easy farming of STEP tokens which would deflate the value of the token. Ultimately this seems like a good way to encourage committed players and discourage farming. I am also hopeful that as the game progresses, withdrawal windows will be more frequent or all the time. I think this is also an important step for the lasting health of the game.

Marketplace

Gunfire Hero does have an online marketplace if you are looking to buy some gear, heroes, or crafting materials. The marketplace uses the HERO token, and requires you to log in using either Metamask or Wallet Connect. You can also list the NFTs that you have earned in-game for sale in the marketplace for other players to buy. Remember that you will need to withdraw them from the game first, which is currently only available during certain times.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think Gunfire Hero is worth a shot. It is surprisingly addicting and challenging, and will keep your hero on their toes as they dodge everything the enemy has to throw at them. I have really enjoyed trying to master the game and learning the strategy behind each perk you can choose. I am also hopeful that the Play-to-Earn aspect will be worth it for the time spent in-game.

Now that you have read the basics of Gunfire Hero, make sure to check it out, and let us know what you think of it in our Discord channel. Have fun!

The post First Look at Play-to-Earn Mobile Game, Gunfire Hero appeared first on Token Gamer.

What Is Skyweaver?

Key Details

Genre: Trading Card Game (TCG)

Price: Free-to-play

Blockchain: Polygon/Ethereum*

Platform: PC, Android, & iOS

Play-to-Earn: Yes

Token: No/$USDC*

Developer: Horizon Blockchain Games

Release Date: Open beta begins 8th February 2022

Skyweaver is a familiar beast, particularly in the blockchain gaming space, being similar — in principle at least — to Gods Unchained, for instance. For those of you outside of blockchain, it’s closer to Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering Arena, just made for web3.

As of February, it has seen significant interest from gamers and investors alike, with 233,000 app installs (despite not being released), as well as 100,000 people in the Discord, 345,000 users on the waitlist, and 8-figure investments from the likes of Coinbase.

“We’ve been crafting Skyweaver for the past four years, fine-tuning the mechanics and user experience to ensure everyone can enjoy — while maintaining the purity of Web3. We’re committed to providing millions of people with easy and secure access to Web3, where everyone can own, use and enjoy digital assets. We see Skyweaver as bridging the gap that currently exists between the Web2 and Web3 gaming communities, with all the potential that holds for mass-market adoption and growth of the Skyweaver ecosystem.” — Peter Kieltyka, Co-Founder & CEO at Horizon Blockchain Games

Gameplay

The title for this article isn’t clickbait hyperbole: this is the best blockchain game I have played in the 4 years I’ve been testing them — and by some margin. I see the term “AAA” banded around a lot in the space, typically by indie studios with reputable and experienced employees. Some — though very few — look as if they might just manage something resembling the best quality of game you can get for their genre, but they’re years away. The rest are either delusional or hoping if they say it enough it’ll come true.

Skyweaver, however, is triple-A quality, albeit never mentioning it. I first launched the desktop version in-browser, but I loathe using browsers for games, so I made the switch to the PC client which is a joy. The GUI, the animations, the speed, the responsiveness, the smoothness — it’s all as good as it gets. With a newborn requiring my presence, I’m unable to stay at my PC for long, so I used that as an opportunity to test the iOS app, and, to my pleasant surprise, it’s as good, if not better. I would go as far as to say the app borders flawless.

I have played a plethora of TCG games and I went into this one — rather naively — as if I barely needed to learn Skyweaver; that ignorance was brief — replaced, rather ironically, with an awareness of my complete ignorance of how to be good at this game. While many of the mechanics and systems are familiar, it’s as deep as I have seen and therefore the skill ceiling is sky-high.

Competitive

There are several competitive game modes and leaderboards. The ranked game mode is free to play and you can choose from Discovery or Constructed; Discovery has both players choose a hero and then receive randomized decks based on that hero, whereas Constructed allows you to use your own, player-made decks. By ranking up in these modes (you get points for wins), you will eventually win tradeable, NFT silver cards.

Conquest is slightly more complicated. It is a win-streak game mode where you win better rewards depending on how many games you go without losing. It costs a ticket to enter which is purchasable with $USDC (yes, the stablecoin), at 1.5 USDC per ticket. Every week there are different, golden NFT cards that show you how many have been minted before they rotate out, which is really interesting.

Play-to-Earn Mechanics

This is tricky and there isn’t currently much to say on the topic. As Skyweaver doesn’t have its own token (and no token reward for gameplay), the only way to earn any money is from winning silver or gold NFT cards and then selling them on the market for USDC, utilizing the built-in Horizon multi-chain smart wallet, Sequence. So, it’s play-to-earn (P2E), but currently less so than many other games, though don’t let that detract you.

I’d also like to mention that the way the economy is set up, there is no sign of greed from the developers, which is as encouraging as it is rare. No dedicated token, only a stablecoin, is a fascinating decision that I haven’t fully unpacked the implications of yet.

Developers

While I’m sure the developers have some stellar gaming industry experience given the quality of Skyweaver, Horizon’s pedigree in blockchain is impressive, having not only developed the Sequence wallet, but also co-created the famed ERC-1155 NFT standard (looking into this, it seems it was Philippe Castonguay, Director of Product, with this impressive feat.)

Horizon secured $13.3m in funding for Skyweaver from the likes of Coinbase, BITKRAFT, and Polychain, among others, acting as more social proof for their competence.

Communication and Transparency

This is an unusual section for a review, but one I will never remove from our format. In an industry as fresh as blockchain gaming, there are rug pulls (and the term I’m trying to jam into the crypto vernacular, rug slips), and so whether a project is a solo indie dev or a well-funded studio, I will scrutinize their practices.

So far, Horizon and the Skyweaver team have been excellent. There is little to nothing I have wanted to know that I couldn’t get an answer for and their social media team is responsive. I am, of course, close with John of NFT Insider as we host the WAX Lyrical podcast together, and we were both approached independently about the game. We discussed this before our last podcast and noted how strong their communication is.

Final Thoughts

I have a friend who is pro-crypto and pro-blockchain gaming, but thinks that blockchain games are currently dreadful. While I disagree, I know what he means — they’re not at the industry standard for gaming. Much of the infrastructure for the implementation of blockchain usable by the mass market is still being built as the onboarding process isn’t good enough.

I am admittedly something of an apologist over the lacking quality and simplistic format that populates large swathes of the space, but I forgive all manner of shortcomings for the pioneering that is happening. That, and game item ownership and P2E is a breath of fresh air in a stagnating industry.

However, the first person I showed Skyweaver to, was this cynical friend. It is now the game I will roll out to the skeptics and point to when people argue blockchain games are merely gamified DeFi. It is a game that stands resolutely as the first in its class — a polished and complete project — and abstemious with its economy to boot. That is, the economy is not self-serving for the developers, and given that it uses a stable coin in lieu of its own token, absent of obvious greed.

I have nothing to add but this: if you enjoy TCG games, try Skyweaver. If blockchain technology and NFTs were removed from the game, it would still be worth playing, which I believe to be the hallmark of success in blockchain gaming

TG Score: 9/10

The post TG Reviews Skyweaver: The Best Blockchain Game So Far appeared first on Token Gamer.

I’m not sure what surprises me more, an officially licensed Play to Earn (P2E) game with NFTs for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, or that the NFT detractors aren’t having collective apoplexy. Whatever the case, we have a new P2E game to discuss and I have no earthly idea how it has flown under the radar.

Olympic Games Jam: Beijing 2022

Although the game is unexpected, there are some familiar names behind the project to those of us in the space. The game has been developed by nWay for nWayPlay which is a “platform for competitive multiplayer games with play-to-earn features using NFTs.” The more familiar name, however, is Animoca Brands who appear to be on a mission to become completely ubiquitous within blockchain gaming, and nWay is a subsidiary of them.

Olympic Games Jam is a competitive game where you join 15-19 other players to compete in various Winter Games events. These arcade-style matches reward the winners with digital NFT pins among other spoils.

Key Takeaways

• Officially licensed product by the Olympics
• Competitive: rewards only given to highest placed finishers
• Play to Earn through NFT rewards, boxes, and its own token (not yet available on DEX)
• On Binance Smart Chain blockchain.
• Substantial roadmap with more content, NFTs, events, and progression

There appear to be only two problems I have been able to find: firstly, the overlords at Apple are gatekeeping the app. Many developers (ourselves included) have battled with Apple over (even the mention of) NFTs within an app on their store. It appears no one is impervious to that and despite many outlets reporting Olympics Games Jam as being available on iOS, it is currently only on Android.

The second issue is the bizarre lack of exposure. Players are reporting that they cannot fill lobbies with 20 players, which is simply down to a lack of awareness for the project. The game launched on 3rd February and it took me until the 7th to hear about it! Perhaps we can help to remedy that!

The post The Official Olympic Games Has Launched a Play to Earn NFT Game appeared first on Token Gamer.

What is Dark Country? For a brief overview, take a look at our post from the 24th January which covered the new roadmap and includes a number of alluring features. What the Dark Country devs are building shows it’s far from a meek attempt to cash in on the surge of P2E popularity. As I wrote in the above article, “The next six months will set the trajectory for Dark Country’s future, and should they meet the markers they have set themselves, it’s difficult to imagine they aren’t in the conversation of the best blockchain games available.”

WAX Mainnet Landsplay Launched on 31st January 2022

Monday marked an important milestone for Dark Country and its players. The ability to finally use your WAX assets — lands, heroes, and cards — means you can put you can now tap into the utility of those Dark Country NFTs in your wallet.

While the implementation of your WAX heroes and cards is great news for players, it’s the land that will steal the limelight for many. Land in blockchain games has proven tremendously popular, particularly in metaverse titles, adding a new dimension to gameplay and another P2E mechanic.

There are many benefits to owning land in Dark Country, and I’d recommend reading the developers’ full breakdown from last year. While currently only available to test for a dummy currency, it will give you a sense of why you might want to be a Dark Country land baron.

In each of the four categories shown in the image above, I’ll pick my favorite feature:

In “Own, Rent, & Earn” I particularly like the concept of being able to “farm NFTs“. From “Build” I can’t look past the “Black Market” where you can buy and sell items and the owner gets a commission. The “Explore” side is the element with the most scope for the future to me, and running adventures has my attention. Finally, in “Create” you can “summon minions” — I don’t know what that means in this context, but I’m on board.

We have been following Dark Country’s progress for some time and in my completely unaffected opinion (they have not paid me a penny), Dark Country has the potential to be the best WAX game of the year.

Key Takeaways

• WAX Dark Country assets (land, heroes, and cards) now usable.
• Land will be in Test Mode on WAX mainnet, using the temporary TDM token, which is not a blockchain token, will be wiped at the end of the test, and replaced by the true Shadow Dime ($SDM) token.
• Land opens a sea of gameplay elements and P2E functionality.

The post Blockchain TCG, Dark Country, Launches Land and Assets on WAX Mainnet appeared first on Token Gamer.

Nearly three years later Space Misfits announce a major piece of news that could be the catalyst for future success: Animoca Brands as a key backer.

What Is Space Misfits?

Space Misfits is a 3D MMO built using the Enjin blockchain. It is free to play and Play to Earn (P2E). There is lots of PvE in the form of space exploration, mining, fighting NPCs, crafting, and trading. There is then the PvP side of the game, such as dogfights against other spacecraft.

One particularly interesting new addition to the game that is shaping up superbly: the Disembark module which is along the lines of a 3rd person shooter. There are also a host of other updates that are fleshing the game’s content out in all directions.

Space Misfits also recently launched their own BEP-20 token, $SMCW, which sold out incredibly quickly.

One of my primary concerns for the future of Space Misfits was always Enjin being Ethereum-based, which was also my main concern for Enjin as a gaming blockchain (one they have begun to solve with the Polkadot parachain, Efinity). Between Enjin JumpNet and Binance Smart Chain, Space Misfits also looks to have solved this problem.

I wrote a few larger articles on Space Misfits last year and while they feel outdated due to the rate at which Space Misfits work (no complaints!), they might be useful to catch you up a bit more and see more in-game footage.

March 2021: What Is Space Misfits? Blockchain Gaming Watch

October 2021: Space Misfits on Enjin Is Fast Becoming a Big Deal in Blockchain Gaming After Recent Updates

Who Is Animoca Brands?

Yesterday, Space Misfits announced Animoca Brands as a “key backer” in their project going forward. This is a huge boon for Space Misfits in particular given that, however talented, the developers are indie and that comes with freedom, but also difficulties. Space Misfits may have a small cult following, but to see the vast playerbase they want, it will take a little assistance.

Animoca Brands has been involved in gaming for some time, but they burst into the blockchain gaming space in 2021 as the space itself exploded. Animoca raised $221 million in investments in 2021, partnered with Bored Ape Yacht Club, worked on The Sandbox, their $SAND token, REVV Racing, F1® DELTA TIME, and more; they quickly established themselves as one of the central players in blockchain gaming.

Animoca Brands seems to have the golden touch in blockchain gaming, and now Space Misfits has them in their corner.

The post Space Misfits Announces Animoca Brands as Key Backer appeared first on Token Gamer.

How to Apply to the Illuvium Private Beta 1

To register for the beta, click here.

This closed beta test will not grant access to all facets of the game, seemingly focusing on the auto-battler module. As with all betas, there will be bugs and you are expected to report them — that’s the point of a beta.

What’s particularly interesting about this beta is the suggested requirements. The Illuvium team is looking for players with higher-end PCs and you are even requested to list your graphics card. The latter is typically a requirement so that developers can ensure the beta client finds its way in front of a wide array of computer specs, but it does seem that Illuvium is looking to utilize stronger graphic cards specifically in this test.

You will also be asked to list any relevant experience. This question will ordinarily be for the purpose of finding experienced beta testers, but there can be a myriad of motivations. With nearly 200,000 people in their Discord alone, it’s hard to imagine how they will sift through the exorbitant number of applications they’re going to get, never mind ones with mini covering letters!

What Is Illuvium?

Illuvium is a collectible NFT RPG in which gameplay is a mixture between the traditional open-world RPG experience, and a team-building auto-battler. The game is built on Ethereum, but utilizes Immutable X, the layer-2 solution to overcome transaction speeds, ceilings, and ensure zero gas fees. (To learn more about Immutable X, this article explains what it is, and this article explains why games are using it.)

Illuvium has its own token, $ILV, which is an ERC-20 standard and offers governance, liquidity mining, and vault distribution; they are explained here.

Illuvium has no firm release date, but as well as this private beta, an open beta is scheduled for Q1 2022.

The post How to Get Into the Illuvium Private Beta appeared first on Token Gamer.

What Is Dark Country?

At the heart of it, Dark Country is a trading card game on the WAX and Flow blockchain with a fantasy, gothic Western aesthetic. It is still in alpha testing at the moment — albeit available in early access to those interested — and it is headed for a big six months.

The reason I say “at the heart of it” is because Dark Country has more about it than most traditional TCGs and their latest roadmap shows exactly that. They have already boasted over $1m in secondary market volume and over 50,000 rounds of PvP, but that could well be dwarfed by what’s to come.

Between now and July this year, Dark Country will become Play to Earn (P2E), introduce weekly tournaments, add ownable land, add staking of resources, implement alliances between landowners and wars between alliances, offer PvE and roguelike adventure campaigns, crafting, and far more.

It’s difficult to imagine just how they will manage to release an entire game’s worth of features, but it looks as if they will. I recommend reading through their announcement post to see just how much I haven’t mentioned.

One foundational feature of everything going forward is the Shadow Dimes ($SDM) token being launched which will enable P2E gameplay, but also incentivize peripheral gameplay loops. The token is intrinsically linked with the implementation of land, which in itself is more complex than most games’ uses of NFT land. Landowners being able to band together in alliances and then declare war on other alliances could lead to some incredible, meta gameplay.

Closing Thoughts

TCGs utilizing blockchain technology have become commonplace and for good reason: collectibles, pack openings, and self-contained gameplay without the need for the intrusive signing of transactions. TCGs could scarcely be a better fit for blockchain technology, particularly in the foetal state that blockchain gaming is still in.

I had scheduled some time to cover Dark Country for our Blockchain Gaming Watch series, but after seeing what’s to come, I’m going to delay for a few months to get a better picture of what the completed project will look like.

The next six months will set the trajectory for Dark Country’s future and should they meet the markers they have set themselves, it’s difficult to imagine they aren’t in the conversation of the best blockchain games available.

The post Dark Country, NFT TCG on WAX and Flow, Reveals Revolutionary Plans appeared first on Token Gamer.