After the Wombat wallet for the EOS blockchain, Chainwise has now launched a first version of its fighting game Chain Clash. The game is full of celebrity appearances, gives each player one free avatar and allows everybody to sell their game character for a profit. We had a talk with game producer Sebastian Reinholz from game studio Chainwise about their newly launched game. What sets Chain Clash apart, and what can we expect in the near future?
For those who aren't familiar with Chain Clash. In this game, powered by the EOS blockchain, players use their own collectibles, which in this case are so-called Avatars. These characters have attributes, experience and health. Avatars gain experience and strength by training, or fighting against other player-owned avatars.
Each avatar belongs to a crypto-inspired clan, like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, EOS and Tron. Players get to fight in competitions and challenges to achieve glory for their clan, and earn some rewards for themselves of course.
Chain Clash can be launched from the official website, or by launching the app within the Wombat wallet on Android and iOS.
Chain Clash is the first out of a series of games in which gamers will be able to use the same avatars. Reinholz was quick to emphasize that Chain Clash isn't a traditional fighting game. Before players send their avatar into a clash, they get to pick the fighting strategy. After that they can watch the battle unfold. (editorial note: this feature will be added to the live version before April 13th) As a result players don't have direct control over the avatars, but instead use a tactical approach towards combat.
"However, we’re already working on a full-fledged 3D fighting game like Tekken and Street Fighter, where players will be able to use their avatars as the fighters", German game producer Sebastian Reinholz told us.
By training and competing players can gain experience points and level up their avatar. When an Avatar levels up, its attributes will increase in a predetermined way based on its genetics. For example, a character from the Bitcoin clan easily gains resilience, but has difficulty gaining strength. This obviously is a reference to the current state of the cryptocurrency.
In addition players will earn a shard after leveling up, allowing players to slightly boost a certain attribute. Fighting is the most important way to level up an Avatar, but players can also use the training mechanic. This is a passive and idle way for players to work on their avatar, given yet another option.
Despite being an idle game mechanic, Reinholz underlined the importance of training:
"Not training even has a double negative effect: you won’t get the attribute boost from training and leveling up your avatar will have a slightly smaller effect as well. This happens because the higher your attributes are, the more you will benefit from leveling up", he explained.
Sebastian Reinholz, game producer on Chain Clash
The developers use level-based match making and a level cap for the avatars to make sure everybody has a fun gaming experience. According to Reinholz this way 'the gap between rookies and veterans can't grow infinitely'.
Like many other blockchain-powered games, players can buy limited edition game assets. In the case of Chain Clash there are avatars based on famous people from the cryptocurrency space, like for example, EOS co-founder Brock Pierce, crypto and privacy evangelist John McAfee, and SenseChat co-founder Crystal Rose. These characters are limited in supply and come in different rarities. The version of the mythic-rarity is a one-of-a-kind avatar.
Even though these characters come with unique strengths and visuals, they aren't required to play the game. Game studio Chainwise didn't want to force players to spend money upfront before ever touching the game.
"Chain Clash is free-to-play, which is really important to us."
Sebastian Reinholz, game producer on Chain Clash
Like a standard free-to-play game players can progress through the game without ever paying. However, some consumables needed for health and training are required in bigger quantities. Players can always buy these from the in-game store.
However, there's one distinction to be made between for example mythic celebrity avatars and the common avatars everybody gets for free. Common avatars have a maximum level of 60, while mythic ones can go all the way up to 140. In addition higher rarity avatars are generally able to collect more points during challenges and competitions, which will benefit their clan and the player rewards.
Chainwise is already planning to announce more celebrity avatars in the near future. "We have a bunch of celebrity avatars in the pipeline, [...] unfortunately we can’t give away who the next ones will be right now", the game producer said when asked.
However, Sebastian Reinholz did tell us which personalities he would love to add to the game. Among them are Ethereum's iconic founder Vitalik Buterin, the most controversial person in the crypto space, Craig S. Wright, and Tron leader Justin Sun.
"We'd just need to add Steem as a clan, and the clashes can start!", Reinholz said jokingly. Sun recently bought the Steemit social platform, and with it claimed ownership over the Steem blockchain. As a result the Steem community protested. They claimed the takeover wasn't the right thing to do. What followed was a whole lot of internet drama.
Chain Clash is a free-to-play game and players get an avatar for free when they start playing. Gamers can increase the power of their avatar, and try to sell it at a profit. However, Chainwise as a company also needs to make money from their game. According to Reinholz it's important to think properly about revenue and monetization options of a video game.
"We’re never monetizing on gameplay, but only on game assets. Meaning that players should always be able to get the full experience, even without paying a dime", he explained. The game studio is using three pillars of monetization: the in-game store, avatar auctions and the marketplace.
Players who decide to buy in-game items to speed up their game progress or an extra generic avatar can do this in the shop. In addition the studio is doing regular avatar auctions for celebrity-based characters. Lastly, players can always buy or sell an avatar on the marketplace, and the studio takes a small fee from those transactions. However, the developers will use most of the marketplace revenues to fund prize pools and rewards for in-game competitions.
The release of Chain Clash is just a first step on a much bigger journey. The developers from the German game studio want to compete with their game at the very top level of blockchain gaming. Chainwise is already planning a bunch of major updates, but for now the studio focuses on two major aspects of the game.
Firstly, the studio wants to bring in a lot more celebrities and clans into the game. Then they want to create major competitions in the form of seasons. These will be temporary competitions, including tournaments and other challenges. Secondly, they want to create their own 3D fighting game. "It's scheduled for launch next year", Sebastian Reinholz said.
Chain Clash is playable in your browser, and by downloading Wombat and launching the integrated application.
