The Blockchain has only recently graduated from serious financial applications to gaming. But, so far, we have seen little more than collectible pets and lotteries.
Without naming specifics, let’s be honest: Collecting pictures of virtual cats has been fun but that type of fun wears off quickly, very quickly in fact.
What gamers really want to see are cool graphics, fun characters, strategy and action. Most serious gamers would not use the word game to describe the current breed of entertainment applications on the Blockchain. Some are best described as collectibles, similar to baseball cards, others could be classed as simple gambling sites.
That’s not to say collecting kitties on the Blockchain was not an important step. Far from it, these early attempts at “crypto fun” have been eye openers and keep providing valuable lessons on the crypto ecosystems. However, is time to move beyond this now and look at proper gaming.
CryptoFights is here to do just this. For the first time, a video game combines unique and customizable 3D characters, fighting it out in a virtual arena, with the transparent and open technology of the Blockchain.
The Game
Heroes
CryptoFights heroes are 3D role play style characters, each with their unique features.They are created with their unique features by their owner making an initial investment and are stored as a digital asset on the Ethereum blockchain. Creating a hero has a cost similar to buying a traditional video game and is the only investment a player has to make to start playing.
Players choose gender and race (human, dwarf or elf) when creating their hero. They also name their hero and select physical aspects, such as style and color of hair and beard or skin and eye color. Heroes also have three key configurable parameters: strength, vitality and agility. 15 points can be split into three parameters, with some slight range differences between races. Players should think about these values, depending on their fighting styles. For example, agility influences accuracy and damage with precision weapons and how likely a hero is to dodge enemy attacks. In contrast, a heavy battle ax requires strength. Increased vitality can be seen as an investment in the future of a hero as it increases hit point upgrades when moving up a level. This means the hero will be harder to kill in future at the expense of strength and agility to start with.
Another aspect to take into account is the race bonus. Humans, for example, are awarded a small increase in all individual parameters, whereas dwarfs have a larger bonus on vitality.
These are the trade-offs players must think about, making it important to devise a strategy.
Marketplace
Unique customized heroes are cool, but no battle-worn hero would be complete without weapons and armor. Therefore, heroes can be improved by obtaining additional items, aimed at making the game more interesting. These tradeable accessories increase a hero’s attack or defense capability.
Although each hero is equipped with a series of items when created, these may be lost in battle and can be replenished in a marketplace. The marketplace also allows items to be sold, creating an in-game accessories economy. Players can make money by selling items won in battles in the marketplace.
Human Knight
Battle Arena
Heroes have value, just like collectible cats, but they can do much more: They can enter the arena and fight in battles, gaining experience on winning a fight. They can also win items off their opponents. If they do well in the arena they can gain strength and move up the game’s levels. A hero’s level and fighting statistics determine its value as a digital asset.
When heroes enter the arena to fight one-on-one, players take turns in rolling a dice, as they would in a role-playing game. The dice rolling is weighted with the heroes’ ability scores and battle equipment to determine the outcome of each move. An attack may inflict damage on the opponent, reducing hit points, or flat out miss the target. This eventually leads to either victory or defeat. The winner is awarded an item of the opponent and gains experience points. These items can be replenished in the marketplace.
Of course, successful heroes increase in value, but players have an additional incentive to hold on to their heroes and improve their game skills. Players can stake a bounty which is claimed by the battle winner. The stronger a hero gets, through experience or adding accessories, the more money it can earn its owner. Staking a bounty is optional and players can just play for items, fun or honor.
Blockchain Gaming = Fair Play
CryptoFights runs on the Ethereum blockchain. This is achieved by several smart contracts interacting with each other. Battles are performed in a gaming contract that interacts with the hero contract. This means heroes live and fight on the immutable, transparent and decentralized network the Blockchain provides. Decentralizing gaming on the Blockchain has a series of advantages:
Transparency
Fighting battles through a smart contract on Ethereum is an open process, executed through transactions anyone may trace. In fact, the battle outcome is validated by cryptocurrency mining. There is no way to cheat without being caught. This applies not only to players, but also to the providers of the game. Battles cannot be “rigged by the house”. Have you heard of insider trading? What about “insider gaming”, especially when a bounty is at stake? This cannot happen in CryptoFights.
Digital Assets
Heroes are represented as non-fungible tokens on the Blockchain. This makes them unique and unforgeable, allowing players to own something of value, which can improve and gain more value.
Game economics
The most well-known property of the Blockchain is the existence of a cryptocurrency. In CryptoFights heroes are paid for in Ether, Ethereum’s digital currency. Players also win bounties in Ether and trade accessories in Ether. This is done transparently with a simple browser plugin. How could it be easier to take part in an in-game economy?
Dwarf Battleaxe
How to Play
Players access Cryptofights through the CryptoFights website. In order to play on the Ethereum blockchain players need to acquire Ether, which is easy enough to get from exchanges, such as Coinbase.
Interaction with the blockchain is achieved easily through the Metamask browser plugin, which is an easy to install and safe browser gateway to the world of Ethereum. Players can now communicate transparently with the game’s smart contracts on the blockchain.
Roadmap
CryptoFights is about to launch in its first iteration. In the first phase of the rollout, players will purchase heroes and customize them, getting a fun and unique 3D digital asset in the process.
This will be followed by the ability to purchase additional items for the heroes before hero accessories trading will be enabled on the marketplace. Not long after that, the arena will open, allowing players to let their heroes fight entertaining one-on-one battles.
I don’t know about you, but I am ready to forget about kitties and get serious about crypto gaming. Signing up for beta use is now possible at cryptofights.io See you in the arena!