[DAO:4jabiwu] Expanding Ethermon District RPG Play-to-Earn Gameplay [Guilds, Quests & PvP]

[dao]

by 0xee9a8b81b85e23c101776a8580d73002dc4d8915

Should the following Tier 6: up to $240,000 USD, 6 months vesting (1 month cliff) grant in the Gaming category be approved?

Abstract

Ethermon is a play-to-earn game ecosystem, revolving around dynamic “Mon” NFTs. It launched as the first NFT battle game on Ethereum in 2017.

When the original team decided to end development, the most passionate players stepped up and took over the project in 2019. This has been a community-driven project ever since.

We have been building in Decentraland for close to 2 years now, aiming to deliver Decentraland’s first in-depth, MMORPG inspired game. We have made a TON of progress.

This would be our second grant. The first grant, which allowed us to expand the team and deliver the features for our Alpha 2.0 version, can be found here:

Expanding and Upgrading Ethermon District Gameplay

Grant size

240,000 USD

Beneficiary address

0xEe9A8b81B85e23c101776a8580D73002Dc4d8915

Email address

eric@ethermon.io

Description

Our team has dedicated close to 2 years now building the Ethermon District into the best RPG experience possible — focusing on gameplay before monetization. Since the beginning of our previous grant, we have not sold ANY in-game content within Decentraland.

The funding requested would allow us to continue to scale to achieve the ambitious goals detailed in the Beta 1.0 section of our roadmap below. Now that we have completed our first closed “gameplay loops” and base mechanics, we are ready to deliver on-chain paid content, P2P monetization and link it all to our tokenomics. These features would create sustainability for the project.

Jump into our District Plaza at [76,51]. Claim free Mons to get started. Check out the Player House at [79, 46]. Explore the custom UI’s for inventories, storage, changing Mons on a team, changing battle moves on a Mon, burning loot for essence & crafting. Visit the Forest Biome at [86, 51] and defeat enemies, level up, gather loot & resources, earn in the weekly Leaderboard Event & summon bosses.

Here is a screen capture of me with one of the Mythic Mons: https://imgur.com/n8vR0Jb

Specification

We launched the pre-alpha version of the Ethermon District in April 2021. We launched the Alpha 1.0 version between April 2021 and March 2022. We launched the Alpha 2.0 version between March 2022 and now (very much thanks to our previous grant).

Below are some of the key milestones achieved in Alpha 2.0 (post-grant):

Alpha 2.0

The Alpha 2.0 version of Ethermon in DCL expanded on Alpha 1.0’s base by adding optimization, social aspects, earning potential & progression.

In addition to the highlights below, we also pushed many balancing adjustments, bug fixes & code improvements.

1. Major District Optimizations - we completely reworked our code, assets & load strategies to make the experience smoother for our players.

2. WebSocketServer - We added WSS not only so that our many scenes can work together seamlessly (having your Mon follow you across scene boundaries, keep real time stats when switching scenes, etc.), but also so that you can see other player’s Mons! WSS is something we will continually update as we add more and more social experiences, and the game naturally transitions from single player → multiplayer.

3. Weekly P2E Leaderboard Events - each week we have been hosting a weekly leaderboard event where our users defeat enemies in turn based/skill-based battles and earn points based on enemies defeated.

4. Added 117 New Mons - Our goal is to add every single Ethermon into DCL - fully modeled/animated, with custom move sets, probabilities, skill points, etc. We are constantly adding more and more (there are 300+), but since the time of our last proposal we have added 117 new ones!

5. Complete UI Upgrade - We have upgraded all of our UI. Load times are smoother and the HUDs are much more optimized. Some examples of upgrades include HUDs for: changing your Mon team, switching Mons within a team, backpack for loot, storage for excess loot, switching battle moves on a Mon, seeing real time point stats (individual), seeing real time point stats (leaderboard), burning loot for essence & also crafting.

6. Crafting – This was Part 1 of our biggest update yet. All of the loot you collect from battling can be used to craft “Equipment”. Each equipment has its own crafting recipes and unique benefits. With 8 different “types” of equipment, you can attach them to your Mons to receive stats boosts and custom buffs. In addition, you can craft items, that when combined, allow you spawn 1 of 6 different bosses. See below.

7. Bosses – This was Part 2 of our biggest update yet. In Biome 1 (first battle area in the district) there are 6 different bosses that can be spawned, each with custom stats, elements, move sets, loot and models/textures. Bosses drop extremely rare equipment and are difficult to defeat. They have been built in a way that allows us to quickly and easily deliver bosses for each of the subsequent Biomes, which will create a natural progression for the players.

8. Biome 2 – All of the models, textures, enemies and loot have already been completed. We are ready to push, but were waiting to release updates 6 & 7 above, which we just pushed at the end of August.

9. Consumable Items – Similarly, consumable items have been developed and are ready for release in the crafting menus and our soon to be “item shops”.

Personnel

Core Team

Our core team includes game design, metaverse, and blockchain industry experts.

• Eric (EB), Co-Founder and 3D Lead
• Idon, Co-Founder and Blockchain Tech Lead
• Jamie, COO
• Nycolas, Lead Game Designer & Front-End Developer
• Inihility, Senior Full Stack Developer
• Juxton, Front-End Developer
• Mohib (Mariana44), Back-End Developer/Smart Contract Developer
• Khushal, Full-Stack Developer
• Hetal, Junior Front-End Developer
• Polygonal Minds (Lau and Hugo), 3D Artists
• Arpesh, 3D Artist
• Javid, 2D Artist

Roadmap and milestones

Q4 2022 / Q1 2023 — Beta 1.0

We are ready to move towards the Beta version of development, which will truly make the game play-to-earn, social & expansive, as well as create monetizable gameplay for serious players, casual players, F2P players, guilds & collectors/whales alike.

Our first versions of the game created a base layer and a closed gameplay loop. Along with further optimizations, balance changes, more Mons & expandable progression, our goal is now to add content that will make the game sustainable, as well as create an economy for all types of players.

Milestone Goals:

Guilds - create a guild, recruit members, upgrade a sharable guild “house”, compete against other guilds

Quests - both for individuals and for groups. Complete guild “quests” to unlock content & speed up progression

Multiplayer PvE and PvP - fight enemies & bosses together as a guild. Compete in guild tournaments

P2P Monetization - buy/sell/trade items and resources in world (think OSRS Grand Exchange on an individual & guild level)

Player Skills - outside of battling and leveling up Mons, progress individual gathering & crafting skills

Additional Biomes - we will add additional “Biomes” to create natural progression, more depth, and higher level content

Our game has been largely single-player focused, with all earning potential being on the individual level. To truly create an in-game economy, we need to deliver a multiplayer experience with shared incentives and earning

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

[TheCryptoTengu]

Ive been invested in Ethermon since 2019 they have made so much money and have got multiple grants. Yet still a busted build and cant use have my purchases. We have seen more development and give back from 60k grant proposal awarded teams.Have multiple mons can not even use in world or battle with. This is the equivalency to malingering except asking for money over and over. Wont get any further support from me. Really dont see why people would continue to fund this.

[TheCryptoTengu]

yet only 2 id expect a ton more from a og nft collection and team

[EB-Ethermon.io]

Hey @TheCryptoTengu. The white box loading issue is a very recent bug. Waiting 30-60 seconds it does load, we are looking into that one. Also, all of those Mons you are showing in your collection actually are playable. You need to go to the “Player House” and select the Change Team model. There you can swap out the Mons on your Active Team which is limited to 3 at a time and what you’re looking at in your screenshot.

Edit: Player House is located at [79,46]

[EB-Ethermon.io]

Was trying to chat with you in world. There’s over 150+ Mons that are currently playable in DCL. We finish about 3 new ones every week.

[TheCryptoTengu]

After running around and getting more information. Im actually gonna support this. I forget we are upgrading the sdk so this is probably why the wonky boxs and loading issues. This might actually improve and be faster with the new SDK once things are finished. There’s a lot more going on here then meets the eye.

Some of my comments are based on lack of understanding and information. Sorry about that sorry I blew up. You can indeed change your team as EB has said.

its nice to see my mon from 2019 can be used. Also getting some explanation from a team member. There is also crafting with the fur and other stuff along with a storage system. Also a break down system to create essence. So lvl up by fighting then collect drops to make things. Seems also a skill/move changing system. This doesnt seem to be as easy to integrate as maybe some the other current builds going on. Also they have plans to implement the evolved or upgraded forms of the mons. While running around seen a number named player who was really excited for this feature. Seems the current team is trying and has not just been slacking off. I can also see my other mons running around not just the basic one once switched.

I think there is just a lot of misunderstanding and lack of information maybe around this project. I cant be the only one. Why im typing all this. This seems like it still has a way to go but maybe this new team can move it forward. With the evolved forms and making info more available. Personally I do like seeing people from polygonal minds on the team. Ill change my vote to yes im interested to see how community responds. I know also there is Ethermon Sunday that has a decent following. They also partnered with MetaKey in the past for a drop. I would like to see some type wearable in the future or redemption system for drops as a hey youve killed this many or gathered this many materials heres a reward like a lot these other games. Also in the center there is a leaderboard for those who chase score.

[EB-Ethermon.io]

Thanks for the feedback @TheCryptoTengu, much appreciated. That was me you were chatting with in world haha.

If you click on the button below the backpack icon you can actually see a running count of enemies you’ve defeated during each week (points you’ve gathered based on level difference of enemies) that updates in real time. We will be adding lifetime stats here, as well as quests (different progression based goals with unlockable content when completed, for individuals and for groups). This is what we are working on next along with guilds. I think including wearables as quest rewards and/or craftables is a good idea. We have played around with wearables for the Mons themselves - we determined that changing the actual GLBs would be too load intensive, and there are way too many different Mon shapes to make it work, but we CAN add things that follow along with/hover behind or below the Mon, like auras and mini pets. These can be NFTs as well.

I can understand the confusion with the gameplay at first. I think we can really benefit from adding a huge sign right at the spawn point that explains everything and where to go, including a big list of Mons that are currently usable. Will do this immediately.

If anyone has any questions at all, feel free to reach out on discord (EB | Ethermon#2725). I live on there.

[Shiny]

I started playing Ethermon last summer (2021), I was grinding and killing grass slimes each day and collecting silver tickets. They had no utility at that point, but later it was possible to use those tickets for spinning the lucky wheel. From the (un)lucky wheel I got some resources which didn’t have utility in the game
Basically I spent the summer grinding and got resources which can’t be used.

I love the idea of having NFT pets (Mons) and battling with them, the concept of the game is truly awesome! But I haven’t seen much activity in Ethermon district, it is rarely between popular places in DCL Explorer.

I would suggest to design some high-quality Ethermon themed wearables (DCL wearables for avatars, not wearables for Mons) and implement wearable crafting as HIGHEST PRIORITY. I think this would attract a lot more activity to the game.

[EB-Ethermon.io]

Collecting the tickets did enter you into the raffle each week that we held for several months, from memory we gave away ~200 Mons in prizes during this event, plus all of the loot & Mon DXP that you accumulated, but I understand your points.

That being said, those resources will be used for the Guilds mentioned above, specifically for the construction/upgrading of Guild “Houses”. The intent is to give a big jump start in progress to users who grinded in the past.

A lot of people have been mentioning wearables as potential crafting recipes & quest rewards, we are highly considering this and agree. We are also ready to start really ramping up our marketing, especially with the creation of Guilds, as we are building it in a way that will be attractive for whales/collectors, FTP players, and everything in between, and moving large portions of earning to a “multiplayer” setting.

[Bmark]

Hi,

I’ve been playing this game since July of 2021. I started with the free mons with additional(NFT’s) provided in the promotion the Snobbit and Hambrisk and from there started to study the game and learn the mechanics. With the help of the community members and the leaders as well I was able to thrive and learn ways on how to improve my collection. I made my first purchase around February for $5(I still have that NFT in my collection) won some battles(2D ladders) started to gain momentum and from there grew my collection from 5 to 10 then 20 and now I have more than 100 mons(NFT) it also helped greatly that I was able to consistently be one of the top players in the 3D version in Decentraland. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty but I played and grinded. If I am to describe this game it is a cross between Pokemon and Ragnarok it has the collection features with the MMO dynamics which is to be honest very addictive and fun to play. We need to support this game because we have come to love and enjoy playing the game not just for the possible earnings it gives but the enjoyment of adding more to our collection and having our friends play with us and looking forward to playing with more players from Decentraland Metaverse. More Power!!

[Eibriel]

Voting Yes. Ethermon has a great potential, and the work done so far looks amazing.

I would like to hear some words on how to become sustainable on the long term tho. What is you plan to attract more users, and generate income?

[yemel]

This project already got a grant in the past, we can not support them for ever.

[EB-Ethermon.io]

@yemel Yes, I referenced our previous grant at the beginning of the proposal. Not trying to hide that at all, we are a very transparent team.

What we are aiming to build has more depth than any game that currently exists in DCL. We are going for a true MMORPG-inspired experience, taking lots of inspiration from OSRS. This size of build does take time, and we want to do it right. We have not sold anything in-world since the beginning of our previous grant. We wanted to build a strong base layer and add as many gameplay mechanics as possible first so that the in-game content we do plan to monetize will have clear, recognizable value immediately. Maybe this was a mistake, but we believe it was the most honest and best approach for this category of game.

Keep in mind, the typical MMO has many many layers; they build out the entire world and all the layers first before releasing anything to the public. We are in a unique situation where we are trying to build an MMO-type game piece by piece while releasing entertaining content along the way. In our opinion, it did not make sense to push paid content before the base layers and some of the more advanced features were completed, as some content simply doesn’t make sense without the rest of gameplay loop.

One example of many:

why buy Mons if Mons cant spawn/fight/progress? → cant fight without turn-based battle mechanics/progress without full leveling/stats system-> need battle moves/ability to change & upgrade moves → need enemies to fight/balancing → why fight enemies? → need loot/loot tables → why loot? → need crafting → why craft? → need higher level content/and ways to speed up progression → why progress at all? → need earning/competition/recognition

A lot of the feedback we have received is that one grant is enough and a project should be able to kickstart on one grant alone. This is a fair point, but like I said, this level of depth and size of build takes time. We have completed the base layer mechanics and are starting development on the really exciting stuff that will be built on top - including guilds, multiplayer PvE and PvP battles on WSS, P2P item exchange, and earning potential/questing in a group environment. We were surprised to see the lack of support from major VP holders, we have dedicated significantly more resources than were included in the previous grant and continued to expand the team, but nonetheless we will keep pushing forward, even if the chance of this proposal passing is slim. Personally, when I joined the DCL community in 2017, the first thing I and many other have thought is “how cool would it be to have OSRS in DCL”. That is our aim here and what we will build.

We lost about 5-6 weeks working on optimizations and juggling new SDK versions since March, but to date we have completed:

Turn based battling, 160+ playable Mon characters, 500+ custom battle moves, 100+ loot items, 50+ craft-able equipment, 8 different enemies, 6 different bosses, WSS, leveling, real-time stats, backpack inventory system, additional storage inventory system, burning loot, changing/swapping moves, switching teams, switching mons on a team, leaderboards, weekly earning competitions, along with custom UI’s for each. Not to mention all of the optimizations, balancing changes & bug fixes along the way. Plus, we have built the code in a way where the progressive content is easily expansive; can release additional Mons, enemies, bosses, biomes (higher level content), loot and craft-able equipment quickly.

With the release of guilds & multiplayer-based earning we will have the pieces to push a full in-world P2P economy (think OSRS Grand Exchange like I mentioned), along with paid content, at which point we believe we can reach sustainability. We have also hesitated to do big marketing pushes simply because we were not ready. We have began discussing with the DCLF to get ready for a big push, along with these new exciting features (targeted at all types of players, especially FTP grinders which is very important for a guild-economy to function).

One other major feedback we got is that users simply don’t understand the depth of what we have already built, and that it was not clear when first loading in (just see above comments). We agreed with this. In response to that, we immediately built and NPC system, along with tons of signage, guides and new player on-boarding that we are ready to release on this upcoming Monday/Tuesday.

[EB-Ethermon.io]

Hi @Eibriel thank you for the kind words.

Like I mentioned in my response to yemel below, first we wanted to focus on all of the base layer mechanics and close as many gameplay loops as possible, so that paid in-game content will have clear, recognizable value immediately upon release.

The game has been entirely single player to date, releasing content and new mechanics piece by piece. Now that all of those pieces and ALL of the base mechanics have been completed, we are ready to move on to guilds - which we believe will be the best way to onboard new users as well as shift to a sustainable model and really expand user earning potential (which is what really gets people excited).

Guilds are being built in a way where earning will happen at all levels - from whales/collectors/guild owners all the way down to FTP grinders (which are necessary for a guild/in-game economy to function).

Now that we are at a point where the main/base gameplay loops make sense, we can expand the progressive content; only have 1 biome released to date, we will push another 5 with their own unique enemies, bosses, loot, craft-able equipment and unique features (think beginning game content → end game content, and everything in between).

With this additional depth, there will be a ton of content for guilds to unlock together and progress as a group. This will lead into guild vs guild tournaments, group competitions, multiplayer battling and questing, and ultimately a P2P in-game exchange for all loot/items/equipment. With increased DAU and the ability to see other players Mons with WSS, there is also a market for “flexing” (i.e. rare/unique skins, titles, banners, Mons, etc.). At this point the possibilities for paid content can go in any direction if we do it right.

Also, now that we are ready to heavily market alongside with DCL, we will aim to significantly increase DAU. If we can do that, an in-game economy will form. With an in-game economy and Mons/items/equipment that are desirable, paid content can be introduced since it will have clear value immediately. This is the short summary, but it is what we are aiming for to get to true sustainability.

We think DCL needs this type of game and we are going to build it.

[palewin]

Hi Ethermon Team! How are you?

Some questions to give more clarity to the community to vote:

• Could you give us clearly defined and measurable outcomes in your roadmap?
• Could you give us a monthly detail about how you plan to spend the budget?

Thanks in advance!

[dao]

Expanding Ethermon District RPG Play-to-Earn Gameplay [Guilds, Quests & PvP]

This proposal is now in status: REJECTED.

Voting Results:

• Yes 42% 1,971,954 VP (68 votes)
• No 58% 2,685,944 VP (36 votes)