by 0xc3e3d13d98b84e1808c4145355c0cade20a2fc98 (LastSlice)
Should the following Tier 6: up to $240,000 USD, 6 months vesting (1 month cliff) grant in the Content Creator category be approved?
Abstract
At the highest level, the intent of the marketplace is to “virtualize” all of the Decentraland dApps and integrate them into the virtual world. Our team believes that a truly immersive experience begins by keeping as much of the Decentraland experience in-world as possible, including native DAO and Marketplace features, without requiring you to leave your Decentraland browser tab or client experience. Our goal is to have 100% of the market.decentraland.org functionality inside Decentraland and available freely to everyone, as well as to create a community hub for socialization and trade.
Grant size
240,000 USD
Beneficiary address
0x5F2ABE4d5313D6818e1eecEF8cCD172217e07e05
Email address
Description
Upon spawning into Decentraland, you find that a mysterious envelope has appeared in your inventory. You examine its exterior and notice a gold-tinged seal with a coin-shaped sigil embossed into it. Suddenly, the seal springs open and grains of sand fly out in a flurry around you. Moments later, after you’ve regained your senses, you realize that you’re in a completely new area of the world – somewhere massive, surreal, sandy, and bustling with life.
“Welcome, human, to the marketplace,” a peculiar voice calls from an alley behind you, “I see you received my letter. Come, this way…” they say as their wrinkly, bejeweled finger beckons you to follow.
Description
Full doc → https://docs.google.com/document/d/10gLDguQpjONSHXQZe6\_aO9DopUoWXMC3e4Jp4xzYAi8/edit?usp=sharing
The marketplace at its core will address three common-sense problems that have yet to be implemented into the Decentraland experience: trying on and purchasing Marketplace items as a User, showcasing created items to sell in Storefronts as a Creator, and participating in the DAO as a Voter. The Decentraland Foundation is hard at work on many areas for the platform, so it’s time the community steps up to help build out this much-desired in-game functionality.
The DCL platform has been around since 2018, yet we still purchase in-game items (clothing, land, names, nfts) and vote for change through our browsers rather than inside the world of Decentraland. The marketplace aims to provide an improved experience to users by offering a free way to purchase and sell items in-game without ever having to leave the game world or pull up a second window.
The Decentraland Foundation has put a lot of effort into creating such an amazing platform for us all to meet, create, and explore. However, they must also rely on the community for innovation given the scale of the world. Our proposal aims to take some burden off the Foundation by building out these in-game purchasing experiences while also building amazing immersive content for the entire community. Being transparent, yes, it is already possible to sell wearables on your land in Decentraland. However, doing so remains a technical feat for most that requires an advanced skill set as well as land to deploy to. Doing so also lacks cohesion across a broader Marketplace vision that the marketplace seeks to accomplish through its initial Phase I deliverables.
In addition to the core functionality of the marketplace, our proposal touches on two gamification points: content creation and user retention. Through quests, storylines, factions, level progression, secret unveilings, in-game rewards, event spaces, and additional core activations such as future minigame(s), the marketplace will provide Decentraland users with engaging content that continues to evolve in complexity over time.
The marketplace is proposed to be 20x20 parcels (400 total) in size, which is the same scale as Genesis Plaza — that’s 1,102,223 square feet, 25.3 acres, or just over 19 football fields. The proposed location of the marketplace will be one of the two existing duplicate Plazas within Decentraland. Having a duplicate plaza is a redundant use of 400 parcels and there is currently no dedicated team at the Foundation to support the ongoing development of Genesis Plaza or its periphery.
This proposal, along with our proven team of dedicated creators, plan to transform this duplicate plaza into the marketplace vision laid before you.
Specification
Phase 1 Deliverables
The Oasis Central Hub
The Oasis Central Hub, currently dubbed simply the Hub or Oasis, will be the primary entrypoint for anyone teleporting to the marketplace and is located at the absolute center of the plaza. It will be the largest piece of open air architecture and will act as the center for all marketplace-related content. Think of main online areas from Ralph Breaks the Internet and Ready Player One, or perhaps even RuneScape’s Grand Exchange for reference:
Aside from being a social center, the Hub will provide multiple “Info Desks” where Users will be able to obtain area information, see new item releases, and virtually search for wearables to discover, try on, and purchase from the Marketplace. Another part of the Hub will be the “Quest Desk” which will be touched on later. There will also be open gathering spaces for players to hang out, socialize, discuss trades/quests/etc. Additional planned interactivity includes various NPCs, custom signage, possible ‘secret’ quests, and a live visual $MANA feed to name a few.
The Marketplace Fields & Storefronts
The marketplace fields will be organized into 4 quadrants around the Oasis Hub that will be populated with virtual Storefronts for all Creators. At the time of initial launch, 2 of the fields will be publicly open with the other 2 fields reserved for future expansion. Storefronts will initially focus on displaying primary sale products, but we plan to support secondary sale displays at a later date.
Each field is huge – think of a massive flea market that looks like Dune meets Star Wars, or the RPO Columbus Stacks meets a Middle Eastern Marketplace type-of-feel). Each marketplace Field will have a unique look and feel while still blending with the surrounding context of the plaza. Here is our current reference imagery for the field vision:
Storefronts will be free. To be eligible for a Storefront, the associated Creator wallet address must have at least one creation published on the Marketplace for a minimum of 30 days, however this logic is subject to change based on community feedback. As more collections are introduced, more Storefronts will be dynamically added to the ever-expanding Marketplace Fields stacks. Over time, this will create an evolving form of dynamic architecture. Here’s our initial proof of concept that is still in development with a lot of room for expansion:
Storefronts will be modular in design and Marketplace Creators will have the ability to choose from various visual layouts and styles. Marketplace visitors will be able to walk between each Storefront to discover new creators, collections, and explore what else the Marketplace Fields will offer. Our current implementation for each Storefront takes advantage of openly-available data via The Graph to verify all Creator wallets.
Quests & Beyond
Speaking of additional content, aside from the core goals of the Marketplace, we also have numerous immersive experiences planned that we believe will bring Users back again and again to streamline ongoing engagement and a sense of progress (similar to other P2E games in Decentraland, however, this will not be a P2E game). There will be reward and leveling systems to incentivize further engagement within the Marketplace that will go hand in hand with quests:
For Phase I, there are 4 public quests planned:
Please read the Google Doc for the full breakdown (can’t fit it here!)
Personnel
Together, the Last Slice development team has successfully executed large-scale builds in collaboration with incredible AAA-brands such as Samsung, Playboy, and Snapple. At our team’s core we love creating and solving problems, so this project is all about getting back to our community roots and innovating for everyone’s benefit, not just a brand.
3D
Archonomous - Design Lead
Blacknode
Cyclopa
Kirzoz
Meshroom
Naz
Paladin
Sango
Trifox
Timenotspace
Programming
Lastraum
Unknower
Dogman
Murpheus
Scene Audio
Raja The Tiger
Unknower
Kirzoz
Paladin
NFT Authr
Voice Audio
Murpheus
Kirzoz
Unknower
Tengu
YouMack
Mease
Proposal Design
Lastraum
Archonomous
AndyNFT
Tengu
Social Media
AndyNFT
YouMack
Nicole Nixon
Maryana
Tobik
Project Management
YouMack
Maryana
Nicole Nixon
Discord Support
AndyNFT
Unknower
YouMack
Maryana
Video Edition/Promotion
Trifox
Tobik
Maryana
Conceptual Design
Nicole
Archonomous
Naz
Roadmap and milestones
Projects of this scope have many parallel horizontal paths of development, and estimating precise milestones has proven cumbersome on past projects, especially when discovery is part of the process. However, Last Slice has never failed to deliver on-time and over-expectation, and we intend to maintain that track record.
With that said, we have every intention to be as transparent as possible throughout the development process. We plan to have a public Discord server for the scene setup, as well as to have it be monitored by familiar community members. We plan to have weekly live sessions with our builders behind the scenes and voice chats of our modeling and building progression. We as a group will regularly communicate our status through social channels like Twitter and Instagram, and are open to receiving input from the community at any point along the way. Progress and updates will be officially documented moving forward to display the history and growth of the Marketplace. This will allow for the community to follow along and stay in touch with the new developments on the build. Those of us at Last Slice find this to be crucial given that open community dialogue is a driving force inherent to Web3.
Budget Breakdown
3D Design & Modeling - 40% or $96,000
Programming - 40% or $96,000
Audio Programming - 5% or $12,000
Quest Team - 8% or $19,200
Soft Skills - 7% or $16,800
*Soft skills includes discord, social media, video editing, proposal design, PM