[DAO:c2540f7] PLAYVERSE CONTINUATION - ARCADE GAMES & EARN NFT's

Governance
1

by 0xe17aeafd1d18b455232c92b77b03d042e1877e12 (PlayVerse)

Should the following Higher Tier grant in the In-World Content category be approved?

Abstract

PlayVerse is a playground lobby inside Decentraland, deployed on a 2x2 square land (located at 36,8), packed with lots of fun, functionalities & events for any player to enjoy and interact with other players. We have already developed a successful season 1 game (9th of January 2023 and will end on 6 of March 2023), “UFO Attack”.

Play Link: Play Verse - Decentraland

Gameplay link: PlayVerse gameplay demo (36,8)

The season 1 last for 8 weeks, during that time we achieved:

  • Over 1200+ unique players
  • 170K+ games played
  • AVG session time of over 48 minutes
  • 100+ unique inland MANA purchases

We are sure that our project aligns with the goals Decentraland.

Grant size

60,000 USD

Beneficiary address

0xe17AeaFd1d18B455232c92B77B03D042E1877e12

Email address

contact@tarkinstudios.com

Description

PlayVerse is a place where users can discover the metaverse in a fun and engaging way through free-to-play games. Our platform not only offers enjoyable experiences that allow players to interact with others, but also serves as an introduction to the world of NFTs and the limitless possibilities of virtual reality. Right now, users join us and explore this new era of gaming, while earning a variety of prizes and wearables.

At PlayVerse we believe that our project aligns with the goals of Decentraland, which is to promote innovation and create new opportunities for the Decentraland community. We are excited about the potential of our project and the impact we are having on the Decentraland platform.

Back in 2021 PlayVerse started with the mission to transform users into passionate gamers in Decentraland. We purchased a land and began studying on how to create our own vision of the Metaverse, and deploy incredible experiences for the Decentraland community. Then, in 2022, we launched our successful “UFO Attack” game very much aligned with Decentraland’s vision of the metaverse, and our community quickly grew.

Goals already Achieved:

  • Top 5 most video game plays in DCL
  • Top 3 most spent time inland in DCL
  • Top 3 average time per session in DCL
  • Top 5 land entries in DCL
  • Top 5 most visited land in DCL
  • Over 1200+ unique players
  • 170K+ games played
  • AVG session time of over 48 minutes
  • Growing social media communities (Twitter, Discord, Twitch, etc.)
  • Revenue has been generated each month from in-game purchases, wearable royalties
  • NFT prices up to 500 MANA at marketplace.
  • Fully integrated NFT-based wearables with functionality.
  • Released the PlayVerse Games NFT collection
  • Released 8 NFT alien body parts (4 mythic & 4 unique)
  • Super PlayVerse cape
  • Farming game experience
  • In-game leaderboards
  • Multi-user lobby experience
  • Easy-to-use UI
  • Fun gaming quiz games with rewards
  • Unique NFT in game utilities
  • Back-end/server infrastructure for performance and better internal testing.

*Source: https://dcl-metrics.com/

We created this content with joy & passion, hard work, and dedication, without any grant, only using our limited resources.

Our vision for following seasons is to introduce new multiplayer mechanics, new categories of challenges, and more NFT prizes to incentivize the DCL community. With this grant, we aim to invest in developing the next season’s games, improving our infrastructure, and expanding our team to provide even better gaming experiences for the community.

With this grant, we aim to invest in developing our season 2 & 3 games, improving our infrastructure, and expanding our team to provide even better gaming experiences including mechanics, new categories of challenges, and more NFT prizes to incentivize the actual community, and bring new players into DCL.

Specification

Although PlayVerse is a single-player game experience, our lobby has become a social hub where people can feel part of a gaming club chatting and sharing experiences with each other. With the next roadmap, we want to encourage multiplayer gameplay.

We would like to add some mini-games in the lobby, so active users can rush their way to the top of the leaderboards with boosters and in game advantages.

KingKong Stack

For our season 2 we want to change the whole aspect of the land decoration and environment to go hand in hand with the new game “KingKong Stack”, an adapted 3D version of the popular game Stacker. KingKong Stack will introduce a totally new and fun game experience never seen before in Decentraland, easy to play, difficult to master.

The game will consist of 3x3 blocks that will be constantly moving side to side on top of a 3x3 block base. Moving direction will be determined by the user approach to the block’s base. The aim is to pile the blocks on top of each other as high as possible, trying to reach the highest level to achieve the highest possible score. The score will be determined not only by the height of the tower, but also by the amount of blocks left when reaching the top.

This will add a whole new level of interaction and leaderboard competition for Decentraland players, creating a healthy but addictive game that will put the player skills to the test.

In addition, players who participated in Season 1 and already own a PlayVerse NFT collection wearable will have access to unique experiences and bonuses in Season 2 gameplay as part of the exclusive PlayVerse club, and to incentivize the Decentraland marketplace with PlayVerse NFT’s.

Sword Master

For our upcoming season 3 game, we once again redesign our land and create a new and unique game experience for Decentraland players. Being an immersive adaptation of the popular game Key Master.

Sword Master is a game that will test the player skills, allowing them to push their limits as much as they want. The game UI design is as simple as it could be, a button that, when pressed, will move a stick with a sword attached to it vertically, if pressed again, the stick will start moving horizontally towards one of the holed wall holes on the wall. The holed wall holes size range from big to very tiny and tight, to perfectly fit the size of the sword. The player score will be determined by the size of the holed wall hole in which the sword is inserted, with higher scores achieved for smaller and more difficult holed wall holes.

As always, we plan to provide NFT prizes for top leaderboard game play winners, as well as some mini-games aimed for active inland users, helping them to get rewarded for playing at Decentraland.

Seasonal Wearables

PlayVerse season 2 & season 3, will continue to offer new, meticulously designed wearables:

  • Unique
  • Mythic
  • Legendary
  • Common

These wearables will be released on a weekly basis (for a total period of 6 months) to the top leaderboard game players, who will receive the NFTs completely free in their registered wallets.

Additionally, new players will have the opportunity to receive a PlayVerse cape simply by playing our games, as we will be giving them away to random users on a weekly basis too.

During season 1, some of our NFT wearables were sold for 50 MANA. Our commitment to providing our users with unique and engaging gaming experiences, along with valuable NFT’s, is what sets us apart.

Personnel

PROJECT LEAD BY:

Jose Manuel García Franco:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-manuel-garcía-franco-a0b27918/

email: jm@tarkinstudios.com

Néstor Anaya:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nestoranaya/

email: nestor@tarkinstudios.com

Andrés Molina:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andresmolinaperez/

email: andres.molina@tarkinstudios.com

PERSONNEL:

  • 1 Project Manager
  • 1 Community Manager/Support 24/7
  • 1 Game Designer
  • 1 Backend Developer
  • 1 Frontend Developer
  • 1 Gameplay programmer
  • 1 3D Artist
  • 1 UX Designer QA Tester
  • 1 Marketing Manager

Roadmap and milestones

Milestones

  • Redesign the lobby and land experience.
  • Acquire sponsorship agreements with brands.
  • Listen and work on new game plays proposed by the community.
  • Increase the brand name by getting a 300% increase in visits to the land, as well as the game time.
  • Launch the KingKong Stack game, with fully functional gameplay mechanics and scoring system.
  • Launch the Sword Master game, with fully functional gameplay mechanics and scoring system.
  • Implement NFT rewards for top leaderboard
  • Develop a system for players to unlock unique experiences and rewards in upcoming seasons by wearing and using previous season wearables.
  • Conduct ongoing community engagement, including social media promotion, Discord support, and live events.
  • Achieve a minimum of 4-star rating on DappRadar and other Decentraland review platforms.
  • Seek partnerships with other Decentraland developers and projects to expand the PlayVerse brand and offerings.

Total requested grant: 60,000 USD

Budget breakdown link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1giPITRQhmC1n1XKPr_HHyY4J2Rp8s_jQ5xo-j9rqqMY/edit?usp=sharing

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

1 Like
2

I’m voting ‘no’ and these are the reasons:

1 - It’s a simple mobile phone game but in Decentraland

image

One of the problems of Decentraland’s video games is that the idea of a ‘game’ is not important at all. All the fun lies in the ‘to earn’ system which is something that has been proven to not be sustainable in most cases.

While the use of NFT technology to give users more freedom in asset ownership is a positive thing, it is not necessarily a determining factor for fun. The idea that earning (possibly valuable) items are entertaining, will only last until there is no more market or interest in trading those assets for money.

If the game was fun and there was a real intention of playing it apart from feeling the dopamine hit once you earn something, then I could reconsider the idea of supporting this grant.

2 - It is not creative nor does it intend to demonstrate something new to the world

image
image612×736 82.7 KB

How many games are available like this (plinko) on the app store / play store? Tons of them. What’s the new mechanic that will make users join Decentraland rather than play it on their mobile phones?

The only thing this game generates is a bunch of people AFK on a base getting coins so then the place has more players on Decentraland (even if those players don’t generate engagement).

image

3 - It makes you pay real money to have an advantage over other players

Another example of getting an advantage by paying the developers (a.k.a Pay2Win). Again, it’s more important to spend money rather than have something fun to do (or even use your logic like in chess/poker).

equals == Users will spend $MANA, to earn wearables, to sell them to some market that at some point will disappear because there is not a genuine intention to keep playing.

4 - They want to recreate ‘Key Master’ a game that is intentionally rigged against players

I’m sure you already have seen it, it’s this one:

379×503 291 KB

Even if they make it ‘fair’, what’s the point? how many hours you can play things without getting bored?

5 - Conclusion

This project doesn’t benefit Decentraland at all. It’s not fun and even if it has some players now, they are AFK and just grinding items.

Disclaimer: my opinion on this is not personal to the people who are developing it, I don’t know who is developing this and I will be open to voting ‘yes’ if they make a real game (they know how to develop stuff, for sure.) I don’t want them to disappear but rather pivot their game.

3

Hi Tobik, first of all I would like to thank you for your honest feedback. it’s clear your intention to help instead just criticize the develop team. We appreciate it so much, at any moment we have thought this.

Let me introduce myself. I’m JM García, Game Director at Playverse and CEO at Tarkin Studios, the spanish company behind PlayVerse.

What would we need? when I say “WE” I’m referring to all developers already working on Decentraland and all developers will come. As I said, what WE need?

  1. Engagement: it creates community, and community calls more people and makes the community to grow.
  2. Profitability: I use to say “developers also eat”. No one, whether companies or developers will maintain their work on Decentraland without a positive return on investment. It is a shame, I know but it’s the only truth.

Both are strongly related, without engagement will not have community and with no people the return of investment will be negative for sure.

These two points are the most important goals we aimed when we started to work on Decentraland and it’s what we have achieved:

1. Engagement:

  • Top 3 most spent time inland
  • Top 3 avg time per season.
  • Avg season time 48 min.
  • Avg plays per user daily are 122.

As we say in Spain “let the numbers talk”, These numbers mean engagement and mean they are having fun and creating the community all WE need.

2. Profitability:

  • Payers percentage: 2,4%

We also have demonstrated with numbers that the loop “Play-Points-Rank-NFTPrize-BuyBoosters” works. More than 2% of ours players have payed. This number is very, very high. Clash Royale doesn’t have this percentage, believe me.

You just have 4 ways to make money in a game:

  • Pay to win: Unfair
  • Sell the game: no sense in this case.
  • Free to play (sell time): Fair and sustainable
  • Ads: almost irrelevant if you don’t have millions of players.

So we chosen the best way. Our payers are buying time, so this is not a play-to-win game.

Last 30 days Decentraland income has decreased -78% compared to previous 30 days. This is a problem for all of us and all of US have to fight to revert this tendency.

Now, lets talk about gameplay. I’ve been making videogames almost 25 years. I started, working on Commandos saga, a WW II PC game, maybe you remembered.

On these 25 years I’ve seen many many things and one thing I have seen more than one time is how a wrongly chosen gameplay can kill an entire platform. The best example is Sony PSP compared with Nintendo DS, you know what I mean, don’t you?

I see these first steps as the beginning of a, hopefully, long journey on DCL. But we must go step by step. Growing up little by little. You want deeper and better gameplays on DCL, me too. I would love to develop and to play better experiences but in the right moment and being part of a process taking seriously account the limitations in every part of this process.

We know DCL is working hard on it, improving every day, so let them work on it and let’s accept the current situation and let’s improve our games at the same time they are improving their platform. I see this way as the only one that can get us to the success to all of US.

We have been investigating and learning a lot about DCL games, what has been done, what has failed and what are the REAL limitations of the platform. Maybe you must know:

  • Performance (It’s very difficult to develop a skill-based game on a browser)
  • Cheating (Yes, people cheat A LOT in DCL)
  • LAG
  • etc…

We have created a complete game-based experience with simple mechanics that are proven to work and fit the current situation of dcl. The easy thing would have been to ask for 240,000 and promise a mechanic IMPOSSIBLE to play on DCL or worse, unplayable, poor and even stupid with a performance that is not as expected. I’m pretty sure that some examples have come to your head reading this phrase.

We are working and betatesting on DCL since june 2022. We released the prototype of different mechanics. They played and gave us their feedback to tune and improve them. Analyzing data (we have a lot of data, we really like data) measuring the most important metrics: player engagement.

Creating a game experience is not as simple as copying a simple mechanic and that’s it. For example: how many Golf games are there in the stores? Isn’t it just putting a ball in a hole? isn’t it?

You have to create a series of layers and sub-mechanics that generate the immersive experience of the metaverse.

In our grant we explained the basic mechanics: Staker.

Let me show you a prototype mockup (No Art).

1600×1014 198 KB

We will built a fun and immersive experience with this game mechanic. Like “Out of time” does. Do you know that game? I also think it’s a 9/10 game on DCL :wink:

We have the desire and the potential to continue growing with DCL and adapting new mechanics. We are game developers and we love metaverses. Has been months of investing our own resources (money) and we would love to continue but obviously we going to need help, you know, developers also eat. This is the reason of this Grant and for what we need “yeses”

I’m trying to be as honest as you have been and I’m open to have a chat with you, even more, I would like to have it to talk about gameplays, DCL strategies, future and how to collaborate and to make this ecosystem grow together.

Best,

JM

4

Work on your budget breakdown maybe?
Let me know when you do.

5

Thank you for your message and for showing interest in our proposal.

The marketing cost has been adjusted to effectively reach $60,000, which simply means that we are not leaving the budget open-ended or taking any unexplained part of it.

Regarding the breakdown of the budget, I have a feeling that you may not have consulted the grant link, or read it all to the bottom of it, which takes you to a breakdown not only of the costs, but also of the months in which those costs will be incurred. Here is the link, just in case: Budget - Google Docs

We hope that we have been helpful and have answered any questions you may have had.

Thank you.

6

My first reply was different and i Edited it after seeing this doc which helped me understand it, I’m gonna have to ask 1 question do you think that after this proposal your project will be able to stand on its own feet or are you going to ask for continuums?

7

I am pleased that we were able to clarify some of your inquiries regarding the budget. It is essential for us that the entire Decentraland community comprehends our purpose with this grant proposal.

With regard to your query, as stated in the grant particulars, our goal is to attract 5000+ players to the PlayVerse lands. Based on the information obtained from season 1 analtytics, we are confident that we can sustain ourselves for future seasons and content while the Decentraland community expands.

8

Thanks for explaining I’m changing my vote.

9

Thank you for participating in this process by voting and sharing your input. Your opinion, and voting contribution, is highly valued by us, and we appreciate the trust you have shown by changing your vote.

We encourage you and anyone else to reach out with any further inquiries you may have. We are always happy to address any concerns you may have.

1 Like
10

Anytime, thank you for providing the information :v:

11

Vote: NO

TL;DR “New Proposal.Who Dis?”

I appreciate the breakdown @Tobik gave as his opinion. I also appreciate the response.

This is helpful but it’s also part of my reason for voting no. Until this proposal, I’ve never heard of nor visited Playverse. I’ll go talk to some of the leaders on your board and ask their impressions of your estate/build.

You make good points regarding Engagement and Profitability but we are not a bank. This is the DAO and we are a community. I look forward to getting to know you and your company better and learning more about your game. I’ll want to talk to ppl from DCL Metrics regarding the verasity of the stats you list. Tracking users and wallets is still a new practice in web3 space.

The bar I have for DCL in world games requesting $60k or more is Vroomway. The build, game play, NPCs, wearables, social events, collaborations is quite impressive. They did this all with $60k from the DAO and they crushed it. What you have proposed and demonstrate does not, in my opinion approach that same level.

12

Thank you for expressing your thoughts @AwedJob . We would love to have a video chat with you about our project, feel free to contact us anytime, so we can know each other.

13

PLAYVERSE CONTINUATION - ARCADE GAMES & EARN NFT’s

This proposal is now in status: REJECTED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes 27% 4,245,072 VP (89 votes)
  • No 73% 11,440,322 VP (83 votes)