A brief glimpse into phase one of our journey and the things we learned in concepting the perfect web3 game economy. Part 1 of 2 articles…
The Challenge
In Phase One, we gained invaluable insights from observing the challenges faced by other blockchain games in their attempts to put out compelling web3 titles. Many seasoned game designers with gold-rush fever, became the spaces pioneers, often making web2 game design choices the broken wagon axel that stifled their figurative journey westward into the unknown.
We observed a range of mistakes we didn’t want to make as we walked along the web3 trail at the outset of our own journey: ‘Pay to Win’ models, exemplified by games like LOK; economic systems that unintentionally devalued player investment, as seen in Axie; and titles like Big Time, which leaned too heavily on cosmetics, lacking the depth for meaningful progression and rewards. Albeit, a cosmetic model does work well in skill-based games that are tournament centric, it just doesn’t work in an MMORPG if competition and deep immersion vs social communities is your aim. Interestingly, each of these 3 flaws (and there are more), in their own way, tries to address the shortcomings of the others but ultimately falls flat.
With that said, all formerly nascent spaces were sandboxes for mistakes and learning. Sandboxes where the person to make the coolest sand castle first, wins. Even if, like every sand castle, they’re not timeless, or built to last. We almost made a few of our own mistakes but, ultimately put a stop to them quickly. One example of this was almost taking funding from an L1 Blockchain we just didn’t align with. And just to rush-build our own (not built to last) sandcastle, more quickly.
Tackling the Challenge
Our general findings from the dozens of games which we bought into and researched, led to an important realization: What makes a web2 game successful, and what makes a web3 game successful are fundamentally different things (and for many reasons) – as are the business models. And for a truly immersive web3 game where players can invest and engage long-term, and purposefully, an entirely new approach was needed than what we’d seen in both; web2 games, and in the sandboxed variety of web3 stuff being put out. Oddly enough, the majority of the changes that needed to be engineered were very subtle – but significant in their impact when it comes to player enjoyment and replayability.
These insights (of course much more detailed and complex than what we’re sharing here now, but stick around for Part 2 of this article, coming soon) drove us to rethink and re-engineer what we deemed to be major design flaws in the web3 games we played. Now that we’ve got a set of solid game design concepts engineered specifically for web3, we began to focus on establishing what may be the first stable and rewarding game economy that would fit into an open world MMORPG and now, we’ll bring it all to life on the Arbitrum Nova blockchain.
Enter The Banana Kingdom.
Having now reengineered what we saw as glaring game design flaws, we set to work on the foundation of the Banana Kingdom, and took a comprehensive approach that encompassed everything from the game’s mechanics and progression arcs to its unique subcultures and economic systems – all part of the sprawling storyline of ‘Origin Scrolls’ and the expansive and enigmatic world of Part 2, that our player base will actually have to unlock through gameplay.
For nearly 2 years we’ve concepted — but not alone. We did it alongside a small private community made up almost entirely of players we met in the different games we researched. While holding very early-bird contests and giveaways for those who were ready to take the longer-road trip while we listened to feedback from the passenger seat and concepted the road ahead.
And now, here we are. The road ahead is clear. Concept challenge complete :)
In 2024 we begin to drive along this road we’ve mapped out bringing to life and leaving in our wake the envisioned world of the Banana Kingdom.
Join us for the first part of our games development in Phase 2, where we begin to ship product and features.
*We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all members of our currently private communities on Telegram and Discord who have provided invaluable feedback since 2022. We hope you share our enthusiasm and anticipation as we prepare for Phases Two & Three in 2024!
