Gaming on the EOS Blockchain: A Full Review
One of the most exciting things about the EOS beacon chain as of recent is the advancements in gaming options players can engage in. Although gaming is not new to the EOS mainnet, some recent developments in both old and new games alike have brought the notion of gaming on EOS to an entirely new level revitalizing interest of many patiently watching as games on other chains explode.
In fact, according to DappRadar’s November report, the gaming category on EOS grew 22% just last month. This article then will detail some of the more popular games on EOS both historically and at the moment. Of course there are quite a few games already developed and in operation of which full coverage would be far beyond the scope of this piece. That does not mean however that those not listed here are not worth playing, just that it seemed to make more sense to focus here on the larger gaming projects operating on the EOS mainnet, often times taking quite a bit of time and resources to build out their vision conceived early on in the lifespan of EOS.
Even though some of these games may not be new, they have been steadily building, adding, and improving gameplay showing that one of the most beautiful things about blockchain gaming is there can always be new challenges to create and objectives to obtain. In the end however, it is the players that will define the games, and for that to be a reality they themselves must be introduced to what is out there. WIthout further ado then, here are some of the most hailed and promising games on the EOS blockchain at present.
Prospectors is a MMO strategy game whereby players are plunged into the Gold Rush atmosphere of the 19th century. Players take part in the game by becoming involved in finding, earning, and trading real world assets such as gold, wood, and tools through participation in gamified fungible token mechanics revolving around completing jobs and launching industry or businesses.
The concept of gameplay is really quite simple. “Every player has three assigned workers who can fulfill various tasks. Players can use their workers themselves, or have them work for other players in return for a salary. Any action in the game requires labour from a worker to complete it. No matter how active you are, you’ll still need some help from others in the game.” [source]
Prospectors was originally launched with a Wild West world on EOS but has since added a Yukon world on WAX. In addition, Tombstone Boomtown which just recently finished up was added as a way to engage the community in a way not before seen for the game by giving users a time designation to complete the task of mining enough gold and constructing a railway to transport riches back to the Wild West before the water ran out. As this first Boomtown turned out to be quite successful, expect that this will not be the last.
The game itself seems to have a pretty strong community and quite large number of players, and with the ability in recent developments to deposit and withdraw money via a bank, study at a university ot upgrade skills for players in the game, and even enable outside teams of other dapps the potential to integrate, the game itself looks like there are plenty of ways for it to grow keeping the appeal of the already captivated audience and attract new members along the way.
For more on the updates to the game check out the Prospectors Medium and Twitter. It also might be worth checking out the full article of the source cited above, #BuiltonEOSIO: Prospectors for a full deep dive into the team, project, and gameplay.
Upland
Upland is the earth’s metaverse mapped to the real world and accessible via web, iOS and Android having been in open beta since January of 2020. The Upland in-game economy despite being a real world retrofit operates according to the standard economic laws of supply and demand set forth by those that are active in the gaming real estate matrix that Upland has become.
Game play at present takes place in San Francisco and New York, but the intent is to keep building and add new cities along the way. Despite having only 2 cities on the map, Upland actually accounted for 42% of the total daily active wallets within the EOS gaming category in November according to Dapp Radar. There are a number of positives going for Upland beyond being innovative and entertaining.
“Recently, Upland introduced Tilia Pay allowing players to earn real money by flipping properties. and in the future by selling NFTs via their own virtual businesses (e.g. art galleries, nurseries, car dealerships, etc.).
A slew of smart updates and feature additions by the Upland team has succeeded in driving retention higher and increased both daily active wallets and transaction volumes. The fact that Upland is mentioned in almost all reports compiled by DappRadar in 2020 is an extremely positive sign for the relative newcomer.”
Some of the other updates and exciting features from the Upland team to engage the community include the NYC Landmark Design Contest, Crypto Kitties Retirement Community, holiday events such as the 2020 Thanksgiving Hunt, or the Sandbox Wars, which are essentially community competitions pitting neighborhoods against one another in a property development sandbox in anticipation of rolling out and placing 3D buildings on the Upland map.
Honestly there are so many additions to gameplay it's almost impossible to name everything that has happened in the first year in the scope of this post, so best for those interested to just to follow the team on Medium and Twitter to be sure not a beat is missed. And for those who might be newer to the game and in need of a more general rundown on how to get started and more basic gameplay, a good place to begin is the Upland How to Guide.
Blankos Block Party
“Blankos Block Party is a vibrant open-world multiplayer game styled like a giant block party, with a focus on custom art and design, building and exploration, and curating your collection of unique and rare Blankos” [blankos.com].
Blankos themselves are the fun and mischievous digital vinyl in game characters inhabiting their own world dubbed The Junction, a multiplayer universe owned and built by the players themselves. In a way structured around the premise sold by the blockbuster Toy Story narrative, according to Chief Creative Officer Jamie Jackson of Mythical Games "the world of Blankos is where toys go when humans aren't looking… That's the lore. Blankos Block Party is a place for toys to be more than just this object that sits on your shelf“.
Blankos can have their own bespoke designs, but will all have the same shape, give or take a few added accessories. Mythical games have already collaborated with several big artists in the vinyl toy world to create custom designs, including James Groman, Pete Fowler, Tara McPherson, and Kronk. When you purchase a Blanko you can see what number you have and how many there are in the world. With some Blankos being seasonal, or limited edition, there's a certain rarity to certain characters. It follows the same logic as collecting physical designer toys in that sense. [source].
The closed beta for the crypto-fueled Roblox type of ecosystem whereby players can interact and even create their own lands and levels accessible through all via the party bus launched last November with all those purchasing early access founders packs each with their own Blankos and some other accessories officially entered the open beta December 10th, 2020. Following this with a December 13th closing and burning of all unsold founders packs, the Blankos team will enter phase two of the project alongside all those that participated in closed beta.
WIth each Blanko having a skill based ability tree enabled through training to acquire such advantages as speed, agility, shooting ability, or knocking each other over, in combination with the accessories they can be decked out with, the Blankos themselves look to be in a great place to entice fans to collect, upgrade, play, and even trade those coming from the closed beta and everything that follows.
A simple search on YouTube for Blankos even at this early stage of the game will already show the potential cult-like appeal that may become one of the largest it places to be a part of not only the EOS space, but blockchain and online gaming in general. To keep up to date with all the news be sure to subscribe to both the Blankos Block Party and Mythical Games official Twitter accounts, as well as taking a jaunt around the official Blankos Block Party homepage.
Chain Clash
Chain Clash is an action-packed collectibles & free to play fighting game engaging users with the collection, training, and battling of avatars that players themselves own. “Think of Chain Clash as a crypto-themed Pokemon but with a Tekken twist. The game is designed to enable fans of various cryptocurrencies to prove their loyalty to these coins and show that their community is the strongest” [source].
Essentially then, clan orientation around various crypto communities offers an outlet to fight through game play and skill for your most preferred place in the space. Of course being part of a clan also offers additional perks to help you get the most out of the game and its gameplay. Presently BTC (Bitcoin), ETH (Ethereum), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), EOS (EOS main net) and TRX (Tron) clans exist and gameplay around these are designed to offer equal opportunity and rewards based on individual prowess as opposed to overall clan size.
Avatars themselves are all NFTs, “making these digital fighters 100% yours. In the context of clashing, they are playable characters with a set of stats or attributes. In total, there are four of them” coming in five rarity tiers of common, rare, epic, legendary, and mythic [[Chain Clash 101](https://medium.com/chain-clash/chain-clash-101-a-beginners-guide-4e2085599618)]. An avatars stats can be improved through training and clashes, and even leveled up via clashes and because they are essentially collectible NFTs residing on the EOS blockchain, they will retain all attributes ascribed to them as they are improved upon. As an added bonus, Chain Clash even features celebrity legendary and mythic avatars such as Brock Pierce, Crystal Rose, and John McAfee amongst others for the real die hard collectors and fans out there.
EOS Racing
“EOS Racing is a super fun casual game to kill some time and earn rewards along the way. Start your engines and prove that you’re the most furious racer! Collect, trade and upgrade cars and participate in the variety of daily competitions” [source]. The platform grows in tandem with users’ participation, so all users indirectly contribute to the game in a larger way beyond just playing through the creation and exchange on the open market of all game items.
Various completions are held in the game with their own rewards that players can participate in by burning race car fuel and get prizes in the form of fuel, car parts, and even EOS. All results can be verified on the blockchain to ensure complete transparency of the race.
Crypto Sword and Magic
Crypto Sword and Magic is the first blockbuster turn-based role-playing game on the EOS blockchain. The game is actually based on the much beloved Facebook RPG Sword and Magic game and revolves around raising heroes, “either a warrior, archer, or a sorcerer. Each class has its own unique skill tree and items, and as you advance in levels, you may choose a different class” [source]. Data of all heroes equipment, and pets are all recorded on the blockchain with the game logic working on smart contracts. The game offers standard features such as upgrades in equipment, and even a mercenary mode where other people can use your character and reward you based on your heroes` contribution in battles.
Crypto Dynasty
Crypto Dynasty is another quite popular Dapp running on EOS. As DappRadar reported in November of last month, it was the second highest ranking after Upland with 16% of the total daily active wallets within the EOS gaming category.
Essentially, it is “an idle role-playing game where players send away heroes to fight enemies or challenge each other in the Arena”, with the main objective to obtain as many castles as possible [source]. The game comes with different features that allow players to earn such as the Forging Quest, Boss Raid, Material Drop, and Equipment Crafting to name a few.
For those interested, you can learn more on the Crypto Dynasty homepage - in 6 languages in fact - from their official Twitter account, and from the Crypto Dynasty telegram. A word of warning however though, as according to official sources the telegram is a rather dangerous zone as there has been reports of nefarious files for the game download dropped in the chat or sent via dm. As with any of these projects, only downloads from the official website should ever be trusted, as even official Twitter and Telegram channels have been known to be hacked from time to time.
That stated, the official Crypto Dynasty app can be downloaded at https://eossanguo.one/download/index-en.html and for those looking to get started, we highly recommend the following starter guides by Co-Founder of Wombat Wallet Adrian Krion.
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The Ultimate Guide to Earning EOS with Crypto Dynasty: Part I
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The Ultimate Guide to Earning ESO with Crypto Dynasty: Part II
Womplay
Speaking of Wombat, the team has not only made gaming a whole lot easier on EOS with their free to create EOS accounts and easy on-boarding social login Wombat Wallet, but now a lot more appealing through the introduction of Womplay. Although not technically a game in itself, Womplay deserves mention here for the simple reason that it is a hub and rewards platform designed for gamers to interact with the games they love and get EOS rewards in return.
In addition to Prospectors, Upland, Crypto Dynasty, Chain Clash, and EOS Racing, Womplay offers a variety of different games both on and off of the blockchain allowing for earning potential. What is most fascinating about this actually, just in case you missed it the first time around, is that through the Wombat wallet, Womplay actually allows for the earning of EOS rewards for games not directly built on EOS or even the blockchain. This is achieved through four different activity types on Womplay to earn rewards: Quick Play, Performance Based Challenges, Routine In Game Actions, and Cash Out Events.
To learn more about the specifics, Check out Womplay FAQ: What Is It, and How Can You Make EOS With It as well as #BuiltOnEOSIO’s How Spielworks Built a Crypto Rewards and Loyalty Platform on EOSIO. You can also learn more about both the Wombat Wallet and Womplay in this recent ChirpCast EOSIO Weekly Update interview segment with founder and CEO of Spielworks and co-founder of Wombat Wallet Adrian Krion.
Conclusions
Of course what is presented above is but a mere fraction of the options presently available on EOS which as time goes on are sure to only grow in number as new ideas are formulated and plans take shape. With this in mind, to keep up to date at any given time with the top gaming dapps on EOS, keep a watchful eye turned both towards Womplay above as well as the EOS gaming section of Dapp Radar, as these seem to be the most active places to see what is new and most popular.
As for the future of gaming on EOS and the benefits the technology offers, it does also present some challenges especially in terms of cost as for blockchain based games each action will be equivalent to one transaction. Although some games have taken to moving to other chains such as WAX or Telos, there are other solutions to be explored for gaming dapps to be more efficient in their spending.
One such potential path actually comes off the back of a recent announcement with two long standing projects running on EOS concerning the collaboration of a new social game to be built on EOS. Although all details have yet to be released, as founder of Boid John Heeter notes, “since data stored on an EOSIO chain is not encrypted and can get quite expensive quickly, we looked into BlockBase tech to use its built in privacy while also saving on costs.”
Together they are in the planning and building stages of a large scale multiplayer strategy game which will be stored on BlockBase and powered by Boid in an innovative gamified way to be able to integrate in-game actions and customize the cosmetics with such things as NFT`s. The benefits of Boid partnering with BlockBase to utilize a sidechain to encrypt and store all in-game actions at a fraction of the cost it would be on the EOS main net while leveraging scalability, privacy, and developer friendliness could be a very viable solution for an emerging game market on EOS for smaller projects that may lack the resources necessary to realistically launch full scale on the EOS main net.
In the end though, although not without complications, the benefits of gaming on EOS are quickly becoming clear and beginning to attract quite a bit of attention from both gamers and developers alike. With the technological power that is EOSIO, the branding of the EOS mainnet, and the innovative approach of projects like Womplay to reward users in EOS and BlockBase to scale both in-game actions and cost, gaming on EOS is likely to hold their own at least for the time being against some other very viable and equally exciting EOSIO based chains such as WAX, Telos, and Ultra recently been making moves in the blockchain based gaming industry in their own right.