The rise of blockchain-based technology, expressed in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets such as non-fungible tokens or NFTs, is starting to be felt across many industries. Although they may look similar to other digital currencies, crypto and NFTs are generating excitement because of their ability to facilitate digital transactions.
NFTs have been a hot topic in the past two years due to their ability to securely and authentically transfer physical goods via blockchain. To put it simply, NFTs can be described as tokens which represent unique assets.
For art and collectibles this was a very useful feature. This allowed individuals to make NFTs representing rare or unique pieces of art. If you owned an NFT, you owned the creative rights to a piece of art – verifiable by anyone just by cross-checking the NFT data on a public ledger
Yet NFTs in this form has barely scratched the surface of what’s possible, particularly when dealing with industries where non-fungibility and fungibility factors are crucial aspects.
Gamers can use NFT beyond static
DRepublic game developers, who is behind Cradles: Origin of Species MMORPG, believes that blockchain technology has the potential to bring new innovations into the gaming sector.
While some gaming companies have already dabbled in crypto and NFTs, they’ve so far been met with limited success. NFT initiatives that have been prominently promoted by gaming companies have drawn a lot of criticism from gamers. The ire drawn by NFT experiments like that of Ubisoft can be traced back to the simplistic implementation of NFTs in games, either as an alternative currency or as a way to generate more money for the company by generating even more “unique” items like skins. In other words, NFTs in gaming so far have only served to further the much-maligned “lootbox” mentality perceived by many gamers as plaguing game developers.
The Cradles team is looking to go beyond NFTs’ static characteristics that make them popular with speculators. They are fine-tuning an NFT token type based on EIP-3664 (technically it is just a name for a proposal for new rules on blockchain) that extends upon existing NFT standards ERC721 or ERC1155.
EIP3664 NFTs allow game elements to have far more information that regular NFTs. This allows them to be used in many different ways. The game’s components are able to be combined or subtracted from each other.
Combineable game elements with a virtual world that is time-lapping
This is how component NFTs are described. A player could create an entire world and be a part of the building of it by combining NFTs from characters, objects, plants, animals, and other items. To create tools or weapons, one could harvest materials from the environment and then combine these components to make them. These tools, weapons and skills can then be attached to characters. The new character has all the characteristics of their respective components. You can also break down elements into their individual components and create virtually endless combinations of items or characters.
The EIP-3664 protocol will allow Cradles users to change and shift their digital assets in infinite ways. This is possible by using raw materials gathered from exploring or going on adventure.
Crucially, NFTs in Cradles will also have evolvable attributes hard-coded into every component, enabling all game elements to simulate the laws of time and physics – something no virtual world has been able to properly implement.
DRepublic calls this effect “entropy-increase”. Block time is used to create a steady base for perpetually lapsing time. Each element of the game evolves over time. Block time is a constant process in which items rust and characters age. Buildings slowly fall apart, making it necessary for players to actively intervene to encourage cooperation.
You will see your NFTs as characters or items changing over time. Cradles creates an interactive world that is not static. It will be able to see how the world changes over time.
The game is all about new experiences
Cradles is an open world MMORPG, with metaverse elements and an ambition to improve on traditional RPG experiences.
The virtual reality experience for Cradles users will be compatible with deep immersion hardware. This will allow them to interact and play with any other species they choose. This game offers players ultimate freedom and exploration as well as community building.
There will be two areas for players to choose from: a Main City or an Adventure Zone. Players will have the opportunity to interact with and explore other players in the first area, while they will also be able to gather supplies and defend themselves from possible hostilities.
This plot also links the entire virtual world to the spine. Characters are transported back in time, away from their doomed past, searching for answers that will save them from the fate of extinction. Cradles believes that exploration, research, and discovery will be the best ways to build a world. It hopes that Cradles encourages and motivates players to create new experiences and get out of the monotonous grind that many online RPGs lead to.
Blockchain will play a role in shaping the future of gaming
The team behind this project has raised significant funds for its development but is determined to create the conditions for an open and decentralised community which will ultimately lead to a self-sustaining game.
Its growing community aren’t just considered as gamers but as game creators. Even now, the game developers continue to work on improving the overall gaming experience by implementing new features, fixing bugs, and testing new functionalities – following the direction and feedback of its community online.
Players in Cradles can take advantage of a growing sector that will continue to attract new users and grow over the years. According to Dapps Radar data, today’s top 10 Blockchain games have close to one million players and a total of $700,000,000 in assets.
There is clearly interest in decentralised games, especially when traditional developers and gamers have been frustrated in the past.
Future games may not only be about the ability to buy NFTs and earn cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology could be the key to unlocking and enabling new aspects of gameplay that have been missing in traditional gaming.