Greetings everybody rams here with a star network. Just making sure my mic is working check one, too
React to my lovely voice if you could hear me
Or don't that's okay, you know, I don't need all those hard setting like
Let's invite our guest today one moment
Hey, I'm doing well. Yeah
Can you hear my voice clearly right now like no noise or anything?
No, it's pretty pretty clear. I mean for what I'm used to
Who likes your voice anyway, huh? A lot of people do
Okay, let's get our other
Because my dishwasher is running right now. That's why I was a bit worried about the background noise, but if it's clear
If it's running you better go catch it didn't
Oh, they're very funny. This is what everyone should expect from this space. So no surprises here
Okay, and then we're just waiting on climate briefly if I could get them up here
Meanwhile feel free to retweet our
Getting our friends here. We have a lovely topic today
Full disclosure. I'm a big nerd love gaming love web 3 and now it's potential
And so this is probably my favorite space in the world right now
What would you do you like I think you're a gamer yourself no
Oh, I'm a huge human like that's how I started programming and that's how hopefully I'll be ending programming as well
Yeah, and I'm I've been playing way too much games recently actually I feel like I should
Keep myself a little bit more productive
I'm playing Skyrim VR for the for the millionth time. Oh
No, what are we gonna do if you're stuck in that world, how do we get you out into this world?
Hey climate welcome. Hello
Hey guys, how's it going, man?
Pretty good. Pretty good excited. Oh good. I'm here. Thanks for having me man. Appreciate it
Okay, and for all our great lovely listeners, thanks for joining us today
We have the topic of web 3 gaming and beyond
Way to claim it from imaginary ones and whom from team step and previously asked our network
So just a little introduction myself. I'm your host Rams here on behalf of a star network. I've done quite a few of these
Spaces myself. It's been a minute
But I still got it as you could tell from my earlier jokes if you happen to hear
And then we'll let the guests introduce themselves climate. You don't mind
Yeah for sure man, so hey everybody i'm clement from imaginary ones
so i'm the co-founder of imaginary ones and we start off as a project two years ago and
You know across the time we launched an NFT project had a collaboration with Hugo Boss
launched like two games last
last year, uh bubble rider and bubble ranger and we have our
You know bubble super coming up
So I think all in all itself, you know, we are setting up ourselves as a one entertainment company that focuses on
On games and merchandise as a whole for imaginary ones
Also, thank you climate and you have quite the repertoire too with uh, the founding of many businesses not just one correct
Yeah, I can definitely share a little bit more of that like, you know
Like pre-imagining ones, uh, David is in this call too
So, uh, like, you know, we are both serial entrepreneurs like we started our very first business 10 years ago
I mean, uh, I I'm like computer science educated, but I am a self-taught motion design
Artist and you know, I start I love doing I want to do more cooler
websites back then and I self-taught myself to
Animation and 3d, right? So that became a like a real
Job, and then I started businesses with that
so 10 years ago, uh, me and David start like offset which is our first motion design agency that does commercials for
Apple, nike's, fortify f1, etc
and uh, we grew the team from two of us to like a team of 30 and after that we broke
We actually built our second platform which is co-op field and online video platform that serves like, you know
300,000 businesses all across the world, uh, finance was even one of our users back then in the early days. So
uh, we are very intrigued like by the whole entire web tree world because we came from web to web to world and
It's very saturated there and like to me itself like, um, the web tree has so much possibilities that you know
The sky's the limit and that's something that me and david is focusing on right now and you know, it excites us every single day
And you know truly, uh, the launch of the nft is we start building games, you know, we start building content
We start having partnerships. We start being merchandisers, etc
exciting space to be and just from telling I could just tell from everything you've done in the past and up to now it's just
continuously developing and
uh, i'm excited just just learning about what you're doing and seeing everything you've done and from
I wouldn't consider myself an entrepreneur but
Um from hoon who literally quite literally built astar network from the ground up
Um, he's an entrepreneur himself. So hoon can you give a little introduction?
All right. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. And uh, hello everyone
So i'm pretty sure like at least half of you guys may already know me here if you're you know joining from the astort
But yeah, my name is hoon. I was the former cto of astar
Network, uh or the foundation to be more specific and I am still like involved in the network side
Uh, and now I am the founder and ceo of team step which is it started out as a indie game studio like just normal
Uh, you know normal, uh traditional why would say web 2 quote unquote indie game studio
I did it on while I was working on astar and then we saw a lot of potential in the technology that I was building
Alongside the amazing team of the astor foundation and that's where I realized that hey, we can really expand this business
So it's uh, no longer just a game studio, but now what we're doing is we're creating a engagement platform
Well that bridges the gap between uh, the off game or I guess out of game, uh interaction with the in-game interaction
essentially allowing creators to
By performing certain actions that's like outside of the game and then directly providing in-game incentive and I say incentive in a more
Non-monetary intrinsic incentives because in web 3, you know, a lot of people kind of
Kind of misunderstand when when we say we're uh incentive we only think about cryptocurrencies or monetary value
But I do not believe that is the you know
The only value in blockchain technology or even web 3 and in fact
I would argue that in order to really you know
Bring the entire industry to the next level, which I think it's long do
Uh, we need to think in different ways and that's what I want to do with 13 step
And that is what we're doing 13 step, uh by creating this company using blockchain technology
However, it is purely for the web 2 audience web 2 gaming space, uh and for web 2, uh, yeah studios
And in fact, I'm not even a fan of like using the word web 2 or 3, but uh, just just to illustrate my point
Thank you so much here, uh and
Hell city. Yeah, because again, this is so new and crisp. I feel like i'm living in literally a fantasy world
Just a little bit of the overview of the agenda for our listeners today what you could expect
Um, we're gonna talk into some of the points that that hoonch has brought up, you know understanding web 3
and the future of it as well some of the
Challenges and opportunities. I think both of you could really speak to the opportunities that that are here now with us and that lie ahead
Um, and also challenges what has been challenging from from all from your perspectives
And then we're going to do some giveaways as well
We got some imaginary passes and we got a special link so you could get your free first edition capsule
For part of our campaign or our new layer 2 that we're launching
Um pretty pretty serve as in like this within this month or close to the beginning of next month
Um, it's going to be fun. There were some gaming components actually involved as well, but
Enough about me and astar. Let's get to the ddd greedy. So
Um a little bit of your view of the current industry the gaming scene
Uh climate and like what you think about it as well
Yeah, for sure. Uh, so I feel like you know games that uh,
Like, you know, uh, who is saying like, you know the web tool. I feel like they are so like evolving in some ways because like
Um, you know when we used to play games, uh could be like 10 years ago, etc
You play counter-strike stuff, right?
You have a skis or you have custom maps on on top of it like those are the days where games was
It's not possible to monetize in some ways. Uh, you could probably make it out of a career like uh through like esports or anything
So right now I think in this current space where we are at like the webpage set of games, uh
There are so much opportunities and only like, you know
The skis that you have as digital assets such as nfts or even like, you know combining device with like the gaming structure of things
Is like I feel like the new narrative in this space
Currently, but I think it will start growing as a whole
In at least a couple of years and for for us to imagine once that's where we are super excited about and and that's where we are
like, you know focusing most of our
resources into building that because like what might take about gaming is where uh
Because um from the outside world you look at the web tool or in real life when it comes to uh, a web tree game
Is there still a certain amount of stigma to that? There's this it's just undeniable. But what we're trying to do here is
Uh through the games that we built we hoped like we can bring the masses into the space
Through brands and through like, you know, loving the brand itself, uh, the imagine once characters, etc
And then slowly, you know bringing the blockchain technology, um for the understanding across like more of an easing way of like
Knowledge versus like, you know
If we were to keep shouting nfts or web tree to the public probably people would just turn off but that is one of our main
Goals to just have uh our characters as a as the main sort of like bridge for people to be able to see that
You know enjoy a game and then start understanding the blockchain, right?
So I think in a nutshell wise, uh, the game the gaming industry would definitely evolve across these couple of years. Uh,
And I'm really happy to like, you know, like it starts doing this. Uh
Imagine once we're doing our efforts to try to do something really really cool for the web tree scene and
hopefully evolving the whole entire space
Absolutely. Yeah, and I and I have to agree with you like the the potential for
DeFi applications and getting involved with the ever transforming
Gaming scene. It's all interesting, you know, a ton of experience will definitely be
Set out and be done some failing some we've already seen fail
So those are uh, I'll kind of follow a question afterwards for some of the examples we've seen over the years the short years
Right, but who what are your thoughts on the current industry and gaming scene?
so I definitely agree with what the climate met said there in terms of
gaming space is going to evolve and it really needs some
Some changes because for me and here i'll talk about the general game scene that in my perspective without getting the whole
blockchain side involved in it because
For me at least like I only I see blockchain as more of a technology and a means to an end even including web3
Uh, wow, like it's not really a ultimate goal for me
Because for me the ultimate goal is always fun
Like the reason why you want to live the reason why you want to be yourself, you know
That's that's what the ultimate goal should be however in the gaming space. Uh, this this is how it started, right?
But now, uh, it's becoming a money a money printing machine
So to say and this is where the industry entire industry in my opinion is quite stagnating
But also misunderstood. We only look at the uh, the billions and trillions of like, you know
The the market value and the number of players active engagement that's coming in
Uh, but a lot of people think that gaming as a whole is like this, but that's not the case
It's in even within the gaming space. It's all very fragmented and also very skewed
If you look at triple a studios, that's where yes, uh, the most money
Uh, you could say I guess quote unquote transaction volume where most money or liquidity is happening
Is that really something that the is sustainable?
Is that something that what that people really want because I don't agree with that in most cases
Of course there are rare cases too, but the reason why in triple a studio the or uh, or triple a projects or you know
Gathering vast amount of money is because of the approachability but also the marketing that they put in and everything
But just because they can capture that much value does not mean they actually have that value or is even that good
Just look at the call of duty series or even the assassin pre-series like all the recurring ones that everyone knows and talks about
They're they're not I wouldn't call them like the the game of the year material, you know
But at the same time, uh, that is where the value kind of comes from and and on the other hand indie studios or small creators
Uh those games you actually feel the heart in it and it's fun
And they could also have a good monetization strategy
But because they don't have the marketing budget to compete with anyone else
And now the entire market now becomes a zero-sum game
Why because humans have limited attention like our probably our mental real estate is going to be as as valuable as actual real estate
And that's how corporations are thinking. Uh, and this is why now we're talking about sellability rather than playability
And this I feel like is where the gaming industry is kind of struggling
And you know, just take any example
Any industry once the um overvaluation happens and then people realize that there's actually no
Inherit value into this industry. That's when the crash happens
That's what that's why the the video game crash happened with the tari like back in the 80s
Uh, and and now I have a feeling that if we don't really understand how to capture this value
It's going to repeat the same problem over and over again
And this is where I guess I saw the beauty in web3 and blockchain technology
Uh, which I i'm pretty sure like uh round you'll be talking uh bringing this topic again
But just to touch on it for me, uh, that's what I what motivated me to also start and create astar network
Uh, that was the one of the core visions that I had although not being skewed just for gaming but for general cases because
If you look at any web3 project any dials
The community is where the power comes from and the it's it's a very community driven open innovation approach of building something and this is
This is a complete antithesis of how video game industry works because as much as as much communities are important for all these studios
They want to exploit them for to maximize their bottom line. It's not really to actually
I don't create something that is uh alongside the community and and the game that really changed this dynamic
I would argue is really minecraft. Uh
And after that went really big everyone else is now starting to see the value and how
Creation is valuable to games
But at the same time studios don't really understand this because sim series where you know, the the plcs are
Voted by the community and that's really cool in theory
But in reality, they're they're just selling the same selling the same thing back to the people who are supporting the game
Uh to maximize the profit and this is quite sad in my opinion
and that's the thing that the
Really drives me to create a team step in what we're doing with our company
Allow players and creators to leverage that that community effect, uh, or or I like to call it the programmable community
Uh, the dao the values of dows but translate that to any games doesn't have to be an online game
Uh doesn't have to be a multiplayer game or even a create a creative game
Just a project and artwork that people want to share
And talk about you know, and this is where I feel like the end game current game industry is lacking
Uh, and that's the future that I would love to see or make
What an honor to really speak to both of you because you're you're both climate
Artists in your own rights and ways, right?
Climbing you creating your bubble art from from the very get-go and look at what it's transformed into now
You can see bubble rangers
And and the the division you have to you know
The the disneyland you want to create to and co-create with the nft holders that you have
Uh, it's something that I looked at in and heard interviews about which you who is mentioning and alluding to some of this
The keyword community this community that you've you've grown and some of them listening to today
Uh, I personally love that word, you know, some people throw it around like it's like hotcakes
But um, if you really look at what it means in this scene, right and in the video game industry
Uh in the indie industry too you coming from there the art industry
Climate you coming from there as well
Like it's really all we got what we could rely on but climate. I would like to like get your scope on
Giving your your background given how you started to um, how you tapped into
to nft's web3, right and now
Kind of that impulsive you to to where you are right now
um, and then jump we'll jump later into some of the challenges too that
Um an opportunities act that would set hoon is alluding to especially with uh with web3
And what it could hopefully not transform into or we'll see what it turns turns into
Yeah, for sure. So like, you know, we start off as a project as an nft project and I mean
I was the creator of imaginary watch for the characters and everything
before that I was an artist and like what I want the power of like
Like an nft collection. I will look at it
If you build an art and there is a collection that it builds a strong community that that have
this same moral values and you know somewhere where everybody like belongs to so it's actually similar to like
A lot of brands that has built across like, you know
If you look at this thing itself, they have like multiple characters and then we can we grew up with it
right and that itself sort of like have a sudden more connection with these characters and
But what is beautiful about the whole entire web3 and the nft world is we have this, you know
potential to exponentially grow this brand at the fastest pace and um
To the characters itself and we start, you know
Exploring into the world of like, you know having our vehicles
In true bubble ranges. We have our world
and like how can we potentially use the colors the bubbles and the characters to sort of like fuse it into the
narrative of imaginary world so
This is like really interesting time for at least like
creators I'll say and of course like for people that wants to be part of a bigger community and and
the thing is we are so early in the space where it's
something so fresh right in this space and it's something that
has so much potential to grow as a brand and
possibilities are endless because if you look at the brand that's being built through like
Uh community itself there like what hood is saying like, you know, there's dolls. There's like
Defy elements to it. There's like, you know art elements into it
You could potentially do anything with uh the whole entire community, right?
And and as long as everybody's very aligned in terms of the whole entire north star that we're trying to do for imaginary ones
I was jumping to the game space itself. It's very progressive if you look at like, you know our
Roadmap through the genesis of like imaginary ones since day one where we launched two years ago
You know, we launched the the very first collection and then we have our rights
And then we tied it with a game and then you know
Now we're launching the second game and now now towards the bubble bubble token and then towards the imaginary world
So I feel like everything that we view is very um
Step by step to the success of what we actually see like the future of potential Disney's so
For us like, you know, it's a very it's a very different narrative in terms of like how traditional business has built
You know their brands or businesses across the years in maybe the 90s or the 80s right now. We had a phase where
uh, you know, it's at this huge explosion of growth where there's so much information that's out there that
And in a way with all this information, how do we actually
create a narrative where people can resonate to like, you know through to the games or the content that we build
And when you're part of the community everything that we that we produce across the time people you have a strong community to support you
You know the products that you that you launch with right? So even like the brands that we work with like Hugo
There's like, you know, we recently launched a belt bag together with this belt bag by purchasing the belt bag
There's a certain element of practice that's tied to the game. So these are I think very fresh ways to
Change the whole entire game narrative that wasn't done back then in probably five to ten years ago
So in my opinion, it's like, you know
I we we're very blessed to have this opportunity to be able to tell a story through the characters that we've built and in the
world that we've built and
yeah, and I feel like this is going to you know, be the next 10 to 20 years in terms of the beauty of what we can
Uh push for for the entire manager role. So
There is so many elements like even tying
fidget items to merchandise to to the games like what I mentioned if you go the games that we have that has
You know NFT elements or default elements to it and through these NFTs itself
You can even gamify it even further
So if you look at this perspective, there is actually a little small possibilities that we can do
That to me is like very exciting and like uh, yeah, I mean we we are very blessed to have like
Uh the games that we produced like the very first game was the bubble rider and we had like six million plays in true
Two weeks just on the web tree side of things
so like this community so vibrant and uh
We are you know super excited to be able to just be part of it and you know
try to craft the whole entire narrative of the web tree together with like
Great brands like you guys or or just like so many different communities out there
So I think we are the early phases of like uh building a story
I can't agree more as it's it's not as a
I played I played the game myself on the phone and found myself
By how I know the background of this whole, you know, how the game came to be
bubble racer and and then all of a sudden sorry bubble ranger and then
All of a sudden i'm playing on my phone and then and then there's more to come right i'm watching this whole
This whole like story play out. Uh, and then likewise because it started from this kind of scene
Um, there's there's like-minded users and community that's been involved
I haven't immersed myself in that part yet
And who to your to your creation which one the game right seeing it from the ground up being developed with your team over
Um participating in the play testing. It's also gives me that same feeling of a part ownership, right?
I was I was involved even in the smallest bit. I'm not coding but
Joining this community as big or as small as it is
Um, there's something to be said about both
Trajectories that you're both taking and both are entrepreneurial trajectories that you're both taking and artistic ones and also
Creating right? Um, I don't know. It's absolutely beautiful. Absolutely. Imagine nothing, right?
Yeah, exactly. I mean like you put it really well like uh, what's it like as to quote a famous, uh saying
Soon to where someone you know decides doesn't matter about how you use it
uh, and that's I think that applies to community really because for me
If built we've been building which one like because it's a community project and when I say community project
It's not really so for context here for those who don't know which one or even like my background. Let's just say
So I started which one the game it's basically an online competitive hide-and-seek theme
Let's just put it that way still under development for for god knows how long. Um
But anyway, uh, I started that project like as a side project while I was also building
After war I guess as it was called back in the old good old days
gathered a bunch of people I wrote down the game design document I
Sent uploaded that to reddit like r slash indie games and other other communities that I think indie game dv as well
Uh, and I told people hey, uh, do you think this game is fun if it's interesting?
Let's build this together and then all of a sudden I got a bunch of messages from various volunteers from everywhere
They're like, oh, yeah, like this sounds really fun. I want to start this project as well
I told him like no, we're not going to have any payment. However in exchange you can you don't have to like, uh,
The commitment would be limited basically like you can work whenever you want
Uh, just you know, i'll just ping you guys if whatever is available
So as long as I was able to manage the whatever task is needed done
Like you know people would just come come and contribute
It's like a semi open source in a way though. It's not really open source in the traditional sense
Um, and I saw this happen without using crypto or nft or anything at all. Like there's no
blockchain involved in it. However
Uh, funnily enough blockchain or web3 products in general just like what clement mentioned and also I guess uh
And exactly how the imagining ones got so big, uh is because crypto, uh or web3 it
Fundamentally lies on the community activity it empowers the community in a degree that you've never seen before
And this is the opportunity. I definitely see it a lot, uh happening
More and more and if I can see that in the traditional world
Uh, and and if I could just use blockchain to program this activity allow developers to
autonomously co-create and to contribute and share while still understanding
uh, still being able to both monetarily compensate it but also recognize and
Understand what community they can really appeal to I definitely see that as a huge benefit
An opportunity that blockchain technology can bring to the table
especially for these indie creators where they don't have the budget to you know, like
A sponsor or even to with the pay up on a billboard
They have to rely on word of mouth and what is the best way to spread word of mouth?
Well, you know crypto for better or worse is probably the best space to do that
nft and even just normal crypto token like
Yeah, to be fair like the vast majority are kind of scanning as well
But it's but not regardless like what they're selling
It's really more about how and the and that value that I want to capture
and that's yeah, and that is also the thing that the
I've been trying to do and um with astro that's taking as well
Like was sort of one of the theory, uh, or I guess yeah one of the hypotheses that I have for creation is
Whatever platform we're creating the value should go to the ones who are providing
More, uh more value onto the platform that they're building on
So that's thinking the idea was hey
Why do why should we punish those people?
uh for creating a debt that everyone wants to use like because if astro the gas token or gas price or the token gas token price goes up
Then the developers who are who are offering that service have to pay more which in turn
They're we're just punishing people for using the platform to its max benefits
So how can we counterweight that and that was one of the use case or the one that I had in mind?
uh for for that staking and uh with team step we are exactly planning on
Using it like that and just to I guess address the uh, the elephant in the room
Like because i'm pretty sure for some people it might be news that uh, i'm no longer the cto pastor foundation
I just want to emphasize that i'm not the cto the foundation still like very much involved in the the network side and I just want to
Move myself as a contributor as a uh from a community perspective because we want to create an actual decentralized network
Uh, not something that the it's like quote unquote decentralized but still managed by a single legal company
Thanks, sir, uh, this is a great way great segue great segue to opportunities and challenges, um
That have risen and I know who and you are using blockchain within
Which one in a really unique way you stripped it of you know of what we
What the micro investors or us consumers?
Would expect it to look like you stripped it down to its core. So maybe you could talk about some opportunities there in clement
Um, like you mentioned before you're doing this step by step only doing what you need to do to
Keep up with the growth and grow it in the way that you see fit
For you know starting from the artwork until and now
Um, so you've definitely seen opportunities to here regarding ownership and even decentralization
Um a big buzzword right that everyone throws around but for you
Bubble rangers and the community behind it. Um, the organic one I would say that that's you know
Just taking a liking to to the art to to the vibes
Um new revenue models are being created right for yourself. Um and thinking about that one approaching quickly
So I would love to hear some of the the opportunities here and then a flip side also challenges
So a two for one special question here for you clement and then kun if you could follow up after
so I so like you know the the beauty of like, uh
us being a web tree seed itself like
uh, I think that's the opportunity of like users or holders having um the opportunity to have
a defined element into it is really really exciting to me because like
People that owns the scheme of the games or even just the nfts itself. There is uh
They actually hold the rights to you know, the characters etc
That's that's type to imagine one. So and and that being said like, you know, if if you are in uh,
Imagining one shooter genesis days you you saw the brand grew and as the brand grows across the time
The assets that you hold in the games or or to the nfts of a collection the value grows together with it
Right. So that is something that is never I mean, it's starting to grow right now as you can see like, you know
Like, you know recently like counter strike having like, you know, just knife being sold at a certain price, right?
So if you look at it back in the days, these these are the things that are not possible
but that's that's what I think in some ways the beauty of web trees game is because
uh by owning the ownership of the uh, the assets they own and having a certain amount of like
tradeability into the asset has a lot of beauty in it because I could uh, you know create things that
um, you know, it's like the analytics could be upgradable or even the skins can be
scalable and then you know, just go into various like what uh different web pre-games to be um
useful to to spread like uh collaborations for different partnerships
so if you look at it like in that anger has
uh, this whole entire space is it's like a planet on its own and and that's like the
the connection of like the assets are just like
mindset itself like can if you look at games like I mean i'm a huge fan of like, you know, uh
like idubian for example, right and I think they've grown so much across the last two years I I
you can see the progress of the project and how you know the lens and the cell and everything and and it starts to progress
the the trooper it gives a different view and
There is still a certain amount of like elements of like staking etc
Which these are the things that are not possible
Back then and now it's possible right now. So
Gameifying things on top of game itself is actually pretty interesting my opinion
But of course there uh to your point itself like there is still a certain amount of challenges that uh comes with building games
Because we're like you i'll put it in an example of like the bubble ranges that we are building right now
It's a mobile game and it's only app store and play store. So
Having some sort of like crypto elements into that space itself for for um, it's actually something that um
It's still not really in my opinion
So what what we're planning to do is like having these skins and these uh bubbles that people earn
Uh to be, you know connected to our sites, etc
So we still have to do a roundabout that's for sure
But I I'll say uh, but recently if you could see like, you know, google's policy for for nfts of gaming
Our web tree gaming itself is changing. So this whole entire space. I think is starting to move forward and people
I think will start to see the change
as the years goes by right so
Uh, there is definitely like huge
Like challenges that we face but then again, there's still there's still ways to
Go round about it as at this current phase, but it doesn't stop us from you know, building more more great products
This space is still so fresh like that's what i'm saying. It's still so new and so fresh
So the possibilities is just like you can do so much more to it
And once the the world is ready for it and that's where you can start to see the massive exposure growth
That i'm talking about right now. Yep
All right, well, I guess I can follow up then yeah, uh,
So for us like uh, how are we utilizing blockchain?
I think uh ram spit it well like in terms of using it
Yeah, i'm just stripping it down to its core elements and just utilizing that maximizing that for our game because
As I mean i've used to do a lot of indie game design game design as well
And that's how you actually design a good game is you take one function one element
And you try to make the best level that designs around that and use people make people to use in creative ways
And that's how I've sort of approached blockchain as well. I think what clement mentioned regarding using nfc schemes in also, uh
Especially when it comes to like a platform regulation, that's uh, that's a huge challenge for sure and for us
We definitely had that in mind, but that's where we decided to keep things simple
Uh, so just cut to chase like what is how are we using blockchain for which one or how did we use blockchain for which one?
Because now it's a little bit bigger. Uh, and that is
We just use it as a way to represent player identity. So the thing is which one is a p2p game like there's no server
Whoever plays uh, their their computer basically becomes the server and then they just play competitively with other people
Uh, all we have to do is just provide a central reference server, which
Which would basically be the the matchmaking where the matchmaking happens
And everything else just goes back into the clients themselves
And now here's the question like if it's a p2p game without any servers, how can you have player identity and how can you have?
I don't know like paid content or anything because
The whole point is of having essential servers that the company manages everything
Yeah, the cost would be higher and but the performance is much better and most importantly you can monetize things and still not get hacked
You don't want people to you know, just pretend like they actually bought this skin even though they don't have one
Well, that's how we're using. Um
That's how we're using blockchain. We're using that as the identity layer for all of our user instance
And we are not using any nfts or anything because on the user perspective
They just generate a random account without them knowing and I actually got like initially when we did the when we were having
Some active play testing sessions. I also got some people like telling us like oh, hey like uh, it's a really interesting login system
I didn't need to input my email or verify anything. I just click and just make some accounts
Uh, and the and the business idea was to sort of transfer that to your mobile phone
So you can log in using your phone app and still carry over player progression like throughout multiple platforms
And then now it got the that got expanded into the community engagement platform that I just described. But right like I digress
Point is blockchain as it's uh, like as a technology. It's really a decentralized consensus. That is what it does
What and the the real important thing is like what are we trying to achieve consensus from or for?
Is it the ownership of assets? Is it the ownership of a certain data or is it to verify transaction history?
What is the consensus that we're seeking for and for which one like the question
The answer to that question was very simple because hey, we don't have a server
so I want to find a way to come up with the consensus for the
For the users items or you know certain data sets
That's represents who they are
And that's what we use for and I know like for some people that you might think like, oh, hey
Why are you like just explaining NFT profile pictures in a long in a very roundabout way?
Uh, so one main difference here is that we do not allow external wallets
To integrate with the app meaning that you cannot connect using metamask or or palisman
uh, it's not like that because it's the whole idea is that you don't need a wallet like it's
Randomly generated for a very specific purpose accounts are randomly generated for one purpose
And I believe this is how honestly like uh wallets or crypto
I guess accounts should be used in general instead of having one
Account in you know, just uh being very scared if it's going to happen or not
Not like we have account abstractions. We have so many great technologies nowadays
Why don't we just have a throw away make a vanity account or generate a new account instance for every
Single action that you make and just let players
Still verify ownership or transfer ownership through whatever means and that's how we kind of created our system around it
I'm not going to claim that the game itself is decentralized because
I honestly don't really uh, let's say
I don't feel like the centralization is important to our project that we're working on specifically
But it doesn't add any value to it. What value it does add is
The ease of use and also the reduced cost from from the operating side and that's why we use blockchain
It's more of a practical reason but uh this because you know, we're not targeting web-free people
Uh, and we do not allow any any sort of like direct assets transaction or even any
Uh, let's say like yeah any speculation within within this ecosystem we built
uh, this means that we are not really necessarily directly subject to any of the platform regulations like
apple or or even steam when they
Prevent blockchain games or if the games from coming in like it's mostly referring to the fact that
The games themselves if the games themselves are making a transaction
That's occur that has any monetary value to it
If we prevent that completely and it is we're basically using blockchain as a big ass database
Then you know for a gig for the platform perspective. We're just like any other game really
There's no difference because we're not making any other transaction at all
And this is where we really saw a lot of opportunities in this technology and you know
Imagine this plus like ipfs and did and layer 2 is like with zkvm and everything
So many so many ways to use it just by you know, narrowing your use case into a single function
That you wanted to use the the
Exactly where you want that consensus to happen
And that's for us was a really helping way and I really hope that more
You know games game creators and projects within this ecosystem sort of acknowledges in that way as well instead of you know
Just uh, yeah, because a lot of people see blockchain as evm is everything if it if it can run solidity
Then that's that's a blockchain basically, but you know polka dots, especially polka dots have so many different infrastructure like available
Uh on the go so that it's really underutilized
And yeah, I hope that the blockchain really opens up for more opportunities and not limit people
Because of the preconceived notion of what the technology is capable of a bit of a rambling there. Sorry
I'll just need it. I think this
Uh, i'm excited because we have both ends of inspection here with web3 with gaming
Um with even creation just a whole concept of creating something for for the user again user
The tools right who are the creators?
And so both of you speak to both sides of the spectrum beautifully and I think i'm getting a whole grasp of like
Um, you know including pities or uh,
Ownership what that means to nft holders. Um
And on the developer side we could also see what are we doing now?
With whom with what you're doing stripping it down to its core
Um creating probably the easiest login i've ever seen in my life
Just create a username create a password and no one could copy that username. There's nothing else needed. Um,
Pushing in both spectrums is needed in my opinion, right? And this is my little small ramble. Um
That way we could we could see what can be created and we start combining different things from both sides
Until we get something we want or my users want or my community wants, right?
Sometimes I would want a little bit of that
Sprinkle in some of this and voila. I got a cheesecake
Um now i'm hungry. But anyway, I digress
Uh, that being said these challenges and these opportunities that you both laid out here. Um
It's it's it's just wonderful even these new erc standards if we're talking about like solidity, right?
Um, that's combining nfts with other elements of blockchain
It's wild and it's like every other day. There's something new
Um that we could go composer by nfts a layer in them
Nfts owning tokens itself. It's just it's just wild and wild
Um, but the other hand too for for developers the people actually creating games are creating products like what?
What are they meeting especially from the web2 side or the you know
What we already had here the 30 million developers that exist out there that are not in in web3 at all
Um, what are we creating for them to see the value in this technology? So both of you speak
Amazing to that. I'm gonna pause it here though, uh, really briefly
Um, we do have some giveaways that I know some of these attendants are ready for and just tired of hearing my beautiful voice
So i'm gonna have climate select five of them and then take oh, sorry
Yeah, select five of them and hoon if you see another five afterwards that you want to give away an imaginary past year
Thanks to our our friend climate and imaginary ones. Um, you can follow up his first five choices. All right climate
So, um, yeah, just just just you know for for the listeners
Just you know do a emoji it up so I can just roughly pick I would just go with like, uh
Top of my list right now here
The fff cryptogami how many have I have I spent uh, like three ready or four somewhere three and um and
Okay, i'm just gonna pick
Inter in television skull hit. Yeah, so that's like five, right?
Yeah, I believe so, um, I hope you wrote them down or john did
A screenshot to we'll get circle done and hoon
Do you have five people you seem in mode giving emojis throughout this chat or actively listening?
That's really hard to see
I'll pick one for you. Gregory has been actively listening. Uh, dustin too. I see some emojis giving
Um, I picked two you could pick the other three
Oh, you picked the best two I was thinking okay
Well, yeah, i'm looking for some um, there's there's of course a lot of familiar people here but uh
Not to not to be uh, you know blatantly biased like with some other guy here
Yeah, we'll get the uh, the bow
bao, you know with the cat, uh
I think it's an nfc profile picture and the uh, uh, we want me to pick three or two
Three more three more. All right, so too much anyway two more now. Yeah, um
L and e i don't i'm just by the i'm really really just randomly like going through everyone
This person has been a emoji like yeah first thing on that emoji
Okay, so yeah, I guess that's three right yes, yes, okay, uh, i'll write down some more
All right, and congratulations to the winners. You got an imaginary pass
Uh, go check out imaginary one clinic here. Make sure to follow
Um i'm excited for for the future really I think it is the new disney, um and owned by by you all
And then i'm going to shake here a link
For our first edition capsule for our upcoming campaign, it'll give you access to a rare
Nft that astar network is providing for all participants
Feel free to check it out. All you have to do is put input your address
Uh, let me do it on the laptop instead input your wallet address
Um, and that's it, right?
Our upcoming campaign is involves a lot of nfts
Amazing art we're touching our japanese roots astar network is is
Bringing in partners from the industry enterprises and lots of artists as well
So they help us celebrate the launch of our new product, which is astar zkvm
And hopefully you will too, uh, check it out when it's ready. So follow the accounts you can follow hoon if you enjoy
All his nonsense, right? How much nonsense do you think if you if you enjoy?
Yeah, the best that this industry can offer. Uh, probably it could do worse
And clever what kind of content do you have on your twitter?
So our our community and family at astar could get some insight
Um, I mean I talk about crypto quite a bit
I mean I talk about the web tree nft scene, but you know, I mainly talk about imaginary ones on my twitter
So if you're interested in managing one, it's just you know, tell me a follow-in. Yep, you'd be surprised
Um, okay. Let me just post this
And let's close out the show. We got 10 minutes left. Uh
It's been awesome so far. Thanks again
It's just nice to hear like two different facets of the same industry and how it's being utilized and and also related to gaming
While i'm trying to figure out how to post this link so everyone can
Give it a give it a go and just input their address for the special edition
Uh capsule nft. Um, I have to say
If chrono trigger and web 3 or a line
I wonder like how much I would love it hate it or in between, you know
There's part of me that would say that would sit here right now
Loving like a skin, especially if I was the og in the community of chrono trigger
For those that know the game don't know the game. It's this pixelized, you know RPG
That I absolutely love which is like nothing that gets my my rocks off
There is but chrono trigger is up there
Having input or being part of like the foundation of that game would mean something to me, right?
And how would I want to represent it digitally or physically or both?
Um, it says i'm thinking about right now and I guess it really depends on how to do it, you know, right, right, right
There's so many ways they could go wrong and right at the same time
Because you know a good example is you know
remember back in the day when like mobile game was kind of a craze but also this horrendous thing that uh
Only the casuals would play. I mean it still is too fair
But yeah, like every time you see like your your favorite game getting a remake on your mobile version
But like the shootier version so it just makes people mad. It could be like that worst case scenario
All right the best case scenario, um
You have input or your your users that play the little indie
Transforms it over time and to something else. Oh, you mean the company should give away the right to their like the best mic maker
And I agree with it though like yeah, oh, sorry that's gonna be pretty much going
Awesome awesome. Okay to round it off. Uh, please check out the comments under this twitter space. Um,
And hit the link here's vision capsules
And hopefully climate you enjoy it too. Uh, once our campaign launches and you could start collecting our
Young and thanks for having me man. I appreciate it
It was it was fun chatting like, you know with with legends like you guys, uh about the gaming space
in a crypt like you know, like
I feel like you know the whole entire space move so fast and like
There's multiple like gaming bull run across the time, right?
And those are even for entities like there was a phase where there was like a huge euphoria moment for entities
But during the bear market everybody just I'd say like, you know, 90 percent of everybody left
But you know appreciate you guys are still here building whatever with the end
We are being very serious about this whole entire pre-gaming space or at least crypto space. So
Yeah, it's not easy. But uh, appreciate you guys for whatever you guys have been doing for the longest time
Okay. Thanks so much. Micah
Yeah, uh who here being one of the the original builders of astar and now the great heights that we've reached
You know, so kudos to the builders like yourself to climate who are building something. Um,
Um, something basically nothing or your art right and what it's turned into
So I think it takes it's a collaborative effort across many industries and disciplines and I think we're all we're all hitting it on the on the head
So closing remarks really uh hoon like anything else we want to say to our our guests and our users who are listening
Um about the future, you know gaming or web3 together and clement too
I would love to have you close out the space then I mean any invitation to upcoming events
Um, uh, so please feel free to to do it. Sure
Um, I guess I can start so yeah
It was a it was a real pleasure appointment sharing this space with you, especially with your big community
And yeah, and also everyone as well
Like don't be too fixated on web3 web2 games or you know, nfts or whatever
It's really about what makes you feel connected and uh games internet, uh blockchain
They're all out of many mediums, uh, and just don't limit yourself because we are all
born to create something right
Yeah, who would definitely say this really well, but uh
What's upcoming for us is definitely the bubble token
So like uh, if you guys are interested with whatever we've been building across the time of the last
Two years like you know, just check our website check out our collections and or just you know
Talk to the community of imaginary ones who probably know like, you know
What we've been building so far and I think that would really excite you in a lot of ways. Uh, so
I think for the future of web3, I would say like
at least for gaming or even nfts-wise, you know, just
try to try to focus on the on the brands that are actually making a
a dent in the space and try and making a difference in this space because like I feel it's not as um
Like if we really want to transform the space as a whole, you know, it takes everybody to do it. So
Uh, it's a collective effort. So I mean for us, we are definitely very appreciative of the whole entire imaginary ones connect our
community because they're behind us all as well
But I think if we could outreach into more people into
Learning of what our beliefs are for the space of what we've been building across the time people will look at the whole entire space totally
Differently and you know, the the method option can come much faster than expected. Yeah
Amazing thank you both so much again
Count on us. I meant ask our network to support you who and as well
Um in all your endeavors, especially with gaming we're excited to to see the innovation happen and both of you are leading in in your own ways
Thanks again. Thanks again, and everybody have a wonderful night or day wherever you are and see you next time
Bye-bye. See you. Bye. Bye. See you guys