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ZTX BETA Launch Party
Recorded: Dec. 21, 2023 Duration: 1:25:49Space Recording
Full Transcription
December of 2023. It's been a very, very last quarter of the year. And I'm quite excited for
this space. I'm also quite happy that we have such an amazing panel of speakers with us today.
And I kind of want to start with a bit of a different question today, because we also have
a different space today. We are not talking about token design. We're not talking about
onboarding the masses. We are solely focusing on the GTX beta, celebrating our launch party.
Christmas vibes are on. So the question really is, in 2021, everyone was talking about crypto,
about NFTs, about JPEGs to their families at Christmas, was talking about that with the
friends as well. In 2022, we kind of avoided that topic. The question now is, what do we do in 2023?
Do we mention JPEGs? Do we mention Web3 Gaming? Or don't we? Shiv, Paji, privilege. Question goes to
you first. Welcome to the stage.
Oh, my favorite party is always the GTX beta launch party. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be
surrounded by a bunch of good friends and family on this amazing day. You guys are not jumping on
the beta launch. What are you doing? Get that loaded up. Sorry, Legendary, you want to repeat
your question? Sorry, I got a bit hyped there. Absolutely. Absolutely. So look, in 2021, you
might have been talking about JPEGs and crypto to your family at Christmas dinner. In 2022, you might
have not done that for reasons. What are you going to do in 2023? What's the plan? Do we talk about
crypto or not at Christmas?
Instead, we send them pudgy gifts. That's what we do during... This is what we do in the family
group chat. We don't sell them tokens or anything. We sell them gifts. Send them the Instagram. Send
them the toys. That's what we're doing this Christmas. That's how we onboard.
Love it. Love it. The very, very subtle mass adoption via the pudgy toys. Ashley, welcome to the
stage. What about you? What's your Christmas slash crypto JPEG strategy? You know, I think that I've
talked to my family a lot about crypto. In fact, I have NFT ornaments on my tree. So it's kind of in
their face. So I'm just going to keep talking about it until they finally, you know, get their stuff
together and actually join me. I convinced my sister already. So that's at least good.
Love it. But wait a moment. Did you say NFT ornaments on your Christmas tree?
Okay. So I got like a pudgy clip and I use that little clip. It's not really supposed to be used
this way, but I used it to hang it on my tree because I thought it would look super cute.
And then Spotty Wi-Fi is doing this pudgy Santa too. And he sent me an actual pudgy penguins
ornament, like a real one. So I feel pretty privileged right now.
Love to hear that. So it seems like we have three options. We talk about crypto,
we don't talk about crypto, or we go for the pudgy mass onboarding route. Sanjay,
welcome to the stage. What's your tactical approach for Christmas?
I don't know. To be honest, like my tactical approach is probably just going to be, you know,
like staying home, meeting friends or like my family's a little bit far away. So I'm probably
just going to meet some friends, go out for dinner and then just come back home and be back on the
computer and the laptop, either making content or either just buying NFTs or something. Recently
been going crazy. That's my Christmas present for myself.
Love it. The market doesn't stop on Christmas Eve. That's the beauty of Web3. Eliza,
welcome to the stage. How are you doing? What are your thoughts on JPEGs and crypto as a Christmas
dinner topic? Hi guys. Happy to be here. Glad to see all my friends on the panel. Glad to see Ashley
here. And yeah, so I don't know. I don't think I'll speak about it just because Christmas for me is
like there's my entire family. And we're a really big family. So yeah, I think I'll just get into too
many debates. But my close family, you know, has been pilled. My brother's really into Bitcoin
since like way earlier than me. And he's younger than me. So it's funny. He's got even my mum some
Bitcoin. So yeah, I feel like my family is pretty pilled. I've been trying to convince my dad to get
into some blockchain engineering because he's a dev. But yeah, he works at a bank. So I don't think
it's going to happen. Yeah, no, I probably won't talk about it. Maybe give some NFTs. I think that's
like the number one thing. Axies are pretty easy to gift. So I think I'll be doing that. Yeah.
Very, very fair take. I love that. Same approach for me. Close family definitely knows about what's
going on. My mom, my mom, shout out to my mom. She's 66 years old. And she has a very, very good
about idea about NFT floor prices, specifically when it comes to my biggest bags and holdings.
She tracks them like me. Next, welcome. Welcome to the stage. What about you, my friend? Do you talk
about JPEGs and NFTs at Christmas? Or is that a topic that you'd rather skip?
Yo, yo, thanks for having me. It's actually pretty funny because the Azuki that I bought
currently and my past Azuki that I sold is actually kind of chosen by my mom. So my mom
actually likes NFTs and Bitcoin, which is actually pretty weird to say. But, you know, on my father's
side, he doesn't really care at all. He only knows, oh, did you buy that Bitcoin? Now it's
like 40K. And I'm like, well, kind of, yes. No, like, why do you care now? But yeah, you
know, my, like some part of my family is into it. So I'm pretty glad, you know, I can talk
with mom all the time because when it goes down, I complain a lot. When it goes up, I'm pretty
happy. And I buy myself stuff sometimes. And she's just like, where's the money coming
from? And I'm just like those pictures, mom. So yeah, that's pretty much it.
Shout out to NFT moms. We absolutely love them. Karma, welcome to the stage.
What are your thoughts on this? Conclude us on the topic of JPEGs and Christmas.
Oh, Jesus. Like, honestly, we could make like an entire standup comedy show about my family's
antics and crypto. My dad is like a Bitcoiner who believes that everything else is a shitcoin.
Nevertheless, he does like sculpt and like day trade ship for some reason, religiously for
two years now and professionally loses money in that day trading. My mom, on the other hand,
is like just an absolute NFT degenerate. In fact, two years ago, Christmas was ruined because
someone outbid her or like some kind of an open sea auction. She was absolutely livid.
She wouldn't shut up about it on a Christmas table. So to whoever like actually wishes that
their family was in crypto to any extent whatsoever, think again. It is hell. It is awful. Your parents
will have the worst takes you have ever heard in your life. And you will have to sit there and eat
your soup. It is nevertheless very entertaining. I honestly, if, if the entire web free journey
just, you know, doesn't work out for me, I'm just going to start recording my family and selling it as
a podcast. Like imagine a group of angry polls arguing about layer ones over Christmas dinner.
It's fantastic. I don't know. It sounds like something that I would not only watch, but would love to be a
part of, would love to be a fly on the wall and follow that conversation would definitely, definitely
be very, very, um, entertaining.
Well, uh, maybe I'm going to invite you next year, Legendary. Let's see if we will also bet whether or
not you will survive.
Love it. See, this was the plan for that awkward, awkward silence to get that invite out of you.
Um, and last but not least, I think that from the official
um, ZTX account, Rudy is joining us. Very, very curious to hear your thoughts on the Christmas
slash NFT topic.
Um, yeah, GM, GM. Uh, thanks. Thanks everybody for, for showing us the great crowd we have.
Um, I was thinking about this literally earlier today. I was thinking maybe I'll buy some soul.
I'm probably like $80 too late, but could buy some soul, uh, or maybe like sweet moon birds. I don't
know. I think it's kind of interesting. Um, but yeah, I'll actually be spending Christmas with some
people that actually, um, uh, took a leave of absence from crypto after 2022. So they've been
in the space, uh, wrote, wrote it up all the way up, wrote all the way back down, like most of us
or all of us. And then they just said, fuck this. I'm not going to be in crypto for a while. So
I'll see if we can get a convo going, but it's, it's sensitive. I don't, I don't want to like,
you know, mess up the mood. Fair enough. Absolutely. Gotta keep the peace, um, at the Christmas table.
Um, with, with the Christmas plans out of the way, let's dive into, um, today's show. And actually we,
before we get into the ZTX beta, I think we have to look back at 2023 a bit from, from the perspective
of ZTX because loads and loads of things had to happen this year, um, for the beta being able to
be live now. And Karma, I would kind of love to hear from, from your side. Um, what were some of
the highlights at ZTX, um, in, in 2023 for you personally? Oh yeah. Um, Jesus, it has been a long
time coming and, you know, releasing the beta this week has been a watershed moment for the
entire team. Uh, I've personally been a part of ZTX for over a year and a half now. And let me tell
you, it has been, you know, just one sprint after the next. Um, it is absolutely astonishing to me
what an incredible amount of work, power, workforce, talent, and breadth of expertise it's actually
required to build even the simplest of games. Uh, and then even much more to build something,
you know, as ambitious as ZTX that incorporates not just a single player game loop, but also
in the future, so many social aspects. So it has been genuinely, uh, a very varied and learning journey
every single step of the way. And I think the major milestones that we have seen, you know,
as a community, um, are, you know, distilled down from a much, much longer work period of our team
behind the scenes. So this year, this past year, certainly we've kicked off with, you know, the
mint of our ZTX Genesis homes. And, you know, we meant that at the genuine bottom of the NFT market,
it was, you know, like a very serendipitous situation where through, you know, very, very
careful allocation to early community members, through pre-sales, like we were able to really
build one of the most faithful and passionate communities I have ever seen. And we were able
to do that at the genuine bottom. Um, so many people have, you know, just stayed with us across
the past months and it has been a wonderful journey. Um, same, you know, with, with content creators,
with friends here that join our spaces, we've genuinely built connections that stem from way
back into the bear market. And we really grown together, you know, many of the faces I'm seeing
in the audience right now, guys, like I've seen you at like, you know, like five, six, seven thousand
followers posting, you know, things with which got like maybe 10 likes and just grind it out for months,
uh, you know, with the belief that we will eventually arrive at the wonderful, you know, uh, vibrant
space that we are in now where, you know, we are seeing so many games launch. Everybody is looking
at web-free gaming. So, um, sorry, I'm, I'm getting like a bit sappy here, you know, pre-Christmas,
I'm like preparing myself for facing my Polish family, but by, you know, like by pep talk from my
web-free family, but, um, certainly, you know, the launch of the NFTs, the airdrop that we've done,
you know, airdropping 4% of the entire token supply to early supporters. I think ZTX back in
October was genuinely a liquidity event that very, very few people anticipated in web-free gaming.
And we've only, you know, delivered on our promises since and following the play tests,
you know, with all your feedback, refining behind the scenes and merging into this beta right now,
these are certainly the steps that were to me, you know, clear, clear path towards ZTX in 2024 as a
larger game. But I would love to hear from Rudy as well, you know, like looking into the past,
what was maybe one or two major milestones that's to you defined this year?
Oh man, that's like way to put me on the spot. I was literally grabbing some ice and I had to run
back. Um, uh, I mean, it's been an eventful year for us, obviously. Um, I think of, you know,
obviously a couple of play tests, NFT mint, uh, token listing, official beta launch, and a lot of
many events during different conferences. Um, I think though, just very personally for me,
the mint kind of kickstarted a lot of things. Um, I mean, to me, that was almost more important than
the token listing, uh, in a way, arguably. Uh, but yeah, I think that's when we first had some,
some kind of a tangible asset that, uh, we could hand to our community. And then obviously it was
very fun to see that floor price go up. Um, and then, uh, the token listing was also obviously a
very important event, but not because we listed more because it was tied to the airdrop. And, uh,
there's been a lot of really cool, uh, airdrops and projects that came out this year. And, uh,
I think for us, uh, um, something that really felt good was how, uh, well, how well we rewarded our OG
backers and our, uh, you know, our loyal, loyal community members and friends. Um, I, I don't know,
maybe I'm, maybe I'm like, uh, completely have a distorted vision of things, but I hadn't seen anybody
who, uh, you know, was a part of that airdrop, uh, you know, voice negative sentiments. I think
almost a hundred percent of the people that were a part of our community that participated in the
airdrop were extremely happy with how it went, how it was done. Uh, and so I think that that was
started by obviously the, the NFT meant, right? Because that was a big component of the airdrop.
But so to start there, get to the TGE, reward our early community members. I think that was kind
of a nice, um, you know, A to Z kind of a moment. Uh, and of course, now we've started a new, new
cycle, new chapter with the beta opening. And so maybe, you know, if, if you ask me this one year
from now, we'll have like more cool stories, but for me, it was the mint and then the, the airdrop.
Absolutely. Love, love to hear that. And I also have a followup question based on what,
what the both of you said, but before I get to that, um, karma, I loved what you said about
having watched some of, or most of the content creators were with us either on stage or in the
audience grow over, over this year. It is more than a cliche to build your brand, to build your
following, to build your niche in a bear market. It is the reality. Everyone who managed to build and,
and, and work through the bear has accomplished so, so many things. I mean, just shouting out
Eliza real quick. You just hit 20 K followers. Shiv obviously has been killing it both with little
pudgies, but also joining, um, CDFI as their lead advisor for, for the spaces growth side of things.
And so was everyone else on stage. And this is, um, impressive to see in that very,
very short timeframe. Also given the fact that we've only been in this more bullish sentiment
of the market for a bit more than eight weeks, for a bit more than two months. Um, with that being
said, however, going to the followup question, karma, you specifically mentioned that, you know,
you minted at the bottom, you minted before all of that bullish sentiment was back in the market.
In hindsight, would you, would you change that if you, you know, could forecast the future to mint
in a more bullish sentiment? Are you actually happy to have built that community in, in more of the bear
market and then attract the people who are, um, more invested who, you know, are not here for the
hype because they were here before the hype. If you, if you could pick, what would you pick? And I'm also
very curious to hear, um, the thoughts from, from some of our panelists and speakers on that question.
But karma first.
Well, what a good question. Um, I mean, I feel like I see this every single time you ask me something,
but genuinely what a good question. I have, I'm, I'm like very, very, uh, split on this because on one
hand, in terms of the quality of the community we have built, I think a lot of this is due to the timing.
A lot of it is due to the, just by virtue of minting at the bottom, there was very little
interest for web-free gaming back then. And who was interested was in it for a long run. People
realized that, Hey, this is going to be, you know, a journey. Uh, we are going to see, you know, like
refined and, and great games in 2024, 2025. I want to position myself now with brands I believe in.
So I think that was a huge part of it. And I think that actually, uh, you know, just worked very,
very positively for us at ZTX on the flip side, however, you know, just looking at the froth in
the market right now, I think that if you're a brand with, you know, very well, very good backing,
very good positioning, um, you can achieve even higher valuations. So even just, you know,
like very selfishly, like thinking about our holders and, and the future of the collection,
I think that technically we would be sitting at a higher valuation if we had minted right
now, we've seen some really incredible spikes in the market, but I personally concentrate on
longevity. And I think this has really set us up for success, allowed us to, you know,
build for months now already with the collection, with the token out. Um, and that's, that's what I
really value. I think, you know, just being in it for the long run. Um, so that's sort of like my,
my two cents on this. I definitely agree with the sustainability thought and the long-term
orientation, but would be also very curious, um, captain to hear from you. You've been obviously,
um, over, over the last year and would love to hear your thoughts on timing the market,
if you could to basically be there in the most hype moment versus like building a more resilient
community in the bear. I mean, I think you kind of nailed it there. You know, I think it's
building a more resilient community. You know, I, I talk about ZTX often in, in this light,
being a project that's really been super, super successful coming out of the bear, you know?
And with that, I think, I mean, to answer the initial question, I think it was totally the
right decision. I think it's made such a more powerful and resilient community. Like if you actually
look at just the economics of the collection, like the actual volume to, uh, to floor price
movement ratio, the listings, all of it, like all of it points to the fact that ZTX holders
don't want to sell, you know? And I think a huge portion of that is because people didn't really
buy ZTX to make money. You know, whenever you look at the people and the way that the mint initially
went, like it was, it was a slow mint, you know, it made it to public. People had the opportunity to
mint as many as they wanted, you know? And because of that, only the people who were buying
purely for conviction made it into the community. And it, it built such, I mean, in my eyes,
a stronger community than you're going to be able to see in this new meta, because now you have all
of these flippers who are, who are purposely, you know, targeting all of the gaming mints to get in,
uh, as early as possible. And so you just don't get the same holder base
in, in a bull cycle as you do in a bear. That's such a, such a good thought. Yeah,
it is. You're absolutely right. And I also remember the mint having participated, uh, myself in both
the white listed as well as in the public phase of it, that you had ample of time to mint and there
was no rush and there was no gas war going on. Compare that to, to the overworld mint. Um, it was
a completely different setting in the market and those people who minted and did hold back then,
they didn't have the expectation of that very, very generous add up. They didn't have the expectation
of nailing another hyped gaming mint that hopefully does a 10, a 15, a 20 X and comes with a token,
which is the playbook that we're seeing today. It was a completely different, um, motivation
and reasoning for minting back then than if you were to mint today. Love, love, love that point.
Uh, Karma, any, any additional thoughts on that from your end?
Honestly, just incredibly excited to keep delivering value. I mean, I know it's a cliche,
but you know, the one off airdrop that we've done was just the beginning and I'm very, very
excited for everybody who, you know, keeps putting their faith in ZTX and, and, you know,
keeps supporting us for this journey.
Talking about the journey. We talked, we talked a lot about the past. We talked about what,
what happened in, in 2023. I think it's time to get into the title of the space. It is a launch
party after all. The ZTX beta is live. Um, what is, what is going on with the beta? What can people do?
What can people expect from it? How can they access it? Give us all the details, um, on the beta, please, Karma.
Of course, I'm gonna jump in and I'm sure Rudy will want to also chime in with his, like, highlight reels.
So, uh, for everybody listening, what you can do starting immediately, starting actually like,
you know, over 24 hours ago, you can go to ZTX.io and you will immediately see a big frontal button
to download ZTX. So ZTX is not played in a browser. You need to download a launcher, which we build
ourselves. Uh, and that's actually an insane advantage for you as a player, because from the moment you have
downloaded and installed the launcher, um, we are able to push different updates and inform you of
different patches as they come out without you having to download the entire thing all over again
or, you know, waiting for like certain maintenance times. So that's what I would do first thing. Um,
with any decent, you know, internet collection connection, you can actually start playing ZTX within
10 to 15 minutes if you start downloading now, including the install time. So
So once you do enter ZTX, if you've used our avatar builder in the past, you will be able to,
you know, uh, potentially, potentially have a look and import that avatar, see your avatar,
which you've created in the past. If you connect with the same wallet, uh, if not, the first step
to your journey will be to create your digital self. And that avatar builder alone, guys, is incredibly
fun. We regularly monitor on-chain activity and we see some people, some wallets reconnect every week
or every day, even now that the beta is live and change different aspects of their appearance. Some
people spend genuine hours just selecting eyebrows. It is fascinating to see. Um, so I'm sure you will
have lots of fun. I know many people here on stage have, you know, like created their avatars in the past
and had lots of fun. And then once your digital self is ready, it's really time to jump into your
plot of land. Well, plot lands in ZTX are free and accessible to all. So imagine ZTX as a little bit
as a mixture between the Sims and Animal Crossing in its current stage. You have a piece of land where
you can plant different resources. Each of these resources has a different growth time or in
harvesting time. And once you harvest them, you can also craft new NFTs and new items out of these
resources. Uh, now, why is that exciting? Well, that's exciting because you've suddenly have the
ability to create NFTs out of in-game resources, decorate your home. You can also craft wearables,
some of which will be limited edition in the future, and dress your avatar. So what you're
looking at is a very, very foundational level of single-player gameplay, which we will then
continuously expand and update on. And one last thing I really want to highlight, because it's very
important to make it clear, is it's very often that you see beta of games that are out there and, you
know, maybe they last a week or two, but then they are taken down by the team and then the waiting
time begins for the actual official release. With ZTX, it's going to be a bit different. That's why we
released that launcher, if you remember me speaking about it. It's because, you know, from now on, ZTX is
on mainnet and from now on we refine and improve it together. So while we may have to take it down for
maintenance times, etc., of course, it's still very early in development. The general idea is to
continuously improve it, the version of the game that's out there right now. So that's the beta.
Think of it as just the first moment. ZTX is there live on mainnet and allows you to jump in and
participate continuously and build your own digital world.
ZTX So it's a persistent beta. It's a continuous experience. It's not a two-week event. That's
amazing to hear. Rudy, quick follow-up question for you on that. A, the eyebrow or the time spent,
the hours spent on designing eyebrows in the avatar builder, should that be a KPI to track when it comes
to user retention? And B, on the most serious note, what is your highlight of this beta launch?
ZTX Eyebrows was not in the list of KPIs. We have nostrils, we have mustaches, but not eyebrows at the
moment. But we could collect further feedback from the community and decide what other facial parts to
include. But actually, not limiting this to eyebrows, but slightly going off on a tangent.
But look, it's been less than 48 hours since we launched the beta. It's very early for us, right?
And we have a really nice team. Very professional, seasoned people from different parts of different
industries coming together to build this. We have hardcore gamers in our DEF team and our design team.
We have this dude who's one of the first five or ten people at Epic. And he was one of the very,
very, very first game designers on Epic Games. And people like that to the dude that spearheaded all
of the creative branding and design for Roblox all the way up until their IPO and then after their IPO.
And so because we have a roster of different people that have done a lot of things, when we were
planning for this beta and when we were designing the application, we had many, many spreadsheets of
different scenarios that could happen. Hey, what if this happens? What if that happens?
And then so we tried to come up with different game plans for different scenarios. But honestly,
like, as you guys know, that the plan goes out the window. Everybody's got a plan, like Mike Tyson
says, until you get punched, right? So you don't know what's really going to happen. And we're just
shooting in the dark. So although we had different plans, we just wanted to get this out there and
then start looking at data and then user feedback. And, you know, it's been two days. But when this
becomes two weeks, two months, we have increasingly more data to work off of. And I think that's going
to impact how we tweak different types of rewards or different types of gameplay, UI design, and
obviously a lot of things. It's an evolving beast. Now, I bring this up because I think that it is
quite possible, not committing to anything, but it's very possible that we will look at user data and then
try to work with, try to come up with a new set of KPIs that better reflect, you know, what our users are
are enjoying. And how can we show appreciation for more loyal users and, you know, fans of the entire
game loop and the experience. Now, that may look like, oh, okay, like we realized that placeable
objects, you know, like furniture types of objects or wearable objects, certain types of things we want
to amplify a bit more. So maybe like, if you possess, if you've crafted a certain class of assets,
that kind of shows that you're hardcore ZTX, you know, so maybe we might try to tweak things here
and there so that those people could be recognized better. But, you know, all of this, we don't know,
we'll look at, we'll continue to look at the data daily, weekly, and then, you know, alter our strategy
accordingly. So that was off on a tangent, but that's kind of related to the eyebrow stuff.
And what was your other question?
The other question was, what is, you know, the, the highlight of the beta. But before we get into
that, actually, because you talked so much about data and you also just said it, it's only been a
bit more than two days that the beta is live. Is there any, any metric, any, any key data point
that has been, um, standing out for you so far, or is it way too early to ask that question?
Um, it is early, but also it's kind of, it's related to, so there's on-chain metrics that we're
looking at and, uh, and then there's off-chain metrics that, uh, because we're built on unity,
uh, we need to use the unity, um, analytics. And, uh, sometimes the unity analytics are not as,
it's not necessarily customized for ZTX, right? It's a, it's a broader general offering for
anybody that builds on unity. So, you know, we, we, we, then we got to, we have to like deep dive
into things ourselves. So, um, for those, um, technical reasons, I think it's a little bit early,
but, uh, I will say, yeah, there's been, uh, there's been some hardcore, uh, dark matter
farming people out there. So we will, uh, we will see how that, how that goes, but yeah,
it's, uh, at least it's, it's not, obviously we, we expect people to, to be passionate about
collecting rewards and emissions. Uh, so that's fine. Um, but yeah, we, we noticed that, uh,
yeah, there were, there's been some people like at it. Um, so which is, which is great. Um,
and going back to your question, um, well, uh, highlight for me, uh, honestly, uh, well,
it, it, it's nice. It's nice to see the logs, the, the records of people doing this, doing that,
because then it's like, okay, it's live and people are using it. And the, like now humans
are interacting with, with something that we've been working on. Uh, so just, just the fact that
there is now an accumulating set or sets of data was, uh, great for me. I don't have a particular,
uh, feature or part of the, uh, initial version that, uh, you know, I, I love more than others. I,
you know, I, I think, uh, I think everything is, um, I mean, I think it's, it could all,
all be upgraded and made better and we will make it better. But, um, yeah, there's no like one feature
or design aspect that, uh, I have preference over, but, um, it was a bit of an odd feeling for me
personally, because, um, when it, when it went live, uh, I, I wasn't like, whoo, like, okay,
great. It's, it's, it's out. Okay. Now, now the real thing begins. So it was, uh, it was,
there was a dual sense of relief, but also now more, I wouldn't call it anxiety, but, um,
um, anticipation at what's, what, what we need to do. There's more responsibility. There's a lot
of stuff we want to ship. So, um, so yeah, I, I, it was kind of like, uh, a weirdly calm moment to
just ship it. Um, but, um, yeah, so, uh, me, I'm just, I'm actually more, uh, curious about what,
what we can deliver when, and just always that future roadmap. Uh, I think I'm just kind of more
thinking about that. I love the very, very honest and very insightful take and you sharing how you
felt, you know, once the, the beta went live and that there is more to it than just being excited,
happy beta is life. We've done that, but that there's also that feeling, okay, now the real
work starts now. There's so much more to do so much more data to track, to build on. So definitely
appreciate you sharing that. Um, Sanjay, I also know that you have, um, a question I see you with your
hand up. So I'm going to throw it straight to you. Um, sorry, just, uh, just jump in and like, uh,
quickly ask, um, can anybody like from the team or, uh, you know, like just answer what dark matter
is. And also wanted to mention that, uh, shout out to the team and karma for giving away a ZTX home
this Christmas. So if you are, if you want to take part in it, make sure to jump in the beta,
take a screenshot and post it. And also karma, maybe you can tell us more about the dark matter.
Oh yeah, this is, this is actually perfect segue to what Rudy was just saying, you know,
um, this bringing the beta out there, putting it on chain, putting it on mainnet is just the first
step. Now the true work begins and the work begins along, I mean, alongside other things with the dark
matter. So currently the dark matter, um, is one of the resources that you can, you know, like farm in
ZTX and the special ability of dark matter is it allows you to craft capsules and capsules on the
other hand can be opened in order to reveal the ZTX tokens inside. So, you know, it's like a part of
the circular game economy where ZTX token has utility in game because you can utilize it to skip, skip
particular, you know, farming times. You can also utilize it to, you know, craft certain rare objects.
Sometimes, you know, that crafting recipe will ask for a small ZTX fee. And that's again, just the
start on the flip side, in order to allow players without having to, you know, um, invest their own
capital to allow them to, you know, also have some funds in ZTX. They can craft these capsules
and open them for ZTX. The idea being that, you know, as we onboard millions of users, which is our
main goal of ZTX and everything, you know, everything, uh, sort of like leads towards that
goal. We want to ensure that anybody can jump in directly with no costs and can just start playing
right away. And from that moment onwards, it's your choice, how deeply you immerse yourself in digital
collectibles, how deeply you immerse yourself in that in-game economy. But it's not a requirement of
you to be, you know, barred away from a game because you first need to buy, I don't know, an asset
or a token for like a few hundred bucks. Um, so that, that's dark matter. It's one of the resources
which allows you to craft capsules with ZTX in it. And, um, what I did want to remark is that, you know,
one of the first, first updates I'm inching into the future legendary without your prompt, I'm sorry.
Uh, um, one of the first, uh, updates that we are hoping to introduce within the season one
of ZTX. Um, and we can talk about season later, but, uh, is actually introduction of the ZTX Genesis
homes in game. And once they are fully integrated as the Genesis homeowner, you will be able to farm,
uh, you know, limited resources, which are among other things like Genesis dark matter.
So then you can craft capsules, which are, you know, higher in ZTX content because you have that very,
very valuable Genesis asset of ours. All right. Yeah. That was, that was a bit of a mouthful. Uh,
as you, as you can see, Rudy has a tendency for tangents. I have a tendency for tangents. That's the
ZTX business team. Um, we, we united in monologue. Um, and yeah, I definitely also wanted to, uh,
tell everybody to check the pin tweets. We have an incredible giveaway again, one Genesis home, um,
with, with, you know, our partners, it's a Christmas giveaway. And then for everybody,
we also have an amazing UGC competition. So if you jump into the ZTX.io, try out the beta and,
you know, post your feedback. It can be a video form. It can be the thread or just tweet form. Uh,
we are going to, you know, have a look at all the submissions and many lucky people will win
not just ZTX tokens, but also ZTX Genesis homes. I think it would be really lovely of you all
to check it out and of course, give it a like, uh, to spread the word.
Absolutely love to hear that. And since you had this little glimpse into the future of the, um,
Genesis home or the Genesis homes in, in ZTX in the ZTX beta, um, is, is this then also the part when
Genesis home owners and holders can expect to visit their homes in ZTX or will this then come at a later
stage? Um, yeah, so, uh, you know, we're, we're heading into Christmas and new years, so we won't
be as, um, as heads down coding as, as usual for a bit. Um, and then once the new year hits, uh, the year,
the having, uh, once that hits, I think, uh, you, you can expect, uh, an update build. Um,
I don't want to promise on the timing, but it's not very far. It's not far away. Um, um, you know,
like as most of you, uh, may know at this point, uh, we tend to like, uh, under promise and then
try to over deliver and like we're human. So I, you know, maybe, maybe things can get delayed,
but so far we just like to, uh, talk about roadmaps and timelines. Um, when we have a
pretty high level of confidence that we won't disappoint. Uh, but anyway, it's not far away.
Uh, expect another update, uh, in the weeks to come. And when that update hits, uh, for now,
our plan of record is to enable, uh, you know, Genesis homeowners to access their homes, uh,
and then enjoy the unique benefits, uh, that come with owning a Genesis home or two or three or four
or five. Um, so yeah, the, that will be live in the next, uh, release.
Love, love to hear that alpha on, um, on this space, maybe also follow up question on that,
since we are looking at, uh, into the future, looking at future releases. What are some of
the other things that are on your roadmap for the next year, for 2024, when it comes to ZTX?
Hmm. Um, okay. Yeah. So we are not sure of the order in which these things will happen.
Um, um, because it depends on a few things. I think it depends on, uh, things like the composition
of our team, like HR resource, uh, issues. Uh, um, what are the users, uh, reacting more, uh, for, uh,
and then, uh, general, uh, industry conditions. Um, how is crypto infrastructure changing? Uh, how fast is it
changing in relation to what, like wallets, ramps, securities, uh, uh, mobile, uh, what's happening?
So I think there's a few external variables and internal variables, but there's a, there's a couple
of things that we, uh, want to, to deliver. Um, and, uh, one of those is the, the idea of, um,
mini gaming experiences, casual gaming experiences. Um, you know, you could call it portal games,
could call it whatever, but you look at, um, our legacy business, uh, web to Zepetto, uh, which,
uh, I also managed for quite a long time. Um, and then, uh, I've always been a lot more, uh,
bullish on crypto and NFTs, um, was in the crypto space since early 2017. But, um, you know,
I have spent a lot more of my time, uh, just working on ZTX. Uh, however, um, I was, uh,
managing web to Zepetto for a few years and at, at, uh, the, the, the industry or the category of
business that Zepetto is in, you know, obviously it includes the likes of, uh, uh, Minecraft and
Roblox and such. And for those types of platforms, it's a platform. It's a platform. It's not a single
title game. We're not talking about, uh, a Fortnite is a single, you know, it's a single title, um, with,
with mods and maps. I mean, it's, it's kind of different. It is more diversified, but still it's
a single title. It's, uh, it's a league of legends is a single title, but, uh, platform is not a single
title. It's meant to include different titles. And that's, uh, also what we plan for, uh, ZTX.
So being able to offer the first of those, um, mini gaming experiences that have nothing to do with
the core game loop with the currently our animal crossing type of, uh, Hey, collect resources, uh,
craft, uh, harvest, uh, and then craft like that. That's that that's how you make money. That's how
you express yourself. That's how you, uh, decorate your real estate. Uh, you know, and that's how you
participate in the economy. Um, but that aside, uh, we want to have gaming experiences. And of course,
I think those gaming experiences will also have a degree of economics tied into them, uh, where you
could be participating in an economy there as well with obviously our, our tokens and such.
That's one. Um, the other thing is, um, uh, further, uh, development of the downtown of the
four districts that we have for, for Genesis homes. Um, and, um, being able to offer, uh, a virtual real
estate that is not just your home, uh, but, uh, more of a collective, like a communal area type of,
uh, real estate, the districts basically. Uh, and each of them will have a different feel and
different experiences. Um, so, uh, I guess districts slash downtown. And then the other one is, um,
um, it's going mobile, uh, and, you know, uh, there's, um, if, if, if you're going to target
the masses, then of course, uh, we, you know, we, you need to be thinking about mobile and,
uh, Zepetto is a mobile native application, uh, and, um, rightfully so considering the demographics,
but, uh, we purposely didn't start out with, uh, a mobile offering because, uh, we felt like there
were more tools in the shack available for a non-mobile crypto product, uh, initially. And
then also, um, we wanted to, uh, this is, this is very subjective, but we wanted to, uh, try to
deliver a more high fidelity, uh, uh, visual offering first. And in order to do that, we,
we wanted, uh, higher specifications in the device. Um, I think general rule of thumb is,
this is very subjective, but I think, um, it's easier to go from top to bottom, like start with
something, uh, high quality and then like kind of dilute, offer more casual experiences, uh, more
lightweight experiences. I think it's easier to go that way rather than start out very low fidelity,
uh, and then move up into higher fidelity. Um, so, uh, I think that's a couple of the reasons why
we started out with PC, but, uh, obviously, you know, we, uh, want to get into mobile. So having
some kind of a light version, uh, uh, that is for mobile is also something on our minds. And again,
I don't know which order this, this will happen. Uh, we kind of have an idea about it, but it,
it involves other variables. So those are just, uh, a couple of the things that we would like to
update, uh, in the, in the next year for ZTX.
Very, very much appreciate the breakdown and also appreciate how much in detail, um, you went when it
comes to the reasons for why you went PC first and then mobile. And I would love to hear from you,
Elisa, because I know you also have very, very strong thoughts, um, when it comes to mobile
gaming, but specifically also on that approach to not launch with mobile first, to have the
desktop version first, build on that, and then go for the lighter mobile version. How, how do you
feel about this strategy? Uh, well, I just want to say like, I'm obviously not a dev. So, um,
and devs always, always have reasons to the reasons, sorry to the reason, uh, yeah, I guess
to the reasons why they build, why, how they build. So doing PC first, I'm sure had like, you know,
technical reasoning behind it. Um, but actually a lot of games are doing this, um, you know, PC
first or like MacBook first, and then moving to mobile. Um, I guess it's because once you have,
um, you know, the like, um, in commas, like the more complicated game version built out,
it's easier to then, like, um, I guess, dumb it down or make it like, uh, fit, uh, fit for,
um, mobile. Uh, so Shardbound is another game that's doing this. Parallel is another game that's
doing this. And like so many other games, like even like the traditional gaming industry that,
um, adapt mobile later on. Uh, so yeah, I find this really bullish and, um, I, yeah,
I didn't know you guys were going to mobile. So this is the first time I hear of it and, uh,
makes me very, very excited because it does open the doors to so many more people. Like even in my
community, like so many people always asking like, Hey, is this on mobile? Like, can I participate?
And often these are actually the most active people in my community that are like the most
interested in, in everything that's being built. So yeah, I'm always, it genuinely makes me happy,
like from my heart, um, to know that these people will be able to participate. Um, and yeah,
very, very good move from CTX. I love it. Thank you very much. Um, and also talking about
mobile applications, I think we have to take a quick sidestep and talking about, um, Stickly,
Stickly being a mobile app that allows you to create, uh, memes, stickers, use them in WhatsApp,
in iMessage, in Telegram. And while this might sound completely unrelated to what we've been talking
about, there is actually, um, a strong, strong connection to CTX. I think it's a piece of news
that not many people have seen or read so far. Um, but the CTX team has been incubating a web
three version of Stickly for the near future and Karma. I would love to hear more details about
that piece of news. Yeah. So I'm going to provide a little bit of a background to that,
and then I'm going to swiftly pass on to Rudy, because quite frankly, the amount of alpha that
I cannot be trusted not to drop, uh, is, you know, like off the charts. So when you have,
when you have your, you know, like, uh, co-founder and founder of, of CTX at, uh, at the same spaces,
you would rather not say the wrong thing. So, um, Stickly in itself is an app that allows you to
create stickers for social media applications. And what does this have to do with a metaverse,
a web-free metaverse like CTX? Well, what I really want everybody to, I want everybody to dream a bit
bigger. Right now, this beta is the very, very first step in our journey towards something that we see
as much more of a social media platform, social platform in general, than just a singular game,
as metaverses are sometimes seen. And in order for this to actually come into fruition, and in order
for this to be, you know, socially engaging, we do have to look outside of just the 3D immersive world
and see into what actually makes people, uh, you know, engage with certain IPs and engage socially
in the first place. And different stickers and exposing, I would say like, you know, quote unquote,
normie audiences to your IP via just very relatable characters, very relatable content used in everyday
conversations is actually an incredible marketing strategy and incredible exposure strategy. We've
seen it with pudgy penguins. We've seen it with chimpers. We've seen so many of those, you know,
exciting NFT projects step outside of just the bubble of crypto Twitter and pushing their IP into,
you know, be it Instagram, be it Reddit and more. So integrating Stickerly into sort of like the
repertoire of what ZTX is working on is just going to allow us to expand to other platforms and start
this, you know, very much social media, um, sort of like groundwork. Now, I would love for Rudy to
maybe determine whether or not we can share something more.
Uh, yeah, I mean, I think, so there was recently some articles written about this. If you Google
like ZTX and Stickerly, I think you should be able to find some things. Um, but yeah, it's, um, so we
started Zeppetto, uh, it was like August, August of 2018. And then, uh, like six months later,
it was more than six months later, but it was like the, like Q2 of 2019. I think, um, we, um,
just have like, uh, we get bored and then we just kind of try, you know, designing things on sprints and
then see if they work or not. And yeah, some, sometimes it doesn't work and it's fine. We
scrap it. Sometimes it works and it sticks. And then we, you know, put more time into it.
And then Stickerly was one of those things that we just kind of, ah, well, it's not a complicated
product. Uh, you know, what, what, can we do something with stickers was basically the idea.
And then, um, so we tried it out, we created a version and then it, it kind of stuck. And, um,
um, yeah, it's, uh, in, in the four years that it's been live, uh, Stickerly has quickly grown to
become, um, I, I'm pretty sure it's the number one app in its category, like number one UGC sticker
app. It's a, it's a very specific category to be honest, but, um, yeah. So, you know, there's been
like almost 10 billion stickers created, uh, 30 million monthly active users. That's actually more
than Zeppetto. It's like 50% more than Zeppetto, but, um, obviously the product is, it's very
different. Um, Zeppetto is a very complicated product, but anyway, uh, what it does is like,
you know, you could like find this on the app store or Google play. And, uh, it very,
it allows you to very quickly create your own stickers and then, um, export them, uh, publish
them into, uh, uh, WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram. And, um, we thought that, uh, well, this is a world
of memes that we're living in. I mean, crypto in particular, crypto is, um, it's, it's, let's be
honest, like meme driven industry and that's fine. Money itself is a meme. Everything's a meme.
Honestly, everything is just what the buyer says it is worth. And you just, you know,
pump the meme and that's part of life. Anyway. So we thought, okay, like literally,
this is a meme platform that we have. And, um, how do we, uh, expand this into web three,
because we also want to bring, just like we're doing with Zeppetto, we want to bring like more
web two people into web three. So we thought this would be a nice thing to, to work with.
So, but obviously we've been very busy with ZTX, um, uh, you know, everything that happened this year.
So it kind of got a little bit back burner, but then we were like, ah, okay. Like if,
you know, ZTX is out, let's, uh, we've been kind of working on the sticker ideas for a while. So let's
kind of get on this. So, um, yeah, it's, it's, we're going to offer some, um, you know, web three
version of, uh, a sticker creating platform. And, um, I think we want to kind of gather our thoughts
before, um, we announce more, uh, details, but, um, it is there, uh, you know, we've, uh, we, we've already
lined up some, uh, investors and partners, uh, for this new project. And what we wanted to do for
this was tie it back, um, to the ZTX ecosystem, uh, and the ZTX community, you know, obviously ZTX is
a platform that, uh, continuously produces and generates assets, generates 3d assets, avatars,
wearables, placeables, things that can be easily, uh, memefied or created into stickers. And, uh,
also there's no reason for us to not work with other IP, other collections like a pudgy or a
sappy seals or whatever it is. And so, um, yeah, we, we think there's one, there's a, it's a,
there's a great crossover from ZTX assets, uh, living, you know, in a 3d environment to a 2d sticker
in, uh, format. Uh, I think there's something very interesting there. And then for these, um,
sticker creators and communities to be able to generate additional revenue based off of the platform,
the, the sticker platform, I think that's very interesting. Um, so yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll be,
uh, um, you know, providing more updates on this token project. But, um, uh, when we started this,
um, we wanted to also tie this back into the ZTX holders and the Genesis homeowners, uh, and, and,
you know, figure out some way to, um, make sure that people can, oh, I don't know if I should say this,
uh, well, is figure out some way for the ZTX community to participate in, uh, the upcoming
stickerly project. So, um, we have some ideas about how to do this. It's not, it's not rocket science.
Uh, we, we just, uh, want to be a little bit more selective when we, when we, uh, go ahead with a,
with a new token launch, but, but yeah, the, the, the, the, the heart of it is that, yeah, you know,
there's a second thing and then, uh, it's like our, our little brother project and, um, uh, we will
connect it, uh, with the ZTX community and there will be a way for ZTX, uh, holders and, and, you know,
Genesis homeowners to, uh, uh, get in on the, on the upside.
A couple, a couple of thoughts on that. Um, A, I loved how you said pump the meme. It's part of
life. I think it would make for a great, great standalone clip. Um, jokes aside, you, you said
it yourself before, right? You're not building a single title, you're building a platform,
you're building an ecosystem. And I like how you approach, um, that certainly very,
very complex task and also think about something like Stickerly. Um, and I think Shiv, you can,
you can certainly speak to that from your perspective. Um, if you look at the Pudgy's
community and their extremely strong presence on, on other social media, on Instagram specifically,
um, apart from X, as well as their presence in the real world with the Pudgy toy line,
how much do you think, um, that this brand presence, uh, contributed to the success of the Pudgy ecosystem?
Sorry, is that for me? No, it was for Shiv, but I think he might, might, might not be with us. Um,
No worries. In that case, um, I actually wanted to also ask you a very, very similar question,
Ashley, since you are, um, a very, very prominent creator, also focusing a lot on video content,
have been there for definitely more than one cycle, have seen a lot and have seen a lot of brands who
started branching out, um, apart from, or yeah, started branching out and not only focusing on X,
and how important do you think that this strategy is for, um, the success and growth for web three
native brands? You know, I, I think that, you know, there's been a trend like with Instagram reels,
like the cute meta, I think, and that's been really good for a lot of companies because,
um, the best way to attract people like the, the problem that, that we've seen in many cycles,
like I've been through, um, gosh, I I've been here since early 2021. Um, so I've seen a lot of
ebbs and flows, you know, Instagram used to be a place where, you know, on, on, um, you know, NFT,
on the NFT side specifically, where there was a lot of scams and there was a lot of negativity when it
came to crypto and NFTs. And now we're seeing people are openly, you know, adapting and adopting
NFTs. Um, and, and even, you know, celebrities, I've seen celebrities share pudgy penguins, um,
you know, uh, little animations in, in the cute meta has people like you reach, you know, kids go
on Instagram all the time. You reach children with like really nice, like pleasant content,
nothing inappropriate for them. And that's like the best way to attract people. Cause when people see
their kids are interested, they want to look, and then they get interested in themselves. And not
only that, you know, creating this relatable, cute content, a lot of people is just, you know,
when they get home from their day, you know, from work, especially, you know, and what to,
um, they just like to relax and watch like funny videos or just cute videos and kind of take their
mind off things. And, you know, even for me, like when I'm, you know, feeling like a certain kind of
way, I'll go on there and, you know, it's cute to see those kinds of things. Um, and I think that's
just like the positive change that we needed. Cause like Twitter, in my opinion, or X, you know,
whatever it's called these days, I feel like it's, it's all about people, you know, making memes and
having fun, you know, messing around. I feel like it's more adult themed. And then Instagram is like
reaching people that are more like interested in like cute meta and like watching actual content.
Um, so I think the closer that we get to people like steering their content towards like mainstream,
I really think like the cute meta is like the best way, like absolutely the best way. And then,
um, with the gaming meta now, I feel like, I feel like now that a lot of Twitch streamers are really
popular, like that's the new meta as well. Um, I think we'll see a lot of gaming streamers from the
web three side really bridge that gap to web two through gaming content. I think that's like the
first step into getting more like, um, I don't know, mainstream adoption and like fun adoption.
Like I just imagine like, you know, a content creator, like this probably would never happen,
but it would be cool if it happened like Kai, you know, Kai is like one of the biggest streamers in the
world had Nicki Minaj on his, um, you know, on his platform. Just imagine if, you know, he,
he found one of the games and he featured it on a stream. Like there'd be, you know,
millions of people like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. And it wouldn't even have to be like
NFT, like in your face, it would just be games and something that everybody can enjoy. So,
you know, making it more palatable for people instead of so niche is, is the main way that we
can, you know, do what we need to do here. Yeah. You're raising a couple of very, very good
points. Um, a doesn't have to be NFT in your face for mass adoption. And B also, you mentioned,
you know, you have the cute meta, you have the gaming meta, and when two trends come together,
they have a massive, massive impact. We've seen that a bit also on the ordinal side of things.
And when ordinal started to meet the gaming, um, you had the Bitcoin cats, you had that preset. It
was what 150 times oversubscribed because you have two trends that are meeting that are converging and
are just creating, um, massive, massive viral momentum. Um, quick, quick sidestep from that.
I want to take a minute to scroll through, um, the comments and give a couple of shout outs. Uh,
first of all, to, to Dave who has been posting that they're downloading the Zepetto app as we're speaking.
Then, um, Maui is on a mission to craft some ZTX capsules. And personally, my favorite comment from,
um, and I hope I'm not butchering the name too much, um, Jemmy June, um, asking you, Karma,
do you take reservations for the next Christmas dinner at your house? Dejan mom and Bitcoin dad
sound super fun to be around. So I think you should make this a bigger thing. There's definitely demand for
that. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I take three reservations. You can pre mint a white list for,
uh, the, um, Christmas dinner at Karma house 2024. Um, two Eve to be seated next to my dad,
three Eve to be seated next to my mom. Uh, you know, depending on your just risk tolerance,
I really like to diversify, uh, is going to be really fun. Um, the, the, the detail everybody should
know though is that my parents are no longer together for 10 years now. So that, that makes
the entire scenario even funnier.
I, I love, I love how you instantly went for, uh, making a white list for that, how you instantly
figured out the price structure two and three Eve. And I think, I think I'm, I'm gonna leave it at that,
at least for the Christmas side of things. Um, and maybe, um, and maybe go a bit back to, um, what
Ashley has been saying before to, to the Meadows meeting and to something to a point that Rudy has
meant, uh, made before when we talked about the facial features in, in the avatar builder,
it's actually a question that I wanted to ask a bit before, but you got so, um, engaged with our
conversation that I didn't have the chance to do that, which is something like from my perspective,
as someone who's been a gamer for basically most of his life, um, I've seen avatar builders evolving
and evolving and evolving. Um, and I've seen many Twitch streamers taking the time to try to build
avatars that perfectly, you know, resemble, um, that perfectly resemble them.
But on the other hand, we are also in a space where, you know, we are all building our digital
identities. We are all, um, or not all, but a lot of us are using, um, our cartoon pictures,
whether it's Nezuki Elemental, whether it's, um, youths, Axie Infinity, a little pudgy and all,
all the other NFTs that we have, um, in the audience. And I'm kind of, kind of interested,
you know, to hear, this has been more of an open question, um, to hear your thoughts,
how those two things basically can, can coexist because I myself played around with the avatar
builder in, in the play test and really enjoyed it. Um, and I myself, I'm also, you know, building
my digital identity, um, around the, the Azuki Elemental around the sloth. So the question is,
how do those two exist? How important do you think that, um, the digital avatars and like the
customization of avatars, um, are for, for gamers specifically would really love to hear from,
from whomever has thoughts on that. So just put your hands up in the meantime,
I would like to hear your thoughts, Karma, first. Yeah, this is a brilliant, uh, question,
especially because, you know, I used to, for example, don at the God's PFP. Now I still love it.
I still love it. But now I, I've switched, you know, very firmly to my ZTX PFP. I just feel like
it's actually funny, you know, uh, legendary you and I met and like the first thing you said,
like, wow, you actually look like your avatar. Uh, yeah, I do. And I think that's just, you know,
something that's very difficult to actually achieve with a PFP. Some people prefer it that way.
Um, and it's just more creative, but for me, that's just creating an avatar that actually looks
like me that I can identify with has been a huge, huge thing. And I think as we, as we move forward
with all those, you know, immersive 3D presences and different experiences, you know, we see right now,
we have so many, uh, so many incredible games being built. Uh, just, you know, a few days ago,
we've seen this incredible trailer from Nifty Island where so many IPs, so many NFT collections
are already pre-integrated from cool cats to sappy seals and more. And it's going to be a lot of fun
for those owners, for those holders to play with that product. Very likely many of the players that
will try out Nifty Island because of that could not have done so beforehand. They will be incentivized
because they already have an emotional connection with their PFP. But on the flip side, you know,
for us at ZTX, of course, we want to expand the possibilities of, you know, what IP you can
integrate and what options you can choose for your avatar. But at the same time, I think the number one
consideration in everything we do is scalability. And so for everybody that, you know, might not be
that into building games or might not have the behind the scenes knowledge, every single animation
that we integrate into ZTX, be it, you know, sitting on the furniture, crafting items, etc.,
is very tightly connected to how the, how your character is rigged. So as soon as the proportions
of that character, as soon as even the height of the character is changed, for example, if it were
to be a sappy seal or like a cute puffy penguin, it actually instantly breaks the entire framework
of the majority of the animations and makes it significantly more difficult to scale the,
the interactions within the game to the level that we will need to onboard our Zepetto audience.
So this is not me saying that one approach is better than the other, but as we've discussed today,
you know, we are trying to build a very, very solid foundation first before we start adding
cherries and cream on top. So right now we are in the foundation stage. It would be difficult for us
to start diversifying these character options too early, breaking the framework of the actual game
loop that we are trying to create. So in the future, 100% expect activations of different IPs and
integrations. We are going to be moving towards UGC and releasing different tools, even for creators
themselves to, you know, build 3D objects for ZTX. But for now, we are going to stick to our avatars and
make sure that the game just works as smoothly as possible first.
Love the very detailed answer and also love your thoughts on other IPs in the future of ZTX. I would
really like to hear, Sanjay, your thoughts on the digital identity as a creator who is
not using a digital avatar, who's not using a PFP, but who is using a picture of themselves.
Yeah, thank you for asking this question. I think I envy people who have a digital character and,
you know, especially if they're doing a good job with their branding spells, especially like
legendary, you know, Shiv, Next, and Raiden and a couple other people, you know, a bunch of people,
right? A lot of people out there. So, you know, I envy them and they're doing a great job. And I
think it's, it's a lot, it's a lot appealing as well, because I think, because, you know,
like it's easier to create content around a virtual persona versus, let's say, for yourself,
then you would have to like, you know, do a lot of videos and you all have to take a lot of pictures
and you all have to be like, basically like an influencer on Instagram, right? So I think the
difference is huge there. And implementing that in a game or like in a metaverse like ZTX or in like
an ecosystem like ZTX, I think there is, I think there's a couple of ways you can do it, right? Like,
for example, Nifty Island, a great game is coming out right now. And there's a lot of IPs involved in
the game. People can play the game using their NFTs or sorry, using the NFT characters,
or there's like a couple of, you know, KOLs and influencers who are also going to get their IP
in game. So like, you're basically, you know, you are going to be in game as yourself. So I think that
could be something cool with ZTX can do, or, you know, other ecosystems like ZTX can also do.
But again, this is like, you know, a custom work thing. It's not like accessible to everybody.
Not everybody can do that. So it does, you know, like create some sort of like confusion that,
oh, who should be allowed to have an IP and who shouldn't and whatnot. But I would love to see,
you know, like some of our custom characters in ZTX. But at the same time, the way you can edit
the avatars in ZTX is amazing already. Like, you know, my last avatar in ZTX was,
it looked a lot like me, it looked very much like me. And it only took me like, you know,
15 minutes to edit. I think if I was editing it a little bit more, it'll be looking more like me.
So I think they are already doing a great job. But it does, it is a little bit more challenging
for people like Legendary, who are not docs, and they have a PFP of a sloth or, you know,
and Azuki to kind of match those with ZTX, where ZTX is going for a very realistic human look,
versus, you know, like a sloth. So I think there could be a way to bridge this gap. But again,
you know, this is just the beta. Like, I mean, there's obviously a lot coming in the future.
So I wouldn't, I wouldn't count it out yet.
Very, very thoughtful take. And very much agree. There is, on the one hand, if you have
a very powerful avatar builder, you can allow for so much customization and not have the drawback
that, as you mentioned with Nifty Island, where also we'll have my sloth as a playable character,
which clearly puts a lot of work on the team to make that possible.
As for the one part, in the meantime, I haven't been doxxed for the last playtest of ZTX,
but I did doxx in the meantime. And I do stream my daily
Web3 news spaces on YouTube. I have been doing that for a bit more than a month. So at least I
don't have to worry about that part anymore. I can use the avatar builder to craft a realistic
legendary and to not try to somehow make it look like a sloth. So that pressure has been taken off me.
With that being said, we've been running for way more than one hour. I think we could discuss
this topic and could stay on the digital identity for more hours. But I think it's been a very
fantastic discussion. I want to be respectful of everyone's time, both everyone in the audience,
as well as our panelists. So I think, especially before Christmas, where everyone's still super,
super busy, that's a good moment to get to the end of the show. And Karma, I'm going to throw it
to you to wrap up the space for us. Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well,
first things first, you heard it here first. The first minigame in ZTX is going to be a sloth simulator,
and Legendary is going to be the major partner in that. Thank you very much.
Jokes aside and switching to the end of the spaces. I genuinely wanted to say a huge,
huge thank you to every single one in the ZTX community that has, you know, believed in us over
the past months, from the very hard, you know, wading through the bear market to now us picking
ourselves up again a little bit as an industry, you know, receiving all this influx of attention and
building alongside really amazing games that are going to market right now. It's going to be a very
exciting year for us all. For ZTX specifically, you know, kicking it off in right now in December, having
that on mainnet for the first time and refining from now on is going to be a beautiful journey.
I urge everybody to remember that it is still a beta, even though it's a mainnet. So we are doing our
absolute best, but there will be no quirks to be figured out along the way. And I just genuinely
look forward to all the integrations, partnerships, digital fashion and more that ZTX will see us
develop in 2024. I'm also going to give Rudy, you know, an opportunity to close this off and wanted
to again extend also wishes of very, very happy Christmas, if any of you celebrate to everybody.
And please check out the pinned tweets and participate in the UGC competition. Now,
Rudy, please put a cherry on top of this wonderful cake and take us towards the end.
Oh, that's a high bar. No, just I don't have much, you know, new alpha or anything like that.
I want to thank Legendary and Sanjay, Ashley, Lisa, Shiv, all the panelists and our friends that we've
been fortunate to work with. And I think we'll continue to try out new things and, you know,
hopefully work together on new things. Now that, you know, we have a second token project,
like, uh, but that beyond that, you know, like lots of new product, uh, level features and upgrades
for next year planned. Um, and, um, yeah, I just, uh, it's been a good year. It's been a rough year,
but it's been a good year. Um, I mean, Hey, uh, 44 K Bitcoin ETF coming and then everything going on
with everything else, uh, good year, uh, next, next year should be a lot more epic. Um, and, uh,
yeah, we, we will keep cranking out new, uh, new features and new updates and builds. And, um, all
all I want to say is I am 99.9, maybe I should be, maybe I should just be a hundred or 200%
confident that one year from now, let's do this again. One year from now, we will all be majorly
happy and we will have, uh, not just CTX, but I mean, all of us working on whatever we're working on,
we will have hit new highs and, uh, a new tier of metrics for whatever we're doing. So, uh, it's
going to be a great year to look forward to. Yeah, sure. There'll be pullbacks and dips and all that,
but overall we should be looking at a really nice end of year in a year's time. So, um, personally,
very looking forward to the year ahead. I think all of us as ETX are also thinking the same, uh,
we're heads down building and we'll, we'll continue to, um, you know, uh, honor and reward
our, our community and OGs, um, next year as we've done this year.
And first we are going to, like the entire CTX team is going to sleep for 48 hours straight
because none of us have slept properly the past three days, but Hey, the better is out there.
Go forth and play. And thank you everybody for tuning in today.
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