In the past few months, games using blockchain technology have become more and more popular. But we need to be aware: only a few of these games use Ethereum and Bitcoin mechanisms, and most games just use cryptocurrencies to bring new gameplay to the game, rather than developing blockchain games from the underlying technology.
We have counted the five most popular blockchain games on Google Play, which cover puzzle games, strategy games, 2D racing games and other modes, including:Blockchain Game, Alien Run, Miner Simulator, Itadaki Dungeon, and Genesis of Genesis, discovertheyNone of them use the underlying blockchain technology.
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History of Blockchain Game Development
In fact, blockchain games have appeared very early:
In 2010, game developer Andrew Tepper conceived the blockchain game model. The content of the game is to put Dragon Story in an open 3D world. Players can search for eggs, milk and other materials in the game. The game launched in July 2013 under the title Dragon Tale.
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Dragon Tale fantasy open world
In September 2013, another blockchain game called Huntercoin came out. Huntercoin is a P2P decentralized cryptocurrency game. The game is to control hunters to pick up gold coins. There are four colors representing hunters of different tribes. They are divided into four corners. When encountering alien hunters, they can choose to destroy their opponents to pick up treasures.
Running on a fork of the Namecoin blockchain, Huntercoin allows players to mine cryptocurrency in the game world and take it to several randomly generated banks, which are essentially cryptocurrency wallets . The value of Namecoin has been fluctuating since its release. The founder of the game, Mikhail Syndeev, passed away in February 2014, but the game is still very popular.
From 2014 to 2015, the first batch of gambling websites using Bitcoin as gambling funds appeared, including SatoshiDice, BitZino, Bitino and Bit777. Although these sites have nothing to do with video games, they offer small cryptocurrency rewards to online players within the site.
After 2015, there have been more blockchain games offering cryptocurrencies as rewards or payments. Such games include the multiplayer racer TurboCharged, the platformer FlapPig, and SaruTobi. These games are free to play, although most of them have in-app purchases.
In 2016, some novel blockchain game modes appeared in the blockchain game circle. For example, the BitQuest server combined Bitcoin mining with the game trading system, and developed a gameplay called Genesis Spell. It mainly uses blockchain technology to store cards, which can help players win.
In 2017, blockchain games ushered in a new breakthrough. Swiss game developer Force of Will brought the new blockchain project Force of Will Battle Simulator to Japan. So far, the project is very successful. The value of the in-game tokens in Force of Will Battle Simulator has achieved exponential growth .
On November 28, 2017, CryptoKitties was born and became the most popular Dapp on Ethereum within a week.
After entering 2018, blockchain games have not changed much, but they still mainly use cryptocurrencies.
Nowhere is this more evident than in AllMine, a puzzle blockchain game developed by California-based startup MyDream Interactive, due to launch in the third quarter of 2018.
AllMine is similar to the premise game in that players are rewarded with cryptocurrency as they mine.
In addition, players will encounter cute creatures when mining. Players can let them fight with you, and you can get cryptocurrency rewards for winning battles. If the player has more pets, they have a chance to win the battle.
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Blockchain Game ICO
At present, some blockchain game platforms and development platforms have appeared on the market. For example, the Japanese Internet service company GMO recently announced a Bitcoin-based in-game reward program to be released in August; KIK developed a software development kit (SDK) specially designed for game rewards in cooperation with Unity technology in March. Developers can directly use the issued tokens through these platforms, and game developers can obtain financing from players.
Of course, ICO is suspected of hyping cryptocurrency. For example, in January this year, RPG company Imperatum launched a software called Crypto Update, which uses a bitcoin reward mechanism: If the value of bitcoin increases, the chance of item drop will become higher, and the enemy will become more powerful. Vicious.
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Meaning to players
The above two chapters explain how developers use cryptocurrencies for rewards and ICOs, which are very common outside of the video game industry. But for users who really want to see the application of blockchain technology in the game market, these games do not seem very attractive.
Gamers need blockchain games that truly use distributed servers. Its advantage is that it can prevent game developers from changing the underlying code to affect the game process.
(I am Zhao Huanxin, a reporter from Odaily. I am exploring the real blockchain. Please add WeChat 17778170972 for breaking news and communication. Please note your name, unit, position and reason.)
(I am Zhao Huanxin, a reporter from Odaily. I am exploring the real blockchain. Please add WeChat 17778170972 for breaking news and communication. Please note your name, unit, position and reason.)
