Wen Notcoin list? MetalCore Beta and more: Web3 Player

The momentum doesn't stop for Notcoin.

Notcoin – where players click on an animated coin to earn crypto that hasn't yet been released – has attracted millions and millions of players less than a month after it dropped. Sasha Plovinov, founder of Notcoin devs OpenBuilders, isn't sure why, but he has some ideas.

Plovinov told Web3 Gamer: “They put it on viral and simple mechanics that encourage users to invite crypto ‘friends' to their Telegram messenger.”

“I think that happiness should be the most important thing. That's why NotCoin has got millions of players even before the announcement,” he said.

The banner on their X account literally says “probably nothing” so I guess no one would be too upset if a token listing never happened.

However, they think too much. 20 million people signed up in the first 26 days after its release. In comparison, Axie Infinity had a peak monthly active users of just 2.78 million in January 2022.

But, while all my crypto clicks, it doesn't really exist. Therefore, people basically only hold on to hope.

“Despite the unknown outcome, it's enough to motivate people to play and play more. However, the announcement of a token listing has certainly increased interest, even without a clear listing date.”

Although it appears that some players may be doing the game for good by simply selling what they have on the list.

“We can already see a few people with some interest in Notcoin leaving and selling (which is actually good). We are happy to focus on building the next steps with those who stay and have an active interest,” he said.

“I think a lot of Web3 projects are starting to realize that developing games takes a lot of time,” Dan Nicolaides, Studio369's chief technology officer, told Web3 Gamer.

Nicolaides, the technology director of the upcoming first-person mechanized combat game MetalCore, advises players not to pencil in a firm release date for Web3 games on the calendar yet.

According to him, the nature of the industry causes developers to be overly optimistic and lose sight of the time it takes to develop a high-quality game.

“You start to see a lot of announced games, maybe a little later and behind their originally announced schedule,” Nicolaides said.

In September, Illivium moved its private beta for its upcoming PvP auto-fighter game, Illivium Arena, to November.

The delay had the effect of knocking on the release date of the official beta of Illivium Arena, which is expected to be released sometime this quarter.

Regulatory issues for blockchain games

However, Studio369 CEO Matt Candler told the magazine that there are other factors at play for blockchain games' delays, such as regulatory drama and a lack of clear rules for web3 game developers in the United States.

“There are a lot of products being developed right now that are waiting for the right time to announce. Mainly because of the confidence in the market and where the SEC is leaning.”

When the highly anticipated first-person shooter Shrapnel drops later this year, US gamers will feel the impact of the lack of crypto regulations.

Shrapnel's developers have announced that US players will no longer be able to withdraw in-game assets due to concerns that the SEC could classify them as securities.

However, European and Asian players do not face any restrictions.

Candler also puts the mismatch between developers' expectations of a release date and the time it takes to build a game down to the added complexity of mixing Web3 with robust gameplay:

“There's a big steep curve to how the game economy should work in Web 3. A lot more effort needs to be done on the design and how it works with gameplay, he said.

After MetalCore was finally released this year, Kanders and Nicolaides have been developing the game for nearly three years.

MetalCore will be one of the very first games to launch on Immutable's zkEVM.

With the game's full release expected in 2024, closed beta doors are set to open this month before opening to public beta in April.

Despite its roots in the traditional gaming industry, Kandel is, on the surface, very optimistic about Web3 games.

Web2 sees more potential in Web3 as it is crowded with games and the algorithm of presence on platforms like Steam is increasing.

According to Candler, the Web3 Game Field is an open playground with vast possibilities for new games.

“There's a huge market for some unique gaming in Web3,” he explains.

“Our philosophy is to make a game that we all enjoy playing, then take advantage of this great financial opportunity to create an in-game currency token that rewards players for their time.”

Hot Take: Heroes of Maya

If you're looking forward to a game that combines a bit of Axie Infinity with Minecraft and Clash of Clans, Heroes of Mavia might be right up your alley.

Developed by blockchain development company Skrice Studio and backed by heavyweights such as Binance Labs, Crypto.com, Hashkey Capital and Genblock Capital, Heroes of Mavia is a free-to-play mobile MMO strategy game.

Skrice has been in development for over a year now, and select owners got a preview during a beta release in June 2023.

Its global launch was last month, and the game has reached over 1 million downloads in less than a week since its drop.

I've been playing it since release, and even though the game randomly went down for long maintenance, it's been a fun few days building my empire while tearing down other people's online empires.

Like Minecraft, it's a fun game that gives you the satisfaction of reaping what you sow.

As this is a fighting game, there is no greater feeling of power than seeing the hours and hours you put into the game translate into accumulating more and more resources, all at the expense of other players.

The longer you play, the more resources you will build up, increase your base and defenses, and ultimately, the more victories you will secure against others online.

Your main task in Heroes of Maya is to protect your land, your base, by setting up defenses to defend against rival enemies.

When you get started, a quick tutorial guides you through building and shielding your base.

It's important because the entire game plan is focused on keeping your base as safe as possible by hoarding resources (by stealing from other players).

However, other players can swipe yours too, and that means losing resources.

Before jumping straight into online battles, it's a good idea to hit the mission mode first and build up your resources.

Otherwise, it's like a boxer stepping into the ring who hasn't hit the gym in months.

However, the mission mode is just like the campaign mode in any other game. It's a great way to learn the ropes of the game by building your wealth before going online with others.

Gold and oil are the main resources you collect. You can use them to add features like walls and traps to your base.

In-game currency, out-of-game crypto MAVIA

At some point, Skrice Studios thought about converting the in-game currency Ruby to crypto with real value.

But they decided against it, saying they wanted to avoid any means of price manipulation.

However, MAVIA, the game set to launch this week, will have its own native token.

Although there have been early airdrops for previous game Guardians, it doesn't look like you'll be getting a direct MAVIA in-game.

Still, owning and owning the token provides administrative authority and voting rights.

However, you can collect and build “legends” and sell them as NFTs for crypto.

However, no matter how much money you invest in legendary items, they will not give you any edge in the game. They are just for show, just to spice things up cosmetically.

Other news

— Animoka Brands, Delphi Ventures, and Bing Ventures are among several firms to drop an $8 million seed round on MMORPG Pixelmon.

– Gala Games released GalaChain, the first public software development kit (SDK) for developers to further build on the Gala ecosystem.

— Avalanche-based first-person shooter Shrapnel is getting early access to its expansion packs via the Epic Games Store Marketplace.

— Immutable Polygon-powered zkEVM has already started accessing the network. Guardians Guild and Cool Cats are among the first games launched on Immutable zkEVM.

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Ciaran Lyon

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.