Blockchain can change how real-world card games are played [Interview]

Because blockchain technology hits the gaming industry, most game developers are only exploring subtle integrations. Meanwhile, a Seattle startup is making extensive use of technology to completely reinvent the way table games are played and distributed.

New paradigm of the game

CryptoSlate recently spoke with Seattle Studio Cryptogogue about their exclusive collectible card game with cryptography and the radical plan to distribute it. Having noted that many companies are "trying to map the existing blockchain paradigms", Cryptogogue has decided to bring this concept to the next level and "gamify the blockchain" itself.

The result is Will, a hybrid concept that combines a traditional collectible card game printed with all the features of the crypto-collectible. The name of the game, Volition, means "an act of making a choice or a decision, the power to choose or determine".

"There are so many cryptographic projects out there that help facilitate better physical-to-digital transformation," says Ken Pilcher, "but not many that help bring the circle back to the center and return to something tangible."

The game is based on a new digital to physical distribution platform in which the game content is published and sold to the community of miners who manage the network. In the meantime, the game is actually played on a physical table with real-world friends.

When it comes time to play, anyone who owns a card can print it and use it in a game.

Change Play and Swap

Thanks to blockchain technology, proof of ownership and authenticity can easily be verified by scanning a code on the board and checking the network. Cards can be randomly controlled by scanning them with an app on the phone or systematically by judges and organizers during tournaments.

Since a blockchain is the distribution platform, it will be the user community to continue playing. Volition will run on a fully customized blockchain platform with specialization extraction nodes and portfolios.

The new game resources are algorithmically distributed through extraction packs. Cards are released as virtual boosters that need to be opened just like real packs. Miners can even configure their mine systems for specific sets.

Thus, these resources can be exchanged on integrated market nodes. Users can create their own stores on the network to exchange and sell unpaid cards using the currency embedded directly in the platform. Alternatively, cards can still be exchanged online or even in person, changing the dynamics of digital property.

Because game resources are stored digitally, Volition allows player cards to evolve; cards can level up, be combined and unlock powers over time.

Because these assets are tracked on a blockchain, players can also see the entire immutable story of a card, including the previous property. If a card was used by someone famous to win a tournament, the next owner will have a record without ever touching the card.

Tenacious games and The Spoils

To understand how the team has arrived where they are today, we have to look at more than a decade in the past.

In 2006, Tenacious Games, a new game startup released, launched a trading card game The Spoils. The Spoils was well received and quickly developed a dedicated cult following. The game offered a variety of innovations and was known to have been the first collectable card game to offer an open and free beta.

Victims of bad timing, Tenacious Games entered their series A financing just when the financial crash hit in early 2007. In 2009, fighting against undercapitalization, Tenacious Games sold The Spoils rights to Arcane Tinmen, which continued to support the game until it was finally shelved in December 2016.

The Path to Volition

It was The Spoils that brought the two main founders of Cryptogogue to the fore: technologist Patrick Meehan and game designer Ken Pilcher. Meehan was one of the original founders of Tenacious Games.

After selling the rights to The Spoils, Meehan has completely abandoned the hobby games scene and has resumed his key skills as a software developer working on anything from embedded mobile to virtual reality. Meanwhile, Ken Pilcher worked as a key designer on The Spoils until the end of his life.

Pilcher has a deep interest in board games, with 25 years of experience playing games like Magic: The Gathering, managing game events and collecting collectible cards. With complementary talents, well-aligned interest and experiences shared with The Spoils, the duo seemed destined to collaborate on another project.

In early 2017, Meehan and Pilcher draw on their collective knowledge, beginning a collaborative exploration of distribution models focused on blockchain.

"In addition to understanding the technology," Meehan says they realized that "we should really brush up our blockchain editorial baggage".

The duo soon became a trio with the addition of the former colleague of Meehan Scott Teal and at the beginning of 2018, they decided a vision and announced to the world their intention to develop Volition. Since then the team has worked hard.

Digital cards for traditional players

Since nothing like Volition exists, many gamers are curious about what the gameplay will look like. While considered a spiritual successor to The Spoils' gameplay model, Volition will be a decidedly unique game.

The team is creating something even leaner and cleaner than what they did in The Spoils. The team describes the gameplay that is "accessible as Hearthstone", even more "skill-heavy", like The Spoils and Magic: The Gathering. "

The game designer Pilcher wants to make sure that the players never feel stuck while they are walking only one way. In our interview, Pilcher said:

"In many resource-based games where resources are in the deck, there are problems where, if you do not draw these resources, you can not do much until you do it." With Volition, players are always able to to continue to build a board or draw additional cards if they are missing specific cards they may need at that time. "

From distribution to game style, Volition is entirely based on community creation and support. The official forums already host a small but enthusiastic group of fans, many of whom are reported by The Spoils. Community members provide ideas and feedback and engage directly with all three team members and playtesters for the first iterations of the game.

Stores of physical games in the digital world

While Cryptogogue intends to replace the distribution role of the gaming industry, they focus strongly on supporting retailers, especially dedicated gaming stores. Meehan believes that "gamers love to go to game shops, people like to see and touch a product." Although a table simulator can be built on technology, the team is more focused on physical gaming experience. papers on paper:

"As the world becomes more screens and wifi, I feel that digital experiences will become typical and people will crave human contact face to face."

Retail stores will be offered a number of benefits. Stores can have their own inventory that can be sold using QR codes on a poster or as physical products printed and displayed with the transfer code on the back in a case. The founders even thought of distributing a percentage of card packs extracted directly to partner gaming stores.

Volition is only the first of many games to be distributed this way; The network that will distribute Volition will not be limited to a single game. Cryptogogue hopes to build an ecosystem that changes the way games are played and distributed, in order to help indie game developers to market all kinds of collectible card games on the network.

Determine the future

It is expected that the Volition will enter live in the first quarter of 2019. While the Volition blockchain will have an internal currency, Cryptogogue has emphasized that it is not trying to be listed in the exchanges or be involved in ICO. Instead of pushing their product onto the players, the team sees Volition as a "conceptual project" designed to explore the possibilities of card games on the blockchain.

Taking the same path with Crypto Kitties, Rare Pepe and MLB, Volition is venturing into an unexplored territory. With Volition, the team is trying to determine the future of playing card games.