Announcing Double Dip Games – Crypto Gaming Startup
Hello World! We are Double Dip Games, a new indie blockchain gaming studio. Welcome!
My name is Brian and I’ll be leading this journey. Here you’ll get a general overview of our blockchain gaming philosophy, hear how we’ll double dip into crypto & gaming, and also get a small sneak peak at our first game. 🙂
Our Blockchain & NFT Gaming Philosophy
What a time to be alive where the future manifests so quickly.
With recent technological advances, the shared vision of a new crypto gaming standard is upon us. The race to execute is on. NFTs will soon be integrated with all forms of modern gaming on desktop, console, mobile, AR/VR, web, you name it. No genre of game, style of play or target market can hide from the impending crypto tsunami that is starting to swallow the world. Inevitably, NFTs will become integral to all forms of digital art, communication and experience. Everything we consume may one day be accessed via NFT: songs, movies, podcasts, blogs, social media posts and even events (NFT conference tickets!). Music streaming may one day become the renting of access to NFT private metadata-linked contents (via smart contract), without giving up control over the underlying asset or revealing the private metadata itself. (Public metadata = song preview; private metadata = full song?)
The inevitable utopia where every AAA and indie game title seamlessly incorporates in-game cryptocurrency and NFT game items is undoubtedly approaching. However, it will take some time to be fully realized. (Under Moore, years have turned to days; yet, we still have days.) Small teams acting quickly can be early to market, and swift to gather data for informed iteration (resulting in a competitive advantage if wielded correctly). The most successful way to integrate gaming with crypto, from a user experience point of view, is yet to be determined (although some low-hanging hypotheses and existing successes are sure to be effective). While the inevitable end state takes time to come to fruition, there is a golden window of opportunity.
Our strategy is to seize this window of opportunity by combining proven gaming concepts into something new. Fresh-yet-familiar gameplay with an aesthetic that is pleasing to the target niche. Then, layer in NFT collections that can be used in game (player outfits, accessories, etc.).
The meat & potatoes of fun and addictive game mechanics come first; then it’s time to add in the decentralized sauce of NFT game item ownership, and later, in-game cryptocurrency and rewards.
Just as we’ve seen with the NFT jpegs craze, gaming NFTs are starting to shine. What if that shine ends up being even brighter? It’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison.
We can all verify who owns a given jpeg NFT, but that owner typically doesn’t have any benefits aside from owning it and being able to access its financial value (e.g. selling it). The owner can stare at the jpeg as much as they’d like, and so can we.
With Gaming NFTs, however, the owner receives functional benefits in addition to those inherently granted by blockchain technology. The quintessential such benefit is that gaming NFTs can be applied to a shared experience. In this case, an NFT’s value becomes greater than the sum of its parts. With game NFTs, not only can I invest in art that is pleasing in some way or desired for some reason, verify current and full history of ownership, retain decentralized control and potentially sell for a profit, but I can use that art in such a way that adds a layer of value to my experience.
To illustrate this point, consider an example. You’re playing your favorite superhero RPG game and stumble across a legendary, super rare, one-of-a-kind cape (as an NFT). Anyone can see what your cape looks like by viewing the NFT metadata (just as with jpegs), but only you can be seen wearing the item while playing the game. This is an important distinction of usability. Gaming NFTs have a more palpable social value than static art so long as they’re accompanied by a compelling multiplayer (or otherwise social) experience.
For this reason, Double Dip Games is a multiplayer-focused studio. Gaming NFTs need social experiences to achieve their full value proposition. The fact that other real people can see my brand new, ultra rare cape matters. If nobody else can see me walking around or flying in it, is the cape as valuable?
Our Values, Vision & Mission
Our values and methodologies are agile & lean in nature. Let’s get to market fast and gather customer data quickly. Employ the most minimum viable product and iterate rapidly. Decentralization matters.
Always connected via multiplayer; always crypto-enabled. Fundamentals first; market forward. Humble hypotheses. Agility and responsiveness. Niche targeting, adaptability. Mine for data and facilitate feedback. Capitalize on the unique value proposition of crypto gaming and NFTs.
Our vision is a world full of games powered by blockchain technology that spark the imagination and provide novel financial opportunities.
Given the immaturity of this new frontier, our initial target market persona is the crypto-forward gamer. We’ll strive to make crypto functionality as accessible to all as possible, including casual gamers and crypto newbies alike.
Our mission is to become the most sought after game studio by crypto & gaming enthusiasts looking for impactful decentralized multiplayer experiences.
Our Roadmap
We’ll start by integrating NFTs into our upcoming first release, ShooterPals.io, a casual 2D platform shooter game for web browser with .io-style multiplayer gameplay. Players will buy cosmetic game items (characters and hats from our first NFT collection) on OpenSea that are wearable in game. By logging into the game with a web 3.0 wallet such as MetaMask, players will have access to equip their collectibles during play.
Our next phase will be full in-game crypto integration: minting & delivering cryptocurrency and NFT rewards on demand (e.g. player collects a coin, or buys a sword from in-game shop –> game server wallet mints / delivers ERC-1155 to player wallet). This, however, can be costly to scale in production on mainnet (gas fees!). Therefore, our first game release will double as a fundraising platform. We’ll continue to release new in-game wearable NFT collectibles for ShooterPals.io (after the initial set of 40 NFTs planned for release) that will be sold to fund the delivery of fully integrated crypto functionality, as well as the development of additional NFT collections, and games of various genres and platforms. (The future is not set in stone as our direction will be informed and guided by data.)
In terms of infrastructure, we’ll be prioritizing the creation of an exclusive NFT marketplace for Double Dip NFTs that seamlessly integrates with our games. We’ll also introduce a universal, fungible in-game cryptocurrency (CHIPS) for all of our games’ Play2Earn rewards, and later, a governance token (DIP), which may be used to vote on game balance & tokenomics changes for the entire Double Dip ecosystem (although this is currently ideation).
The sky is the limit!
Our First Game
Our upcoming first release, ShooterPals.io, will combine 2D platform shooter mechanics with .io-style multiplayer gameplay, and an NFT Collection of in-game player skins (“Pals”) and hats. The NFT launch collection of 20 Pals and 20 Hats will be available on OpenSea at public beta launch. Pals and Hats can be held in Web3 wallets such as MetaMask for in-game use.
ShooterPals.io public beta planned for Q4 2021. Stay tuned!
More details coming soon.
