Toadzgotchi (CrypToadz Game)

[ghostbonez]

Hello and thank you for your interest in Toadzgotchi!

For those that don’t know me, I go by Jeff or jefe on discord/twitter and I’m in the process of building a game for CrypToadz. What kind of game? Well, let’s dive in… this will be a lengthy one so grab some sludge and sit tight

Main Concept:

Toadzgotchi is a browser/mobile game inspired by the popular Japanese game ‘Tamagotchi’ released in the late 90’s. For those that don’t know what Tamagotchi is, the main concept is simple: each handheld device contains a virtual pet the user must tend to in order to keep it alive, happy, and healthy. That is the core objective. Interestingly enough, it’s a style of game that you don’t necessarily ‘beat’ or ‘win’. It’s more of an experience of having a buddy that you can play with, care for, and watch grow throughout it’s lifespan.

A retro Tamagotchi handheld device

The game was extremely popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s with more than 80 million devices sold to date. I remember nearly every other kid having one in middle school — they were so popular some teachers had to ban them because students would play with them all throughout class! Even today, Tamagotchi still releases new models to a solid player base all over the world, even collaborating with other brands like Star Wars and Pacman. If interested, here’s a video and wiki article that explains Tamagotchi in further detail.

An Adaptation of a Classic:

Toadzgotchi isn’t the first crypto adaptation of this game – a few notable projects have crafted-up their own version of virtual pet care, including:

• Cool Pets (Cool Cats child project + ERC20 $MILK (7k+ ETH volume in 1 week))
• CUDL Pets (P2E game on L2 Arbitrum with ERC20 tokenomics)
• Aavegotchi (Defi-centered pet game based off Aave + ERC20 $GHST (~$135m market cap))
• Wagmigotchi (Crypto pet game by the creator of Loot, dhof)

…and many more! The point is, there is clearly a demand for this style of game. My vision is to craft a CrypToadz-themed Tamagotchi where you can tend to your CrypToadz. I want to keep the core concept of feeding, maintaining, and playing with your CrypToad intact while adding some unique, fun, and never-been-done-before features on top. Some additional future gameplay features may include:

• Trait/Skill tree – Certain abilities/powers can be unlocked for your toad as you progress
• Battling/combat – Fight NPCs or other players to earn rewards
• Choice system gaming – Players choose between a give set of options to unlock unique experiences (think of the beginning of Pokemon where you choose between charmander, squirtle, and bulbasaur)
• Achievement/Questing – Collect badges/POAPs for achieving certain milestones
• Mulitplayer – hangout/visit friends in-game
• Breeding (explained below)
• Mini-games – puzzles, skill games, farming, etc

Concept version shown, final game subject to change

Value:

There are many ways Toadzgotchi brings value back to CrypToadz.

1. Exclusivity - Although the game will be free to play by anyone, owning a CrypToad will let you play with your specific toad if you own one, unlocking additional in-game features as well. This makes owning a CrypToad more desirable from a social aspect.

   • Each specific toad will have its level/progress preserved (even if traded or transferred between people). This means each toad can individually become more valuable if someone has spent a lot of time progressing it.

2. Play to Earn - This is a tricky one that must be carefully crafted and thoroughly thought out. Game tokenomics can be constructed in many ways — here are a few non-specific and general ideas. They may be tweaked, combined together, or abstracted away as needed:

   • Players can earn an ERC20 for playing and progressing in game. The ERC20 can be spent within game to purchase items/features. A small % of each transaction can be reallocated back to the CrypToadz treasury.
   • The ERC20 can be staked and a small % from staking rewards can be reallocated back to the CrypToadz treasury.
   • Players that voluntarily donate to the CrypToadz treasury can unlock exclusive in-game items.
   • The earnable ERC20 can be swapped for ETH which in turn can be used to purchase more CrypToadz to compound potential rewards. More CrypToadz = More ERC20 rewards.

3. Breeding - Owning a CrypToad can unlock breeding mechanisms in-game.

   • Breeding two CrypToadz together can create a new NFT that combines the traits of the two parents. (Or maybe each CrypToad can produce one child on its own, similar to Cool Cats/Pets)
   • Children can then be playable characters within Toadzgotchi to earn additional rewards.
   • Owning one or multiple CrypToadz is desirable for compounding breeding rewards from the children created.
   • A small % royalty fee for trading the offspring can be reallocated back to the CrypToadz treasury.

4. Cross-project network effects - Spending the earnable ERC20 or simply reaching a certain level can be eligible for exclusive perks inside or outside Toadzgotchi, such as:

   • A unique in-game skin or item.
   • Whitelist or airdrop for a different NFT project.
   • Exclusive access to a restricted area inside a metaverse, app, or IRL experience.
   • Special merch.

5. Toadzgotchi NFT royalties - A small royalty fee from Toadzgotchi game case NFT sales can be reallocated back to the CrypToadz treasury (Toadzgotchi NFTs explained below).

Final notes:
Being able to do more with your NFT than just look at in your wallet opens up a new way to experience them. For me at least, Toadzgotchi would greatly deepen the emotional connection I already have with my CrypToadz. Additionally, the ability to unlock cool in-game features within a fully playable and enjoyable game highlights the power of ownership that is associated with your NFT, something that mainstream has yet to fully grasp. I firmly believe that gaming will ultimately pave the way for mainstream to fully adopt and embrace NFTs and cryptocurrency in a broader sense. Toadzgotchi plays one small, but key role in this massive journey.

Current Status:

Toadzgotchi has a playable MVP beta for anyone to experience at beta.toadzgotchi.com. You will need to connect to the Rinkeby test net and have Rinkeby ETH to play. Note that this version of the game is a loose interpretation and does not reflect the final gameplay. It was mainly an effort to determine if having the entire game mechanics stored on-chain was a viable option or not (for security/interoperability reasons).

The majority of beta testers helped determine that having game mechanics stored on-chain is not a viable short-term option due to the gas costs associated with executing transactions on Ethereum. The current tentative path is to store data off-chain in a private database. This means there will be no cost associated with playing – this is best for on-ramping new players with a lower barrier to entry. There is a possibility of exploring layer 2 solutions for pushing some data to the blockchain, but we will revisit this later on only if it’s needed/enough people request it.

Toadzgotchi NFTs:

Toadzgotchi is planning to launch cosmetic skin NFTs that will change the appearance of your game in the browser or on your phone. It is tentatively structured as such:

• The game is entirely free to play. Users that don’t own a CrypToad can still progress a default toad (see above). Their wallet address acts an account to which their progress is tied to.

• Each user also starts with the same standard Toadzgotchi game case as a default. See the retro Gameboy concept image above (shoutout Trickerz/Woody ). This standard game case is not an NFT.

• Players that wish to customize their skin can mint a random Toadzgotchi case NFT.

• Toadzgotchi game cases are a generative NFT collection of pixelized cases that will have varying attributes/rarities (mint price and supply TBD). It is a cosmetic skin for your game.

• CrypToadz holders are eligible for 1 free Toadzgotchi case mint per wallet.

• Beta testers and early adopters are eligible for 1 free Toadzgotchi case mint per wallet.

• Mix and match your Toadzgotchi case NFTs and CrypToadz as you see fit!

  
  
  Example of various Tamagotchi case skins

Roadmap:
(subject to change)

• February + March:

  1. Setting up a private database to read/write game data.

  2. Learning photoshop to create some test Toadzgotchi NFT game cases (example shown in the concept image above).**

• March + April:

  1. Release V1 of Toadzgotchi with new game mechanics and gather feedback.

  2. Adjust/polish game mechanics, if necessary.**

  3. Prepare mint contract and webpage for Toadzgotchi NFT genesis case minting.

• Summer:

  1. Toadzgotchi case NFT mint/claim period.

  2. Produce more in-game assets to improve gameplay experience.**

  3. Explore breeding mechanisms/assets. **

  4. Explore ERC20 tokenomics. **

• Fall/Winter:

  1. Conceptualize/develop multiplayer experiences.**

Points marked with asterisks ** are where potential funding can help hire on a full-time person to aid.

Requested Budget:

The major hurdles right now are:

• Producing in-game assets
• Fleshing out solid gameplay mechanics

I can solve point 1 by hiring on a full-time pixel artist. Point 2 will take time and potentially an experienced game designer to help solidify. Both will likely require some funding in the form of invoices/salary compensation for the work to be done. Research can be done on competitive pay rates for each job – I would guess roughly 1-2ETH per month for each, but open to feedback/insight on this.

Additional small lump sum payments of ETH may be required for game storage or development resources and/or deploying smart contracts.

Team:

Currently, I am the only full-time member working on Toadzgotchi core gameplay, assets, vision, and logistics. I am graciously receiving some voluntary part-time assistance from a few awesome people who are helping with overall direction and assets: kstehr, Woody, trickerz, papaya, and Cruzi. Major love and shoutout to you guys for believing in this idea, for real!

This is also a potential employment listing. If you are excited by the idea of building Toadzgotchi and are experienced in any of the following areas, please reach out! I would love to work with you

• Pixel art/animations
• Game development
• Front End and/or Back End web/app development
• Databases and servers
• UX/UI
• Marketing/Outreach
• Solidity/web3 development

If you made it this far, thank you for sticking around
I am thrilled and motivated at the opportunity to elevate the CrypToadz brand to new levels with you all. See y’all in the lily pad

[sagepo]

Having tested this, you’ve 100% got my vote ser. Amazing work so far and can’t to see this concept materialise even further

[Resellermomin]

I’ve tested the game out when you first released it and it has came along way. Love the art on the page and just keep up the good work. !vibe

[ghostbonez]

Very much appreciate your support up to this point! ~ Vibe on ~

[ghostbonez]

2 words. Thank you! Your support means a lot, truly. Doing my best to deliver a genuinely fun game for everyone!

[Swargio]

Interesting! My first thought is that original tokenomics will take an expert to architect. I’m curious what the LOE on this would be? And the LOE on a legit MVP.

Lots of competition in the space and idk how we beat Cats at this where they are already launching pets which looks like a million bucks. That said, Toadz chillin in the swamp somehow some way is definitely a good idea.

[ghostbonez]

Thanks for the feedback! by LOE do you mean Level of Effort? High
But if it weren’t hard then it wouldn’t be worth trying in my book! I believe the roadmap I outlined is a fair timeline assuming I will continue to be full-time. Funding to hire a couple more experienced people on the team may make us hit deadlines sooner.

On the note about competition: Competition is healthy and needed. Note that Cool Pets are at a >2E floor, so if there’s another project (i.e. Toadzgotchi) making a similar product at a much lower entry price, naturally it will bring in new interest. I am bullish

[dinfo]

@ghostbonez

I would guess roughly 1-2ETH per month for each, but open to feedback/insight on this.

Could you specify how many months you’d want 1-2 ETH and just pick a single number so the community can evaluate this? I think 1.5 ETH could be an in between if you can’t pick. Thanks!

[ghostbonez]

Hi Dinfo, thanks for the response. Upon writing the proposal, 1-2E per person was a rough guestimate I had in my mind for the proposed work to be done. I am in talks with a few potential candidates to work on a better number. I don’t want to throw out a concrete number just yet incase it ends up being too little or too much Eth. Will report back here soon with some updates!

[nounstoad]

I really love this idea, but I think it would be much more successful if initially launched on Layer 2 instead of a private database. I can’t fully explain why, but there is a huge difference between playing a Web2 browser game versus a blockchain-based Web3 game. The former almost feels like a Flash game or something and seems kind of pointless. The latter feels real to me, especially if integrated with on-chain NFTs and tokens.

This is all just me encouraging you to please explore launching on Layer 2! I think with Arbitrum you can write the same contracts as you would for mainnet and deploy them to Arbitrum. I’ve been meaning to learn more about this myself, and would be happy to be involved in the technical side of the project as I do.

[ghostbonez]

Hey nt, firstly, thanks so much for taking the time to provide feedback - it goes a long way.

I do very much sympathize with your feelings on the web2 vs web3 aspect… It’s why I initially launched Toadzgotchi beta on Rinkeby. As much as I would love to have it fully secured on-chain, I don’t think it makes sense just yet. Here are my thoughts:

The financial implications of having game actions on-chain are very negative from the player’s perspective. Why? If all properties of your toad were stored on chain (level, hunger, sleepiness, etc), it would require changing the state of the network to update them, which costs ETH. Even on a layer 2 like Arbitrum, that’s still a few bucks in gas per “free” transaction… You’d be paying somewhere around tens of dollars per day playing with your toad. Not very ideal. From the feedback I gathered during the beta period, mostly all players expressed they were not willing to spend real money to do this even if it meant their data was secured by the blockchain.

So, the only way to combat this is to create a system that rewards each action with something of financial value that is equal or greater than what is spent. You can do this with an ERC20 token. The problem with this however, is it’s value would have to be artificially inflated upon release of the game (you can’t have a game’s currency be worth anything without an established player base). This is where it can start entering ponzi territory if you’re not careful.

Let’s imagine the instance where more people are selling the ERC20 they earned to cover their costs rather than buying or keeping it. This causes the ERC20/ETH price to decline. As it declines there can reach a point where there is no longer a financial incentive to keep playing. The only way players would be incentivized to keep or buy the token is if they:

1. Can buy cosmetics in-game items that they deem is worth the $ value.
   • Let’s say over the course of 1 week of playing I’ve spent $100 in costs to play but I received $200 worth of the ERC20 in rewards. Can I convince players to spend that $100 profit on in-game cosmetics rather than cashing it out? Not only that but to do it consistently week over week? This may sound easy on paper but in reality it’s incredibly difficult.
   • If players run out of in-game items to buy there is then no longer a reason to keep the token, thus weakening it’s value
2. Can see a return on their investment with it (ponzi mechanics)
   • Enhanced abilities/xp boosts to increase ERC20 earning potential
   • Staking
   • Breeding mechanics (Axie model)

Expanding on point 2 a bit: Most NFT projects that have an ERC20 today can make it work because:

• There are whales (affiliated or unaffiliated with the project) with large amounts of money to buy the token without actually having anything to spend/use it on. This can be used to artificially keep the price stable and/or pump it in the hopes of selling it higher later.
• They use the ERC20 to “breed” more NFTs to onboard new players at a lower price. This is the current issue with Axie. As soon as there are no new players, the model implodes.
• There is market hype/fomo which causes more buyers than sellers

So basically these are my concerns with on-chain mechanics and tokenomics. You’ll notice however that in my initial proposal, I’ve said I want to explore a token with breeding, etc. Having done some more research and thought about this further, I plan to readjust some things. Let me clarify:

In the early days of the game, I believe it’s best to keep it entirely free to play without a token. This is the best way to onboard new players because:

• It’s a low financial barrier to entry (the only thing better would be paying people to play lol)
• Avoids ponzi-like mechanics
• Less technical and improved UI/UX without Layer 2

Now, as the game grows in popularity over time with an expanding player base and dev team, there may be opportunities to implement pushing data to chain and/or implementing a token. The great thing about this is you can always implement these things later on. It’s harder to get a solid player base rolling with these clunky features at the start. That said, I would only be open to exploring this if it makes financial sense to do so. It must also be safe legality-wise. I am keeping my eyes closely on Cool Pets (Cool Cats) to see how their model plays out.

To be clear, my current plan does not include supporting development of an ERC20 at this time and I will edit the original post to reflect that. EDIT: It appears I can’t edit my original post for some reason to readjust the value/roadmap section, so I’ll have to reply below with the revision.

With all of that said, there are still ways to maintain the web3 feel of the game:

• You will still have to connect an Ethereum wallet to play.
• Those that own a CrypToad in their connected wallet will be able to use it in-game.
  • Open to exploring using some derivative projects as well.
  • Those that don’t own any NFTs will still be able to play with a default toad. Your game process is tied to your wallet.
• Owning a Toadzgotchi game skin NFT in the connected wallet will be able to change the appearance/skin of their game in browser/on the phone.

Those are my thoughts for now. Looking forward to discussing this further!

[nounstoad]

I think the considerations you bring up are all good ones.

I do think the game structure would be different depending on whether it’s on L2 or a DB off-chain. If it’s L2, you’d want to focus on keeping the game interesting even with fewer user actions per day, and also think about ways of setting up the contract to allow “autoplaying” in ways that don’t require continual transactions. I think users would be happy to play for $1-$3 per day, and not expect much in return, except for the vague future potential of an NFT, allowlist spot, token airdrop, etc.

If you do go the private DB route, I suspect the best thing to do is give it a Web3 feel is to tie progress in the game to NFT/token rewards. I think a lot of people were more excited about Worldwide Webb quests when it was tied to an NFT reward.

[ghostbonez]

I agree wholeheartedly there – the game would be much more meaningful if there are NFT rewards to be earned, which we can certainly incorporate even with an off-chain database. It might mean a little more manual work for me on the backend but nothing too crazy.

Some advantages of pushing data to L2 would be things like interoperability and immutability, which really make more sense with large-scale games that have thriving in-game marketplaces. Toadzgotchi will be so nascent that these two factors won’t matter much in the beginning. Later on we can explore pushing some data to the blockchain, like the toad’s level/xp for example!

Appreciate your insights from the player’s perspective. Thank you!

[ghostbonez]

cc @dinfo

I can’t edit the original proposal from Feb 8th, so I’m replying here with some revisions and clarifications to the initial Value, Roadmap, and Requested Budget sections.

Value:
(points 1 & 5 remain unchanged)

2. deleted (was Play-to-Earn with ERC20 token)
   In the future, if the game becomes established with a large player base, a token can make sense. But at this time, the revised grant does not include funding for development of an ERC20 token.

@ghostbonez

In the early days of the game, I believe it’s best to keep it entirely free to play without a token. This is the best way to onboard new players because:

• It’s a low financial barrier to entry (the only thing better would be paying people to play lol)
• Avoids ponzi-like mechanics
• Less technical and improved UI/UX without Layer 2

3. Breeding - Owning a CrypToad can unlock breeding mechanisms in-game (without an ERC20).

   • Owners of CrypToadz can be eligible to “breed” a new NFT that has unique or special abilities in-game.
   • A small % royalty fee for trading the offspring can be reallocated back to the CrypToadz treasury.

   Important: Revised so that breeding does not require a token or money to breed. Owning a CrypToad just allows free claiming of the new NFT (Cool Cats/Pets model).

4. NFT Rewards & Network Effects - Reaching a certain level can be eligible for exclusive perks inside or outside Toadzgotchi, such as:

   • A unique in-game skin or item.
   • Whitelist or airdrop for a different NFT project.
   • Exclusive access to a restricted area inside a metaverse, app, or IRL experience.
   • Special merch.

Roadmap:
(subject to change)

• Q1 2022:

  1. Setting up a private database to read/write game data.
  2. Start developing Toadzgotchi game case NFTs.
  3. Expand gameplay mechanics.
  4. Create more detailed in-game assets/animations.

• Q2 2022:

  1. Release V1 of Toadzgotchi with new game mechanics and gather feedback.
  2. Adjust/polish game mechanics, if necessary.
  3. Prepare mint contract and webpage for Toadzgotchi NFT genesis case minting.

• Q3 2022:

  1. Toadzgotchi case NFT mint/claim period.
  2. Explore breeding mechanisms/NFTs.

• Q4 2022:

  1. Conceptualize/develop multiplayer experiences.

Requested Budget:

• 1E to hire a pixel artist to work ~20hr/week over the course of the next 2 months.
• 4E to continue paying myself to work ~30hr/week over the course of the next 2 months.
  • This work includes developing core gameplay, game case skin NFTs, vision, logistics, database/server maintenance, community/social management, and some marketing.

After the 2 months is up, assuming we’re hitting the milestones and the community is happy with our progress, we can schedule another payment of 5E to continue for another 2 months.

[ghostbonez]

The snapshot vote has been created!

Please vote here: Snapshot

[dkatz]

this is the very definition of !vibe

I love the beta, vision, and proposal.

toad apestrong + dkatz approve

[ghostbonez]

Thank you dkatz! This calls for a slice of pizza to celebrate

[hugofaz]

Great work on the beta and the proposal here! I’m voting for it. Let’s try to find a pixel artist in the toadz community?

[ghostbonez]

Thank you so much for the support! I did happen to find a pixel artist from Brazil who’s very friendly and talented! Some of his work can be found on his Instagram page.

[peppy]

Excited for this! I thought it’d be worth shilling/mentioning Gawds as another gotchi game, particularly for their rewards and use of L2.

Some uses of their token that stick out are auto-gotchi and NFT auctions/mints.