Loom Network, one of the leaders in blockchain gaming, launched their Zombie Battleground Kickstarter just 3 days ago, and they've already collected 159,000 Euro of the 215,000 Euro goal, with 57 days to go !
(to be completely transparent, 10 people pledged 10,000 Euro each, so these figures are slightly disproportionate to the actual number of backers, which is approx. 500 right now. but with 57 days to go, there's plenty of time to get even more players for the game !!!)
This, of course, has most likely come mostly from Loom fans like me or blockchain gaming addicts who've followed Loom since they created Cryptozombies last year.
I've already asked Loom if they will consider adding a questionnaire at the end to ask whom, amongst the backers, already knew about Loom/Ethereum through direct experience, who has participated in other blockchain games, and who just stumbled upon it through word-of-mouth or discovered it on Kickstarter itself.
That way, we'll be able to see how many new blockchain gamers the kickstarter has helped gather !
I thought I'd try to get anyone who was still on the fence about buying into the kickstarter on board by grouping together the most common question I've seen, and answering others using information from the numerous Medium articles and emails from Loom Network.
Most Common Questions
1. Will there be any transaction fees associated with the game ?
No, there won't be any transaction fees associated with playing the game.
Loom Network has been developing technology to deal with the transaction fees and scalability issues of Ethereum (the main obstacles to adoption in more complicated games, and adoption by not-stinking-rich blockchain gamers).
This technology is called side-chains. While Loom didn't invent the concept itself, they've been hard at work making a functional SDK that any game developper can use to run their own side-chains, and Loom's demonstrated that the technology works with DelegateCall, and Ethereum-based Q&A site for Solidity developers.
The link above about side-chains explains the concept very well, and how Loom intends to use it, but for the tentative kickstarter supporter, the basics are this:
- Loom will run Zombie Battleground's game logic, and user assets, on an DApp-chain (their word for their specific type of side chain). It will periodically sync with the Ethereum network, but all transactions on it will be optimized, and run on Loom's own servers, so that no fees are paid by the users.
- In the future, it will be possible for someone to run their own Zombie Battleground DAppchain node (The DAppchain SDK has already been released), thus freeing users from relying on Loom to always keep their servers running.
- The only instances where you'll have to pay transaction fees are when you're moving your DAppchain tokens to the Ethereum Mainnet.
- Moving tokens to the Ethereum Mainnet will probably only be used for trading the tokens outside of the built-in marketplace, using them in other DApps that have them integrated, etc...
2. Is this pay-to-win ?
No, Strategy and cunning are necessary ! (which is what attracts me to the game,).
Oh, I'm sure that if you were to throw thousands into the game, you could probably manage to build yourself an arsenal of elite cards, but you'd still need to play the game, strategically built your deck, and adapt it to your opponents, so the playing field is relatively equal.
This, combined with the fact they're planning to include tons of free loot drops, means even someone who doesn't invest in the kickstarter will be able to play the game without spending a cent.
The only cost that you cannot escape is that to interact with the DApp-chain from the Ethereum mainnet (for example, to take out your cards (AKA., the non-fungible tokens) to use elsewhere, you need 1 LOOM present on the Ethereum account you wish to extract to.
Right now, 1 Loom costs 2 $ through direct purchase from Loom's website, which is a limited 50% off offer (so at some point it'll cost 5$ for a LOOM token).
You can also buy LOOM from several exchanges for lower prices (it's trading at 0.30$/LOOM on average right now), but then you need to buy enough to pay the exchange's withdrawal fee AND have the minimal withdrawal amount (KuCoin is 10-20 LOOM fee, 200 LOOM minimum withdrawal, if I remember correctly).
The LOOM token has other uses too, but those don't matter too much for the Zombie Battleground game.
So, to truly have ownership of your token, you'll need to pay approx. 5$ to own a LOOM token, but you can play the game fine without it.
3. by buying the 10$ tier, when do I get access to the beta app ?
They're planning to do monthly roll-outs for the Beta app, starting July 2018.
This means that anyone who invests now, or later on in the campaign, will be able to play the first parts of the Zombie Battleground app starting in July !!
They're planning to release lots of modules (the first one's being the full campaign, PvP, other modes... and later on free expansions to keep the game fresh !)
4. What platforms will the game be released on ?
The game will be released on Mobile first (Android/iOS), but it will be available at a later date through for Mac / PC too !
5. How do I get access to just the limited-edition cards I want, without paying for specific tiers ?
If you're just interested in, say, 5 different Hero cards (and don't want to shill out 5 X 75$), the Peer to Peer marketplace will be one of the very first things to launch.
This means you'll be able to buy/trade your way to those cards you REALLY want on your team.
Of course, the investors amongst you probably realize that you can make some profit by selling specific limited edition cards to those who didn't pay up for them during the kickstarter, and make back some of your investment in the kickstarter... although personally I'm gonna keep most/all of my cards (if I've got duplicate rare cards, I'll probably sell off those that don't benefit my strategy) XP
6. Is this game too similar to Hearthstone ? won't it be sued ?
This question wasn't really addressed by LOOM, but I've checked it out myself.
After some research, I believe that there's no real danger of Zombie Battleground being sued because "it looks like Hearthstone".
First of all, there's a whole bunch of different game mechanics (a lot of them are described here) that ahve nothing to do with Hearthstone, and the cards and art is completely new.
So, with just the fact the two are collectible card games, I don't think Blizzard is going to go amok and try to sue them, especially given the distinctions in copyright described pretty well in this post on quora which discusses why Magic The Gathering didn't sue Heartstone (TL;DR : it'd be too costly and copyright mainly protects implementation, not simple mechanics like "it's a mobile card playing game" or "the arena has a hero and minions that can be summoned").
***If you think I've missed any questions you believe need to be answered before you'd consider spending to get Beta access to the game, do say so.
I'll do my best to answer them :)***
All images and GIF's in this post belong to Loom Network.
Hail the CryptoZombie makers !
