Splinterwars: A quest to give valuation to our assets!
A few days ago I announced Splinterwars,
and work has been continuing on it ever since.
I also shared this screen:
It's not a mock-screen.
It's part of the client to be submitted tomorrow.
But I have been working heavily on netcode and server scripts in the past days, so I did not work in graphics in the last 48 hours.
I don't have a new final screen because I worked on battle code.
But next article will have more screens, that's a promise :-)
I am in a speed rush more than ever!
But let's get to some good news!
What is ready now?
Public API is ready.
I love the transparency of Splinterlands.
I wanted to bring out the same quality.
Player collection, resources, battle reports, enemy stacks...
all can be checked by public API.
Feeds will be made public tomorrow or monday.
The game is already blockchain-armed and compatible.
All Steem transactions are stored and publicly available by API.
Battles, rewards and everything important can be
created again entirely from public transactions.
Some tweaking though for the alpha:
There is this little "but" and I wanted to be honest about that.
It will be decentralized to the blockchain
as soon as it's ready to go with full-SP.
Handling the SP means I have right now
a centralized database of transactions,
which is publicly available and can be read.
(feeds tomorrow)
I estimate that when the game will enter beta-phase,
I should have enough SP to release this to the blockchain,
and have this public database decentralized.
Also, it's cool, because it will be in a final format that way!
But all these custom JSONs can be seen much before that happens.
We can pick enemy stacks and battle them.
And we can import the collections of any player.
It's working and about all Splinterlands skills are working too.
It also creates a full log of every action taken by creatures.
Which is neat!
The server computes combat and makes that detailed log available.
The client only job is then to animate the combat report.
Like Splinterlands does!
Of course it needs lots of tinkering and polish.
Also graphics are not back into it yet.
And I have to make all these shiny graphics in the short time left. :-/
What about Splinterlands valuation?
You have noticed the game is made to expand on Splinterlands.
It is also made to always work with cards you earn or purchase on Splinterlands.
Cards are unlocked only if you have the Splinterlands cards.
But you already knew about that.
We import our collection.
That's the project fundation.
You'll need several cards of each creature.
Splinterlands cards!
The top level card will be your champion for that creature.
The second top level card is also used by very important mechanics.
(more about that later)
Any BCX left in other cards (level 1+ cards etc),
is used to create a troop reserve.
When fighting, you will pick your champion,
or your second top card,
but if these are spent,
you may still create a temporary creature
by using up some of your reserve.
I discovered that having 2 best cards per creature and others as BCX,
is much better than having your whole 2000+ cards to spend and play.
That way you don't have hundreds of stacks to send to battle every day.
But only a manageable number of attacks.
More about that later!
You'll need EVEN MORE Splinterlands cards.
Because of events!
Some events will propose specific challenges.
Imagine a Halloween event,
where all enemy stacks...
... are replaced by new undead creatures!
Defeating enemy stacks one after the other
will earn you event trophy points.
You will be able to spend your trophies to add to your collection one specific event creature.
But to unlock it, you'll need to have some specific Splinterlands card.
Like a Vampire Level 4, and success in the event,
to recruit the Vampire Bat.
And to have the most elite creature unlockable in the event?
Then you'll need the Crypto-mancer on Splinterlands
Yes, that card which is very asked for!
So, you better stock cards now, and cherish them,
for they will unlock you activities and rewards in Splinterwars.
You'll need EVEN MORE AND MORE Splinterlands cards.
And even these REWARD EDITION cards.
Because of achievements!
Other rewards are proposed in specific achievements.
Here is one example.
In this example, I gave thought about:
How to give more value to these reward cards we earn in Splinterlands?
So I give you an example with the Vampire card.
Which is a Common rarity, Reward-edition card.
We have lots of them and current trade is a few cents.
Do you know the World of Darkness (TM), the roleplaying background created by White Wolf?
Well, that's not me.
That's not our game.
But let's imagine a possible achievement.
Vampire Clan:
You must have 13 Vampire cards from Splinterlands, with one Vampire level 6 or more.
Reward: a specific Splinterwars undead creature
(the Vampire Lord) and one item.
Primogen:
You must have a level 9+ Vampire,
three level 8+ Vampires,
and nine level 7+ Vampires.
Reward: a specific powerful Splinterwars undead creature
(the Primogen) and one item.
The First Vampire Ever:
You must have a level 10 Vampire,
three level 9+ Vampires,
and nine level 8+ Vampires.
Reward: a specific super-powerful Splinterwars undead creature
(the First Vampire) and item.
Of course this objective is absolutely Extreme.
And long to complete.
It's like the impossible-objective that somehow
some players will still manage to achieve with success!
And it gives interesting value to your Vampire cards, in my opinion.
Card valuation is a quest we all have.
And I am looking for your feedback about it.
On the discord server!
There is a discord server here:
https://discord.gg/RhTNVwX
... and I created a specific channel :
https://discord.gg/fwy4p9C
... made to discuss card valuation ideas!
This means that if one of my ideas or features
is bad for card valuation, I need you to warn me about it.
And of course, Splinterlands has the license:
I will only go only in directions the team will approve of.
So far I did not ask the founders about all this,
only because everything is a work-in-progress.
But I think it will be cool and these ideas will get approved.
(I'll message the founders, and will edit back that article if required, it's okay).
By the way, I shared a link to Splinterwars Discord...
... but I am in a development rush,
and afraid of failing the contest,
so don't expect to have me available there before I release the alpha!
However, feel free to share the love,
and make yourself at home.
Cheers and happy gaming!
Tell me what you think about all this!
For me it is difficult having a completely different mode of card requirements than Splinterlands. For instance, if I have two high-level Divine Healers, I want each of them in a different account for Splinterlands. I imagine it's going to be difficult for Splinterwars to have enough value to justify keeping cards in accounts where they aren't playable in Splinterlands.
One (maybe too complicated) way around that might be for Splinterwars to have an independent card-delegation system. So if I have all my cards in cold wallet, I could delegate them in singles to accounts for Splinterlands but then also delegate the same cards in larger numbers to a different account to play Splinterwars.
That's a great point tcpolymath.
Keeping duplicate high level cards has no immediate use in Splinterlands, except that you can delegate them or rent them to other players.
For the moment, I decided to trigger import on ownership of cards - to prevent some kind of abuse. More details about this later, as nothing can prevent people from giving cards anyway. But it still respects the card delegation and rental system while not affecting negatively your Splinterwars value.
This means if you have several high level cards sitting on a Splinterlands main account, but you delegate them, you will have the advantage of using them still in Splinterwars.
It is then interesting to have a main account where all cards are, and delegate them to friends and other accounts - which I believe is the most interesting way of using Splinterlands delegation.
I think it also fulfills the way cards and loot may overpopulate your main account while waiting to be sold.
However, this also means this does not help your friends to gain superior strength in Splinterwars - because delegated cards do not count for collection import. I believe this is an acceptable side-effect, but will look for users feedback on the matter!
If you want your friends to have superior Splinterwars strength, you could still give them cards.
About interest in unlocking Splinterwars specific content, something to be discussed with the Splinterlands team (just to make sure they are okay with it) is if new Splinterwars creature, when they will come, could be tradable on their own.
Splinterlands license is made to prevent makers from selling card starters and boosters. But also from being in competition with Splinterlands itself. I think it is great.
With the Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) coming in, and a possible PVE activity scheduled for Splinterlands, this means I must make sure Splinterwars still walks on the good side of synergy with Splinterlands.
I can assure you I want everything to be smooth on that part.
I am certain there will be ways to give extreme value to Splinterwars content - there are some routes I cannot confirm yet, but the Splinterlands team has proven to be very open, so I think solutions will come :-)
From my perspective that's much worse, as there's no chance I'm giving any other app the posting key for the account that holds my Splinterlands cards.
Hello tcpolymath, I roger that!
So, in your opinion, using owned cards instead of delegated cards to create your collection is worse.
Please note that the app uses Steem Connect:
the only place where you put a posting key is on the browser's steem connect page; it's used to make sure you are this person and play, and it can't even touch your Splinterlands assets.
The only URL it reads to read a collection, are from Splinterlands public API ( ie. just like https://steemmonsters.com/cards/collection/tcpolymath ).
It can't touch your cards.
To be clear, it's an entirely separated dapp, with no authority over Splinterlands assets.
It only creates new stuff from what it sees you have on Splinterlands thanks to the public API. And uses Steem Connect not to read into Splinterlands (that would be impossible) but to make sure you are tcpolymath.
There is no place where posting keys, or any keys is to input on pages of the client or server. And I think it's very important to stay that way: only Steem Connect should receive keys, that way no one stores them.
So it sounds like you're not really clear on how Splinterlands security works. The only thing you need to move a Splinterlands card between accounts is the ability to make a custom_json transaction on the account that owns the card. Which means that if you're granted posting authority through SteemConnect, anyone who hacks either your server or the account you're using to hold the authority can steal the cards of everyone who has granted that authority. If you're able to make the custom jsons for your game, you will be able to make the custom jsons for Splinterlands; there's no technical distinction between them. This sort of hack happened to Utopian last year, fortunately before Splinterlands cards were a thing; if it can happen to them it can happen to anyone.
Similarly, putting the key into SteemConnect over and over is risky: it can be read from your screen, or it can be taken by fake SteemConnect clones (this happens a lot).
The only way to secure assets in a way that I'm comfortable with is to hold each application's assets in a single account which does only the operations which are necessary for that application. So I have an account that plays NextColony, which uses auths; it doesn't do anything else. Not only does that make my NextColony assets as secure as NextColony itself, it also doesn't allow anyone who compromised NextColony to take my Splinterlands cards, which would be possible if I used the same account to play both games.
You must have a level 9+ Vampire,
three level 8+ Vampires,
and nine level 7+ Vampires.
Wait, so does that mean that the Level 9+ Vampire also counts as one of the three level 8+ vampires and as one of the level 7+ vampires?
So in reality you would need:
1 level 9 vampire
2 level 8 vampires
6 level 7 vampires
Is that correct or do they not overlap?
Haha you were right it's a lack of accuracy in my sentence :)
It is different cards.
This one is meant as a hard objective!
The achievement description will be more accurate, thanks for pointing that out!
Ah okay. Then it costs about $25 at current market rates :P
Or a heck ton of playing if you get it from rewards only :P
$25 for a Primogen... and more for the First Vampire!
Also, there are a limited number of people who would be able to have that many Vampires of high level, as common cards have a limit in supply and are distributed to the whole userbase in rewards.
This means...
that people could "invest in Vampires" and hope for Vampire depletion.
After scoring the achievement, people could sell their Vampires too, so there is hope to get the funds back!
What do you think about all this?
Interesting, but I assume you would still have to do something with them, or is it just "own that and get that"?
Also, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what your game actually is, for I find your ideas nice, but humanity is notorious for having awesome concepts and being capable of ruining the execution of them so horribly that one starts hoping for climate change to put an end to it.
cough drugwars cough cough
Ah... that game!
If I ever give you elements making you think I am like the game you quoted, in the future, please write me, send me a PM, or anything to stop me!
Indeed the new creature cards will be used in the game modes proposed by the gameplay, in PVE (= campaign, challenges, special event stacks) and indirect PVP (= collection battles).
That's nice!
Also, what about people who have 1 level 10, 3 level 9 and 9 level 8 vampires and then send them around their alt accounts to claim the strong creatures on all their accounts?
All UDIDs which have been already claimed are saved in database. So, I could block it.
However, the situation where people purchase Splinterlands cards which have already been claimed in Splinterwars will become real.
I have been thinking about it. So far i decided that I have to be ready the day one such creature is unlockable, to prevent abuse.
With an extra effort, I could see if the card has been gifted or purchased; in which case gifted cards would possibly not work, and purchased cards will.
(so you could purchase cards and unlock things again, but purchasing give commission to the marketplace and Splinterlands so it's OK)
But I wanted to give it time and see if other solutions come to mind!
Your ideas are super creative, looking forward to understanding more about your vision for the game! Best of luck getting your MVP ready for entry into the game jam.