Thanks a lot for actively participating in the Battle Racers AMA held on 11th December 2019 at the Game of Bitcoins Channel. We really appreciate all your support. This post is a recap of the entire session held with Battle Racers

 

We have with us

a. Gabby Dizon - Hi everyone! Gabby here, CEO and co-founder of Altitude Games, 17 year game industry veteran. 😃 Thanks for having us!

b. Monika, the Marketing Manager for Battle Racers - an arcade racing game where you can mix and match parts to form a race car and use combat weapons to beat other players to the finish line!

c. Patrick - I'm the product manager of Battle Racers here at Altitude. Do 6 years count as veteran?

 

Q1. The gaming industry is a multi billion dollar one and already filled with top players, what's you go-to market strategy and plan to dominate this industry

While this is certainly the case, the blockchain games space is still at a very early stage - somewhat comparable to the childhood years of mobile f2p. We believe that being in this space early is key to building your brand and creating your tech

The user base being comparatively small means that game makers like us will have to team up with others to create more buzz and incentives for players to come.

Eventually we want to expand to other platforms and take the game to mobile!

 

Q2. What was your inspiration throughout the journey of Battle Racers? How has the artistic and creative vision of Battle Racers changed throughout its development?

We were definitely inspired by Tamiya toy racing cars that we grew up playing with and of course Mario Kart :)

The creative vision of Battle Racers is still consistent with how we envisioned it in the beginning. We are trying to maintain that same style by establishing different car brands and only changing the look of the newer models season by season.

 

Q3. How will the recent partnership between Matic Network & Battle Racers effect the future of the blockchain gaming ecosystem? Do you think we will see more game devs migrating towards building on side chain based scaling solutions?

I recall this question being asked before in a previous AMA, but it's an excellent question so I'll reiterate :)

We believe the Eth + sidechain route is a natural fit for blockchain games. Ethereum itself has the most dapp- and developer adoption, but sidechain environments like Matic are needed to provide gas-free transactions, fast transactions times. The goal here is to make blockchain technology do it’s work in the background without constraining or slowing down the gameplay. L2 solutions like Matic will play a big part in taking blockchain games mainstream.

 

Q4. To build a big amount of loyal users/customers for #BattleRacers will not be easy because many tokens already do it the way you do and have certain bases of market/users already. How will #BattleRacers attract more users in this race?

So we had our pre-sale in May of this year where we issued Prime edition car parts, and RIGHT NOW we are live with our Season 1 sale.

Unlike other blockchain games we don't have a breeding mechanic. We actually have quite the opposite

We aim to maintain scarcity by limiting the number of NFT car parts and burning all unsold crates from each season.

Plus, we're working on mechanics to upgrade the stats of these parts NFTs so they give players better overall stats for their cars, which they will be able to take to tournaments where they can compete against other for cash prizes and fame.

Parts of the tournament prize money will come from the proceeds of nft trades. We're funneling parts of the fees into a prize pool for that.

 

Q5. What are the Key Roadmap milestones the team aims to achieve in the coming year?

At the moment our game is already in Early Access (web-based, desktop browsers only).

But we're also developing it on Decentraland.

Once Decentraland is officially released, we are going to be one of the launch titles there.

And like I said earlier, we'll be working on a mobile version too!

 

Q6. Blockchain gaming industry is becoming more and more popular these days. I want to ask, how can you see your project after a couple of years? And what more can you offer to those who invested/investing their time, effort and money to your game?

As we see the future of blockchain games in mobile, we're going to shift focus a bit and develop a pocket version of Battle Racers later next year.

By including mechanics to upgrade the stats of the cars in order to make their owners stand a chance in the competitive tournament environment that we are going to establish, we hope to maintain scarcity and a high demand for valuable NFT cars.

 

Q7. What is your plan to attract more players and continue to play your game? Coz I see some crypto game projects that close due to low volume of players.

We all know the volume of players in blockchain games is very small still, when comparing those numbers to f2p.

However if we compare it to the percentage of paying users in free 2 play games then we see that those millions of downloads are to be taken with a grain of salt.

To attract more players to our game we are actively seeking partnerships and promotions with other blockchain games to attract other games’ communities to our game.

For example, we had a special event sale earlier this year where we sold limited edition Axie Infinity cars (sold out entirely within 7 minutes). Coincidentally we are launching our CryptoKitties event sale tomorrow!

 

Q8. Can you explain from your perspective, the prospect progress of game dev. base on blockchain, did you conduct survey & study before deciding to get into this business?

We started with our blockchain research on Ethereum and smart contracts, driven by our own curiosity and to see how blockchain would impact the game industry

When Cryptokitties popularized the concept of  non-fungible tokens via the ERC721 standard, we knew this would become a big thing and decided to start developing our own blockchain game.

Sidenote: We have an exclusive event with CryptoKitties starting in 10 hours! 😸

 

Q9. Why did you choose to work with Matic? Once Ethereum 2.0 launches, how is going to change Ethereum community, especially for the side chain / second layer projects? 

Matic’s sidechain technology allows us to have gameplay with fast transactions and very little gas fees. We’re a big fan of the concept of metatransactions which allows the gas fees to be paid by the dapp developer, resulting in a much smoother game experience for the player. We’re  not sure how Ethereum 2.0 would change the way we are currently doing things, but we are committed to the concept of the sidechain as the gameplay layer and Ethereum mainnet as the settlement layer (for trading with other players via marketplaces such as Opensea).

 

Q10. Why did you choose the business/game model of presale items instead of choosing a free-to-play? Do you think free-to-play model work for the blockchain game right now, why? And if not, why?

As an indie game studio, we are fully aware of the pros and cons of the f2p business model. Having a game being distributed on the 2 big app stores certainly has its appeal even with the 30% cut Apple/Google rake in from each in-app-purchase. The vast majority of devs who publish their games on mobile don’t have the luxury of getting a deal with a big publisher that can afford to dole out millions of dollars for marketing in order to get the necessary installs just so you can survive of the tiny amount of players that actually pay. Attached to that comes the fact that you have to design your game to appeal to both paying users and to those who only grind.

So it's no surprise the majority of game makers struggle to survive with barely enough time to optimize monetization before they run out of marketing funds and their users dwindle.

We wanted to make a game that treats players equally and still be able to secure funds to continue development and improvement without the overhead and a blown up marketing budget. Blockchain was the right tool for the job so to speak.

By fusing gaming and investing together we can afford to not walk the beaten f2p path, but rather explore something new. We really like the idea of play to earn. Our goal is that players can make their entry costs for playing back by being successful in tournaments or by being able to sell their acquired assets on the secondary market by decoupling in-game items from the game itself.

Anyway, I think free-2-play can work with blockchain games though. But for now it won’t be to the same extent as in traditional games. We see it more of a way to ease new players in and have cars that you can take to the racetrack for free for example. Moreover, I think it’s essential for blockchain games to have some portion of their game, even if only a tutorial, be free to try before buying assets for it, so you can familiarize yourself first. For full f2p it’s way too early. The market as a whole has to mature more first and that will take years. Down the road it will become completely normal for games to have blockchain technology under the hood without players actually noticing it. In order for that to happen indie developers and early adopters have to pave the road first though, so mainstream adoption, big players and the whole ecosystem can follow.

Q11. Where is the biggest difference between Battle Racers and other competitors?

We don't have breeding mechanic like most cryptogames, but Patrick can chime in if he isn't tired from all the typing lol

aside from that we're developing the game to be on more than one platform.

And we don't necessarily have to look at each other as competitors - we've been collaborating with other games in the space. Like CK, as mentioned earlier, and Neon District too - with our collab sale also launching tomorrow 😉

we have our background in games and firmly believe that the game mechanics have to be solid first and it should actually be fun and rewarding to play

gaming first blockchain second

Q12. Is there any pressure on launching or deploying the game for the first time? knowing gamers and blockchain people expects a lot from you?

As I mentioned just now, our team is made up of veterans of the game industry, having developed and published games in PC and mobile. Some of our team members have been making games for as long as 17 years! We’ve seen a lot of changes in the game industry throughout the years, and our professional experience has helped us in creating blockchain games for the first time.

Altitude Games itself is a 5 year old company that has developed mobile games such as: Kung Fu Clicker, Dream Defense, and Run Run Super V prior to creating Battle Racers.

 

Q13. How do you plan to attract #non-crypto space to your game ? Can I #earn money from your game ? Do I need to #pay to play your game?

You can play for free with test parts you don't own, so you can try the game out prior to buying car parts 😁

 

Q14. Is Battle Racers for Pro Players or do you also support a casual player like me

Casual players very much welcome

 

Q15. Which extent you are satisfied with the work as of now by you and Battle Racers team? Are you guys tick markings the success list you planned in early stage of starting up?

We've got a long way to go, we're just getting started 😁 lots more planned for 2020.

 

Q16. As a new comer, which steps will be the easiest way for a random person to start play Battle Racers?

Our Early Access is playable for free on https://play.battleracers.io. As long as you have a destkop browser with MetaMask enabled, you will be able to start racing and use our test drive cars! And if you decide you like our game, then you can go ahead and start buying crates, collecting parts, and building your own car.

 

Q17. How will you climb the rankings of your game with so much competition ? What is the competitive advantage of Battle Racers has that you feel most confident about ?

I think the game really shines in tournament action, there's no game quite like ours in the market right now.

 

Q18. What's next forBattle Racers? What does the future look like with Battle Racers?

Decentraland launch once they're out of beta, then we'll look at the mobile version next. Also, tournaments are definitely coming soon.

 

Q19. Which server is Battle Racer running on? Decentralized sever or centralized server? As i hear that each NFT token is unique and cant be divided nor traded on exchange. So, why is there a Battle Racer NFT token sale and which platform will your team use to do this?

The gameplay is running on a centralized server with smart contracts handling the interactions with the NFTs.

We're running on centralized servers with NFTs being on the blockchain. We think that's necessary. For the whole game to run decentralized we need more mature tech and faster transactions, since players have to react in real time.

We're not issuing BR token. Players can buy different crates that contain ERC721 car parts that can be used to create a complete car. These parts can be traded on OpenSea

 

Q20. What is your long-term vision of the industry that Battle Racers works in? Are you afraid one day there will be another project with more advanced technology that can replace Battle Racers?

We've been making games for quite a while. Started with traditional premium games, freemium with demos, free to play, and now blockchain. Then there's also AR and VR. We will always continue to adapt and if that day comes that another project may replace Battle Racers, then we'll just keep catching up to whatever technology is available - it's an inevitable part of being in both the entertainment and software development industry.

 

Q21. What do you think about the future of NFTs token in gaming industry in particular and in blockchain industry in general?

I see that you worked on BR with Decentraland (i know, theyre widely implementing Matic scaling solutions). So. That means user can use customizable/created content in BR as well? Game items will be available for purchase on Marketplace for MANA ?

We still work on our DCL build and will release when they open for public as well. Once their marketplace is ready, you will be able to buy items with MANA, correct. We're also looking into smart items in that regard. Another aspect of our DCL presence is that we want to enable other landowners to host different race track environments on their plots.

MANA can also be used to purchase Battle Racers parts on OpenSea right now

 

Q22. What benefits will a partnership with Klaytn bring to the Battle Racers?  Are you heading to the Korean market?

I can't go into details about that at the moment. More on that next year :) All I can say now is that gaining access to a crypto nation such as korea and to the kakao ecosystem has a lot of potential so we're keen on exploring that and see where it takes us :)