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Core Report Technology
Axie Infinity utilizes blockchain technology to provide players with an engaging and rewarding gaming experience. At its core, Axie Infinity is centered around the collection, breeding, and battling of digital creatures called Axies.
The technology stack behind Axie Infinity includes a combination of on-chain and off-chain components, as well as public smart contracts that underpin the game's mechanics. Axie Infinity's smart contracts can be found on the project's official GitHub repository. These contracts are written in Solidity and handle various aspects of the game, including the creation and management of Axies, breeding, and battles.
Axie Infinity's whitepaper emphasizes the importance of community and economy, and as such, the game provides easy access to all art assets and Axie genetic data to third parties. This openness encourages community developers to build their own tools, experiences, and applications within the Axie Infinity ecosystem. One such example is a community-driven project that uses React and Redux to retrieve user data, such as SLP, MMR, and Axie data, through the player's Ronin ID.
Core Project Architecture
Axie Infinity is built on the Ethereum blockchain. Each Axie is a non-fungible token (NFT) that exists on the Ethereum blockchain using the ERC-721 standard. The Axie Infinity project was initially built on the Ethereum blockchain due to the number of developers building on the platform and the ability to recruit initial community members.
As time passed, it became clear that building a blockchain game solely on Ethereum would not be feasible from a scalability standpoint due to the high cost of and low throughput of gaming transactions. To address this issue, the Axie Infinity team is developing the sidechain named Ronin. Ronin is a standalone blockchain that is linked to the Ethereum blockchain, allowing for fast and cheap transactions while maintaining the security and decentralization of Ethereum.
Axie Core
To create a better user experience and promote scalability, the Axie Infinity team is also developing the Axie Core mechanism. Axie Core is the gaming engine experience that is eternal and not tied to one particular game; it's the universal Axie experience and aesthetic. The Axie Core is an important aspect of the Axie Infinity protocol that is aimed at enhancing the emotional bond between players and their digital pets called Axies.
The Axie Core works by utilizing an on-chain genetic code that can be permanently altered through on-chain actions. This genetic code is unique to each Axie and is stored on the blockchain, ensuring that it cannot be tampered with. The Axie Core team, in conjunction with the community, will build functionality for the game assets associated with the Axie brand.
To understand the code behind the Axie Core, one can refer to the Axie Infinity GitHub repository. The Axie Core is implemented using Solidity. One example of code related to the Axie Core can be found in the "Core" folder of the "public-contracts" repository. This folder contains the smart contract code for the Axie Core, including the Axie and Part contracts. These contracts define the core functionality of the Axie Infinity protocol, such as breeding and battling Axies, as well as trading Axie Parts on the marketplace.
The Axie Core is crucial to the protocol as it is the foundation upon which all other experiences and games are built. Axie NFT assets can be seen as tickets that grant access to all current and future experiences built on top of the Axie IP, with the Axie Core team responsible for building in-game functionality.
Protocol Smart Contracts
Outside of ERC-20 token contracts and the Axie Core, there are several highlightable smart contracts that provide the functionality to many of the significant features of the Axie Infinity protocol, including its internal marketplace, digital land, breeding mechanics, and more.
Some examples of these include the following:
- AxieToken.sol: This smart contract defines the Axie token (AXS) as an ERC-20 token. It includes functions for transferring tokens, approving token transfers, and checking balances.
- Breeding.sol: This smart contract manages the breeding of Axies. It includes functions for creating new Axies from parent Axies, setting breeding fees, and determining the genes of the new Axie.
- Land.sol: This smart contract defines the Land token (LAND) as an ERC-721 token. It includes functions for transferring LAND tokens and checking ownership.
- Marketplace.sol: This smart contract manages the marketplace for buying and selling Axies. It includes functions for listing Axies for sale, buying Axies, and canceling listings.
- MintableToken.sol: This smart contract defines a mintable token (SLP) as an ERC-20 token. It includes functions for minting new tokens and checking balances.
- Siring.sol: This smart contract manages the siring (breeding) of Axies. It includes functions for setting siring fees, approving siring requests, and determining the genes of the new Axie.
- Auction.sol: This smart contract manages the auctioning of Axies. It includes functions for creating auctions, bidding on auctions, and canceling auctions.
Ronin Sidechain
Ronin is an Ethereum sidechain developed by Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity, which was designed as a long-term scaling solution for the game. Ronin uses Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible smart contracts and protocols to enable developers to build feature-rich blockchain projects that are high-performance. The Ronin sidechain was created to process transactions more quickly than Ethereum, and it was customized specifically to optimize the Axie Infinity game.
Ronin is built on a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus algorithm, where validators are chosen by the network's operators. This enables fast and low-cost transactions, as the PoA consensus algorithm does not require miners to verify transactions. Instead, validators, who are chosen by the network's operators, are responsible for processing transactions.
Ronin's Ethereum-compatible smart contracts are written in Solidity. Additionally, Ronin uses a version of the Ethereum software called geth, which is an implementation of the Ethereum protocol in Go. The following code sample shows how to deploy a smart contract on Ronin using Solidity:
To interact with the Ronin sidechain, users must use a special-purpose wallet that is capable of communicating with the sidechain. The Ronin wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet developed specifically for Axie Infinity. It is available as a browser extension for Chromium-based browsers, such as Chrome and Brave.
The Ronin sidechain has helped the Axie Infinity project to scale by reducing transaction costs and speeding up transaction times. The Ronin sidechain was designed to be a long-term solution for the game, meaning it is optimized to enable virality and provide global access to the game.
By using Ronin, Axie Infinity players can trade and breed Axies more cheaply, which has reduced the costs of playing and increased accessibility for new players. The Ronin sidechain's ability to process transactions more quickly than Ethereum has enabled Axie Infinity to handle the high volume of transactions required to scale.
