Pocket Arena Team: Specialists In Mobile Gaming

The NFT market has recently gone through another surge, with the total number of sales involving a non-fungible token in the art sector growing by more than 100% from April 12th to August 13th. This is the result of another NFT craze similar to the one seen earlier in the year. The current NFT-mania is perhaps best characterized by London-based 12 year old Benyamin Ahmed making close to half a million dollars with a series of pixelated pictures of whales. 

This euphoria around NFTs, along with the incredible rise of DeFi, has been something many blockchain gaming companies are trying to cash in on. This resulted in the term GameFi being coined by Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance. GameFi is the combination of gaming and DeFi, where time spent gaming can be easily monetized thanks to blockchain technology. Not only does this make GameFi games more competitive, it increases player retention. Despite its unassuming name, GameFi is a sustainable, long-term, blockchain industry that has the potential to disrupt the current mobile gaming market currently valued at $120 billion. It could well prove to become one of the biggest sectors in the entire blockchain industry. 

Taking Advantage Of The Hype 

However, this hype has meant the creation of many different projects that seem to promise far more than they’ll be able to deliver. Many NFT projects that claim to have GameFi elements have no real playable content. Many of the projects that do have playable content are incredibly simple and are unchallenging to the point they barely qualify as games. Things like this could perhaps be more accurately characterized as traditional DeFi features re-skinned as a gaming experience.

These releases are perhaps explained by the fact that they are the product of teams that have been built around DeFi rather than built around gaming. The founding team may have a financial background and have neglected the fact that developing a quality game is always a difficult and time consuming process. When you consider the time it takes to develop video games compared to the time it takes to develop financial applications, it seems obvious that integrating DeFi into a gaming project is more straightforward than integrating gaming elements into a DeFi team.

Pocket Arena knows all about the challenges of developing mobile games. As a longtime mobile developer, Emoji Games were in the mobile gaming industry for 16 years before moving into the blockchain and crypto space in 2017 and becoming Pocket Arena. We honed our ability to create quality mobile games long before moving into the crypto space and this ability to properly develop the gaming parts of our NFT projects is what sets us apart from the competition. 

It Takes Time To Develop Quality 

For an example of the amount of work that goes into developing quality online games, one only need look at our very own game, NFT Castle Defense. NFT Castle Defense started development in 2017 and has undergone huge amounts of trial and error to reach the current version. We are still releasing new updates every week with our Q4 update plan including Castle Arena, land capturing, guilds and spectator mode. These updates will continue for at least the next 3 years and see more and more gaming features added. 

In addition to NFT Castle Defense, every single one of Pocket Arena’s casual game releases has been worked on for 8 to 12 months by our dedicated team (such as 3D Basketball, Ice Pop, Bricks n Targets, Block n IQ etc). Each one of these games has different levels and maps and most importantly, must integrate a social eSports mode to facilitate our great community’s involvement. There are currently more than ten of these casual games live on our platform and six more are scheduled to be released in the next 10 months. 

Even Axie Infinity, the most successful blockchain game on the market, was first released in 2018. It took more than 3 years of development and fine-tuning to release the version that is currently taking crypto gaming by storm. 

To underline the point of how rare game development is in the blockchain market, Pocket Arena regularly receives requests from other gaming projects to see if we can develop a game for their NFTs. Many times gaming projects have already sold their tokens and in-game NFTs before realizing the development of the actual game is much more difficult than anticipated. This leaves investors holding useless in-game items for a game that doesn’t even exist. Situations like these are a great example of crypto projects completely underestimating the level of work that goes into developing quality games. 

Bringing People Into GameFi 

In order to make getting involved in the space easier, Pocket Arena is also developing tools that will allow designers and developers to gamify their creations. Our other flagship Pocket Arena DApp coming up in 2022 is The NFT Game Studio, which allows character designers to put characters of their own creation into Pocket Arena games. The designers are then able to mint their characters as NFTs and sell the characters via our NFT marketplace. 

NFT Jigsaw Puzzle is another one of our DApps that will make getting involved in blockchain gaming easy. With this app, photographers and artists are able to monetize their creation by turning it into an online jigsaw composed of NFTs. These NFTs can, once again, be sold via our NFT marketplace. 

Pocket Arena’s Expertise  

Our development team is transforming existing gaming and studio assets into NFT and play-to-earn gaming. This is possible because we have been developing games completely in-house since 2012. This means we’ve accumulated nine years of existing gaming assets to transform into NFT projects. It also means we have accumulated nine years worth of skills and teamwork that help streamline the process of making games. All of this is poured into every blockchain game that we create.

This is something that is simply impossible to recreate so investors should be cautious of any new project that claims to be able to release a lucrative NFT game within 12-months. It is simply impossible. Game development takes a long time and requires a skilled and experienced team especially for quality releases. Any NFT project looking to cash in on the current hype likely won’t last long because any product released in a short enough time to capitalize on the hype will be of too poor quality to retain players. 

It is very difficult to find any good game developers. There is currently a global shortage. This is why you can trust Pocket Arena to have the expertise and patience to develop some of the most exciting blockchain games in the space.

PS: We Are Now on Discord

To grow our community of #Esports players, we are now on Discord. Visit the link below to join Pocket Arena’s official Discord channel.

Pocket Arena’s Official Discord

Team Pocket Arena have been working hard to bring updates that enhance gameplay and make it an enjoyable experience for both Esports players and Castle Sponsors alike.

Today we share 3 crucial updates with regards to #NFTCastle, #CastleMarket and #Luzern.

NFT Castle

We have updated the contract termination clause for when a player rents an NFT Castle. Previously, the contract was automatically terminated after 48 hours of no gameplay.

We have now updated that to 36 hours. From now on, if a player doesn’t play for 36 hours the contract will be auto-terminated and the castle will be returned back to the sponsor. The sponsor can then go ahead and hire another player for the castle.

Castle Market

The 50% off offer price on NFT Castles has ended on 31st August 2021 and from today onwards newly minted castles will be available on our market place, NFT Castle Market for € 98.

We have also been receiving a lot of suggestions from our users on Pocket Arena’s official Telegram channel, regarding the purchase of NFT Castles. Considering the feedback, we have now decided to stock 100 NFT Castles on a daily basis from Monday to Friday.

We have also decided to initiate the sale of these 100 NFT Castles in two separate batches. This is done so that all users have an equal opportunity to purchase an NFT Castle.

Luzern

Luzern is coming to NFT Castle Defense for #CastleArena! The map will consist of 11,444 land plots where maximum 5000 NFT Castles can be placed.

Max. 5000 #NFTCastles are available for sales in Castle Market for Luzern map. That means that Castle serial no. #5000 will be the last Castle to be sold in #CastleMarket for upcoming Luzern map.

PS: We Are Now on Discord

To grow our community of #Esports players, we are now on Discord. Visit the link below to join Pocket Arena’s official Discord channel.

Pocket Arena’s Official Discord

The rise of the decentralized games network is creating a new type of gaming community and a new type of gamer. In the past, our Emoji Games company has gained a lot of experience releasing traditional stand-alone mobile games. As a centralized body distributing the games, we were quite often the target of rude outbursts from our users. Despite our best efforts to keep our customers happy, it was nevertheless inevitable that we would receive one or two calls from irate impatient customers demanding an immediate refund. This created the need for a huge 24/7 customer support team that could provide help to our customers whenever they needed it which was of course, an expensive undertaking.

However, as we have migrated to blockchain gaming we have noticed this paradigm completely shift. Since blockchain gaming rose in popularity with games like Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games, it has brought with it an entirely new way for gamers to interact with developers as there is now no longer a clear distinction between customer and seller.

For example, Pocket Arena provides and develops the games and the platforms. However, every person involved in our platform is an important part of a self-sustaining gaming economy. There are different ways for users to contribute to and profit from this PlaytoEarn economy. Users can profit from their gaming effort by selling the digital assets of NFT Castle that they earn in our Castle Defense games. They can also be a key part of the ecosystem by mining tokens. This is an ecosystem that everyone involved can benefit from.

The shared economy that surrounds our gaming platform was not developed to only benefit Emoji Games or our investors. The integral part of Pocket Arena’s economy, and hopefully the main benefactors are our gamers. You create the value of Pocket Arena and the platform is designed to incentivize you to continue contributing. Our vision is to give glory back to the gamers and empower them with the possibility to profit from their own gaming ability.

This is an especially attractive prospect for those of you who have been criticized for spending much of your day in front of a video game. No longer do you have to listen to people tell you what a waste of time it is. Blockchain gaming gives you the opportunity to take your finely honed skills and apply them to a task that can yield you financial reward. Now you can be an integral part of a mutually beneficial economy.

This type of economy gives players the sense that they themselves are closely linked to the games they’re playing, and the developers who developed them. One thing we found about this type of close-knit community is that it does not breed the type of angry customer that we have encountered in the past. Our players are our investors and they are committed to making Pocket Arena better instead of asking for a refund and looking to get out. This is a much better type of community to be a part of and another key reason why blockchain is the future of gaming.

NFT Castle: How To Build An Online Community

Our most prominent blockchain game, NFT Castles, is a great example of the type of mutually beneficial ecosystem that crypto gaming can produce. The NFT Castle economy is tied to the value of the in-game NFT castles that can be used to claim land and enhance your ability to earn more digital assets. eSports digital assets are the weapons and items that can help you win the game and gain more assets from other players by attacking other players. NFT Castles are no exception. The more you use your castle the stronger it becomes. The stronger your castle becomes the more likely you are to win the battle and grow your assets.

This dynamic has led to a huge demand. The castles are sold out less than a minute after they are listed in the Castle Market. All of these castles are unique that can benefit you during the in-game battles in a unique way. Currently, thanks to a 50% discount until August 31st, newly minted castles are being sold for €49. However, several P2P transactions have occurred that have seen castles change hands for more than €500. This 10-fold increase is a perfect example of the benefits to holding digital assets that have in game use cases.

Castles are a highly liquid digital asset in the digital metaverse. Committing time to this game will see a player compensated as they increase the power of their in-game items and increase their in-game land. Different types of land will see a player earn different levels of XP by capturing it. There are six different levels of land, King, City, Fantasy, Snow, Desert and Forest.

Players can choose to fight independently against other castle owners to acquire land or they can become part of a guild. A guild is a group of professional players that are trained to fight together against other guilds and can be hired by other landowners. They are another example of how we are building a tight-knit community that will work for their own mutual benefit. Players will be able to receive training and additional XP earnings as part of a guild. Each guild will have a manager, an assistant manager, members, and trainees with each position yielding a different level of XP. It allows players to grind more efficiently and increase the value of their assets.

A key part of our economy is allowing investors to rent castles to professional players and having them both share in the benefits yielded from that Castle. The guilds create an entirely new way for investors to benefit from the NFT Castle economy. Investors can choose to rent their castles to a guild instead of to an individual. Players involved in a guild can then use these castles in the name of their guild. The bonuses associated with fighting for a guild then trickle down to benefit the investor.

By integrating these guild structures into a castle defense game, Pocket Arena’s NFT Castles is an experience that combines the best of both Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games. The details of our guild system and other features related to NFT Castles are getting finalized. If the type of community that we are building here is something you want to get involved in, keep an eye out for our master plan which will be published on August 31st.

Enjoy these addictive block games and test your IQ with the Pocket Arena DApp game – Block n IQ. Train and test your brain and increase your IQ score with 100 fascinating stages. Play against other players or your friends to win digital assets as XP! 

How to play:

• Tap on this link at: https://games.pocketarena.com/blockniq/ and log in with your PA account. If you don’t have an account yet, please follow this article

• Drag and drop a block then put the next block into the same line or fulfil the lines and squares to get them removed.
• Use E-point for items in-game and make gameplay easier.

How to earn XPs through playing game:

• Way 1: After playing Single (Stage) mode, you can get XP based on obtained score

Tap on this Stage icon to play game and earn XP

Tap on the Stages icon to check XP that received per stage after playing Single mode:

• Way 2: You can get XP through playing eSport challenge

Play 1vs1 challenge by tapping the eSport icon.

If you win, you can get 20XP or 100XP, there are 2 rooms for XP: Novice Challenge room and Amateur Challenge room. The reward is based on each room.

• Way 3: You can get 200 XP each 7 days playing as a daily reward.

IMPORTANT :  Don’t forget to get a Daily Reward of XP. You can get the free XPs only when you have logged in to this game with your account on every 7th day of your visit.

Happy gaming!

Castle Defense, one of the most popular Pocket Arena games, utilizes NFT technology to bring in-game ownership to its users. This allows players to genuinely own the items that they use to conquer the in-game world. It is a key feature of Castle Defense and one that we look forward to exploring in many new games in the future. 

Recently we received some feedback enquiring if Castle Defence really was an NFT blockchain game. The slight confusion was because Castle Defense seems to work differently from other blockchain games. It looks and plays much more like a normal game. This is an example of how smoothly Castle Defense runs as many blockchain games are associated with lots of technical settings. 

Permissioned Blockchain (Private Blockchain)

This smoothness is because Pocket Prena games utilize a different type of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) than other games. DLT is the technology that all blockchain protocols are built on. A distributed ledger is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronised digital data spread across multiple sites or nodes. Blockchain can be divided into two broad types: permissioned and permissionless. The majority of cryptocurrencies are built with permissionless blockchain which allows any user across the world to become a node in the network. 

It is important as blockchain develops, that different sectors adopt the right type of blockchain to most benefit their market needs. Permissionless blockchains are revolutionary because of the way they address fundamental governance issues. They remove the need for a central authority which is what allows blockchain to create a financial sector that can completely challenge legacy industries. 

However for gaming projects like Pocket Arena, common player behaviours and preferences must be considered when it comes to choosing a blockchain type. This is why we use permissioned blockchain integrated with tokenomics. This means that only approved people can run a node to validate transactions. In effect, this creates a hybrid model between decentralization and centralization. 

Permissioned blockchain is much more common for enterprises to use such as banking and financial services. For example, in Switzerland more and more financial institutions are adopting permissioned DLT to the point that a new DLT law has been enacted this year. Permissioned blockchain provides many of the benefits of permissionless blockchain including security device management, cost savings, reduced connectivity bottlenecks, contract audit trails, and increased data reliability.

The Future Of Blockchain Gaming 

There are many requirements for developing a game that make it necessary to have some form of centralized body. For example, gamers looking to login can often forget their ID or passwords. A governing body is needed to verify and support players like this so that they can retain access to their account. In a blockchain cryptocurrency it is vital that nobody gains access to an account that doesn’t have the password. However, security measures for gaming services can afford to be less strict which introduces the benefits of a central body. 

Another issue for centralized games is the unavoidable reality that games are often released with bugs and glitches. This is especially true for beta versions but can even sometimes apply to commercial versions of games. A governing body is necessary to take care of technical issues and guide the game through its full development. Games that utilize a Play2Earn model need particular care as any player issues must also receive financial compensation. 

Blockchain games have a totally different set of requirements for DeFi projects. They need to provide more fun and gaming elements than financial elements which is why fast transaction times are essential. Permissionless blockchains (public blockchain) can be quite slow. The Ethereum chain for example, has been known to take up to four hours to process a transaction. This is a lot longer than the one second that most gamers are prepared to wait for a transaction. 

Gamers will simply not have the patience to wait for ERC-20 based DApps to process transactions on the Ethereum Network. Gamers need instant speed when dealing with microtransactions as they occur as part of a fast-paced game world. Gas fees and long transactions will simply be unacceptable.

A New Market

The mobile gaming industry is currently worth $60 billion and the vast majority of gamers still have a preference for non blockchain based games. The quality of games outside of the blockchain sphere is significantly higher because big name developers develop games on traditional platforms. These games are much easier to start playing as gamers don’t have to familiarize themselves with blockchain concepts and tech settings. For example, most gamers will have no idea what metamask is or how to buy ETH or Polygon in order to play games 

However, as crypto is adopted across different sectors the general public will become far more familiar with these concepts. This will allow traditional game developers to adopt blockchain and NFTs because the benefits of these technologies no longer come with complications for the average gamer.

The semi-decentralized model made possible by permissioned blockchain seems likely to be the model adopted by these big developers. They will want to implement a model that makes mass market scale up easy while simultaneously retaining enough power to properly develop their own games. 

A Network of Protocols 

Another key advantage of permissioned blockchains is that they provide the best connectivity to allow games DApps to be connected to different protocols. Blockchain and crypto are developing rapidly and different currencies and projects are becoming integral in the sphere. This will make it necessary for new projects to be able to integrate with many different projects in order to ensure maximum usership. 

We utilize permissioned blockchain while building with Hyperledger Fabric (a project of open-source blockchains and related tools) on top of a central database. Both Hyperledger Fabric and the database can be accessed to cross check data to ensure accuracy. Google Cloud Servers, KMS (Key Management Systems), and HSM (Hardware Security Modules) are also integral parts of our project. We have also adopted ERC-20 to make wallet connectivity and listing on exchanges easier. Utilising all these different systems shows how interconnected the Pocket Arena ecosystem is and how many different players can log on and play. 

Pocket Arena’s Next Step

The Pocket Arena Wallet (PA Wallet) on Hyperledger will go live at the end of August or at the beginning of September. Once it’s live, current XP can then be converted into wPOC tokens (wrapped POC) in the PA Wallet. The combination of games like Castle Defence going live with the PA Wallet will very much boost the popularity of Pocket Arena, all while working on a cloud based browser in a user-friendly way. Meanwhile, the process will still be secure and fast thanks to the efficiency of permissioned blockchain. Gas fees will only be incurred when a user wants to withdraw their wPOC or NFT Castles to an external wallet for trading. 

As blockchain develops, different industries will utilize different types of DLT. We strongly believe that the flexibility provided by permissioned blockchain will be the foundation of blockchain gaming which is why it has been an integral part of our gaming platform.

By Pocket Arena Team