Alongside the booming surge of the blockchain and cryptocurrency tides, the respective gaming has also come into play. Moreover, creating games on a blockchain provides a whole bunch of benefits for all the stakeholders, including developers and players, so why not take advantage of this mainstream innovation?
What value will blockchain games bring about for the industry? Is it going to revolutionize the way audiences perceive gaming and the tech area as such? By the end of this article, you’ll receive the answers to these and multiple other essential questions related to how to build a blockchain game.
In order to create a blockchain game, you definitely may want to dive deeper into this field and extract as much valuable information as possible. Even if you are considering using outsourcing services, this article will hold even more significant information on how to find a reliable NFT game development company. So stay in tune with us.
What Do You Need to Know Before Starting Developing?
Interestingly, according to the 2019 survey, the influence of blockchain technology on the gaming industry can be categorized in a couple of perspectives, with 23% of respondents claiming improvements in cybersecurity, 19% — in establishing customer trust, 17% — reducing costs, and 15% — managing microtransactions. By the way, more on that one later.
Also, the frequent usage of buzzwords like “blockchain,” “crypto,” and “NFT” has provoked a plurality of misconceptions as well as misunderstandings regarding what is what. So let’s clarify these terms a bit. Blockchain implies a decentralized distributed digital ledger that records and facilitates secure transactions. Hence, blockchain games make use of this technology to become decentralized and allow gamers to get cryptocurrencies while playing.
In particular, crypto games are mainly what they are named after, inasmuch as they enable players to earn financial assets stored and recorded on a blockchain. One of the most apparent examples encompasses products by Satoshi’s Games studio, which has developed Lightnite, allowing players to acquire Bitcoin dust via the Lightning Network.
Well, the most substantial aspect you should research before googling how to make a game on a blockchain involves researching competitors, weighing your in-house potential, and inquiring about possible outstaffing services to extend your team. Such a discovery phase will allow you to prepare for all the challenges emerging before your team is on its way toward a well-polished and functional blockchain game.
Avoiding Risks Associated with Blockchain Game Development
Did you know that the NFT trading volume increased 700% to $10.7bn in Q3 2021? Such rapid growth indicates the rise of a global interest not only in NFTs but also in blockchain technology and crypto games because these are closely intertwined. In particular, the future of NFT games is also quite promising.
Nevertheless, there are a plethora of challenges associated with blockchain game development. What are they, and how to respond to them effectively?
A heavy bet on microtransactions
One thing is sure — you should never repeat the mistake of Diablo Immortal, one of the latest Blizzard products, which has been built on top of the idea that subscriptions and microtransactions are core gameplay mechanics, resulting in an incredibly low user score on Metacritic. Although Diablo Immortal isn’t a blockchain game, this example sheds light on how you risk every time you integrate finance into gameplay. So be careful with that one.
Cybersecurity threats
Despite blockchain technology promoting increased protection from data theft and other types of cyber threats, similar solutions aren’t 100% safe yet, so it’s crucial to invest significant sums in this area.
Lack of technology adoption
To be honest, not all audiences are fond of the integration of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and blockchain technology as a whole into their favorite games, which is a fact you can quickly check by searching for the cases of how strongly players despise the idea of implementing NFT features into the products by Ubisoft or EA.
But there’s a trick how you can stay in the clear and shun these risks. Really, just read on.
Benefits of Creating a Blockchain Game
Notably, as the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) group revealed in their 2021 survey, about 85% of participants claimed asset ownership to be the main advantage of blockchain games, while 74% said it were new revenue prospects and 71% — player reward models.
Still, prior to proceeding with a guide on how to create a blockchain game, we need to stop a bit more on the benefits that similar projects provide to both players and development studios themselves.
1. Comparatively better cybersecurity. Although blockchain technology isn’t flawless, it continually evolves to ensure even greater data protection, so its secure messaging system, as well as two-factor authentication, allow for less exposure to data leaks.
2. Reward system. Since the primary reason for playing video games is having fun, gamers need to feel that each of their actions brings them closer to a long-awaited reward, be it a unique item, next level, or rare achievement. And blockchain games enable developers to cover this demand far more successfully than traditional ones.
3. Interoperability. With this feature onboard, you don’t rely on a centralized system or a single server, losing which, all of your players will end up with deleted data proving their ownership of in-game assets like weapons or avatars.
4. GameFi prospects. One of the most evident pros of building a blockchain game is to promote the play-to-earn model, which allows players to obtain financial rewards in the form of cryptocurrencies as they achieve new heights or win battles. Furthermore, it’s a huge benefit for the game owner as they also make a profit from transaction fees.
5. Improved ownership and verification. Thanks to blockchain technology, all transactions are recorded on a digital ledger and are never lost, which helps verify as well as authenticate the owner of any digital asset.
As you can see, there are enough pros to choosing blockchain technology as the foundation for your next video game.
What Is the Required Tech Stack to Develop a Blockchain Game?
Blockchain game development requires an integral and capable team to finish a project on time. As a relatively novel niche in the game development industry, it takes a group of highly skilled professionals who know the score. What are they, you may ask?
Well, such a team should consist at least of a project manager, front- and back-end developers, UI/UX designers, QA division, testers, game engine specialists, business analysts, marketing experts, as well as Android and iOS developers (in case the game is to be ported on mobile devices).
More specifically, you should certainly consider expanding your player audience to include smartphones and tablets because, quite often, these offer a more convenient way to access blockchain games and start making a profit. You definitely don’t want to limit your players to PCs or consoles only, impeding them from getting achievements and earning cryptocurrency wherever they are feeling comfortable.
The Main Stages of Blockchain Game Development
So, how to develop a blockchain game with fewer risks? Beyond question, your team should be ready for each step laid out in this quick guide. If not, you can always refer to game development outsourcing agencies to either extend it or entrust the entire project to a professional studio. At any rate, below you may find a step-by-step plan on blockchain games development, so get ready for the insights on how to minimize the odds of failure!
Preliminary preparations. Having familiarized yourself with blockchain gaming and all the respective technologies, you can start planning your project, coming up with core gameplay mechanics, backstory, and primary features distinguishing your product from others. This is the stage where you make sure your team is capable of working with blockchain technology.
Concept art production. Throughout this phase, your 2D artists draw sketches and produce concept art that will then be used as a reference for modeling 3D assets, provided that your blockchain game occupies three dimensions.
Platform configuration. Now it’s time to choose your blockchain platform (Ethereum, for example) as well as a game engine like Unity or Unreal where you’ll be building your project brick-by-brick out of 2D and 3D assets created on a third-party piece of software, whether it’s Blender, 3ds Max, or any other editor.
System development. That’s when your developers start using software development kits (SDKs), as these significantly accelerate the workflow, code smart contracts, and write scripts inside a preferred game engine to enliven the world of already integrated assets.
Testing & deployment. As soon as you carry out various testing types, from unit testing to stress tests, ensuring that your system is sufficiently polished and bug-free, you’ll be good to go releasing your product, being confident that you know how to develop blockchain games.
Following this quick guide, you can considerably reduce the odds of exposing your team to risks and not repeat the fate of large studios that abuse the financial aspect of blockchain technology by sacrificing core gameplay for the good of the GameFi philosophy. Making money while playing games is an excellent opportunity, but having fun is more important.
Get Your Blockchain Game Done with Game-Ace Services
Armed with the knowledge of how to create a game on the blockchain, it’s time to answer the fundamental question of whether you’d like to make it on your own or address a custom game development studio. Game-Ace has been generating value for its clients since 2005, piling up the experience and building an extensive portfolio of commercially successful projects. Our studio already covers all bases and is ready to take on your project.
The good news is that you can contact us to seize the opportunity of developing a quality blockchain game together!
