In-chain Games on Ethereum: Are They Still Relevant in 2023?

[Stelisto]

I don't think you need to avoid polygon due to reasons you said above, people will crowd over the polygon network if you're game is appealing as you say it actually is. It's especially advantageous considering how ETH has enormous fees, so people transitioning to polygon wouldn't feel awkward for your game, they'd probably welcome it even. Looking at it from another side though, high fees won't exactly stop the game from spreading if it's really that good. But ehhh, considering all things, a blockchain with smaller handling fees would be a lot better.

Also, I will be posting progress updates here.

I suggest creating a whole new post altogether. It'd kinda get buried with all the posts here. Maybe even self mod and reserve the first few sections so you can have them all for your updates.

Good idea, I will wait until the testnet is ready, so people can play and share their feedback with us.

[Stelisto]

Do you play a free game on Ethereum by paying only transaction fees.

I don't, transaction fees are put-off for me on any chain, but Ethereum takes the cake.

Knowing that you can sell town shares when you reach a certain level?

Depends on price, and this often depends on popularity of game, or are you saying players can sell town shares for definite price determined by game design?

the game unlocks 10% of the town shares to be sold at different level checkpoints, so the shares price will keep getting higher depending on how fast the player is leveling up + the prices of the resources changes on the market.
The shares also can be traded on the marketplace later.

[killerfrost]

If you want to attract many players, your game must have attractive, unique and challenging gameplay. Moreover, it also needs to have a strong community feature to promote the exchange of assets and facilitate players to interact with each other. You also need to ensure that your in-game transactions are transparent and secure to avoid security issues and fraud. Your idea is very interesting and has the potential to grow into a fascinating game on the Ethereum blockchain. Before you start building your game, you should investigate the market thoroughly to ensure that it has a large enough market share and attracts a sufficient number of players. You also need to do in-depth research on the relevant laws and regulations to ensure that your game complies with the regulations.

If you ensure the above factors, then your game can attract the interest of many players and generate income from trading activities. This is a competitive field and if you want to succeed, you need a solid business strategy and a clear growth plan.

[Jackl87]

I'm working on an in-chain game on ethereum, but before I spend more time on it, I would like to get some feedback first, so the game is about creating a town in a country, mining resources, building an army, and invading other towns, creating town shares, collecting taxes, sell it on the marketplace vs ETH, and more.

as a game designer, I can build it myself and I have friends in case I need it backers, in exchange I get loyalty for me and my backers from the marketplace when users exchange resources.
The question I'm asking is, is it worth building?
Do you play a free game on ethereum by paying only transaction fees knowing that you can sell town shares when you reach a certain level?

If i were you, i would switch the blockchain network from Ethereum to something else to be honest. The transaction costs of Ethereum are just way to high and the switch from PoW to PoS also did not change that sadly. At the moment the gas price is very low for Ethereum standards but still a normal transaction costs 1 - 2,5$ and a swap still costs around 8$. Those values can easily be 10x higher when the ETH network is heavily used again.
I would probably switch to BSC or Arbitrum if i were you. The transaction costs are way way lower and therefore you could attract way more people to try your game.

[Halime Anatolia]

The relevance and success of a particular in-chain game depends on a variety of factors, including target audience, gameplay mechanics, user experience and market conditions. In order to assess whether it is worth making such a game, it is recommended to consider the following points such as Market Demand, Gameplay and Interaction, Monetization and Sustainability and User Experience and Scalability which ultimately make it attractive and can be adopted by users later.

[o48o]

I'm working on an in-chain game on ethereum, but before I spend more time on it, I would like to get some feedback first, so the game is about creating a town in a country, mining resources, building an army, and invading other towns, creating town shares, collecting taxes, sell it on the marketplace vs ETH, and more.

as a game designer, I can build it myself and I have friends in case I need it backers, in exchange I get loyalty for me and my backers from the marketplace when users exchange resources.
The question I'm asking is, is it worth building?
Do you play a free game on ethereum by paying only transaction fees knowing that you can sell town shares when you reach a certain level?

That's quite a huge blanket that would need to be relevant. Some will stay relevant, some will run out of developer interest or money.
I am guessing godsunchained stay relevant as they keep getting more funding with new card packs. They will get their peaks when they are trending just like pokemon trading cards. At some point everyone is interested, and most of the time it's just die hard fans.

They are however not going to get adopted in similar level that AAA+ games are with their own esports competitions. I wish they would but it would require whole new easier way to use cryptos.

[timoshani]

The relevance and success of a particular in-chain game depends on a variety of factors, including target audience, gameplay mechanics, user experience and market conditions. In order to assess whether it is worth making such a game, it is recommended to consider the following points such as Market Demand, Gameplay and Interaction, Monetization and Sustainability and User Experience and Scalability which ultimately make it attractive and can be adopted by users later.

The main thing is that the game is the hype, and all other aspects are just an addition. And the main thing is on such games so that you can earn money. In addition, fee for transactions should be small, which cannot be said now about the Ethereum L1 network.

[Psynthax]

honestly I think it's not worth building anymore, so few actually looking at these blockchain based games because it's just not interesting anymore.
the reason being, the game itself mostly are just some not so good games and also the economy that it brings also isn't sustaining, more likely designed for just short term.

[zonefloor]

First of all, I would not recommend you to use the ethereum network, as my friends said. Because the network fees are very high, the number of players and your products will be very expensive. But on the other hand, the ethereum network is also seen as a reliable network for investors. This is because the investment fees are high and fraud is not possible. But if you are not going to start as a professional, I recommend you to start with alternative networks, namely bsc network. Or you can integrate the bsc network with the ethereum network.

[Stelisto]

First of all, I would not recommend you to use the ethereum network, as my friends said. Because the network fees are very high, the number of players and your products will be very expensive. But on the other hand, the ethereum network is also seen as a reliable network for investors. This is because the investment fees are high and fraud is not possible. But if you are not going to start as a professional, I recommend you to start with alternative networks, namely bsc network. Or you can integrate the bsc network with the ethereum network.

What I want to create here is a silly basic game on blockchain, well-optimized, and secure, then we build a basic client that other developers can fork to build their own versions of the game.

As your friend said, the ethereum network is reliable, if you want to create a long-term project, ether is the answer, also the interaction with the contract can be optimized to pay less fees because the game has no ERC20/NFT or swaps, and since the resources can be sold, front-end developers can add a new contract to pay fees in exchange of resources, the possibilities are endless.

I think the real challenge is how the game contract is built, once the contract is in the testing phase, we can determine how the fees impact the game economics and how to deal with it.

[LogitechMouse]

I'm working on an in-chain game on ethereum, but before I spend more time on it, I would like to get some feedback first, so the game is about creating a town in a country, mining resources, building an army, and invading other towns, creating town shares, collecting taxes, sell it on the marketplace vs ETH, and more.

More like Clash of Clans, but in Ethereum blockchain.

~
The question I'm asking is, is it worth building?
Do you play a free game on ethereum by paying only transaction fees knowing that you can sell town shares when you reach a certain level?

When NFT is starting to rise, there are many games that have been created on Ethereum at first, and I think that's also the reason why transaction fees of Ethereum went up at that time. Nowadays, in-chain games aren't that popular anymore, thus it doesn't affect the transaction fees of it.

Is it worth building? Maybe if you make a good marketing on your project, but with how NFT games ended, there's a high chance that your game might end up like what most of the games. Even the most popular NFT game which is Axie Infinity isn't been played by that much people anymore for some reasons, but the main is it's not worth their time anymore. Am I playing games base on Ethereum? No I didn't because most of the NFT games I played in the past either has their own blockchain (like Ronin for Axie Infinity), or they've been built in different blockchain (such as Binance Smart Chain, Polygon etc.).

[vitya1982]

Were they even relevant at some point? I'm not playing any crypto-related games, I can't see the point. I mean, the game must be entertaining. If not all, most of the crypto-related games are not interesting. Yeah, you can make money, but I'd better do more work, sometimes it's even more fun than those games.

[bussybuddy]

In the current market, there are many blockchain games being developed, so your game needs to be different to attract players. Your product can create value for players through gameplay, features, or other benefits. If you can come up with a good product for the players, the increase in value will come to you in time. The problem of producing an array on ETH will have to accept problems and fees as well as transaction speed, especially this problem becomes more serious when users come to the bull market. So it is not necessary to force yourself to join them, because now there are also many solutions across different ecosystems that save costs during development as well as improve usage.

[Stelisto]

In the current market, there are many blockchain games being developed, so your game needs to be different to attract players. Your product can create value for players through gameplay, features, or other benefits. If you can come up with a good product for the players, the increase in value will come to you in time. The problem of producing an array on ETH will have to accept problems and fees as well as transaction speed, especially this problem becomes more serious when users come to the bull market. So it is not necessary to force yourself to join them, because now there are also many solutions across different ecosystems that save costs during development as well as improve usage.

I think Solana is the answer, the speed, the fees, and the community, and this is why most of the games are built on it, let's join them

[bluebit25]

As one can see, Ethereum-based games have become very popular in recent years and are seen as part of a revolution in dapps and the use of technology blockchain.

As Ethereum technology continues to evolve and improve, Ethereum-based games can continue to be relevant and evolving. However, there may be competition and growth of other platforms but Ethereum is considered the most popular dApp development platform, so Ethereum-based games will still be able to continue to grow in 2023. Investing in game projects developed on Ethereum can still be an option worth looking at for those interested in the field. While there are limitations we've seen in terms of transaction speeds and fees on the ETH network, in general, if a game is attractive enough, complaining about this issue will have many solutions.

[Blitzboy]

I'm working on an in-chain game on ethereum, but before I spend more time on it, I would like to get some feedback first, so the game is about creating a town in a country, mining resources, building an army, and invading other towns, creating town shares, collecting taxes, sell it on the marketplace vs ETH, and more.

as a game designer, I can build it myself and I have friends in case I need it backers, in exchange I get loyalty for me and my backers from the marketplace when users exchange resources.
The question I'm asking is, is it worth building?
Do you play a free game on ethereum by paying only transaction fees knowing that you can sell town shares when you reach a certain level?

If i were you, i would switch the blockchain network from Ethereum to something else to be honest. The transaction costs of Ethereum are just way to high and the switch from PoW to PoS also did not change that sadly. At the moment the gas price is very low for Ethereum standards but still a normal transaction costs 1 - 2,5$ and a swap still costs around 8$. Those values can easily be 10x higher when the ETH network is heavily used again.
I would probably switch to BSC or Arbitrum if i were you. The transaction costs are way way lower and therefore you could attract way more people to try your game.

Absolutely, Ethereum has been acting like a rogue element in the digital financial arena, holding the reins when it comes to transaction costs. It parallels the image of a boisterous child insisting on your snack fund while giving zilch in return. It's certainly an argument worth considering, yet, I surmise it's not the single driving force here. Let's not forget - Ethereum's blockchain stands as one of the most seasoned and thoroughly vetted. It embodies an enticing mix of decentralization, ironclad security, and a congenial habitat for developers.

Moving towards BSC or Arbitrum though, it's akin to trading in a military-grade armored vehicle for a toy car due to its voracious fuel consumption. Indeed, BSC and Arbitrum promise lesser fees, but they can't really compete in the big leagues of security and decentralization. I'm not discrediting their virtues, but we ought to avoid being frugal at the expense of long-term gains.

Hence, prior to taking that bold step, balance the benefits and pitfalls. Ultimately, it's your move and your rulebook. However, bear in mind, low-cost doesn't always equate to superior quality.

[Stelisto]

I'm working on an in-chain game on ethereum, but before I spend more time on it, I would like to get some feedback first, so the game is about creating a town in a country, mining resources, building an army, and invading other towns, creating town shares, collecting taxes, sell it on the marketplace vs ETH, and more.

as a game designer, I can build it myself and I have friends in case I need it backers, in exchange I get loyalty for me and my backers from the marketplace when users exchange resources.
The question I'm asking is, is it worth building?
Do you play a free game on ethereum by paying only transaction fees knowing that you can sell town shares when you reach a certain level?

If i were you, i would switch the blockchain network from Ethereum to something else to be honest. The transaction costs of Ethereum are just way to high and the switch from PoW to PoS also did not change that sadly. At the moment the gas price is very low for Ethereum standards but still a normal transaction costs 1 - 2,5$ and a swap still costs around 8$. Those values can easily be 10x higher when the ETH network is heavily used again.
I would probably switch to BSC or Arbitrum if i were you. The transaction costs are way way lower and therefore you could attract way more people to try your game.

Absolutely, Ethereum has been acting like a rogue element in the digital financial arena, holding the reins when it comes to transaction costs. It parallels the image of a boisterous child insisting on your snack fund while giving zilch in return. It's certainly an argument worth considering, yet, I surmise it's not the single driving force here. Let's not forget - Ethereum's blockchain stands as one of the most seasoned and thoroughly vetted. It embodies an enticing mix of decentralization, ironclad security, and a congenial habitat for developers.

Moving towards BSC or Arbitrum though, it's akin to trading in a military-grade armored vehicle for a toy car due to its voracious fuel consumption. Indeed, BSC and Arbitrum promise lesser fees, but they can't really compete in the big leagues of security and decentralization. I'm not discrediting their virtues, but we ought to avoid being frugal at the expense of long-term gains.

Hence, prior to taking that bold step, balance the benefits and pitfalls. Ultimately, it's your move and your rulebook. However, bear in mind, low-cost doesn't always equate to superior quality.

Crypto started with BTC, then ETH came out with something new, and since then, I see only clones and complicated projects to use or build on like Solana.

[Coinworld.story]

As we know the main problem in the ethereum network is gas costs which are considered expensive, I think it's still more normal with btc fees or even from other networks such as BNB or Polygon.

If you are a future player, it can cost you expensive gas and this could be the reason why they avoid playing your game over the network. I think that Crypto games still have a chance to shine in the next bull market, but you as a developer have to consider the problems that are happening in the market especially this issue regarding the cost of gas.

[Stelisto]

As we know the main problem in the ethereum network is gas costs which are considered expensive, I think it's still more normal with btc fees or even from other networks such as BNB or Polygon.

If you are a future player, it can cost you expensive gas and this could be the reason why they avoid playing your game over the network. I think that Crypto games still have a chance to shine in the next bull market, but you as a developer have to consider the problems that are happening in the market especially this issue regarding the cost of gas.

I think the best solution is to let the player choose the chain, I will build it on Solana and eth, then deploy the same contract on matic, BSC, etc...

[danherbias07]

I played a free-to-play game before with some profits that were made. It's not entirely under Ethereum but some game developers did it under ERC20 and then just upgraded it to be used in another chain. I could say it was fun at first especially if the game is so amusing that it can take a load of time from their players to just keep on building.
But as it progress and many people are joining it, I saw how the value of the coin being traded declined too. What you earn for the whole day will not make sense anymore, the time and effort spent is not worth the profits. Now they changed it a bit by adding special items that can only be bought in their market in exchange for speeding up the progress of each player. Types of equipment that could be used specifically for each job that needs to be done.

The good part is that they can still enjoy it despite the value going down. I think the worst-case scenario for this type of project is the lack of investors who will buy those premium things or VIPs if it will be available. No money coming in means no money coming out, or lesser. The higher number of free players will also flip the balance which might drop the value of the item that can be sold for Ethereum or other types of coins.