NFT
The Web3 game industry is growing on blockchain networks like Avalanche, Solana, Polygonand even the newly launched ones Sui. One platform you won’t find on that list is chiathe new storage-based blockchain network, but that may soon change.
Last week, Chia Network – that recently signaled plans to go public— launched what it calls the Chia Open Digital Economy (CODE) framework, an infrastructure and tooling designed to power an open metaverse of games and applications that use interoperable assets.
In addition to that initiative, Chia is launching a proof-of-concept trading card game on May 19 called ChiaTCGthat everyone will support NFTs currently on Chia and turn them into playable cards.
Introducing the Chia Open Digital Economy (CODE) framework – a technical infrastructure that enables an open metaverse!
CODE is designed to provide better protection, greater interoperability and broader connectivity in digital economies: https://t.co/OLttyEsX1Z 1/4
— Chia Network (@chia_project) May 4, 2023
Leading the gaming push is Richard Tsao, Chia Network’s Chief Metaverse Officer, who spent two decades working for giants of the gaming industry – from Microsoft in the early Xbox days to Ubisoft affiliates in China and eventually League of Legends creator Riot Games.
told Tsao Decrypt that it was at Riot Games that he recognized the need for an open ecosystem of tradable assets truly owned by players. He said he tried to pursue the concept while at the company, but it ultimately “didn’t work” — he couldn’t find a foothold on the idea with a major studio with its own thriving, closed ecosystem of assets.
He eventually settled with Chia and is now leading the push to tweak the blockchain network to better support games.
Created by Bram Cohen, inventor of the BitTorrent protocol, Chia uses a unique “proof of space and time” consensus mechanism secured by users’ storage space, rather than requiring sophisticated computers and massive amounts of energy like the network of Bitcoin.
Tsao sees potential benefits to Chia’s game plan compared to other blockchain networks. In particular, the NFT1 Token Standard pair with Chia’s Offers system to enable peer-to-peer atomic swaps without the need for a marketplace or an escrow smart contracts in the midst. It’s a nuanced variation that Tsao says is a meaningful differentiator.
Chia wants to take on Ethereum, Solana with NFTs. Will they bloom?
Broadly speaking, however, it seems that Chia’s gaming ambitions are still very early. Chia Network has a plan and a proof-of-concept game demo, but these are just the first steps.
By the end of the year, Chia hopes to release a white paper and finalize the code to enable interoperability between future games, as well as create an “abstraction layer” that makes it easier for developers to build games on top of the network.
What if you could build a Web3 game using ALL existing NFTs?
BOOM, ChiaTCG… IT… JUST… GOT… REALLY!
Now all NFT owners get playable pieces in your new game!https://t.co/TD4HPf2QOa pic.twitter.com/lmfPSZiFef
— Chia Pizza 🌱🍕 (@chia_pizza) May 7, 2023
ACchiaTCG was simply designed as a “very generic, proof-of-concept” game that could support all NFTs on the network, Tsao explained, giving all projects and communities a chance to see how their assets would perform within a game. can function. It’s a two-player cooperative experience designed as a “jumping-off point” for creators, he said.
But Ethereum NFT based trading card games like Gods unleashed And Skywever have been online for years and some of those aforementioned blockchain networks have numerous live games and many more are in development. Chia’s NFT market is also much smaller than platforms like Ethereum and Solana, as it’s only started to take shape last year.
Chia starts behind the pack, in other words: far behind the pack. But Tsao believes his infrastructure will be attractive to developers and the network can unlock real functionality around the network principle of interoperability that has largely been a utopia in Web3 gaming so far. It may just take some time to get there.
“We don’t claim to be game developers. We’re great technology developers… who really want to take advantage of it other way around gaming comes to life,” said Tsao. “So we will work with experienced game developers to provide that technology – and they will deliver good games.”