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Game Master screen for presenting to players
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Live Gameplay
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Scene 1: The Party Departs
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Scene 4: Prepare for Combat!
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Opensea NFT
Inspiration
Artour creates interactive media that engages participants in a storyline. We believe in the importance of emotionally connected experiences through the immersive effect of augmented reality media. Augmented reality and artificial intelligence open the door to an interactive future for games like Dungeons & Dragons by adding layers of digital media over the physical world in a smartphone camera.
As a Web3-enabled media company, Artour values trusted gaming environments. Chainlink tools validate the game environment to add a new level of integrity to the game world and player reputations.
The learning curve is an age-old problem in gaming. At the same time, tabletop role-playing games require hefty preparation on the part of the game master and work on the part of the player to make a believable character. We're working with Ceptor Club to create vivid Dungeon & Dragons characters and short sessions to induct new players into the mechanics of the game. Players become immersed a realistic game world and can focus on the rules, skills and strategies required by the game.
Artour and Ceptor want players to learn as quickly as possible, gain confidence with Web3 technologies, and have fun through immersive visuals and engaging storylines. For those reasons, an Artour Ceptorclub Session 0 fulfills two main goals:
The immersive experience takes learning to a new level and speeds up the onboarding of new players
Players gain experiential knowledge of NFT creation by minting their NFT from the image uniquely generated from their input and actions.
What it does
Artour has partnered with Ceptor Club to harness the power of the latest AI technologies and expand the boundaries of what is possible in a “Session 0.” A "Session 0" is an introductory experience for players to get acquainted with the mechanics of the tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG). It’s a tool for game facilitators, also known as "game masters" or “Dungeon Masters" in the Dungeons & Dragons game environment, who wish to orient players in a hands-on way. An immersive visual experience empowers gamers and game masters teaching newcomers the core mechanics and strategies of the game.
Our Session 0 utilizes augmented reality elements in coordination with traditional aspects of Dungeons & Dragons to allow beginning players to delve into the session and fully experience the game world. Players take a journey that taps into dynamic layers of visual narrative and so they can focus more on their character and the world it inhabits.
The standard TTRPG approach relies primarily on conversation to bring the game to life, Artour empowers the Game Master to enhance a play-through with visual elements based on their game world and allows them to author unique story components. Chainlink technologies allow players to secure a permanent record of their arc using NFTs and the blockchains of their choice.
As players respond to various scenes in the storyline the data from those interactions informs image generation AI. As they get to know the game world and begin shaping their character, they also influence the type of loot they can win by the end of Session 0. At the end of the journey, they obtain a one-of-a-kind image of loot based on their responses that they can mint as an NFT.
How we built it
Heroku Cloud Services is hosting the frontend and Amazon Web Services is hosting the backend with IPFS storing images. Flask is the main entry point, a Python framework for backend services, and contains Stable Diffusion API access, a gateway to the AI models to be used on the front end. ReactJS is what the user interface is running on and contains the following frameworks: ChakraUI, ThreeJS, and A-Frame. ChakraUI is a styling interface to create CSS for the user interface, the main purpose is to create accessible and modular interfaces fast. ThreeJS is a system to render 3D graphics in a web browser and produces interactable objects in a three-dimensional grid. A-Frame is specifically for extended reality apps, providing high-level needs to access motion and location features on smartphones.
Technologies and Architecture
- Backend: Developed in Python and deployed on AWS for robust and scalable performance.
- AI and Image Generation: Utilizing AI and stable diffusion techniques for creating unique, AI-generated in-game items.
- Blockchain and NFTs: Integration with CCIP cross-chain blockchain transactions and decentralized IPFS storage for NFTs. The NFTs are available on the OpenSea marketplace.
- Frontend Interface: Developed in React JS, providing a seamless and intuitive user experience.
- Augmented Reality Features: The front end includes augmented reality capabilities, leveraging the motion and gyroscopic features of smartphones to enhance user engagement.
- Repository Link: For more details on the frontend, visit the repository at chainlink-hackathon-frontend.
Challenges we ran into
Our team’s primary developer Spencer is new to blockchain development so learning how to create smart contracts and code in Solidity was the most complex aspect of our project. Another challenge was the timeframe, we demoed Artour at a hackathon that was organized by our Ceptor Club team group leader Tippi from November 19th to the 28th. This left us just two weeks to reskin the app for Ceptor Club and integrate new features with Chainlink.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are very happy with our ability to produce a Session 0 experience with Ceptor Club on December 2nd which exhibits our project at imnotArt NFT gallery in Chicago with a group of players.
What we learned
We learned a lot about good team communication and scheduling to stay in front of deadlines. Each of us has different strengths and talents that we all tapped into. We all share knowledge of tech tools and a mindset of innovation, but each of us brings different skill sets to the table. We used a strengths-based approach to sort out "who does what." It takes discipline to communicate consistently and get feedback in an ongoing manner but it's more than worth it.
What's next for Ceptor Art and Artours’ AR Dungeons & Dragons Experience
We are looking to fully integrate all of our technology into a standalone app that we can market to brands and organizations looking to deploy augmented reality experiences in museums, galleries, and live events to offer their communities a rich media experience that enables them to learn more about unique installations while also creating one-of-a-kind art. Engaging them to participate in the process and author the experience, ultimately, produces new pieces that give users new art that they can bring home as well as secure on the blockchain by minting NFTs.
Artour and Ceptor Club are passionate about creating a positive first experience with D&D. Players find themselves immersed in a story, and they tap into their creativity with the power of Web3 tools. Using Chainlink’s mathematically sound technologies means Game Masters and Players can rest assured that their environment is trustworthy. What is a game without trust? No one likes cheaters or faulty dice.
Note for judges: the Game Master site linked in "Try it out" links is to be loaded on a laptop/desktop and the QR is to be scanned with a smartphone. If QR doesn't boot on the first try, refresh the browser.
Links for Demonstration
CCIP Message Verification: Verify the cross-chain message on the Chainlink CCIP read page: CCIP Read. This step represents the cross-chain communication from Sepolia to Avalanche.
NFT on OpenSea: View the minted NFT on OpenSea in the Avalanche Fuji test network: OpenSea NFT. This demonstrates the final result of the cross-chain transaction.
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