Duelers: Free-to-Own

Arcade Machine (NEAR)
Arcade Machine (Duelers)
Arcade Machine (Random)
Cartridges (Duelers & NEAR)
Heroes (Duelers & NEAR)
Katana Fruits - Game
Katana Fruits - Gameplay
Battleship war - Gameplay
Hexagon Fall - Game
Hexagon Fall - Gameplay
Leaderboard (I)
Leaderboard (II)

Inspiration

As much as we love the idea of people being rewarded by playing games, we noticed that there was a piece of the puzzle missing, and we wanted to fill the gap.

Unlike most projects where users have to invest some money to get their first NFTs and gain access to the game, in Duelers we are doing something totally different.

We want to introduce the Free-to-Own concept in Near protocol, as a combination of Free-to-Play, which was the main innovation in web2 gaming, and NFT ownership.

In Duelers users from other communities can claim their free NFTs and use them to play and compete in numerous skill games and earn rewards – such as NEAR, stablecoins and other NFTs –.

What it does

In Duelers we have 3 different collections of NFTs: arcade machines, game cartridges and heroes. We won’t sell a single NFT, all of them will be given away as rewards.

Arcade machines

Our first NFT collection is inspired by the arcade machines of the 80s. We are decorating them with different traits of some representative projects in Near protocol.

The collection will consist in a total of 10,000 NFTs that we will be giving away to our early adopters.

As an arcade machine holder, users will be able to play in an increasing number of skill games, to win game cartridges.

Game cartridges

Game cartridges are our second NFT collection. Only arcade machine holders can win them by playing different skill games that we will be adding to our platform.

There are 4 types of game cartridges based on their rarity: platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

By combining an arcade machine and a game cartridge, users will be able to mint a free Hero NFT.

Heroes

Heroes are the third NFT collection in Duelers. They can be minted by combining an arcade machine and a game cartridge. Depending on the type of the NFTs combined, the rarity of the Hero obtained will also be different.

Heroes can be used to play for free in skill games’ tournaments, where users can earn crypto rewards in NEAR and stablecoins.

How we built it

At the moment of writing these lines we have been mainly focused on a handful of things:

Art: We didn’t want to rush on this part and wanted to create some good designs. We have 2 illustrators in our team that have been working in different concepts until we got the final design for the arcade machines and game cartridges, and are currently working on the heroes’ design.

Partnerships: We are actively seeking for potential partnerships within the Near ecosystem to add personalized traits for our NFTs designs, and allowing these communities to mint a free NFT from our collections.

Smart contracts: We have been doing the first tests in Aurora testnet to mint the arcade machine NFTs. We are also working on the games’ integration, so users can record their score after playing.

Challenges we ran into

The most important one has been working on a trustworthy functionality to save players’ score in the games, to avoid people trying to cheat the system, and at the same type don’t expose the scores to other players that could take advantage of this information before playing themselves.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of being the first project introducing the Free-to-Own model to Near protocol, that we believe will change the gaming experience in web3 by bringing value and rewards to users, without any investment or risk from their side.

What we learned

While working on the challenges we ran into, we have learned how to work with proxies to protect smart contracts’ information.

What's next for Duelers

At the moment we are looking for partnerships within the Near community, to create awareness around our project.

In exchange we are creating personalized traits in our NFTs, and also allowing holders of these projects to mint our NFTs for free.

We are first looking to create value for our supporters and early adopters, and we will be building the gaming platform and adding the first games and tournaments with our own resources.

Luckily, we have done well in the past, and will be funding the tournaments’ prizes with our own money.

Once we have proved ourselves and created a decent community, we will start looking for other partners willing to join us and invest in our project, and will work to introduce our own token in Duelers.