Lords

Inspiration

Generative NFT projects have managed to put algorithmically-generated uniqueness in the hands of users. This has allowed randomly created and socially enforced rarities to provide a playground for game developers to create fantastic environments with an unprecedented level of socioeconomic interaction. With Lords, we want to take this a step further by leveraging player-generated uniqueness through iterative NFT launches and fusion mechanisms, launching a truly player-made environment.

What it does

Lords will be a game set in a medieval world and focuses around player interaction within fiefdoms. It is heavily player-run, with social constructs and remuneration to citizens for actions taken for the benefit of the Estate fully decided by each individual Lord. Lords will be built based on player interest. The game centers around Estates, or city-states, for which ownership is tokenized in the form of an NFT. These can be staked in the Lords protocol to participate in play and accrue SOL in their treasuries. Control over the Estate can be delegated to an individual or collective vassal, forming the basis of a fiefdom. The number of available Estate NFTs in the Lords world is limited. Thus, in order to participate as the game’s user base grows, players will be forced to swear fealty to a certain fiefdom and accept a role within its socioeconomic structure. By intertwining social interaction with economic implications on the Solana blockchain, we create a game depth for players that has never been seen before.

How we are building it

Lords is still in the ideation stage. It will be developed concurrently with its iterative NFT launches. NFT combination

To launch Lords, we will offer the basic building blocks of a city-state in the form of individual NFTs. These will be launched asynchronously using the fair launch protocol to promote anticipation and player interaction before the game is ready for play.
Initial Estate NFTs will include the location of the city-state on the map, nearby bodies of water, climate, and geography. We anticipate that demand will be greatest for naturally fortified locations on mountaintops or along rivers and coastlines.
Further NFT drops will allow Estateholders to augment their Estate NFTs with modifying attributes: Race (racial bonuses), Religion (religious bonuses), Specialization (craftsman bonus), etc.
As more attributes are released, players can sell attribute NFTs on marketplaces or burn them together with an existing Estate NFT to upgrade the latter, resulting in a new NFT with the properties of both. In this way, players and speculators choose which attributes will be the most desirable in the game, creating demand for those deemed most valuable, regardless of algorithmically determined rarities. Players can also build their Estate with their method of play in mind.
NFTs will be sold using the fair launch protocol developed by Jordan (@redacted_j). Price ranges will be set at multiples of the current floor prices of existing attributes. Secondary markets will dictate fair price discovery of attributes, which Estate owners can select based on expected return if integrated within their Estates.
Income generated from NFT launches and secondary sale royalties will be used in part to fund development of the game. ~75% of minting sales and 5% of secondary sales will flow into the treasury of the LordsDAO, to cover development costs and fund grant initiatives. ~25% of minting sales and 5% of secondary sales will be distributed to the treasuries of staked Estates. The percentages in income distribution of minting sales will be adjusted as the game grows, as dictated by the LordsDAO.

Players

A player is represented by a unique Solana address. Unlimited numbers of players can be created by a single user, however this may prove difficult to coordinate as players require upkeep in the form of food and a place to live.
Wearable NFTs will be released, allowing players to modify their appearance. Some will come with additional gameplay benefits. Each player will be limited to wearing a single NFT for each type of equipment slot.
Mintable player skins will be released in addition to the normal free to play players, these will largely only influence appearance, however some rare attributes will grant ingame benefits.

Gameplay

Players can assume roles that are in demand within their Estate and climb in rank in the socioeconomic structure that develops uniquely and independently within each Estate.
The goal of players is to commit to mutually beneficial actions, with the aim of increasing the reach and influence commanded by their Estate. This can come through a variety of means, including forming diplomatic alliances, becoming indispensable through efficient production and trade supremacy, or military takeover of lands.
Players can pursue different career paths in order to unlock new abilities, these will determine the types of jobs and tasks a player can pursue for its state. Some tasks will require a certain skill in their respective career, others may require a certain rank within the estate.

Jobs and Tasks (All player actions will require food and time):

construction / upgrade / repair of structures
gathering of natural resources (fishing / farming / mining etc)
transporting resources to locations where they are needed
crafting of advanced goods
training and relocating army forces
trading goods with other estates
infiltrating / observing other Estates
supervising other citizens
distribution / production of food

Economics

Each Estate has its own treasury that is filled with SOL collected from royalties and other tokens and commodities that are available within the Lords ecosystem. Royalties are distributed proportionally to an Estate’s active player count, number of lands, and other factors.
Each Estate’s lord or vassal mints an Estate-specific token and retains full fiscal control over its distribution to the Estate’s economy and workforce. This dictates how players are remunerated for their commitments to an Estate. An Estate token’s value is directly tied in value to the amount of SOL in its treasury, and always guarantees a holder a share of the treasury’s SOL reserves. Estate tokens are automatically minted with incoming SOL royalties and can be distributed according to the decrees set by the Estate’s ruler. Any level of taxation can be implemented by the ruler prior to distribution of remuneration.
Players can use their Estate’s token to make purchases within or outside their Estates. Alternatively, they can burn them at the treasury to withdraw SOL.
Commodities are freely tradeable tokens. In-game lumber, gold, fish, etc can be traded and speculated on, but are also produced in-game. Commodity tokens will be integrated into Mango Markets.

Feudal system (social structure)

Players can freely choose their true fealties within the game, choosing to act in the interests of other Estates that promise them riches and fame for domestic sabotage.

Land usage

Lands can be claimed by any player for an estate.
Some land tiles will periodically produce a certain amount of resources if claimed by an estate. The amount produced can vary, leading to rarer tiles, which will be heavily contested.
Raw materials being produced at land tiles can be obtained by anybody and should be brought back to the Estate’s storage depots for future processing or to marketplaces within the city, in neutral territory, or at foreign Estates.
Lands come with a certain amount of slots on which buildings can be constructed.
Lands can slow down or even obstruct movement across them. For example a land may end up being covered by water or very high mountains, making it impassable, furthermore lands can be upgraded with pathways or roads in order to boost travel time across them.
The outer edges of an Estate’s lands must either be constantly manned by defensive units or fortified with walls, otherwise neutral barbarians will slowly reclaim those land tiles.

Warfare

Warfare in Lords is a coordination problem. Players command units of 6 soldiers. These can be modified and upgraded, increasing their strengths or defenses. The classes of soldiers can also be freely dictated to include archers, knights, or mages. A unit can be moved around separately from its commander, but receives bonuses if the commander is on the same land tile. Combat is turn-based between a unit and an opposing unit. Any unit in an opponent’s land that is not paired up with an opponent unit can spend time capturing that land tile or destroying modifications present on that tile. Both of these actions take time. The aim of defenders is to predict where an attack may be imminent and move into the area to obtain a defender’s bonus.
When an Estate falls, meaning that all of its owned land has been claimed by other Estates it will not be removed from the game, instead it still persists and will be able to reestablish itself. The Estate will be given the ability to claim a single unclaimed piece of Land on the map in order to start over. For this to happen, one of its members with a high enough rank must move to said land and will then be able to claim it. It will also be possible for a fallen Estate to purchase land from other Estates instead.

Challenges we ran into

End-game monopolies

Just as Rome fell, so too will Estates that outgrow all other Estates. The value of fallen Estates that have lost land will fall in value to the point where a risk-loving player will purchase it and assume control over it, leading it on a charge to take on the large Estate in an effort to topple it and claim its riches. This would be done with a Lord filling her Estate’s treasury with SOL from her own personal wallet in an effort to attract a great number of players to her cause.

LordsDAO to decide additions to the game

We had trouble deciding on a decentralized governance model for Lords. We decided on a Lords DAO (fiefDAO?), which is composed of all owners of currently staked NFTs. These addresses receive equally weighted voting power when deciding on changes to the protocol and additions to the game. This prevents centralization of power within the protocol and ensures that additions to the game do not favor the victor.