Obsidian Tears NFT RPG

Inspiration

Bob Bodily reached out to a few friends and family 8 months ago and invited us to come build an epic 2D RPG on the Internet Computer, the only blockchain where it would be possible. Our passion for 2D RPGs comes from playing games like Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy, and Pokemon while we were growing up.

What it does

The ecosystem we are building allows community to participate in game creation in ways never seen before. Currently, fans may easily submit ideas for art, narrative, and music score but actual game creation requires extensive knowledge of the game-building software Unity and backend coding ability, Motoko included, to connect the game to the blockchain. The infrastructure we are building is called "Creator Mode"—a way for our growing community to contribute dungeon and map creation without knowledge of either.

How we built it

Our game is powered by Unity and hosted on the Internet Computer. We use a javascript client and a unity webgl npm library to interact with our canister through c# functions in Unity. We have built a game engine on top of Unity that allows non-technical team members to construct the map, build quests, plant Easter eggs, and create monsters. We will continue to simplify the creation process and enable any community member to contribute.

Challenges we ran into

A challenge we ran into with our game is that it’s hosted on the client’s machine, so the potential for hacking and cheating is enormous. We are trying to make a successful play-and-earn game, so it’s necessary to prevent this cheating as much as possible. The backend verifies that users hold an Obsidian Tears NFT and tracks their game progress. By tracking their game progress frequently, we aim to detect and block people who are using bots or trying to cheat. We also decided to limit a players’ earning potential per day as a way to stop any bots that slip through the cracks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Building a simple Unity interface that is powerful enough to build all of the complex aspects of the game we are envisioning was a monumental task. By abstracting every game mechanic, we were able to accomplish this problem in an elegant fashion. After watching several videos made by our unity developer, you will be ready to start building intricate gameplay dynamics.

What we learned

Through building this game, we learned that community support is vital for the success of an ambitious project like ours. There are community members who have come in clutch for our project by spreading the word, giving feedback, and lending support. With an avid and passionate community like this at our fingertips, it’s extremely important that we stay connected with everyone and share our excitement for this growing and living game.

What's next for Obsidian Tears NFT RPG

What comes next is for us to complete our first milestone of building community tools to contribute to the game. We have a lot of infrastructure in place already, but we’ll need to create a streamlined process where community members can submit ideas, build them out, and present their additions for community voting. After that, we’ll be launching chapter 1 of the game. A lot of backend work is still required before launch to ensure players can immediately log in and start enjoying the game. Eventually, we will have an in game mode that will allow players to seamlessly create beautiful and unique map areas for addition into the next update for the game.