Heroes of Ethereum is a new fantasy game based on Ethereum smart contracts with an engrossing hero generation system and brilliant visual design.
Ethereum-based games exploded all over the Internet at the end of last year. In the first week of its existence, the notorious CryptoKitties project sold $2.5 mln worth of its crypto assets and the total benefit cryprocats brought to their developers exceeded $23 mln.
CryptoKitties in itself was the next logical step in the development of the idea behind Rare Pepe Wallet, a blockchain platform released in 2016 and designed to sell trading cards depicting variations on the popular meme. Cryptocats were followed by cryptochickens, cryptoeggs, cryptostars and who knows what else. One can even find a project selling sketches made in Microsoft Paint. They look like a toddler’s finger paintings, but there are plenty of buyers. Collectively these products are known as cryptocollectibles.
Each of them is a cryptographically unique and unmodifiable digital asset. If two gold bullions of the same weight and purity can be easily interchangeable, Dalí’s paintings can’t. Like art, cryptocollectibles are collected because each is one-of-a-kind, even if it is a rather poor excuse for selling Paint blotches.
What are they for? What can be done to make these cryptocollectibles something more than just another form of Beanie Babies?
Consider this: What makes some video games better than others? Why did Hearthstone of all things become one of the most popular games in the world? Mostly because it’s actually a good game! Animation, visual style, sound, cutscenes that rival Pixar’s works in quality: all of that and more is what makes Hearthstone a great game.
Heroes of Ethereum: Truly Unique Heroes
Marketplaces selling skins and digital guns for real money have existed for a while by now. People seem happy to pay for a handful of pixels! But the gamer’s inventory still belongs to, essentially, game publishers and players may lose their purchase if they are, for example, banned.
Even today you may find promising projects developing actual blockchain-based games. The positives are obvious. People want to own and take control of their digital assets, even if it’s just a character in a game. No, scratch that. Especially if it’s a character in a game! This way it’s not just a string of digits in your wallet, it becomes your avatar or pet.
In Heroes of Ethereum, all in-game objects, including characters, are ERC-721 tokens and are safe from being blocked by the game developers and theft. Each hero’s appearance is made up of 11 different elements and each of these elements has 256 variations. At the moment, only 10 variants for each appearance element are in the game, but the heroes already look pretty impressive. There is a great creative potential: who knows, one day we may even see female dwarves in the game.
Apart from the unique looks, each hero gets unique attribute values and modifiers: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence. Each class (at the moment, only warriors exist in the game) has their basic attribute, which is always more developed than the rest: Strength for warriors, Dexterity for rangers, Intelligence for mages, etc.
In June, the team releases the next part of the game system: equipment. Swords, axes, bows, and armor are all unique tokens in and of themselves. The equipment further improves the character variety and individuality of each hero.
Yes, heroes in Heroes of Ethereum are a form of the cryptocollectibles. The game includes Tavern that serves as a marketplace, where players can buy or sell their heroes. The transparency of the deal is guaranteed by smart contracts.
Players can buy pre-generated heroes from other players or take a risk and randomly generate a hero. Any player has a chance to get a common, rare, epic or legendary hero. The rarer the hero, the better their attributes are. It mostly depends on the player’s luck: the fairness of each roll is provided by the blockchain.
Collecting is Fine, but…
CryptoKitties caused a congestion in the Ethereum network simply by enabling its users to crossbreed their pets. A game with actual gameplay is the next step in the evolution of the idea.
Cryptocollections are not uncommon these days, and they brought plenty of people into the cryptocommunity. However, actual games with their own fans are nowhere to be seen.
The Heroes of Ethereum developers claim to draw inspiration for the gameplay from such classic tabletop games as D&D and Pathfinder. The rules of these games were used many times in the history of gaming to develop hundreds of various digital RPGs. The character progression in tabletop games is undoubtedly an important part of the gameplay, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Proper RPGs allow you to step into the character, act out your actions from their perspective and live their part.
This kind of gameplay is a perfect fit for the game in which you need to find an application for hundreds of various individual attribute values of the characters. All of them are actually very unique, so you can’t find two identical characters in the entire game. These games have an incredibly rich history and millions of people know the mechanics of tabletop role-playing games. Their popularity proves their quality.
And, of course, leveling up your heroes is one of the most addictive things in video games.
The Heroes of Ethereum developers see gameplay implementation as the third stage in the development of the game: in particular, they are talking about the implementation of dungeons for your knights, rogues, and fighters to test their mettle. Fighting, lore, legends, ancient people and their forgotten relics — these are the reasons people play games.
Conclusion
Heroes of Ethereum is a beautifully designed game that stands out among other cryptoprojects based on the ERC-721 standard. Its focus on the complex and detailed gameplay can make this game a foundation for a community of like-minded people.
Character variability can become a cornerstone for the game’s success in the quickly-changing world of blockchain. And every new element it brings to the gaming industry may start a new age of video games that adopt all benefits of blockchain and smart contracts.
At the moment, Heroes of Ethereum is still in development and the team invites people interested in digital RPGs or experienced in cryptogaming to join the project.
At the current Pre Sale stage, the team offers special heroes for sale: 300 legendary gray-haired heroes, who have unique appearance elements, high attributes, and can use any type of weapon. They are available for purchase only to the early adopters and will not be randomly generated later in the game.
Those, who buy these characters during the Pre Sale, not only save some money, but also invest your money in the development of the game and help to implement other game features faster.
Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.