STELLAR HOOD Educational Game | Improved Accessibility

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Egon T.

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

53000

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

5

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

Yes

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will provide a gamified way for people interested in space-science to enter the Cardano Ecosystem by:

• Reworking the Game-Wiki
• Creating professional tutorial videos
• Developing tutorial in-game missions

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

At this stage the Stellar Hood web3 game is not open sourced (although not ruled out that this could change in the future). Some parts of the game, especially the wiki-page we achieve to rework with this proposal will be open sourced in the meaning of being fully accessible and editable by the community.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Foreword

The term NFT is tainted by many disreputable scandals and bubbles during the boom in the early years. Therefore, adding value through the use of NFTs for educational purposes became a major challenge. By utilizing the solid scientific foundation the Stellar Hood web3 game has already created, we will provide a gamified way for people interested in space-science to enter the Cardano Ecosystem.

Introduction

The Stellar Hood Game is an OG project in the meaning of having been established in the "Pre-Shelly" era in 2021 and having pioneered many technologies and concepts.

Key Technical Features

• Early adopter of CIP-25
• Developed the technique of storing NFTs fully on-chain (no IPFS), which is used in many projects today
• Featuring the first fully on-chain NFT
• Pioneering "Project Interoperability": As one of the first games it uses NFTs and tokens from other projects for deep bi-directional in-game incorporation
• NFTs as in-game assets ownership (used for commissions, utility, story and otherwise)
• Play2Mint mechanics

Key Game Features

• 4x (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) browser-game
• First alpha-game released in 2021
• Continuously running, expanded and played to this day
• Gamer-base of dozens to over 100 active players on monthly basis
• Advanced game-mechanics like resource harvesting, space-stations, citizens, markets, military and governance

The Product

The Stellar Hood Game is a working product, released in 2021 in an alpha-stage and fully deployed at the market in a beta-stage in 2022. The game is accessible under the "early access" condition, in the meanings of being further developed while it is playable and played by the community. While there is a 5-year roadmap, community feedback is heavily used to guide the development of the game. The game uses the Cardano blockchain in both directions. Reading the players wallets allow to set the in-game assets ownership. On the other hand play2mint mechanics allow players to mint their own lore-focussed NFTs directly from the game.

The Problem

The Stellar Hood Season 1 is a collection of interactive planet and stars NFTs based on real astronomical data. In-game these scientific educational NFTs are used as the underlying infrastructure of the accessible galaxy.

This concept of "real world" space-NFTs is predestined for young and matured space-science enthusiast to learn about the real planets and stars in our galaxy, while using the Cardano blockchain and playing the game. But both the topic of space-science and the underlying game genre "4x" are very difficult to access by nature and an easy path for adoption needs to be created.

The Solution

The understanding of the underlying native token technology is the key for this problem. Creating a proper documentation, tutorials and starter ingame-content will vividly demonstrate how NFTs are used in the existing game to allow players to explore the real galaxy.

What is unique about this solution

This solution is not starting from zero. Instead it will use the already advanced basis of the Stellar Hood game, which has proven a scientific foundation, integrity and community thrust since its creation in 2021

Who will benefit

By adding documentation, tutorials and starter ingame-content to the existing web3 game, both the existing player base and those who are not familiar with Cardano will benefit. This solution will also pave the way for easy adoption on both sides: Scientific topics for Cardano users and blockchain technology in the scientific world.

Why this is important to Cardano

Connecting as many seemingly opposing target groups as possible, like gamers, scientific enthusiasts and blockchain-technologists is a key catalyst for growing the Cardano Ecosystem.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

In what way will the success of this project bring value to the Cardano Community? 

The attention that the Cardano ecosystem is received from scientific interest groups and bodies will counteract the perception of NFT as a negative term and steer Cardano native tokens in a more serious direction.

How will you measure this impact? 

After the initial phase of this project a survey will be created which will show what effect the added documentation, tutorials and starter-content have had on onboarding new gamers from outside of Cardano. In addition to this Stellar Hood will reach out to universities in order to feature its educational game to students by showing good presented starter content. The acceptance or denial of these requests will be one direct measure on the impact.

How will you share the outputs and opportunities that result from your project?

A direct two-way communication to the community through X and Discord was always the key of the work of Stellar Hood.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

The Stellar Hood team has proven integrity and the capability of continuous work on the project since 2021. The game is updated periodically and new features are released on weekly to monthly basis. Much time is invested into building this game and working with the community to improve it. During the bear-market the team has proven economic competence and independence, regardless of the high workload needed to be managed.

Funds from this proposal will be managed the same way as funds from the community (raised through NFT sales) are managed, by the underlying incorporated entity.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Projects-Wiki

• Building a team to create/rework a polished projects Wiki.
• Engaging the community for contribution.
• Connecting the wiki to the game (in-game links).

Tutorial-Videos

• Creating a starter series of professional and polished tutorial videos, publicated on Youtube.
• Regular addition of new videos showing new game features.

Starter-Content

• Adding modules to the game, which are considered as story-driven tutorial levels.
• Creating starter-pack NFT sets for beginners.

The final milestone is a survey of players, which shows that a significant proportion of newcomers to the game and interested parties outside the Cardano ecosystem understand the game and the scientific mechanics behind it, as well as the use of NFTs and native tokens in the game.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

TurboEgon - Developer (in-game content and content creation)

Content Creator (tutorial videos/graphics and wiki-page)

Beta-Testers (cross-checking tutorials and in-game experience)

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

The funds will be used for outsourcing contract-works on the wiki and the tutorial videos while the main developer will work on the game-related starter-content.

• Wiki-rework (main developer / contracted content creators): 8000 ADA
• Tutorial Videos (contracted content creators): 25000 ADA
• Starter In-game content (main developer): 20000 ADA

Total budget: 53000 ADA

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The costs represent the minimum necessary expenditure for the planned outsourcing/contract work for the content creation, the team to be paid for the wiki work and the development of the game-related features.

53000 ADA (currently ~20k USD) is good value for money considering that the result will make the Cardano ecosystem much more visible to those interested in science and education, topics which are core components of Cardano.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept