Upper/Cut! Unity Card Game dApp

Design

Upper/Cut! is a turn-based PVP card game in the style of an arcade fighter. Players will sequence and submit their turns simultaneously, and then watch how each round resolves.

Aside from the turn-based nature of the game, the pace of Upper/Cut! follows the flow of a typical fighting game match. Fighters start in a neutral board state, where they might use zoning tools (in the form of cards) and movement to space themselves in relation to their opponent. Going on the offensive requires substantial risk, but putting pressure on the opponent can put them in a position that limits their defensive options. Finally, the card discount system and ramping mana means that players can fluidly string together powerful combos by playing their cards in the right sequence.

The game is designed to be free-to-play, with premium players paying for cosmetics or early access to new fighters. This monetization will occur through NFT integration. Whereas other NFT-based games fall into the trap of requiring players to pay a significant amount of money upfront, Upper/Cut! can function as a viable alternative model that demonstrates the exciting features of the technology without falling into predatory practices.

NFTs will be tied directly to the type of cosmetics that show up in game. If a user owns an NFT, they may choose to equip alternate card art and animations in the menu between games.

In the long term, the team aims to create cosmetics based on user-submitted content, and split the profits of NFT sales with the artists. Early on, I would hope to commission artists, but as time goes on, allowing users to submit new art to a pool and investing in a pipeline for existing NFT owners to vote which cosmetics get minted as new NFTs could provide interesting avenues for user engagement. Note that the first set of concept art has already been commissioned and completed, although they have not been minted as NFTs yet. An example of the 'Uppercut' card concept art is attached below.

The success of this project in relation to Cardano is easily indicated by several key metrics.

- Total transactions of Upper/Cut! NFTs

- Number of downloads and active players

- Community engagement in the official Discord channel

We hope to officially launch in the latter half of 2022.

The game has a working, playable prototype that was built in Python via Discord's api. See the official game design document below for more information.

The official game is built in Unity using DOTS (data oriented technology stack). The game is server authoritative, and much of the game logic of the server has already been built and implemented. We are aiming to polish the client version of the game, as well as add more art and animation assets to complete the experience. Funds from this Catalyst Round would enable us to directly connect in game cosmetics with NFTs, as well as implement a "choreographer" animation system that makes matches feel more dynamic and flashy. In addition, we will use the funds to polish the ui of the client app and make sure the experience is intuitive and pleasant.

Read more at the official game design document here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GqtV8s-fctdgOJGiWXL9uNWePYZrVUsaESKVFP46sgg/edit?usp=drivesdk

Relevant Experience (continued)

• Brian Park: Currently a Software Engineer Manager at Uplevel after 7+ years of experience as a senior engineer. Worked on several game projects and animation
• Michael Yagi: CEO of Ikigai Technologies. Shipped 3 titles at 2K Interactive in the mobile division. Successful mobile card game monetization that broke into the top grossing list several times throughout the years.
• Taylor Yoon: VP of Engineering at Ikigai Technologies. Outside of his experience as a software engineer at Tableau, Taylor has flexed his skills as both a developer and artist for side game projects and animation capstones.
• Anon Dev: Experience 5+ years in the games industry as an developer
• [unconfirmed] Anon Dev: Developer with experience at Blizzard Entertainment and Arena Net
• DigiPen Institute of Technology: The leading school for game development and design! Guest lectures and access to the creative minds of faculty members; many of whom are from or still in the game industry. Currently working on setting up an internship program to help on this proposal's effort!

Game Industry Advisors:

• Anh Doh: Producer at Giant Enemy Crab.
• Stan: From working on award winning student games to AAA titles such as Robo Recall and Fortnite at Epic Games, Stan has been involved in games his whole career.
• Steven: Physics programmer at Epic Games.
• Aaron: Designer, developer, artist - Aaron does it all with some of his most popular titles being Robo Recall and Fortnite at Epic Games.
• Jordan: Jordan went to school for game development and is now a Senior Developer at Riot Games working on popular titles such as League of Legends.
• Alan: Project Manager at Xbox Game Studios
• Alexander: Developer at Treyarch
• Joe: Developer at Probably Monsters previously at Respawn Entertainment

Defining Success

A ton of work has already been done! The design, design boards, proof of concept in a discord bot (invite for playtesting will be made available shortly. Respond in a comment for an early invite), prototype are all completed. Taking it from here with a bigger team will require some thoughtful planning as the team learns how to work together successfully and integrate NFTs.

1 month in

• Design Documentation and Spikes started for extending Unity tooling and Cardano integration
• Long term planning, strategy, and support
• Work Items created, costed, and planned and Agile Methodologies set up
• Sample sandbox plugins compiled in Unity set up and running
• Improving existing systems
• UI started
• Gameplay systems improvement
• Networking design review
• Visual design iterations
• Catalyst Community prototype playtesting and feedback collection
• Uppercut website made with updates and concept art
• Advisory board feedback on NFT integration and playtesting
• Ready for testing and outreach starting

3 months in

• Beta testing
• Wallet integration
• API for connecting to Logosphere work started
• Player-To-Player tooling started
• Reaching out to community for testing
• UI improvements
• Gameplay systems finished
• Gameplay improvement iterations
• Networking ready for testing
• Cosmetics and custom animations for NFT integrations V1
• Addressing community feedback
• Catalyst Community Playtesting and feedback collection
• Advisory board feedback on NFT integration and playtesting
• Grow adoption and make splash with production release

6 months in

• Unity NFT plugin ready for production [see https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Ikigai-UE4-Unity-Plugins-Tools/369860-48088] Disclaimer: this may take longer if funding does not go through on that proposal for plugin development.
• Logosphere integration
• Player-To-Player tooling finished
• Player-To-Market integration started
• Grow developer adoption with marketing materials
• UI improvements
• Gameplay polish
• New fighter released
• Networking bug fixes
• Cosmetics and animations for release
• Addressing community feedback
• Extended playtesting and feedback collection
• Advisory board feedback
• No one likes to use plugins that are no longer supported. Any bug fixes or enhancements will be planned for and done here. Finishing all remaining tasks. Press releases and marketing to bring on more developers into the ecosystem will continue here.

8 months in

• Release!
• Unity plugin support and bug fixes
• Marketing and outreach
• Special release cosmetics
• Special thanks for early playtesters and active community members via cosmetics/accolades/etc
• Addressing community feedback
• Custom cosmetics and animations
• Onwards+
• Continued game improvements
• Community engagement and tournaments
• Custom cosmetics and animations

Expected Launch Date: Q2 2022

Budget

Developer Costs ($14,500):

Senior Engineer (Because this is also a passion project, development will continue all the way up to funding. Some resources will be reserved to compensate the work done up until funding) = $8,000

Senior Engineer (Rest of compensation will come from sales of game) = $6,500

DigiPen Intern (Cost subsidized by Ikigai Technologies) = Free

Artist Costs ($5,000):

Characters, animations, UI, level, environment, cosmetics = $5,000

Website ($500):

Website, discord bot and community engagement = $500

Marketing ($0):

Marketing, sales, and outreach = Free as complimentary from Ikigai Technologies Team

Total ($20,000)