AdaQuest ARENA - Finalize

Polishing, balancing & testing needs time and resources. Our team already working on the Alpha release will require both to finalize it!

Code: Dirk 20 y, Victor 6y, Daniel 5 y, Pavel 4y

Art: Christian 15y, Robert 10y, AnnKa 4y

Game-Design: Alex 5y, Mike 5y

Biz: Marcin 15y

Lore: Tom 25y

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Team worked already for THQ, Ubisoft, EA & Rockstar, several Indie dev-studios

More info: https://ada-quest.com/about

[IMPACT]

Intro:

AdaQuest is a game project combining three different game phases into one whole Fantasy World Game Experience.

Our first game mode is called ARENA. This is also the first use case for our NFT hero cards. At the moment, this mode is in Alpha state (see screenshot overview).

Arena game mode features in a nutshell:

• Fast-paced duel mode(timer, round-based)
• Player vs. Player (Quest mode will deliver PVE)
• Matchmaking (different approaches will be tested, depending on player base)
• Web & mobile based (no native, because of NFT Appstore restrictions)
• Focused on Hero, skill, and level
• Allows a first use case & foundation for the NFT Cards, items, and play mechanics.

So, in the end, we like to offer the player the chance to play this mode during Coffee breaks. Level the character, try out different items & abilities, and socialize with the AdaQuest community. This first use case will build the foundation in terms of balancing and future game modes.

This challenge is about bringing Cardano to a bigger gaming audience(Challenge KPI). We have started this project in 2021 to exactly do this. How we will do it? By focusing on these points:

Game experience FIRST!

• Hand-drawn graphics
• Different game modes for different target groups & player styles
• Deep Lore related to the Cardano blockchain (names, places, people, etc.)

Reaching for a wide gamer-centric user base

• Real free to play model without any paywall or pay2win
• Easy and user-friendly game-account/marketplace experience
• Involving the community into the development
• Fair prices and no power creep related NFTs

Ensuring the development cycle

• Using our native on-chain token(QuestToken) for marketing and further funding
• Reaching out to DEX and SEED funding platforms related to Cardano (e.g. kick.io)
• Collaborate with other developers from the Cardano ecosystem
• Onboarding young talents through AdaQuest into the Crypto world

Marketing:

Once completed we will communicate this through our social media and game-related channels. We also will use our business network from the games & entertainment industry. Showing and promoting AdaQuest with different partners like IGN, Checkpointhub, GEE Magazin, and of course a lot of Influencers, Podcasters, YouTubers, and Cardano Partners like Playermint, Muesliswap, or Cardano SWARM!

Key Marketing Strategy: Organic, steady, and healthy growth without useless pseudo Influencer and social media spend!

Our KPIs:

Even if we are free and not at the "mercy" of a big publisher or investor, budget and time are always issues when it comes to creating games. As an independent developer, the biggest risk is that you will run out of money or dev power. Either someone will try to sell you a service he/she can´t deliver in time or someone create something you already paid for, but in the end, it is useless for your project :(

To mitigate this, we work only with people we already know and meet in RL or worked before with them. Sometimes we receive recommendations or test young talents before offering them a contract. Our working and project experience will ensure to keep track of the budget and put enough into our reserve to be prepared for turbulences and struggles, which sometimes you can´t avoid.

That´s why we will track & measure this:

• New user accounts after releasing a feature (after polished Alpha Release)
• Budget spend vs. Revenue after feature release (e.g. new website language integration)
• Website Visits, Page Impressions & Views (also YT, Twitter, etc.)
• NFT Sales (after polished Alpha Release)

Target Groups

Primarily:

• Fantasy, RPG & pen & paper fans and nerds
• Hand-drawn art lovers
• Core PVP mobile gamers (strategy & tactics)

Secondary:

• NFT & blockchain enthusiasts
• Casual mobile gamers

Tertiary:

• Mobile gamers
• Curiosity-seekers

Challenges

• Blockchain-related updates/upgrades that can influence our development
• Providing user suggested feature upgrades
• Doing testing and balancing right without time sinks
• Delivering the promised version in time and budget

Risks

• Generating technical debt through "bloat" feature sets
• Compensation of non-productive time
• Unforeseen technological obstacles

Our risk management includes the experience we have gathered within the last two decades in games development. We avoid already some of the risks by clearly communicating our steps and taking precautions NOW! That´s why we never will drop a version, because for the sake of releasing something. However, we use some of these tools to help us minimize the risk:

• Only one weekly team meeting (tasks are distributed to each division)
• Tracking & documentation with JIRA & Confluence
• Overall quick communication through Slack
• Learning & optimizing processes by reflecting everyone's working style

[FEASIBILITY]

-- Q2 2022 --

April 2022

--> Finishing the main ARENA duel/fighting mechanics

Staff: 2 coders

May 2022

--> Extensive testing & balancing the data provided by our team and community Alpha testers

Staff: 1 coder, 2 testers, community alpha testers

June 2022

--> Polishing the version using the results from the tests

--> Ongoing testing

--> Adding further stuff if affordable after finalizing main mechanics

--> Releasing ARENA mode and pushing it into BETA

Staff: 2 coders, 2 testers, Game Designer

Coding Team:

Tech Lead = 7200$/month

--> 3 months == 21,600$

Support coder = 4150$/month

--> 2 months == 8,300$

Two testers = 1690$/month

--> 2 month == 3,380$

Game Designer = 3100$/month

--> 1 month == 3,100$

Overall estimated spend == 36,380$

--> 3620$ will flow right into the development of advanced game mechanics!

Coding Lead: Dirk worked for Ubisoft, founded two gaming studios as a Dev Lead, and is currently working as a Technical Architect. He is the go-to guy, well in everything tech-related. Besides running and tracking our stake pool he is doing his magic to create the foundation for our project. 20 years of experience! IF var string = "you are looking for a coder?" THEN result="Dirk"

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirk-potulski-71313428)

Art Direction: Christian is our Illustrator and UX Designer with more than 15 years of professional work in digital art, gamification, interface- and app design in the industry. Starting as a big fan of the classic "point & click" adventures (e.g., Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky, Day of the Tentacle) on DOS and hoarding tons of comic books, he turned his geek hobby into an ever-expanding full-time job!

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-hayungs-9ba22457)

Strategic Advisor & Founder: Marcin worked in marketing, sales, and project management for THQ, Ubisoft, CI Games, Daedalic Entertainment, and Rockstar. In the past 10 years, he has helped some start-ups in their initial phase, and he will also provide guidance for the Cardano gaming community, as well!

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcin-kugla-a92b5964)

Game Design & Balancing: Alex worked as a creative director at Ubisoft's campus and as lead developer of Faith and Honor Barbarossa. He has considerable experience researching psychological and neurological sweet spots in game-based learning. With over 4 years of experience in game design, Alex is geared to bring the best gaming experience to AdaQuest!

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-cimpeanu-b9507a112)

Michael is the second guy and mainly responsible for game design and balancing. He holds a degree in business administration and had a lot of experience as a QA Tester in the EA environment.

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-fischer-574678212/)

Lore & Finance: Thomas is the oldest and financial expert within the team. His knowledge about movies, games, and fantasy worlds is immense. He currently tries to tie the stitches to bring the world of ADA to life. Otherwise you can find him on some LARP battlefields on our planet. Soon probably also on ADA! Oh, and did we mention that Thomas likes magic tricks? We did...

Freelancers we are working with:

Artists, Illustrators, Animation, Design

Ann-Kathrin Raab - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-kathrin-raab-8b1815184/

Robert Schneider - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertschneider138/

Celine Zirkel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/celine-zirkel-62304b220/

Oleg Gorshkov - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorshkov-oleg-3408468a/

Coding

Viktor Machnik - https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktor-machnik-98b9031a8/

Pashka Barkhatov - https://www.xing.com/profile/Pavel_Barkhatov

Daniel Fischer - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-fischer-29004b220/

Webhosting

https://www.winterrabe.net/team

[AUDITABILITY]

As already mentioned in the Risk Management section[IMPACT], next to the KPIs, we also use well-known tools like JIRA, Github and Confluence to track our progress.

However, we develop AdaQuest based on our internal roadmap and the milestones we have set. In doing so, we set realistic goals and report them as we achieve them through our social channels. Progress is documented and discussed with the team every week (Mondays).After that, we update our roadmap and take the next step within development

Offering a polished and balanced AdaQuest ARENA mode will build trust within the Cardano Community and attract further gamers and users. Finally we will offer a first deeper game experience and use case for the Cardano gaming community.

Achieving this will be the main criteria for success!

AdaQuest was already funded in Fund5. Since than we manage to become well know within the Cardano ecosystem (Gamers On-Chained challenge was initiated by us). Besides founding Red Potion Studios, we have hired people, started to develop AdaQuest, created a Webportal with user management & tools and build a mission statement & vision for the whole AdaQuest project.

Without the initial Catalyst funding this would never happen!

To all the VOTERS from Fund5 Thank you for this chance!

Nevertheless as we stated in Fund 5 already:

Our project with the three planed game phases (ARENA, Dungeon Crawler, Skirmish Battlefield - https://ada-quest.com/howto#future) need a budget of around 500K$. So all our proposals here are aiming to get additional support. Every missed funding from Catalyst will protract development, because of the nature of such a gaming project. As always we are keen to hear your thoughts. You are welcome to comment!

So far our Catalyst proposals:

Fund 5 - DApps & Integrations (funded - 100K$):

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/351663

Fund 6 - DApps & Integrations (NOT funded - 75K$):

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/365863

Fund 7 - Gamers On-Chained (NOT funded - 55K$):

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/382933