Battle Borgz P2E Game - Phase 2

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

Through NFTs and blockchain technology we will offer an opportunity for game users to earn real money for doing something they enjoy. 

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

Game development.

Leading web and game development training programs.

Project and event management.

Team leadership and supervision.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Players want more!

The traditional relationship between game developers and users is one-sided.

Play-to-earn helps connect users on a more advanced level than with traditional games.

Battle Borgz players can directly participate in battles and demonstrate their skills while exploring the game system and monetising their experience.  The game is free to play in casual mode, allowing a high number of users to experience the game. The ranked mode of the game enables players to earn the BORGZ token and convert it into real world money, or spend BORGZ in game to modify their gaming experience.

Our unique NFTs help players decide on their own diverse sets of characters both in appearance and strength, increasing their ability to effectively defeat opponents.  These NFTs are limited in quantity meaning that they have scarcity, therefore they have a real world value.  This allows players to trade their game characters with new or current users, they can enjoy playing for as long as they choose and also benefit financially at the time they decide to move on from the game.

Game modes

Battle Borgz players will participate in real-time, multiplayer, top-down camera view battles of up to 10 players at a time.  The MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game genre lends itself very well to play to earn gaming. Fast paced battles mean more chances to earn, and Cardano’s low fees allow for easy in-game purchases and withdrawals of funds.

Casual Mode - Free to play, ideal for practice and a good introduction to the game. No Battle Borgz NFTs are needed to play casual mode, a small one-time BORGZ reward after victory is given to encourage use of ranked mode.

Ranked Mode - A Battle Borgz NFT is needed to play ranked mode. Players are rewarded with BORGZ for winning their battles.

Player Versus Player - Casual / Ranked Players participate in real time battles of up to 5 vs 5. The aim is to defeat your opponents using teamwork and your character's stats and items to your advantage.

Player Versus Environment - Casual / Ranked Players defeat waves of different types of enemies until reaching the boss character. Defeat the boss to win the game.

Battle Borgz NFTs

Battle Borgz NFTs grant access to the Battle Borgz game ranked modes, whereby users can battle with/against other real players or fight against NPC opponents. By having a Battle Borgz NFT in their Cardano wallet players can start to earn $BORGZ simply through playing the game. Each Battle Borg is a unique cyborg NFT minted on the Cardano blockchain, and every NFT has a variety of different items and traits which will determine the user's game experience. All of these traits have been layered using randomisation software in order to create a complete collection of unique characters.

Base Character

Appearance Traits

Metal: Black Steel 

Chest: Heavy Armor 

Primary: Flamethrower

Secondary: SMG 

Head: Operator Helmet 

Droid: None 

Background: Smoke

NFT

NFT ANIMATION

Above are our playable NFT characters walk and run animations. In-game characters will use these animations to move around our 3D environment developed in Unity.

Stats

All Battle Borgz characters have a set of stats which determine their performance in different areas of the game.

Speed - The speed at which the character can move in game. 

Health - Health points can be depleted by other players. 

Armor - Protection against other players' attack damage. 

Shields - Periods of invulnerability.

Weapons

There are lots of different weapons available in the game. There are both primary and secondary weapons, with a mixture of projectile and melee to choose from. Weapons have different abilities, for example weapons can slow an enemy's movement speed, increase your health or shoot multiple projectiles at the same time. Weapons can be upgraded to increase their power and level.

Items

Players can use special items to increase their chances of winning their battles.

Armor boost - increases the character's armor.

Healing potion - regains health points.

Movement boost - increases the character's movement speed.

Bomb - an area of effect damage item.

Shield - grants invulnerability for a limited period.

Rocket - a powerful special attack.

Skins

Players can choose to use different character skins in order to change their gaming experience. Skins will change the character's appearance and performance in different ways, for example:

Scout - Increases movement speed.

Heavy - Increases armor.

Sniper - Increases accuracy.

Weapons Specialist - Increases weapon damage.

Explosives Specialist - Increases explosive item damage.

The BORGZ Token

The BORGZ token is a Cardano Native token and the native asset of the Battle Borgz game. Players earn BORGZ through playing the game and winning battles. BORGZ can be converted to ADA and then converted to FIAT currency. BORGZ can also be spent in-game to purchase upgrades and special items.

Cardano blockchain infrastructure is expanding rapidly and native tokens are becoming more widely known and used, unlike ERC-20 tokens that are based on Ethereum smart contracts; the tracking and accounting of custom tokens on Cardano is supported by the ledger natively. Users are able to send, receive, and burn their tokens without paying the often high transaction fees required on other blockchains. The Cardano Native token model works well for play-to-earn games, allowing for small transactions to be made in-game with minimal fees.

Token Cycle

When this tokenomics cyclic system is in operation, the increase in demand for token circulation should outpace the supply. This growth engine has been installed in the Battle Borgz tokenomics system to ensure stability and growth for the BORGZ token and game ecosystem as a whole.

Play to Earn Gaming and Cardano

Cardano is a rapidly growing blockchain in terms of transaction numbers, unique wallet holders and number of dApps operating and being developed.  Cardano’s Play to Earn sector needs to match both the rapid growth of the overall blockchain as well as the wider Play to Earn space across other blockchains.

By the end of 2021, statistics by the Blockchain Gaming Alliance showed that Play to Earn gaming is a growing industry. The amount of Unique Active Wallets linked to gaming dApps is up to 1.4 million,  almost 50% of the entire gaming sector's overall activity. Of this portion, in-game NFTs represented over 20% of the total $23 billion NFT trading volume for the year.

Cardano is the ideal blockchain for GameFi projects to be developing and operating on, due to low transaction fees and high levels of security.  Despite this it seems the chain is relatively lacking in high quality Play to Earn games when compared to other chains.  By being part of the Cardano Play to Earn space we can both improve the gaming experience of our users, and contribute to the development and improvement of a blockchain that we believe has huge global implications.

Target Groups

Play to Earn gamers

Competitive PC gamers

Casual PC gamers

NFT / Blockchain enthusiasts

Sci-Fi fans

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

How can we help drive more Cardano adoption?

We believe that the long-term future of NFT projects lies within the Cardano blockchain, early adopters have been able to invest in Ethereum based tokens. However as the space continues to grow at a high rate, in our opinion, it is inevitable that both early adopters and newer users will side with a blockchain where transaction fees are negligible, as is the impact on the planet.

This has presented itself recently in major NFT sales on the Ethereum blockchain.  Yuga Labs’ Otherdeed NFT mint recently burnt $150,000,000 in gas fees. Some people paid thousands of dollars in gas fees and still did not receive an NFT. Although gas fees for failed transactions were refunded by Yuga Labs, this NFT sale proved that the Ethereum model is not sustainable.

Current blockchain users

Many NFT enthusiasts are still using Ethereum as they perceive the quality of projects on other chains to be inferior, despite the fact they have to pay high transaction fees and risk spending their ETH without receiving an NFT.  By bringing high quality NFT projects and blockchain games to Cardano we can increase the likelihood of users migrating from Ethereum to Cardano.

New blockchain users

Those who are becoming interested in the NFT and blockchain space are often put off by Ethereum’s high fees. For this reason, we believe they’re likely to side with a chain where they can ‘dip their toes in’ without much risk/investment.  Any new users that Cardano can attract will contribute towards the migration of users from Ethereum. As new Cardano adoption increases so will migration, therefore we can be a part of addressing the challenge by providing a high quality, attractive project for new users to involve themselves with.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Challenges

Managing the token cyclic system.

It’s important for us to standardize token rewards over time. By looking at data over time (number of players, amount of engagement per player per day, average amount of tokens spent in game per day) we can gradually standardize token rewards for our Play to Earn system.  We will need to continually analyze this data in order to maintain a functioning token cycle and ensure longevity for our game.

Maintaining existing users and attracting new users over time.

We need to ensure that matchmaking for game battles is a smooth and fast process, this is a major issue for some blockchain games with a limited player base.  Following our first two NFT mints we will increase the possible number of users over time through further mint on demand systems and the introduction of new NFTs accessible to top ranking players.

We will also run regular scheduled events during which only our ranked mode is accessible, this will encourage users to move from free to play to ranked mode.

Keeping people engaged if development is slower than expected.

It's important to keep people engaged and it’s not unrealistic that development might lag behind expectations at some point.  We’ll give regular updates throughout the whole process about what the team’s been doing, and we’ll release images, videos, trailers etc to keep people engaged and maintain confidence in the development process.

Risks

Declining price of ADA affecting funding in dollar terms.

The majority of our development costs will need to be payable in FIAT currency. Our method of combating this risk is to carefully evaluate our budget and upon receiving funding in ADA convert the required amounts to FIAT. This will ensure we have secured funds for continued development, a safer option than hoping ADA will increase in value before we convert/spend it.

Security breaches.

Prior to token integration we will run thorough audits of our smart contracts and all elements in which exploits could be found. These will be undertaken by external auditors.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

PHASE 1 - Q1 & Q2 2022

Borg Corp. 3D game environment development.

HUD development

Origins 3D character development

$BORGZ staking.

Origins character animation.

Official NFT release date and verified status on marketplaces.

PHASE 2 - Q3 2022

5000 Battle Borgz Origins minted.

Resistance 3D character development.

NFT staking.

Resistance 3D game environment development.

Resistance character animation.

Game UI development.

$BORGZ DEX listing.

A Limited edition Battle Borgz NFT release.

PvP development.

Pre-Alpha testing.

PHASE 3 - Q4 2022

5000 Battle Borgz Resistance minted.

Item and skins 3D object development.

Further 3D game environment development.

Marketplace UI development.

Further PvP game development.

Alpha testing.

PHASE 4 - Q1 & Q2 2023

PvE game development.

Marketplace development.

Beta testing.

$BORGZ integration with the game and smart contract audits.

Release game and continued development.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Budget Breakdown

Figures have been calculated based on previous costs for similar tasks already completed  in Phase 1 as well as pre-discussed rates with freelance artists and programmers.

Resistance 3D character development. $10000

1x 3D character artist - 8 weeks.

NFT staking. 7000 ADA ~ $3500

1x programmer- ongoing over 1 year. 3.5 ADA/ NFT ~ 2000 NFTs.

Resistance 3D game environment development. $2500

2x 3D artist - 3 weeks

Resistance character animation. $1000

1x 3D animator - one week.

Game UI development. $2000

1x 2D artist - 3 weeks

PvP development. $10000

2 x Game Developers - 2 months

Pre-Alpha testing. $2000

2x testers - 1 month

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

TEAM AND PARTNERS

Nick Stewart 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/borgz-nick/ 

https://twitter.com/BattleBorgz

Nick has experience in event management and has been researching and following the development of blockchain projects since 2020, with a specific interest in game-fi projects and Cardano DApps. He is managing the overall development of the project.

Ammar Tariq 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theammart/

https://www.br1game.com/

Ammar is an experienced blockchain game developer, having developed a gaming project on the Solana blockchain and his own web and game development training program. He is handling parts of our token integration and working with a team of developers to create our blockchain game.

Justin Belanger 

https://twitter.com/jbelange

Justin has been into video games since the age of 3 playing his fathers Atari, growing to proudly win local LAN party trophies as a teenager in various games. He has gained numerous strengths and skills over 3 decades through gaming communities, military experience, and construction leadership/supervision. He communicates with our community daily and gives regular development updates through our Youtube channel and Twitter spaces.

Developers and Artists

3 game developers.

1 2D artist.

2 3D artists.

1 3D animation specialist.

Blockery

https://www.blockery.io/

The team at Blockery has been involved in the Cardano ecosystem since late 2017. During this time, they've created a number of hobby projects. These have ranged the gamut from discord bots, to on-chain payment processing, to nft drop automation. 

Stake Pool 24/7

https://www.stakepool247.eu/

The Stake Pool 24/7 team are currently managing the BORGZ stake pool, from which delegates can receive BORGZ tokens for staking their ADA.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Previous / Future Proposals.

Until now Battle Borgz has been funded by team members personal funds and community members through BORGZ token sales, this is our first Catalyst proposal. This proposal relates to phase two of our development. We intend to make proposals in future funds as we move through our development phases.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

KPI’s

So far we have measured KPI’s through interest in our token sales and social media channels.  In our last token sale through KICK.io launchpad 29% of available tokens were sold. This was below our original expectations however exceeded our expectations after the downturn in the overall crypto market trend.  We have maintained around 700 Discord members throughout this downturn and prior to announcing any NFT sale dates.

As we move on with development we will have other ways to track progress, including:

• Number of registered wallets for NFT mints.
• Quantity of NFTs generated.
• Number of applications for beta testing.
• Number of delegated wallets to BORGZ pool.
• Number of ADA wallets linked to the game.
• Number of downloads.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

What does success look like for Battle Borgz?

• To be a part of the migration of crypto enthusiasts and gamers from the Ethereum blockchain to the Cardano blockchain.
• To create a genuinely entertaining game that people play in both free mode and ranked mode.
• For our users to be able to enjoy as well as monetise their play time through the use of NFT technology and the BORGZ Cardano native token.
• To grow and maintain an active community.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new Catalyst proposal, Battle Borgz has received no prior Catalyst funding.