Tellus2 – Gamifying Sustainability

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

General

Tellus2 will be our sustainable next gen metaversion of planet Earth (Tellus). The Tellus2 Metaverse will be populated by our NFT avatars, the Tellusians. Tellus2 will be community influenced to a high extent, that is the Tell us too-part. 

Tellus2 is created to make action of people’s will to really live sustainably in every aspect and to be an NFT Metaverse with real impact on sustainability through its hand picked collaboration partners.

 Tellus2 will make green choices easy to sort out and hard to resist!

The avatars

Our first hand drawn unique avatars, the Tellusians, will soon be available as NFTs.

The NFT avatars will act as entry tickets to our closed community channel on Discord. That is the place where the community will have the opportunity to influence how the Metaverse will look like by sharing ideas and having voting rights for choosing our partnerships for sustainability.

The NFT avatars will also give the owners access to the future Tellus2 Metaverse and besides that they will provide discounts on NFT building blocks for the Metaverse and access to our coming events.  

The Metaverse

The Metaverse remains to be built, the Tellus2 team has so far just decided on the framework. The Metaverse is decided to be exploratory and world building, similar to Minecraft, closely coupled with the real world and with NFTs as building blocks. We aim to build an incentivizing reward system inside the Metaverse deeply coupling it with long term sustainability for the real world. In our opinion, this is how NFTs should be used to maximize positive impact on sustainability on Earth.

Sustainability through partnerships

How the link between the Tellus2 Metaverse and sustainability for the real world will look like in detail is to be decided by the community, but the idea is that events and actions in the real world will affect the Metaverse and vice versa through our partnering companies, thus gamifying sustainability. 

Environmentally desirable events and actions by an NFT holder IRL will give advantages and new features in the Metaverse. For example if you buy a jacket from recycled materials from our partner your NFT avatar will get a cool jacket as well and if you buy solar panels or an EV from our partners your NFT avatar will receive similar components in the Metaverse, influencing the game and how it's played. For example, faster movement with the EV.

And on the other hand, if you plant a forest in the Metaverse, a tree will be planted by our partner IRL. If you remove plastics from the ocean in the Metaverse, money will be donated to our partner for the same thing to happen IRL. If you buy an EV or solar power in the Metaverse, you could get a discount on the same products from our partners IRL.

The examples above are just - examples. The imagination defines the limits for what we can do! 

Our idea is to provide incentivizing and impactful partnerships for our Metaverse in every relevant area such as:

• Energy 
• Transportation
• Food
• Clothing
• Recycling and reuse
• Protection of forests and oceans (eg tree planting, plastic removal from oceans etc)

We also plan to include play to earn elements in our Metaverse.

And we welcome the community for further contribution of ideas for creating a greener planet.

Please notice that we are working on concept art. This will soon be available as a preview of our Metaverse.

Impact

We think that our idea has the potential to make a real impact on people’s behavior IRL through the incentivizing reward system and also having a real impact IRL from actions in the Metaverse. As well as incentivizing by being a rewarding open world Metaverse creative gaming experience.

You can see Tellus2 as a mashup between an NFT project having positive environmental impact, such as CardanoTrees, and Minecraft with its world building features, added the community and identity aspects, being an environmental project also. By that we think we provide a valuable approach to the space that not just Cardano ecosystem will benefit from but also planet Earth and humanity. We will use blockchain technology to provide real solutions to real problems! 

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

We are sensing a call, both from insiders and outsiders/mainstream, for the crypto family to provide real use cases and solutions to real problems in a scaleable fashion – Tellus2 has the true potential to deliver all that.

The real problem number one is the sustainability issue. If we don't manage to reduce emissions and stop emptying all nature resources it is Game Over. With Tellus2 it is Game On. Jokes aside, we believe that our project has the potential of giving credibility to and increasing the mainstream interest and participation in the crypto space in general and Cardano in particular.

We have noted the big interest in NFT projects rendering a real and instant impact such as CardanoTrees and Veritree/Cardano Forest. We will include similar concepts in our Metaverse and further develop that idea as described.

We want to build a Metaverse where people want to hang out because it is fun and because it has a good purpose and because it is identity creating and having a positive impact.

We want to build a desired brand that mainstream companies want to partner with. If we succeed Tellus2 also has the potential of tying mainstream companies with the right values to the Cardano ecosystem making it grow organically and materially.

We truly believe that we can attract hundreds of thousands of players to our Metaverse. The bigger we get, the more we can advance our Metaverse and collaborations making our product even more attractive and the snow ball is in motion. All this while coupling the real world more and more deeply with our Tellus2 Metaverse, using it to incentivize and gamify more sustainable choices leading to a greener and greener planet Earth. If we reach that positive feedback loop it could lead us anywhere - the sky is the limit! Looking at Minecraft, starting as a hobby project. A couple of years later played by hundreds of million people worldwide.

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

Create 10 000 unique artworks

Risk of copyright infringement – Annie has hand drawn all our unique layers of artwork using computer programming to put the artwork together to create unique original artwork decreasing/avoiding this risk.

Create program to turn artworks into NFTs when buyer pays (NFT-vending machine)

Risk of program malfunctioning and buyers losing money without getting their NFTs – the program we have created is tested and the code will be audited before implementation. Steps are taken to make logs and identify errors in case the program crashes due to high throughput, in that case we would still be able to ship our product manually, decreasing/avoiding this risk.

Start marketing and create community

Risk of failure due to no one taking interest in our project – we have witnessed first-hand in the year 2021, experiencing the people’s interest in owning NFTs due to speculation of price appreciation, the uniqueness of owning digital art and the utility that can come from this technology. We sincerely believe that with the right marketing techniques combined with our unique selling point and idea to do good in the world, this project can be of great interest to many people.

Create homepage

Risk of homepage being hacked – the home page we are creating will also go through rigorous testing and proper research to maximize security, decreasing the risk of being hacked. If hacked, the home page will be designed in a way that no personal information can be leaked, or any funds being lost.

Start selling NFTs on our homepage

Risk of disinterest of our project – further steps for marketing will be taken to ensure we can reach our audience, through Discord, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube to name a few. We will also attend relevant events and podcasts. We are consulting with a social media manager repeatedly.

Hire game developer/developers and start development of a sustainability Metaverse

Risks in Metaverse development – using our acquired funds after our first NFT launch and/or from project Catalyst we will give utmost care to find good game developers we will be able to communicate our vision to, in order to start development of every aspect of the game according to our vision.

Start collaborations with other sustainability companies/actors/NFT projects

At the time of starting collaborations with others, our project should be more well known in the NFT community overall and our project’s digital infrastructure together with the brand being well established. NFTs will also be more known to the mainstream making collaborations easier to establish with bigger companies. Before that, we will keep building by creating more art, more NFTs with unique utility, creating more value as we go.

Launch of Tellus2 Metaverse

Risk of no participants – being at this point we should have an established movement and community and more than a few players eagerly waiting for the Metaverse to be launched, due to the structuring of the project idea. People who are interested early on will have to buy an NFT in order to access the game, be part of the community and have a say about how the game develops, what will be further built on it and so on.

Our choice of blockchain

We will build our products on the Cardano blockchain, being a more sustainable blockchain with little use of electricity, good accessibility by all, being more and more decentralized with future decentralized control. Also, transaction fees are low and predictable. With future upgrades of this blockchain it will also be faster and support many more users from thousands to millions.

For the above-mentioned reasons, choosing Cardano as the blockchain platform to build our project seemed natural.

Funding of the project

If we were to receive our requested fund it would substantially reduce the inherent risk in our project because it would mean we would immediately be able to start building our Metaverse. That would of course make us more trustworthy for potential early NFT buyers. Without the catalyst fund we need to sell a decent amount of NFTs to have a reasonable chance to start this building phase. A catalyst fund would also provide an opportunity to market our launch and thus further reduce the risk of us not delivering. 

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

Q3 2021→ now

Putting the core team together - Done

Defining our idea - Done

Vending machine programming - Done

Create business plan - Done

Create marketing plan - Done

NFT avatar creation - Done

Company foundation - Done

Q2 2022 

Venture Cup - Swedish competition for start up ventures. Tellus2 got to the finals. We refined our idea and presentation. 

Homepage creation - Underway

Concept art creation - Underway

Q2/Q3 2022

Consider incubator participation - A few incubators for start up ventures have shown interest in incubating Tellus2. We are now considering entering into a gaming incubator, primarily to get in touch with suitable gaming developers to design our Metaverse together with us. Our team contains developing and programming competence but we need more specific competence. The incubator we have in mind, would provide guidance and contacts with developers and they are tied to the Sweden Game Arena Skövde, Sweden. 

Q3 2022

Marketing process starts a couple of weeks pre launch. Our marketing plan has been shaped together with a skilled social media manager. With almost no budget it will be a big challenge to reach out but we will do all we can to succeed. A catalyst fund would make it much easier to reach out faster! 

Our Discord server is ready to go, as well as our Twitter account. We have prepared a big amount of educational tweets about our project and will be very active here, 2 tweets daily minimum. We will actively interact with other individuals and projects across the crypto space. 

On Youtube we will provide informative video about our idea and monthly Tellus2 360 project update where the team will provide updates on what is going on at the project. 

We will pay for visibility on wencnft on launch.

We will contact podcasts in the Cardano and crypto space for us to be interviewed and thus spreading the word about us.

We will also try to attend NFT events such as NFT expoverse (December 2022). 

NFT avatars first mint will take place Q3 2022. Starting off with 10.000 NFT avatars available for sale. 

As the NFTs are sold, our community will start to grow.

Q4 2022 - Q2 2023

First partnerships initiated. We think that we will be attractive as a credible B2B partner when the community has started to grow, in other words; when we have sold a bunch of NFTs. 

Metaverse creation process initiated. We need to sell at least a couple of thousand NFTs to be able to start hiring developers to start Metaverse development. Hopefully this occurs first half of 2023 or even earlier. Our plan to find the right developers is to use the gaming incubator connected to the Sweden Game Arena. Our team possesses programming competence but needs to hire external expertise to be able to create our Metaverse. 

Q2-3 2023

First 10.000 NFT avatars sold out

Hiring gaming developer(s) - The profit from NFT sales will provide capital enough to hire game developer(s) to start creation of Tellus2 Metaverse. 

Q2-3 2023 or when applicable

NFT avatar 2nd mint - We have a vast amount of extra avatars to be minted if there is interest. Since Annie has worked with different layers that then have been combined, we have been able to create a big amount of avatars.

Q3-Q4 2023

NFT land  - Metaverse land plots to be sold for players to start building on.

NFT building blocks - Building blocks and components for the Metaverse to be sold.

NFT event in Sweden - To spread the word about Cardano, NFTs and Tellus2 we plan to arrange an event late next year in Sweden. There are not many, if any, NFT events here yet even though Sweden is known for its successful tech and gaming industry. It is just a question of time before NFTs are mainstream here, we believe and want to contribute towards this as well.

Q1-Q2 2024

Launch of Tellus2 Metaverse betaversion - Hopefully a first beta version will be available at this point. Continuous development and improvement thereafter.

Please note: If we were to receive catalyst funding, that would bring down the inherent risk of the project not delivering according to the plan. It would also, presumably, catalyze the process as a whole giving us the chance to initiate the metaverse building right away and to market more aggressively, increasing our chance to reach out to potential NFT buyers. 

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Budget (if funded)

• Marketing (payed ads, payed partnerships, event participations, inhouse expenses) $10.000
• Legal matters (put applicable Disclaimer and Terms & Conditions documents together, juridical consultation if needed, inhouse expenses) $10.000
• Metaverse development initiation + blockchain programming (hire 2 developers for 6 months to start with, inhouse expences) $ 130.000
• Graphic design (Concept art) $ 10.000

Total $ 160.000

If we were to get this funding we truly believe that we will be able to sell out our first NFT minting round. That would give us further net proceeds of approx 280.000 USD (after tax) which in turn would make it possible for us to create our Metaverse being able to pay at least two developers (game and 3D model development) for a sufficient and significant amount of time. They will create the Metaverse together with our CEO and programmer.

Further cash flow from more NFT avatar mintings if interest and NFT land and building blocks for the Metaverse. 

Catalyst fund would give us the opportunity to initiate Metaverse creation right away and to use payed marketing which would increase our chances to succeed quickly in selling our idea and our frist NFTs.

Budget (without getting funded)

We will continue to work hard with Tellus2 even if we were not to be funded now. It will be much harder and time consuming, still not impossible. A fund would truly be an important catalyst for us decreasing the risk in the project!

• Without a catalyst, the first NFT sales will give our company our first earnings.
• Without a Catalyst fund we need to sell 10.000 NFT avatars a 70 ADA each to be able do fund Metaverse creation initiation. That would give us around 350.000 USD minus tax (20%). 
• If we were to succeed in that we would use the net proceeds to hire 2 developers (from Sweden Game Arena) for 1 year to start with to start building our Metaverse. The cost would amount to 150.000 USD tax included. 
• Further cash flow from more NFT avatar mintings if interest and NFT land and building blocks for the Metaverse.

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

Kok-Wing Giang CEO – Programmer & crypto expert

Annie Hallén AD/Artist, Bachelor of Fine Arts, super skilled digital artist

My Yen Giang Finance/Legal – Master of Science in Business and Economics

Linus Hansson Marketing and partnerships – Journalist/Media working experience

The team is super dedicated and with broad competence, despite the fact that we are just four people, and the work with Tellus2 has been going on since last summer.

For our marketing plan we have consulted with a skilled social media manager.

To be able to create a first version (there will be community driven improvements and developments) of our Metaverse we need external expertise on game and 3D model development. Our plan is to hand pick two developers to work with us a year to start with to develop a first version of our Metaverse.

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

If funded we hope that we won't need to come back for more funding. One unknown factor is how long time it will take to develop an open world creative Metaverse game coupled to sustainability that is our great vision.

If not funded this time we will probably seek soon again to catalyze the start of our great project.

[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?

Our goal is to have a big community of dedicated NFT holders enjoying our Metaverse and to make a real impact through our partnerships. 

Therefore, it is natural to measure progress in those key areas:

• Number of NFT avatars sold
• Amount of activity in our social media channels
• Number of active users of the Tellus2 Metaverse 
• Established partnerships in the areas mentioned earlier
• How frequently our partnership generated sustainability actions occurs

The main goal is a steady growth/progress in every key area for maximum impact over long period of time.

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

Success for Tellus2 is when our community organically is growing year after year ultimately making it a long lasting player on the global tech and sustainability arena. Our brand and Metaverse is well known, appreciated, desired and respected among individuals and companies worldwide.

All this leading to a world driven by fully renewable energy. Seas and lands without micro plastic and other pollutions. Global warming halted and/or reversed. Lots and lots of people having fun in our open world Metaverse creative game.

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

Tellus2 has never sought and has never received any funding in Catalyst before – thus entirely new.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 1. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Goal 2. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

Goal 3. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Goal 4. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

SDG subgoals:

12.2 By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources

12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

12.6 Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle

9.2 Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

12.2.1 Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

12.2.2 Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP

12.5.1 National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

#proposertoolsdg