Criteria that help make NFT gaming projects successful.

NFT gaming projects- what makes them successful?

To describe an NFT project as successful, several conditions and scenarios must first be satisfied. Most people care about high/stable floor prices, low listing-to-holder ratio, and great utilities provided for the community. These are all common expectation from most NFT projects. But for NFT gaming(or GameFi) projects, the above-listed expectations may not be sufficient.

NFT gaming projects.

NFT gaming is presently the largest niche of NFT projects. This is mainly because the Web2 gaming experts have seen the abundance of opportunities for their industry in the Web3 space.

source: statista.

The traditional gaming sector is more than two times the music and movies industries put together. This shows a great users/consumer base that can drive adoption, generate activity, and develop the economy of and within blockchain-based gaming projects. And as such, hundreds of developers are racing to take their place in the blockchain universe ahead of their competitors.

Particularly for gaming projects, the demands for success could be a lot more. This is mainly because of the high level of quality present in their Web2 counterpart, and how technical it is to develop on the blockchain. Along with the skeptical nature of degens, NFT gaming devs have to put in more work to ensure they are successful, especially after launch.

Regardless of technical difficulty, we’ve seen several GameFi projects come up, sell out on mint day, provide high value games and also deliver impressive post-mint results to their community. Now let’s look at some factors that may have helped these gaming projects become successful.

Factors that help make NFT gaming projects successful.

There are no dedicated rules or guides that serve as a script for successful NFT projects. However, a combination of thoroughly developed plans, and several other fundamental and technical elements, help increase the odds for an NFT project to become successful.

After an in-depth analysis of the NFT gaming sub-sphere, we would highlight common attributes that helped increase their chances for success. These attributes/criteria would be grouped into two categories.

A. Fundamental Criteria.

These characteristics are mainly associated with the nontechnical aspects of a project’s development.This typically includes;

I. VC funding,

II. Team experience,

III. Marketing strategy, and

IV. Community development approach.

These characteristics are fundamental because they influence important project decision such as;

• Mint price: VC funding for cost of production/development often makes project founders willing to mint their projects at a minimal rate, even as low as free mints. This is great, as players do not have to worry about ROI.
• Cost of marketing: Marketing in web3 can be very expensive. Many projects budget thousands of dollars for marketing, but still fail. VC funding and professional NFT/Crypto marketers always help deliver marketing strategies that guarantee substantial project hype.
• Image and public perception: Image and public perception is very important for a project that wants to succeed and stay relevant. And this is mostly based on the project’s team members, their caliber, and the quality of experience which they possess.
• Community development strategy: It is important for a community to be developed organically. This is possible when a unique and engaging strategy is developed for the community’s growth. This is always the first criteria when analyzing projects.

B. Technical Criteria.

Technicality is the second compound characteristic of great importance for the success of NFT gaming projects. In this context, technicality ranges from dev team experience, contract build, all the way to minting experience, as well as game play and tokenomics. Here are some technical criteria that successful projects have paid attention to.

I. Quality of game: Regardless of funding or team’s experience, a game with low quality would certainly suffer a low adoption rate. And for gamers, some of the factors that determine the quality of a game includes;

• Genre of game: It has to be the type of game that interests the audience the project is being marketed to.
• Playability: The game has to be interesting enough for its community members to want to play it, even without hopes of rewards.
• Storyline: The sequence/flow of the game’s episodes and challenges must be synchronized in order to avoid “boring” the players.
• UI & UX: Nobody likes a non-responsive product. So if your game’s interface is poorly designed, and the users have negative experiences, they’re unlikely to continue playing after a few frustrating trials.

II. Minting experience: Mint day is often the most anticipated day in a project’s calendar. The team and community members all anticipate that day, as it marks the start of the project’s journey. Some factors that successful projects put into consideration for that day include;

• Mint procedure/design: While there is a standard contract/mint site procedure, projects with simple yet unique minting experience often create a favorable environment and sentiment for their collection.
• Realistic mint prices per target audience: Projects have set a realistic mint price that will be conveniently affordable for their target audience without causing negative skepticism.

III. In-game experience: After all planned and developed, the in-game experience comes next. Is the game fun? Are there earning opportunities? Are there opportunities to network and grow? The value of the gaming experience is pivotal to the sustainability of the game, as well as its community.

With the mentioned criteria and characteristics stated above, let us now look at some top performing NFT games in the polkadot and kusama ecosystem.

Exiled Racers.

Exiled racers is a 3D racing NFT gaming project built on the Moonbeam network. The collection was launched in 2022, and can easily be called one of the most successful projects in the moonbeam ecosystem.

The project has an interesting and unique development plan where gamers have to mint;

• Training pass/Player keys: Player training pass keys give access for members to practice and learn more about the racing galaxy. Minting happens in batches, and is decided by the project team.
• Pilot NFTs: The pilot NFTs are necessary for holders before they can own/control race crafts. This combines ownership and gaming strategy to create uniquely personalized gaming experiences.
• Race crafts: Race crafts are the primary items being used within the game. Racers make use of their crafts to explore the hyper-realistic universe set before them.
• Boosters: Boosters provide extra benefits. With boosters, holders enjoy upgrades, faster crafts, and improved gaming experiences.

Exiled Racers is regarded as the “first bluechip collection on the moonbeam network”. During presale, over $100,000GLMR was raised from the sale of 1763 mint key NFTs, making it the collection with the highest presale capital raised on the moonbeam network.

Its combination of exciting game play, advanced NFT interoperability, and credible team guarantees its title as a top NFT project from the dotsama ecosystem. Learn more here.

Moonsama Carnage.

If the features of interest include community, entertainment, rewards and playability, then Moonsama Carnage is the perfect fit for the search.

Moonsama carnage is a community gaming event hosted by the Moonsama NFT community. It is a Minecraft themed game that is held once a week on a ‘holder-only’ accessible server. During these events, players get to choose from a variety of gaming rooms such as Lokito’s Run, Moonsama Fight Club, etc, depending on their interests. Players get to mine or battle for NFT resources which have real value on the Moonsama network. This gives players the perfect P2E experience, while having as much fun as possible.

With a floor of 550k+ sama, Moonsama NFTs are the most expensive NFTs in the Moonriver network. And by owning a Moonsama NFT, you get access to all Moonsama NFT community games, development, information, network, and value added NFTs. Find out more about the event here.

Glimmer Apes.

Glimmer Apes is an adventure themed NFT game built on the Moonbeam network, with a 3D jungle setting design. The game employs RMRK composability features, allowing Ape NFT holders to combine other GLMR NFTs for more fun and in-game benefits. It benefits from the vast community, developer expertise, and its own tokenized economy to drive both purchases and incentivization.

GLMR Apes’ success has been outstanding. Initially minting between 1–2 $GLMR per ape, its floor price is presently between 1000 to 1200 $GLMR today. Its holder-to-listing is at a low 65:2 rate, making its availability very limited. And with implementation of its unique in-game development strategy and the results thereafter, GLMR Apes can thus be described as a successful project.

DEO Arena.

DEO arena is a P2E NFT game built on Sora Network by the Ceres Token team. The game has created an impressive economic pattern where players need to register for contests with as little as 4–6 DEO tokens, and battle to win prizes which are distributed in DEO, and exchangeable for fiat currency.

With a team known across the Polkadot ecosystem, DEO enjoys active participation based on trust and benefits, as the suspicion of fraudulent devs or “scammy” tokens are dispelled. And with their activity plan and in-game design, members can mint auxiliary NFTs to boost their character’s performance during contests.

With its rewarding gaming mechanism, DEO players compete on a leaderboard, and top participants earn between $10-$500 per round, depending on your level at completion.

Conclusion.

The entire Web3 space is a breeding ground for ideas. Hence, project founders are advised to be as creative as possible when developing their plans and strategies. However, a sufficient mix of the above stated fundamental and technical criteria, with other peculiar designs, would boost every project’s chance for success.

Do you agree with the ideas shared above?Leave a comment and let me know what you think.