YGG Spaces: How Web3 Improves on the Limitations of Web2 Games
Michael Migliero, Giulio Xiloyannis, Franklin Fitch and Kiefer Zang join Sedano to discuss how they have designed the web3 element of their games to compete against established web2 titles.
With the YGG Web3 Games Summit (W3GS) fast approaching, YGG has once again brought on some of its game partners — Big Time, Parallel, Pixelmon and Economics Design — for a Spaces discussion. YGG’s Community Marketing Manager, John Sedano, was joined by Big Time Studios CMO Michael Migliero, LiquidX Studio co-founder and Pixelmon CEO Giulio Xiloyannis, and Parallel Studios Head of Growth Franklin Fitch, as well as Kiefer Zang, Senior Associate Economics Consultant of Economics Design, a consulting firm that helps web3 projects design sustainable economies.
During the discussion, the speakers shared their approaches to iterating on existing game and economy models by keeping the NFT component optional, allowing users to choose how they interact with these games. Kiefer also discussed how games like Big Time are introducing tokens naturally to create additional assets, such as cosmetics that hold value for players. Michael further explained how the Big Time team is integrating its economy, beginning with the in-game crafting system that leverages the newly launched $BIGTIME token.
The following excerpt features Fitch discussing Parallel's exploration of the use of AR to combine the tangibility of games like Magic: The Gathering with the accessibility of games like Hearthstone in both physical and digital mediums. Giulio then elaborates on Pixelmon's strategy to stand out in the monster collecting game genre by targeting the 18-35 age demographic. He also outlines how the team is designing the game to strategically incorporate burnable NFTs that will apply skills, abilities and cosmetics to Pixelmon to keep the meta fresh.
Listen to the full recording on X.
YGG Spaces: Discover the Future of Gaming ft. Big Time, Parallel, Pixelmon and Economics Design
Sedano (45:58): Being a trading card game (TCG), you also have the opportunity now to be able to cross over into digital, like Magic: The Gathering, one of the biggest TCGs, is essentially a physical card game, but the demand for it to be played online has grown over the past few years. So from Parallel’s end, what are you guys looking forward to in building out Parallel and crossing over physical and digital cards?
Fitch (46:42): There's a couple of things that we're looking to do with the crossover. It is a primarily digital play experience, but we are working on physical cards as well as ways to connect the physical and digital experiences together. I think there's a lot of interesting opportunities there. One of the other things that we've experimented with is AR playable versions of the game. And what that might look like, if you're playing with flat cards on a field — what if actual 3D figurines pop out of those? So we're a company that likes to explore pretty actively and try new things. And we always put disclaimers that, “Hey, these things aren't necessarily going to be made into real life,” but that's our approach to it.
I think COVID really accelerated the shift from physical play formats to digital play formats. I can imagine how frustrating it would have been to be a physical Magic: The Gathering player during COVID, where you can't play, you can't go and meet your friends. However, if you played Hearthstone, you probably saw more players coming in at that time because everybody was stuck online. And so I think there's a bit of a shift, just categorically, between those two different worlds that's happened lately. And the versatility of the digital play format too — Magic: The Gathering, from a game design perspective, has to really think about card design in a way that's much more baked in, because cards go out and then they are out there, versus digital cards can have their power levels shift in a much more dynamic way.
So, yeah, there are a lot of different things between physical and digital TCGs, not only industry-wide trends and the differences between the two formats overall, but [also] opportunities for the two formats to link up. And web3 forms a really interesting possible bridge to connect those two things together.
Sedano (49:42): For Pixelmon, I think it might be a bit challenging for you guys to try to elevate what Pokémon-like games are, but I've heard and have seen a bunch of podcasts and videos on your unique NFT leveling-up and collection system. Could you tell us more about that?
Giulio (50:10): I think, yes, it's hard to beat the leading monster collecting IP out. Most of us have grown up with it, so it certainly is established. And I think to aim to dethrone it would mean aiming for $100 billion in revenue in the next five or six years. And as ambitious as we are, we're not there yet. And what we really do at Pixelmon is we think of ourselves at a comprehensive and IP level. We think that, ultimately, monster collecting — yes, it's a game in general, but it has to be a strong IP first to be able to hold the player in that loop.
One thing that we realized is that in the monster collecting space, there's a very strong and established player in the 6-16 demographic. But there aren't established players in the 18-35 demographic. So I think the first differentiator is that we do position ourselves towards an older age group. This might not be evident from our Evolution 1 creatures, but as you go to Evolution 2, 3 and 4, that really changes and becomes more like a dragon out of “Game of Thrones” than a dragon out of Pokémon.
Giulio (52:23): Our point of view is that, ultimately, we've got 214 creature species. But as a trainer, you develop them, you are able to branch each species across different skills, passive and active skill sets, as well as aesthetic and cosmetic layers. In the game, if you want to play and activate web3 features. You essentially think of a creature as an NFT. And then think of skills, abilities, and cosmetics as burnable NFTs that you burn against your creature, and specific skill sets to branch them so as to differentiate them. And once burned, they are inscribed on the creature. They can be overwritten, but they can't be separated anymore, which creates a clear sink already within the game for one entire category of NFTs.
You can listen to the full recording on X.
Discover the future of gaming and explore the latest web3 games at W3GS in Manila on November 18-25, 2023. Visit the official website to grab your tickets: https://ygg.events
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