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Arrow Markets is revolutionizing options trading by harnessing the power of Avalanche’s infrastructure. Their innovative approach combines the efficiency of centralized platforms with the transparency of blockchain technology, offering the most cost-effective and streamlined trading experience in the Web3 space. Unlike traditional platforms that require intermediaries, Arrow Markets operates on-chain, eliminating middlemen and passing the savings onto its users and liquidity providers – a significant advantage in an industry where yearly profits run into billions.

Arrow Markets has placed a deep focus on building a highly intuitive platform which is accessible to all options traders. Its user-friendly options trading tools empowers users to design custom strategies aligned with their market outlook, whether for speculation or hedging purposes. For sophisticated options traders, Arrow offers a state of the art platform with the most innovative tools, designed to enhance their trading efficiency.

Arrow Markets allows users to buy and sell options directly, without the need for a middleman, on popular assets like AVAX, ETH, and BTC. It offers a broad range of possibilities for creating financial products on top of Arrow Markets – from covered calls and variance swaps to different types of options spreads. These can all be constructed through Arrow’s flexible and composable architecture.

Arrow Markets is currently gearing up for its V2 launch on Mainnet, which will introduce game-changing features designed to provide users with the best possible pricing and liquidity. This update underscores Arrow’s commitment to fulfilling the pressing demand for a superior options trading platform in the DeFi ecosystem and to further enhancing the range of financial instruments available. Options play a key role in limiting risk, and Arrow is at the forefront of expanding these essential tools that will shape the future of DeFi.

By choosing to build on Avalanche, Arrow guarantees high throughput, near-instant finality, minimal transaction fees, and resistance to front-running, positioning Arrow to lead the next generation of decentralized derivatives markets.

Arrow V2: Innovation Meets Accessibility

As part of its upcoming V2, Arrow Markets is introducing a pioneering RFE (Request-for-Execution) system that provides options traders with the best prices. This system leverages an incentive model for market makers and an API that seamlessly delivers quotes on a wide range of underlying assets. With its RFQ product, Arrow positions itself as a go-to solution for retail traders by offering the most competitive prices and a refined user experience that rivals the efficiency of centralized exchanges.

Through Arrow’s KPI-driven incentive program, its RFQ system enables multiple market makers to compete for order flow. This competition ensures that users are provided with the most competitive prices. Additionally, Arrow’s focus on accessibility means that the platform includes educational resources and a vibrant social community, further enriched by trading competitions and web3 social campaigns. Its dedication to democratizing these powerful financial tools transforms Arrow Markets into a hub for innovation and collaboration, setting new standards in the DeFi industry.

ARROW Token Utility

The platform is powered by the ARROW token, which, when staked, grants users several benefits:

• By staking ARROW, users receive a share of the fees generated from every options trade. These fees are distributed in USDC.
• The amount of ARROW staked, along with the duration of the stake, directly influences the proportion of revenue each user is entitled to.
• In the future, ARROW may be used in the following ways:
  • Protocol governance
  • Margin and option writing insurance
  • Discounts on platform trading fees

Team

The Arrow Research Group, established in 2020 by Patrick Kiefer and Edward Mehrez, who are both trained financial economists, serves as the foundation for Arrow Markets. The core team at Arrow Markets is made up of researchers and engineers with expertise in financial economics, mathematics, and computer science.

Partners & Backers

 

“We are excited to partner with Arrow to help fuel their growth of the onchain options market. Crypto options have been historically struggled to gain widespread adoption due to capital inefficiency and illiquidity. Arrow’s hybrid exchange aims to address these issues by enabling a fast, cheap trading experience while minimizing counterparty risk. Arrow’s design will simplify the options trading experience, making it easy for retail and institutions alike to trade any options strategy onchain.”

— Roy Learner, Principal, Framework Ventures

Official Links

Website | X | Discord | Telegram | Medium | Youtube

Arrow Markets: Avalaunch IDO

Arrow Markets team on working with Avalaunch:

“Avalaunch is the premier Avalanche platform for IDOs. It’s not a mystery why either: their team is fantastic at what they do. Everything from cultivating an amazing community of superfans to assisting on the ins and outs of a successful token launch — they are top notch.”

— Co-Founders of Arrow Markets, Patrick Kiefer and Edward Mehrez

DISCLAIMER

**ARROW MARKETS AND THE $ARROW TOKEN ARE NOT AVAILABLE TO USERS IN THE UNITED STATES OR OTHER PROHIBITED JURISDICTIONS. THE BELOW IS NOT INTENDED FOR VIEW BY ANY PARTICIPANTS IN A PROHIBITED JURISDICTION** 

The article is for informational purposes only, and is not legal, tax, investment, financial, or other type of advice. Nothing contained in this article constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell securities, financial instruments, or digital assets of any kind.

This article contains information that is of a general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular person. Readers assume the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information contained in this article before making any decisions based on such information.

Supply Breakdown

Total Supply: 72,000,000 ARROW

• Staking Rewards and Community Rewards: 23.760M ARROW (33%) 
• Foundation and Treasury: 15.672M ARROW (21.7666667%)
  • Including but not limited to marketing, partnerships, operations etc.
• Founders: 10.8M ARROW (15%)
• Seed sale: 6.84M ARROW (9.5%) 1.42M USD at .2083—15M FDV
• CEX & DEX Liquidity Provision/Market Making: up to 7.2M ARROW (10%)
• Private Sale A & B: 3.768M ARROW (5.23333333%) 3.925M USD at 1.0417 USD—75M FDV
  • (Private B to provide insurance funds to protocol)
• Pre-Token Launch Sale (in progress): 1.8M ARROW (2.5%) $1.875m USD at US$1.04166667— 75m FDV
• Avalaunch: 250k USD for 720K ARROW (1%)  at .3472 USD—25M FDV
• Polkastarter: 250k USD for 720K ARROW (1%) at .3472 USD—25M FDV
• Initial Marketing: 250K USD for 720K ARROW (1%)

Vesting Following TGE

• Staking Rewards and Community Rewards: Variable over 10 yrs
  • 30-day cliff 
  • Not exceed 8% of total supply in any calendar year
  • Any tokens not distributed will be turned over to a Community DAO for Treasury Management. 
• Foundation and Treasury: Variable over 5 Years
  • 3-month cliff 
  • To be deployed in concert with expansion
  • Not to exceed 6% of total supply in any calendar year 
• Founders: 1 year lock, linear quarterly vest over 3 yrs 
• Seed sale: 1 yr lock, linear monthly vest over 1.5 yrs
• Liquidity Provision: 50% at TGE, remainder contingent upon additional listings
• Private Sale A: 2 yr lock, linear monthly vest over 1 yr
• Private Sale B: 1 yr lock, linear monthly vest over 1 yr
• Pre-Token Launch Sale: 1yr lock, 6 month vest
• Avalaunch/Polkastarter: 25% unlocked at TGE, weekly vesting beginning immediately over 4 months (16 weekly unlocks with 4.6875% released each week)
• Initial Marketing: Monthly linear vest over 180 days

ℹ️ Please note: The TGE for ARROW will occur shortly after the sale concludes. Stay tuned for further updates from the Arrow Markets team regarding the finalized plans for CEX listing and the confirmed date for the TGE.

Other Info

• Initial Circulating Supply (excl. liquidity): 1.44M ARROW (+180k ARROW initial marketing)
• Initial Liquidity: Minimum 750K USD and 2.16M ARROW
• Avalaunch IDO: 250K USD at 25M FDV

Arrow Markets IDO Schedule

Registration Schedule

Registration Opens: Thursday, May 2 at 3:00 p.m. (UTC)
Registration Closes: Thursday, May 9 at 6:00 p.m. (UTC)

Sale Schedule

Validator Round Begins: Saturday, May 11 at 6:00 a.m. (UTC)
Validator Round Closes: Saturday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m. (UTC)

Staking Round Begins: Saturday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m. (UTC)
Staking Round Closes: Sunday, May 12 at 6:00 a.m. (UTC)

Booster Round Begins: Sunday, May 12 at 6:00 a.m. (UTC)
Booster Round Closes: Sunday, May 12 at 10:30 a.m. (UTC)

How to Participate

To participate in Avalaunch sales, users will have to:

• Complete their KYC Registration | Tutorial
• Stake XAVA to secure their allocation | Tutorial
• Register for the sale when Registration opens | Tutorial

About Arrow Markets

Arrow Markets (v2) is a Request-for-Execution (RFE) system that leverages an incentive system for market makers and an API that enables them to seamlessly provide quotes for option contracts on a rich set of underliers.

Arrow is the go-to solution for retail options traders. It offers competitive prices, a polished product that rivals centralized exchanges, complete with an educational section and social community.

About Avalaunch

Avalaunch is a launchpad powered by the Avalanche platform, allowing new and innovative projects to seamlessly prepare for launch with an emphasis on fair and broad distribution. With its values deeply rooted in the early Avalanche community, we are able to offer projects confident, informed users who are aligned with the long-term goals of the rapidly expanding application ecosystem. Leveraging Avalanche’s scalable, high-throughput, and low-latency platform, Avalaunch is built by users, for teams, to help grow strong communities.

On 3/21/2024 at 7:00 p.m. (UTC), an AMA session was held on Avalaunch Telegram group with Jojo Meylaerts — Co-founder & CEO of Castle of Blackwater, to dive into one of the most highly-anticipated social experiences in Web3 gaming.

Below you can read our insightful AMA with Castle of Blackwater:

Avalaunch

Welcome to another AMA brought to you by the good people of Avalaunch, your home for all the Avalanche. Today we are fortunate to have the founder of Castle of Blackwater, JoJo, ready to drop science and share knowledge for our rambunctious one-love community.

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater
Hello hello!

Thanks for having me on 🙂

Avalaunch
How are you doing today Jojo?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater
Doing very well! It’s been exceptionally busy recently, but times are exciting

How about you Kirbee, how’s your day been?

Avalaunch
Excited for this AMA! Yes sounds like you guys have been extremely busy. Let’s dive in with our first question!

Can you give us a brief intro of yourself and how you ended up building Castle of Blackwater?

Jojo | Casttle of Blackwater

Of course

My name is Jojo and I am the cofounder and CEO of Castle of Blackwater. I have a background in economics, business and entrepreneurship, and also spent a few years working as a technology recruiter, where I learned to find the right people and bring them together around a centralized vision.

My cofounder, Remo, is a close friend of mine. We started Castle of Blackwater together in late 2021, out of a frustration with the play to earn games at the time. We were convinced that blockchain games needed to be more fun and more sustainable in order to become mainstream accepted.

Avalaunch

Wow a smart team and great that you’ve been able to go on this journey with your close friend! Love to hear that. Could you tell us more about the rest of the team behind CoB?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

What started out as a two man team, quickly blossomed into a thriving operation currently consisting of 15 hard working individuals. Besides my cofounder, who is an expert in UX/UI and complex mobile/app development, we now also have an experienced team of game developers, marketing support and blockchain knowledge in house as well. Our entire art production also happens in house with our own sound director, art director, artist and animator.

Everyone on our team is fully doxed, and you’ll be able to find their full names and faces in our whitepaper. Over the years, our team has grown to be incredibly close. We are all super passionate about the project and we really love spending time and working on this together.

Avalaunch

We can tell how much fun you are having building this game! It’s great to see. Can you give our audience an overview of the CoB gameplay? Especially for those who may not be familiar with the social deduction genre.

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Sure thing! It’ll be a long one tho

So Castle of Blackwater is a social deduction game. For those of you who haven’t heard of that genre, you’ve probably heard of the game Among Us, for example, which was a strong inspiration for what we’re trying to create. However, after playing countless hours of among us, we really thought that it was lacking replayability and strategic complexity, and those are exactly the things that we’ve been trying to add back into the unique gameplay that we have today.

Castle of Blackwater is played with 7 to 15 players, in an online multiplayer environment. When the game starts, each player is given a unique character with a unique set of abilities which define its playstyle. Your character will belong to one of three factions, the Protectors, The Satanic, or The Forgotten.

The Protectors are the good guys, they are the majority of players and they have no idea who the other Protectors are. Their objective in the game is to run around the castle, completing tasks which are like mini games and filling up an XP bar in order to escape.

To prevent the protectors from escaping, you have the satanic players in the minority. The Satanic players will know of each other, and will be able — and are expected to — work together. They will walk around the castle pretending to do tasks, but secretly there will be eliminating the other protectors and trying to get away with the murders. If the Satanic are able to eliminate all of the other Protectors, they win the game.

And finally we have the Forgotten, and they are like a chaotic, neutral kind of role. The Forgotten players can win or lose independently of the game being played between the protectors and the satanic. They usually have an individualistic win objective and their goal is to spread chaos and confusion and slip between the cracks.

Beyond this, there are many more rules and mechanics and structure in the game that really add to the excitement and strategic depths, and they’ll keep you coming back for more. However, if you want a deeper insight into all of the mechanics that we have available, you should check out this youtube video or read our wiki.

Tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8HZx3gCjVw&t

Wiki: https://docs.castleofblackwater.com/game-wiki/introduction

Avalaunch

Awesome, sounds like a very immersive experience indeed. With lots of unexpected twists… 😈 What specific aspects of Web3 have enhanced the CoB player experience? What is the most important thing for you when integrating these features?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

We are firm believers that Web3 features should enhance gameplay, not replace it. One area in which we are creatively using Web3 technologies is in the form of our cosmetic NFTS. Currently available on Sphere Marketplace, our cosmetic NFTS all get given a fixed supply whenever they get introduced into the ecosystem. This means that whenever we sell a collection of a certain cosmetic, whoever buys that cosmetic will know that no new NFT’s will ever be minted again, allowing them to lightly speculate on whether any specific cosmetic might appreciate in value over time due to increased demand and legacy status for example.

Furthermore, by offering early player incentives, such as in the form of the current Play to AirDrop campaign, we have been able to grow our early userbase and stress test our current beta build in ways that otherwise would have been very difficult for us to achieve the same amount of player liquidity, without a very large marketing spend. At the same time, we’ve been able to reward our most early fans and supporters, the people who have been with us since the early days, constantly helping us shape the game and making it become the amazing product that we have before us today.

Finally, and I do want to keep this a little bit high level, we have a very unique and innovative web3 game economy that we are pioneering in the space, that we think will go a long way towards solving the economical sustainability issues of the Plato earned movement.

Read more: https://docs.castleofblackwater.com/game-economy/introduction

Avalaunch

Thanks Jojo, you’ve certainly put a great deal of thought in the design. And it’s clear that the CoB community is really strong! Social deduction games are very popular, what is your approach in bringing over traditional players to Web3? How are you ensuring that they can be onboarded in the most seamless way?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

So we are firm believers of not trying to force anyone into the Web3 movement. It has to be a choice. We’re also fully aware that the current sentiment among mainstream gamers about Web3 games is far from positive.

Therefore, we’ve decided to create 2 versions of Castle of Blackwater, a casual Web2 game as well as a ranked/competitive web3 game.

The casual version of Castle of Blackwater will be just like any other free to play game with microtransactions and off-chain cosmetics. This version will have no issues launching on Steam on mobile, it’ll be super accessible and it will serve as our main user acquisition vehicle.

Then, for people who really enjoy the gameplay experience and want to take it to a deeper level, we will offer a Web 3 version of the same game in the form of a competitive setting. In this version, users will need an NFT in order to play, thus increasing the barrier to entry and gatekeeping a certain level of commitment and quality of play. This version will also have the on chain cosmetics as well as the intricate Web 3 gaming economy where incentivized play will be possible.

We’ll never force users to play one or the other. However, we will constantly try to gently nudge and incentivize our Web 2 user base to evolve into the Web 3 by showing them the benefits that they can claim by simply clicking and following a few steps. We’ll also make sure to use all of the wallet abstraction features that the Beam blockchain provides, and most of the players playing ranked will not even need to understand blockchain technology in order to maximise their experience.

Avalaunch

Really excited for everyone to explore the world of CoB! Love how there is something for everyone. What has been the most surprising aspect of player behavior in CoB games, considering that trust and betrayal are central to the game? Observing player decisions must be pretty fascinating.

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

It has been really fun taking something that was initially in our heads that we then put onto paper and then finally releasing it into a live environment and watching actual people play the game. It really surprised us just how wrong some of our gaming hypotheses were, and how often we’ve had to be humbled and corrected in trying to understand real player engagement with our game. The first version of the game was unnecessarily even more complicated than what it is today, and we’ve definitely benefited a lot from removing some of this complexity.

For this current beta test that is ongoing, we have found out that players are much less willing to use the voice chat features that we have created that we had initially expected. This is now leading us to once again pivot on our voice chat focus strategy and currently building new systems to allow for a more smooth text and emoji chat experience for those who don’t feel comfortable speaking on voice.

One thing that I really enjoy about our game, and something that we’re always trying to double down on, is the concept of plausible deniability. Basically, this involves giving the satanic, the evil players, as many avenues as possible to construct these intricate lies by allowing them to manipulate game mechanics to create that layer of plausibility in their narratives.

Avalaunch

So you really never know who to trust.. Also emojis are pretty powerful stuff 😈🔪 There are 3 factions a player can be put into for each game. Can you share with us about the motives and characteristics of each faction?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

I’ve already talked a little bit about the facts in general, so instead allow me to demonstrate the actual characters that belong to them in the form of explaining their abilities and play styles.

So the Protector characters are all about grinding XP and solving murders. This is really reflected in some of their abilities, which usually help them in these two manners. On the one hand, for example, you have the Lumberjack and his ability revolves around getting bonus XP and completing tasks a lot faster. Another character, the Sheriff for example, is able to passively see bloody footsteps left by the killer of any player, as well as use an active ability which will direct him to any dead bodies that may be around the castle.

On the Satanic side, you have a lot of abilities that allow you to create chaos and confusion. For example, we have the silencer and as his name suggests, he is literally able to silence another player of his choice and that player will not be able to talk in voice or in chat for the rest of the active round. This allows him to silence one of his targets and then accuse him of something, and with that player not being able to defend themselves, that’s a pretty powerful ability.

And finally, for The Forgotten, we currently only have the werewolf character. The werewolf has his individual win objective that he has to both complete some tasks and he also has to kill 1 protector and 1 satanic character. He does this by staying out in the castle at night time and letting the moonlight hit his skin, turning him into the werewolf, and at this point he can run around and go on a rampage basically.

Avalaunch

So a lot of character strategies for players to develop, exciting! Registration for the CoB IDO is now open, users can get their hands on COBE — the game’s value accrual token. You’ve put a lot of thought into creating a balanced economy, having learned from the pitfalls of P2E. Can you break down the economic model and your process on how you came to this final design?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Ooft that’s a loaded question!

Without copy pasting the entire 5,000 word manuscript of our economic thesis, I’ll try to give a high level overview. Essentially what it comes down to is finding a balance between value injectors and value extractors.

Value injectors are players who are willing to pay money to increase their enjoyment of their game experience. On the other hand, value extractors are those who play web three games with the sole objective of maximizing their returns and earning potential.

The Castle of Blackwater payout system will be based on the equilibrium that exists between these two player bases. Keeping the balance between them is a liquidity pool that is funded by the COBS token, which is our medium of exchange currency. Whenever one of the two player bases starts becoming disproportionately larger than the other, the economy will pull certain levers in order to disincentivize that player base in their economic activity. For example, by reducing game payouts or by increasing the circulating COBS token supply, we can control certain player groups behaviours, until an equilibrium is once again found.

Read more: https://fairplaycollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Using-an-AMM-to-balance-a-Web3-economy.pdf

Avalaunch

Wow that’s a lot to take in! Appreciate the insight Jojo!! Just one final question from us before we move to the community section. Which faction do you enjoy playing the most? Do you have a favorite character?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

This might surprise you, but I actually enjoy playing protectors the most. As much as people say that, I play a good Satanic, and this is mostly because I’ve played it so much and you know, over time you’ve really learned how it works, but it’s stressful.

I’m not the best liar out there and it takes a lot of energy to lie to people and especially to your friends. And I really hate that feeling of when somebody catches you in a lie and you know you have nowhere to go and that’s exhausting. Instead, I much prefer playing a protector and actually being the one to catch people. To try and, you know, put together the pieces of the puzzle. Yeah, that’s my much preferred role.

I think one of my favorite characters to play is The Vigilante. So he is a protector. He has the unique power to once per game shoot another player. However, if he accidentally tries to kill another protector, he actually ends up killing himself. So super high risk, but super high reward. And the tactic with this character is really to try to stay alive and remain until the end. And don’t shoot someone unless you are like 99% sure that the person is satanic.

Avalaunch

Very interesting! Now we move onto the the section where we’ve selected 10 community questions! First up we have @Dalila_Gough who asks — Can you explain the role of Merit Circle and the Beam gaming chain in the development of Castle of Blackwater, and how their involvement enhances the game’s potential?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Merit Circle has been one of our biggest and earliest supporters in this whole adventure. We first got in touch with them in like April 2022 and we basically pitched them the game without knowing who they really were because we were new to the space. Not only did we pitch them on the game, but we pitched them on the vision of how blockchain gaming should be a lot better than it was at the time, where the focus on fun, gameplay mechanics and sustainable economics. This concept resonated so hard with their team that they decided to incubate us and really make sure that we get to a certain level of progress.

Since then, they have financially funded us through the entire bear market, making sure that our Lean Small team was able to keep building and keep iterating on our project. And now that we have entered this new phase in the market, they have supported us in additional fundraising support from other investors and are fully supporting us on marketing, on legal, on infrastructure support. It’s absolutely unexplainable just how much support they’ve given us, and they really see us as one of their own projects.

In exchange, Castle of Blackwater is building exclusively on the Beam ecosystem and in fact we have been right there alongside them as they have conceptualized and built that ecosystem to fit the needs of us as a developer on their platform. Merit Circle really understands where Web 3 gaming needs to go and they are very focused on creating the infrastructure to support that vision, and we’ll be using it to the maximum.

Avalaunch

We’re huge fans of the Merit Circle team, they are doing so much to push the space forward 🔥 now we hear from @LittleXiaYuann — About your NFTs, Can you explain further about the utilities of these NFTs within your platform? Are they meant to be held as simple collectibles or will they have additional benefits? Also, will you have your own marketplace to sell and buy your NFTs?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Thanks for the question @LittleXiaYuann

So the purpose of Castle of Blackwater character NFTs is to allow future players to have a little bit more control over which character they get to play in the games. In the Web 3 version, by owning one of the character NFTS, you’ll be able to set a loadout and bid a certain amount of COBS tokens to increase your chances of getting to play that character in your next game. Essence. By participating in this mechanic, you become part of the Value Injector playerbase as you “pay for fun”.

Other players that may want to try one of the characters but don’t want to instantly buy one could opt to rent a character from another player. So there’s another rental marketplace spinning around that economic activity.

Next we have the cosmetic NFTS ranging from hats and backpacks all the way to a really cool death animations and pets that you can wear. These are all things that you can wear in the game on your anonymous ghost character to give yourself a sense of unique identity as your player.

Right now the collectables are all available on merit circles Sphere Marketplace, which we think is absolutely awesome by the way, many times better than Opensea. However, in the future it is possible that we integrate Sphere even deeper into the game and offer a similar experience within the game build itself.

Avalaunch

That’s great, there’s so much for players to get involved with! Now @hauzf wants to know — What are the main enhancements included in the upcoming ‘Dead Ghost Experience’ upgrade, and how do they enhance the overall gameplay experience?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

So the Ghost experience is something that we developed from the feedback that we’ve received during the alpha build last September, and it’s currently live in the beta build. It turns out that one of the biggest frustrations that players at the time had was being one of the first to die, basically. Because in many social deduction games, when you die, you end up becoming a ghost left to just spectate the game that goes on without you. You could still win the game if your team wins, therefore you don’t want to leave. But you know, just spectating just isn’t that engaging. So with this feedback in mind, we decided to start brainstorming on how we can create new mechanics that will allow dead players to still participate and engage with the alive game that’s being played. And it works like this.

As a dead player, or a dead ghost, as we call it in our game, will be able to catch souls. Souls are like a currency in Castle of Blackwater that can only be spent by dead players.

These souls allow players to buy powerful power ups in the dead ghost shop, such as writing anonymous notes to the alive players, or some of the more expensive power ups even allow you to cast votes as a dead player. This mechanic helps ensure that the dead players still play an active role in the game being played.

Avalaunch

Awesome to hear you’ve given ghosts another chance. Ghosts are people too!! 👻 kinda. So @JonieVoss asks — What sets Castle of Blackwater apart from other social deduction games in terms of gameplay mechanics, storytelling, and player immersion, and how does it aim to redefine the Web3 gaming experience?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Castle of Blackwater aims to take the best ideas from different social deduction games that exist today.

Our game has the freedom of movement and the exhilarating gameplay that among us provides, albeit with more fun and engaging mini games. And at the same time, we also have the strategic complexity, depth and replayability that games like Town of Salem and Deceit have, for example. At the same time, a large part of what makes Castle of Blackwater so special is the intricate back story and lore that lays the foundation of our gaming world. This really opens up a lot of future potential for us to explore different mediums of storytelling, perhaps through visual animated series, or through merchandising, etc…

Anyone that is interested in learning more about the back story of the Castle of Blackwater, and how this mystical structure came to be. Feel free to check out our Medium page, where most of it is written out:

https://medium.com/@Blackwater_Town

Avalaunch

Watch out Among Us, CoB is coming for you!! A question from @TradeCrypto_44 — Could you explain the role of character bidding in Castle of Blackwater and how it contributes to the game’s economy and player experience?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Touched on this a little bit in a previous question, but character bidding really allows players to gain more control over their fun perception in the game in exchange for them acting as the Value Injector role in the player base. This creates this unique balance where players looking to buy this control contribute economically and other players that are willing to relinquish this control over their fun will be able to be more financially incentivized.

Avalaunch

How does Castle Of Blackwater involve the community in project development, and how is a strong global community built? from @VictoryBuiTR

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

We have been extremely community oriented from the very beginning. In fact, I would even say that this game has not been built for the community, but with the community. There is no one secret to building a strong global community, but if there was, it would be showing up, being there, being honest and being transparent.

What really sets the Castle of Blackwater community apart in the Web 3 gaming space is that you will find members of the core team, including myself and my cofounder, active on the Discord every day, responding to tickets, talking about suggestions and feedback, and I think that really makes a difference in making the community feel heard and involved.

Avalaunch

A standout trait of an excellent team 😎 @Rebbecacamp1993 wants to know — How has the creative process behind Castle of Blackwater evolved over time, and what challenges and breakthroughs have shaped its development?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

I will say that in the beginning we were a lot more stubborn about our ideas and pushing our vision onto the players and just thinking they would understand what we were trying to do.

However, over time, as we started hearing feedback and realizing just how many of our game hypotheses were not actually correct, we’ve really adapted to allow ourselves to be more open minded and upfront about what we were thinking. This in turn motivated the community to be more communicative with us, and it really became a constant game of ping pong where we were pitching ideas, the community was shooting them down and the other way around.

So that realization of building it with a community and shaping the game to their pleasure… Once we accepted that as fact, we really started improving our turnaround speed and reducing the amount of wrong turns that we made along the way.

Avalaunch

Very interesting! Onto our next question from @MEHEDIIA — What inspired the theme of Castle of Blackwater, and how has it evolved since the inception of the game?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

It was really simply just sitting down for a few hours and brainstorming ideas of what could make a great theme to build a game upon. Ever since I was young, I’ve loved storytelling. I’m a big fan of magic in any genre, so we knew that that was going to be a core theme within our game. And to add on to that, I really love the medieval era and anything to do with knights and sword fighting. So combine that with magic and you get the Castle of Blackwater.

Avalaunch

Nice! In what ways does Castle of Blackwater prioritize player enjoyment and provide opportunities for both casual and dedicated players to thrive within the game? from @VietphamV

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

I touched on this pretty extensively in a previous question, but the differentiation between the casual Web 2 experience and the ranked competitive Web 3 experience is really going to allow different types of players to enjoy different types of playing experiences.

In fact, I think one of the cool things about this approach is that some players of social deduction complain about the lack of quality in their games, often being in lobbies with children.

By creating this separate competitive environment, which requires an NFT to play, we’re kind of gating access to a more high level quality of gameplay where players will take the game more seriously because there are financial incentives potentially involved.

Avalaunch

A very thoughtful approach! Now we’re onto our final community question from @PhucNguyenu — What unique events and rewards does Castle of Blackwater offer through its Play2Airdrop Beta Campaign, and how do these initiatives aim to attract and retain players during the beta season?

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

Final one lets goo

So the main goal behind the Play2AirDrop campaign is really to attract an initial level of play liquidity. The goal being to stress test the systems that we have at scale, as well as get another huge round of feedback and improvements from a community outside of our own.

Of course, we are aware that a lot of people playing right now are doing so because of the incentives and not all of them will stay around. However, we are convinced and have been told by people coming in for these incentives that some of them are sticking around.

You’d be surprised at how many players came in looking for financial incentives but have now flipped around and bought one of our NFT’s because they’ve gotten involved in the project and they actually like the game. And I think that’s one of the interesting aspects of Web3 that is only barely being uncovered.

Avalaunch

And there’s still time to get involved with the P2A campaign! Now that’s a wrap, that was a jam-packed AMA from our friend Jojo — thanks so much for sharing your insights with the community! We learned a lot. Everyone — just under 3 more days to register for the Castle of Blackwater IDO! 📣

Thanks again Jojo, you deserve a rest now! 😀

Jojo | Castle of Blackwater

More than welcome. Thanks for having me on and listening to my rambles

If ya’ll don’t mind, I’m going to go put some ice on my fingers now 🥲

Avalaunch

Thanks Avalaunch community for tuning in. We’ll have a recap up on our blog for everyone to read tomorrow 🤩

Article Updated – 3/28/2024

Receiving your COBE

For the Castle of Blackwater IDO, participants will receive their allocation on the Beam Subnet via airdrop directly to their IDO participation wallet.

All IDO participants have been airdropped BEAM on the C-Chain as well for transacting on the subnet. Please note, this BEAM must be bridged over to Beam using the Beam Bridge.

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Important TGE Information

The first portion of your allocated COBE will be airdropped on the Beam Subnet on March 29, 2024 at 15:10 (UTC). The CEX and DEX trading will begin at 15:00 (UTC), 10 minutes prior to the airdrop.

Please allow the team this 10 minute grace period to make sure their contracts designed to combat bots and sniping are working correctly.

All IDO participants across all platforms (Avalaunch, Seedify, NeoLaunch), as well as any private investors, will receive their tokens at the same time: 15:10 (UTC). 

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COBE Liquidity

The CoB Team will be providing:

• $250K of COBE and $250K of BEAM liquidity on Beam Swap
• $250K of COBE and $250K of ETH liquidity on Uniswap (Ethereum)

Please note that the liquidity on Ethereum will be provided before the liquidity on Beam. Both pool should be open within 2 hours of each other. Therefore, if you wish to trade the COBE token immediately, it is recommended the you bridge your COBE from Beam to Ethereum using the Beam Bridge, and trade on Uniswap or one of the CEXs listing the COBE token.

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Beam Airdrop

To transact on Beam, users will need BEAM – the native gas token.

Again, All IDO participants have been airdropped BEAM on the C-Chain. Please note, this BEAM must be bridged over to Beam using the Beam Bridge.

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COBE Vesting

For participants in the Avalaunch IDO, their allocated COBE tokens will be distributed directly to their wallets on a weekly basis during the vesting period. No action is required from the users’ side.

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Connecting to Beam

Follow this simple guide on adding the Beam network to your wallet (ie. Metamask or any other EVM-compatible wallet).

ℹ️Here you will find a one-click setup to add Beam to your wallet.

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Summary

1. Avalaunch IDO Participants will be sent their initial COBE allocation (in accordance to the vesting schedule) at the time of TGE. This will take place on the Beam network.
2. Your IDO participation wallet has been airdropped 5 BEAM on the Avalanche C-Chain. You must bridge this to the Beam subnet to use the swap and Bridge you COBE to Ethereum.
3. Go to Beam Swap to trade your COBE (Beam network will automatically be added when connecting your wallet). Users can also bridge their COBE over to Ethereum with Beam Bridge to trade on Uniswap or a CEX.

We have made sure that the process is as easy and secure as possible for Avalaunch IDO participants. If you encounter any issues or have questions, please join our Avalaunch Telegram group and our support team is always ready to assist.

Castle of Blackwater is a thrilling social deduction game on Beam, merging a mysterious world of trust and betrayal, with powerful Web3 features that rewards players for their skill and engagement. It elevates the social deduction genre by intertwining innovative gameplay with an ownership-driven social experience, allowing players to deeply engage and form a passionate community around the intrigue and magic of Blackwater Town.

Trust or Treachery: The Battle Within Blackwater Castle

Set in the perilous confines of Blackwater Castle, up to 15 players are cast into one of three distinct factions, each offering unique play styles and strategies for victory. Players must navigate alliances and deception in a high-stakes battle between good and evil, with only one side emerging victorious.

Each containing a set of diverse characters, the factions are:

• The Protectors: Emblematic of teamwork, compassion, and trust, this faction embodies the forces of good. Their goal is to collaboratively complete tasks assigned by the castle.
• The Satanic: A group of malevolent scholars intent on overthrowing and ruling through sabotage and blood sacrifice. Their tactics revolve around gaining the castle’s favor by deceiving the other factions.
• The Forgotten: These are the most selfish individuals of the party, made up of scholars on the brink of madness due to information overload, losing loved ones to the castle or social alienation. They navigate the game by manipulating both allies and enemies, embodying a wildcard element in the gameplay.

In Castle of Blackwater, players must leverage their faction’s strengths and exploit their opponents’ weaknesses, using deduction and strategy to survive and escape with their lives intact.

The game progresses through a series of recurring cycles, made up of a day cycle, a night cycle, and a voting round. During the day, players must choose from an endless list of tasks, presenting an extensive array of challenges. As nightfall envelopes the castle, shadows lengthen and darkness creeps into every corner, rendering visibility almost nonexistent. In this veil of obscurity, the castle becomes a Satanic playground, allowing for unseen forces to eliminate victims with chilling precision. Finally, in the voting round, accusations fly and fates are sealed. Those deemed guilty are mercilessly executed by the castle.

Crafting the Optimal Web3 Economy

Castle of Blackwater integrates Web3 features to deepen player engagement and establish ownership over in-game items and the economy, to allow for aligned incentives. By leveraging Beam, Castle of Blackwater provides a frictionless introduction to these Web3 features for fans of the social deduction genre.

The game represents an evolution of the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model that has significantly impacted Web3 gaming. It aims to develop a sustainable economy across diverse game modes to appeal to all players, whether they are just playing for fun or wish to maximize their earnings. By offering both casual and ranked modes, Castle of Blackwater is able to cater to a wide spectrum of player types. Each game mode is designed with its own economic framework and balancing mechanisms, to ensure that Castle of Blackwater can accommodate player growth whilst maintaining a healthy economy.

For competitive players, ranked mode introduces a dual-token system, consisting of the COBS utility token and COBE, the value accrual token. This intricately designed Web3 economy carefully balances value creation and extraction, strategically finding an equilibrium between the two.

By separating the two tokens, Castle of Blackwater is able to implement specialized balancing mechanisms to ensure the game’s scalability and sustainability. This approach also aligns players more closely with the game’s growth and differentiates speculative activities from genuine in-game utility. Castle of Blackwater’s deep focus on its rewards and utility system showcases their pioneering efforts in establishing a sustainable economic model for Web3 games to flourish.

COBE Utility

• Earned through official tournaments and community events – players are rewarded for their skill, with increasing incentives for high-skilled players. This approach fosters long-lasting player relationships and ensures rewards cannot be farmed.
• Buying premium assets such as ranked characters and cosmetics.
• Buying future exclusive land plots and living spaces in Blackwater Town.
• Governance voting rights on topics such as product development priorities and the allocation of COBE collected from marketplace sales.

Team

Partners & Backers

“Remo and Jojo are entrepreneurs pur-sang. I haven’t met many people who can get so much done with such limited resources. They have domain expertise in so many areas due to sheer willpower and the ability to pick up new skills very quickly.

It’s incredible how much passion they have for this project and for the game they are building. I am confident they will grind for as long as its needed to make this a success.

They have also built a great team around them in the past year. Displaying both good leadership and management skills. In part because the resources were initially limited, they positively selected people who have a passion for the project & game itself, without sacrificing skill or competence.

Rarely do we see teams with the web3 know-how and the actual game-building know-how combined across the team. CoB has this. They have already proven they can harness web3 elements successfully and foster a web3 community. While they are now also proving they can build a comprehensive game and integrate the two worlds into each other.

Social deduction is an underserved genre in our opinion, one that can be very suited for web3 mechanics.

At Merit Circle we are very excited to have entered into a very close partnership with CoB. We have big expectations for the project and we will do our part in making it a success.”

— Tommy Quite, Merit Circle

Official Links

Website | Game | Twitter | Discord | Youtube

Castle of Blackwater: Avalaunch IDO

Castle of Blackwater team on working with Avalaunch:

“Since our very first meeting, the Avalaunch team have been nothing but professional, supportive and friendly. Their understanding of the AVAX ecosystem, and how to run a successful IDO campaign, is both admirable and reassuring. We look forward to our continued collaboration.”

Funding Numbers

• Seed Round – 750K USD – 10M COBE at 0.075 USD
• Strategic Round – 1M USD – 10M COBE at 0.1 USD
• Private Round – 600K USD – 4M COBE at 0.15 USD
• Public Round* – 1.3M USD – 6.5M COBE at 0.2 USD

Total Raise: 3.65M USD

*Avalaunch IDO – 400K USD  - 2M COBE at 0.2 USD per token

Supply Breakdown

Total Supply: 100,000,000 (COBE)

• Community Initial Distribution: 1M COBE (1%)
• Creator/Builder Fund: 5M COBE (5%)
• Tournaments: 5M COBE (5%)
• Marketing: 5M COBE (5%)
• Player incentives/rewards: 16.5M COBE (16.5%)
• Treasury: 10M COBE (10%)
• Team: 15M COBE (15%)
• Advisors: 5M COBE (5%)
• Seed Round (Incubation): 10M COBE (10%)
• Strategic Round: 10M COBE (10%)
• Private Round (Holders): 4M COBE (4%)
• Public Round: 6.5M COBE (6.5%)
• Liquidity: 7M COBE (7%)

Note: COBE tokens allocated for the Creator/Builder Fund, Tournaments, Marketing, Player Incentives and the Treasury will not necessarily be brought into circulation at once when they reach their respective unlocks, as these tokens will only be utilized to benefit the game when relevant.

Vesting Following TGE

• Community Initial Distribution: 100% unlocked at TGE
• Creator/Builder fund: 12 months cliff, 12 months linear vesting
• Tournaments: 12 months cliff, 24 months linear vesting
• Marketing: 36 months linear vesting
• Player incentives/rewards: 60 months exponential vesting increasing with 1.6% monthly until fully vested
• Treasury: 12 months cliff, 36 months linear vesting
• Team: 12 months cliff, 36 months linear vesting
• Advisors: 12 months cliff, 36 months linear vesting
• Seed Round (Incubation): 6% unlocked at TGE, 6 months cliff, 20 months linear vesting
• Strategic Round: 8% unlocked at TGE, 6 months cliff, 18 months linear vesting
• Private Round (Holders): 15% unlocked at TGE, 4 months cliff, 8 months linear vesting
• Public Round: 20% unlocked at TGE, 1 month cliff, 7 months linear vesting
• Liquidity: 50% unlocked at TGE, 6 months cliff, 4 months linear vesting

Other Info

• Initial Liquidity: 200K USD and COBE
• Initial Circulating Supply: 4.30%
• Initial Market Cap: $860,000 (excluding liquidity)
• Avalaunch IDO: 400K USD  - 2M COBE at 0.2 USD per token

Castle of Blackwater IDO Schedule

Registration Schedule

Registration Opens: Tuesday, March 19 at 3:00 p.m. (UTC)
Registration Closes: Sunday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m. (UTC)

Sale Schedule

Validator Round Begins: Tuesday, March 26 at 6:00 a.m. (UTC)
Validator Round Closes: Tuesday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m. (UTC)

Staking Round Begins: Tuesday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m. (UTC)
Staking Round Closes: Wednesday, March 27 at 6:00 a.m. (UTC)

Booster Round Begins: Wednesday, March 27 at 6:00 a.m. (UTC)
Booster Round Closes: Wednesday, March 27 at 10:30 a.m. (UTC)

How to Participate

To participate in Avalaunch sales, users will have to:

• Complete their KYC Registration | Tutorial
• Stake XAVA to secure their allocation | Tutorial
• Register for the sale when Registration opens | Tutorial

About Castle of Blackwater

At its core, Castle of Blackwater is a next-generation social deduction game, where players are caught in a magical castle of mystery and deception. With its thrillingly suspenseful gameplay, and innovative blockchain-powered game economics, Castle of Blackwater seeks to prove how web3 technologies can best be applied in the world of social gaming.

About Avalaunch

Avalaunch is a launchpad powered by the Avalanche platform, allowing new and innovative projects to seamlessly prepare for launch with an emphasis on fair and broad distribution. With its values deeply rooted in the early Avalanche community, we are able to offer projects confident, informed users who are aligned with the long-term goals of the rapidly expanding application ecosystem. Leveraging Avalanche’s scalable, high-throughput, and low-latency platform, Avalaunch is built by users, for teams, to help grow strong communities.

With March underway, we are excited to present the next 2 upcoming IDOs on Avalaunch! Our commitment lies in introducing the highest quality projects to the Avalaunch community — projects at the forefront of innovation and creativity within the Web3 space. These upcoming IDOs represent some of the best work being done across DeFi and Web3 gaming in the Avalanche ecosystem and we are thrilled to be able to share them with our community.

Castle of Blackwater

Castle of Blackwater is building one of the most high-anticipated games in the Beam ecosystem. This enchanting social deduction game blends traditional gameplay with powerful Web3 features, fostering a community-driven social experience where players have true ownership of their in-game assets.

In a thrilling game of trust and betrayal, players will find themselves trapped in a perilous castle, filled with danger and deception. You have one mission – do anything in your power to make it out alive. Whether this requires you to form strategic alliances or deceive your friends – you must prioritize your own survival above all else.

Focused on creating a sustainable economy, Castle of Blackwater caters to a wide range of players. Whether engaging casually for entertainment or aiming to optimize earnings, the game’s meticulously designed economy ensures balance and inclusivity. Castle of Blackwater is playing an instrumental role in advancing the Web3 gaming movement, delving into the economic models initiated by the play-to-earn concept. Being deeply committed to sharing its success with a dedicated player base, this is an opportunity to be part of one of the most exciting games coming to market.

Are you prepared to navigate the treachery, deceit and secret alliances that lie deep within the castle’s walls?

Arrow Markets

Natively building on Avalanche since 2021, Arrow Markets is dedicated to revolutionizing the options trading market. At its core, Arrow is focused on creating a highly streamlined user experience. In doing so, Arrow Markets aims to make options trading accessible to a broad audience. It empowers users to learn and develop their own trading strategies, thus lowering the entry barrier for beginners while also catering to the sophisticated demands of professional traders.

By operating on-chain and eliminating the need for any intermediaries, Arrow is able to offer a trustless platform for options trading, ensuring that value is directly returned to its users and liquidity providers. This approach positions Arrow as the most cost-efficient platform in the industry for options trading, providing users with the best possible prices in the market. As a foundational layer in the DeFi space, Arrow paves the way for the creation of innovative derivatives and structured products.

With the upcoming launch of Arrow V2, users can look forward to experiencing the enhancements brought about by its RFQ (Request for Quote) system. Arrow Markets has chosen to deploy on Avalanche due to its high throughput, robust security and low transaction fees, aiming to explore new opportunities in options trading and further enriching the DeFi ecosystem.

IDO Dates

Castle of Blackwater

Registration: 3/19/24 – 3/24/24

IDO: 3/26/24 – 3/27/24

Arrow Markets

ℹ️ Please note that the Arrow Markets team have decided to reschedule their IDO to a date in April – we will make an official announcement when dates have been finalized.

Registration: TBD

IDO: TBD

Stay tuned for the release of full IDO details for each project, including detailed IDO schedules and funding information.

Last week, Aether Games completed their Strategic Sale on Avalaunch:

• Raised: $300,000
• Participants: 3922

The purchased wAEG has now been sent and participants of Aether Games’ sale just have to wait until the TGE (March 7) to unwrap their wAEG and unlock the full utility of their AEG tokens.

In this article, we will break down how to check your wAEG balance and the next steps for sale participants.

✅ wAEG sent
⏰ Aether Games TGE on March 7

wAEG Sent

📩 Participants who successfully registered and purchased their allocations have now been sent their purchased wAEG to the wallet used to participate in the sale.

Please note – This has taken place on the Polygon network. This is because Aether Games will be migrating to Avalanche but their token was originally minted on Polygon before determining that Avalanche is a better fit.

To check your wAEG balance,

• Simply add Polygon network to your wallet
• Import the wAEG contract address – 0xd31E99B72455dC526b56654B254EA07e3F889ed2

Adding Polygon Network to Metamask:

To add Polygon to Metamask please go here for simple instructions.

You can also manually add Polygon with the information below:

• Network Name: Polygon Mainnet
• New RPC URL: https://polygon-rpc.com
• Chain ID: 137
• Currency Symbol: MATIC
• Block Explorer URL: https://polygonscan.com

Adding wAEG as an asset:

You can visit Polygon’s Metamask guide and scroll to “Adding Assets” or follow the instructions below:

• Select Polygon Matic network
• Click “Import token”
• Paste in the wrapped AEG contract address: 0xd31E99B72455dC526b56654B254EA07e3F889ed2
• To see your wAEG balance, please visit here to see balance on the Polygon Scan explorer

This works for Metamask, Trust Wallet or any other wallet (on desktop and mobile).

Aether Games TGE

During the TGE on March 7, Aether Games will open up a dedicated Claim Portal for a hassle-free unwrapping process.

Since this will take place on Polygon and requires MATIC as a gas fee, participants have been airdropped 0.2 MATIC to streamline the unwrapping process.

In the Claim Portal, Avalaunch’s Strategic Sale participants will be able to swap their wAEG for AEG in accordance to the vesting schedule. Once your AEG is unwrapped, it will become freely traded and utilized in the Aether universe.

For any questions, please join our Avalaunch Telegram group and our support team will be ready to assist!

On Friday, January 19 at 0:00 a.m. (UTC), we hosted an AMA on the Avalaunch Telegram group with Dreadsong from the Aether Games team. We learnt about their grand vision and what sets them apart from the competition in the Web3 gaming space. This was also an opportunity for the Avalaunch to ask their questions – congratulations to those who were selected!

Below you can read our AMA session with Aether Games:

Aether Games x Avalaunch AMA

Avalaunch

Ladies and Gentlemen, esteemed guests, and passionate gamers from around the world, welcome to this exclusive and exhilarating AMA brought to you by Avalaunch. Today, we are beyond thrilled to have the unique opportunity to delve deep into the world of gaming with the brilliant minds behind Aether Games.

Today we have an esteemed part of the Aether team, @DreadsongAEG

@DreadsongAEG how are you today?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Pretty good overall

A bit awkward on the timezone though as it’s currently 1am

So hopefully I don’t do any blunders in text due to the late time on my end haha

Avalaunch

Let’s delve right in then as it’s later than is ideal. Blunders will be promptly forgiven. Can you give us a brief intro of yourself and how you became involved with Aether Games?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Absolutely

Hello everyone — Dreadsong here, BD and AMA host of AetherGames; I’ve joined the crypto space back in the bullrun of 2021, interested primarily in the tech and the overall aggressive growth of the industry. Been involved with all branches of the crypto market since then — DeFi sector, GameFi or NFTs, I’ve worked in each sector and know each of them quite well. Besides this, I have a background of having worked at EA Games and Bioware for a few years, specifically on titles like FIFA, Need for Speed and Anthem. Graduated Foreign Languages, philology branch, with a major in Slavistics and a minor in English.

As for my involvement with Aether; I have been with the company since essentially day 0. Aether launched their community back in November 2021 and I joined a day after server launch on the back of one of the communities I was a part of. Ever since then, I stayed with the company, and at this stage, have literally been with them through good and the absolute worst (this bear was a headache and a half)

Not quite brief but hey — gotta keep it spiced up

Avalaunch

Welcome Class of 2021! Always good to see survivors who have been forged in the crucible of a long bear market. Makes for more resilient teams. Appreciate the answer. Can you give our audience an overview of the vision at Aether Games and what the team has built so far?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Definitely — for starters;

To give a general introduction on what AetherGames is, we’re a Web2.5 transmedia development studio focused on gaming and entertainment. Currently, we specifically focus on blending traditional and blockchain gaming, aiming at merging fantasy narratives with blockchain technology.

As a transmedia company, we are currently engaged in two major ventures: the gaming industry which we’ve tapped into with our gaming title, Aether TCG — this being our card game which doubles down as an IP platform utilizing a Gaming as a service model, and our forthcoming endeavor in the entertainment industry with our series, the Aether Saga, which we’ve actually teased on the 14th of December, with a bit of the starting sequence from the first episode

From a team perspective, we have a team that boasts both heavy gaming AND entertainment experience, who’ve been involved in the production of a number of very popular AAA titles such as the latest 2023 Game of the Year-winning Baldur’s Gate 3, and other titles such as Hearthstone, FarCry6, God of War, Raid: Shadowlegends and plenty others

Our CGI director has also been involved in the making of 2 very popular Love, Death & Robots episodes, specifically Snow in the Desert and Beyond the Aquila Rift

Besides these, we’ve also been the Golden Reel Awards Judge since 2016, with 2023 included.

Avalaunch

This is an impressive set of resumes to be sure and web2.5 is coinable if that wasn’t you. Great work on the fundamentals which looks like it could be a great driver for the token which brings me to…

Registration for the Aether Games strategic sale is now open, users can get their hands on AEG — the token powering the Aether universe. Can you talk about the utility of AEG and what built-in mechanics you have to ensure it accrues value and can support sustainable long-term growth?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Let’s dive into the above more in-depth:

Currently, in our ecosystem, there’s🥇and ❄️

🥇is not a token but simply a game currency to purchase any asset (not NFT). This ranges from cards, pets, heroes, maps, emotes, cosmetics and campaign mode content.

It cannot be sold and is locked to your game account.

❄️ is the token and is used as a crafting material

Simply put: cards + ❄️ = NFT
This counts for any asset.
NFTs are traded and sold among each other and purchased later on through our marketplace using ❄️ as the currency, and along the way as our gas fee also.

Rewards that are given are mostly 🥇 , non-NFT assets and crafting materials (dragon tooth, demon eye etc.)

When there’s a reward we give from events it’s always in USDT or assets.

Assets that are NFT can be disenchanted later on and you receive about 40–60% back based on the rarity of the card. For example a legendary card costs $10 fixed in ❄️ to convert, but when disenchanted you get $4–6 back albeit along with valuable crafting materials.

Legendary cards sell for $100–300 so there’s very little incentive to disenchant these, allowing for many tokens to be nested inside assets, and contributing towards a higher token price.

Avalaunch

I appreciate the stable coin part as well. This is pretty robust utlity and again, having to endure that headache and a half of a bear does help with ingenuity. Can you share details for the TGE and what plans you have for liquidity?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Absolutely — TGE is currently planned for the end of February, after Chinese New Year. We’ll be listing on a Tier 1 exchange first and for a clean launch we will add liquidity on DEXs slightly after listing, in order to prevent any sort of snipers. We add more liquidity over time as the price discovers itself. However, we will not reveal the exact amount in the liquidity pool just yet, but it will obviously be a hefty amount.

Avalaunch

I could tell easily enough so we’re good. Moving on — Aether Games has some of the most talented team members from the gaming, entertainment and CGI industries. Can you share more about the team behind Aether? How does this unique blend of expertise help to set you apart from other studios?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

I covered this slightly in a previous answer, but to go further in-depth:

We have a strong founding team of 5 members, which includes the creator of Primal Carnage, an Esports celebrities manager, a Hollywood audio director, and a 6-year Unit Image CG Generalist veteran.

Essentially, what heavily sets us apart is that our in-house game development is on par with Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Riot Games. Our team encompasses CGI Hollywood-level producers, composers, and financial managers with accomplished projects for Netflix, Hulu, and HBO, that have worked on over 400 projects (games, series, movies)

Some of the previous titles worked on:
— SMITE
— Vikings: War of Clans
— Star Wars: Battlefront 2
— Hearthstone
— Raid: Shadowlegends
— Honor of Kings
— Primal Carnage (created by Aether Founding Member)
— Love, Death & Robots

Avalaunch

Appreciate the added detail and it’s good to emphasize the pedigree of this team and their work, so onto the game…The beta version of Aether’s Trading Card Game is currently live on the Epic Games Store. Could you share some details about the TCG? Additionally, what are the next steps on the Aether roadmap that the community can look forward to?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

You can look at us as essentially the Magic The Gathering of Web3 — we plan to utilize our game as a platform that houses a plethora of different IPs, with focus being set on Web2 IPs. We already have an extremely strong multi-billion dollar company signed in with us which will bring its own IP in for us to utilize in-game — this will later on be followed by other massive Web2 names.

This would cover both the game aspect and the roadmap: we are currently in talks with a multitude of entities and franchises such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Boys and are in very deep discussions with Warner Brothers, which would unlock us access to other major titles such as Mortal Kombat etc.

The above would be a pretty good vision into what our roadmap could look like over the coming months and years, with focus being on implementation of different franchises into our title and universe, and essentially, actively tapping into these massive Web2 fanbases.

Community Questions

Avalaunch

I’m sensing you’ve been asked these type of questions before 😃so let’s get a wild card into the mix and move right into the community portion of the program where things get weird and prizes are on the line.

Our friendly neighborhood @Fil936 asks — Do you plan to launch other games in addition to Aether TGC?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Yes. Our plan is to launch a second game, albeit timeline on it is TBD, and as production on it has been paused (it was in active development prior to the release of our TCG) I cannot give too many details on it. Plans were originally for it to be an AR Pokemon-GO-type game, but we scrapped that idea and are now exploring other genres for it to release under

Avalaunch

That’s exciting stuff. @BGerbera wants to know — Why did Aether Games embrace both fiat currency and cryptocurrency for in-game purchase

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Ease of accessibility for both Web2 and Web3 audiences;

FIAT currency in-game purchases make it extremely easy for the average traditional gamer to jump into the game and purchase assets at his convenience, whilst the crypto purchases are optimal for the average Web3 user

Avalaunch

It’s that web2.5 thing. I think it’s smart. Anything to make that transition seamless and garner both audiences is a must at this point. Here’s @RopLen with a 2-parter — What reasons are there to continue playing for a player accustomed to this type of game? There are several card games out there, why should he choose Aether Games?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

We believe that from a quality perspective, we stand out quite heavily in comparison to our competitors.

There’s only a very specific title in the market currently that we would consider being on par with our level of quality, but they are very different from us so I wouldn’t say they’re direct competition.

At the end of the day, many card games in the market currently have the tendency to take their own spin to the genre, making it so that players have the liberty to choose which one fits their interests the best; be it Sci-Fi, Fantasy or more modern takes on TCGs

But for a more direct answer, our tournament systems definitely bring a motivational factor into play

Avalaunch

Yeah. There’s not a lot of discernment from crypto people when it comes to assessing offerings like this and yet, it makes all the difference. This team’s experience and development to date confers a lot of advantages.

Well done. How can I trade or sell my cards or characters with other players? What platform or marketplace should I use, and what commissions or taxes apply? From @SenaidHughes

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Cards are currently tradeable through the main popular Web3 marketplaces, such as OpenSea and Magic Eden, albeit we plan to introduce our own marketplace in the near future to maximize ease of access for this feature, essentially, at current stage.

You can utilize 3rd party platforms for the trading options — but soon enough everything will be possible to be done directly through our platform.

Avalaunch

An NFT platform is a project by itself so the comprehensiveness of what you’re building is impressive. Our very own @EvissFord_BTC has a question — One major fundamental weakness for many gaming and blockchain projects is an unsustainable fee vs reward model. How unique is the revenue model of Aether Games that enables it to remain sustainable for the long term?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

We are not a P2E game.

By default, this removes the unsustainability vs reward feature from the get-go.

The player reward system comes in through more of a skill 4 earn system (not exactly an official term in the markets, more like something I coined on the go lol), and it primarily rewards users through the tokenisation of assets functionality and participation into tournaments, giving us a heavy Esports setting from very early on.

As for the revenue part — we utilize a much more traditional Web2 approach, which is partially based on in-game purchases, but also on usage of our token.

Avalaunch

The irreverent @zenobiapollard72 believes in you all and wants to know how she can become an ambassador for Aether Games? Does Aether Games have any plans for building local communities, especially in non-English-speaking countries?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

We don’t currently have an ambassador program the type Web2 games do, and this is primarily due to our early development stage — however, we do indeed plan to aggressively extend throughout different sectors of the globe, and house local communities of different localizations; even now, we house quite a large Slavic player base.

Avalaunch

Well you have a request then. There is some good visibility for you all and Avalanche wants you all on a subnet but all in due course. Do the token holders have the right to participate in the governance of Aether Games? What kind of decisions can they vote on about Aether Games? What are the benefits of holding Aether Games tokens? Question brought to you by @Concutrangxoa

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Parts of this were briefly answered on the question regarding token utility — on the other end; we do have plans to organize a potential DAO, but it is still in the works; I cannot give an exact answer to the governance question as the system isn’t yet fully polished.

Avalaunch

Fair enough. Tell us a little bit about security at Aether Games. Have you done an audit of the platform? Are the smart contracts error-free? What are the test results? This is from none other than @EzequielMarrero

Dreadsong | Aether Games

We have done multiple audits which came back with near-perfect results, showcasing the overall stability and safety of the platform

Pretty straight-forward answer here

Avalaunch

That’s always good to hear, particularly the results as so many audits have to be dragged out for myriad reasons. Coming down to the final couple of questions Sir.

Anticipation is building Will you consider to hold game tournament or interactive community events that can make Aether Games community more solid in the future? @badu_crypto

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Over the past months, we’ve held a variety of different tournaments with major cash prize pools, most of them with pools worth $10.000

We have the tendency to host one of these every few months, and we also host smaller community-gated tournaments for different guilds

So the answer is yes, and it has been a practice for a good while now, even pre game release from an in-community standpoint.

Avalaunch

That’s a good size pool for sure. You have nearly run the gauntlet and your answers have been both pithy and poignant. Much appreciated. To close the show @DreadsongAEG let’s ask something game-related from @JohnMartial1 I am so, curious to know about these 10 ADVENTURERS so, can you give detailed information about these ?

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Absolutely –

We have a range of Adventurer cards which essentially function as hero cards; each of them comes with its unique trait and interacts differently with the multiple factions available in the game

Aisha for example is a tempo-enhancing Adventurer, as she decreases the resource-cost of cards in your hand by 1

Aurelia on the other hand is the exact opposite of Aisha, instead increasing the opponent’s resource-cost of cards

Then we have Adventurers like Dona which provide healing based on the amount of unspent resource at the end of your turn

And on the opposite side, the Revenger who deals damage to your opponent’s Adventurer based on the amount of unspent resource

There’s definitely an Adventurer for everyone’s playstyle, and there’s a major difference between the playstyle of each of them.

Avalaunch

Thank you! It’s been a pleasure having you with us and this is an AMA that will make for a good read as well. We’ll have it transcribed and posted to our blog for good measure. We wish you continued success leading up to your launch and look forward to hosting the strategic sale with us. Onward and upward. 🤝

Dreadsong | Aether Games

Thank you for having me, was definitely an enjoyable AMA — I wish everyone a good night (considering it’s past midnight on my end lol) and to take care

Avalaunch

Take care and thanks again.