What's Your Gam3? 10th Sept

Welcome

Welcome to What’s Your Gam3? My aim with everything I do is to introduce you to new games! This is my first issue, if you have any feedback I would be really happy to hear it! Now, let’s see what has happened this week.

What's Your Gam3? Ep. 56

This week on What’s Your Gam3? I spoke to two new projects. Stargarden and Degen Royale. You can hear the full episode on YouTube! 

This space was sponsored by Stargarden.

Stargarden

The game was introduced by Cedric the Founder and CEO. He described Stargarden as a social gaming platform set on a floating island where players build tribes and engage in various games, with the first game being a strategic auto-battler. The auto-battler game in Stargarden involves crafting creatures, and equipment, and battling with/against friends or AI opponents.

I quizzed him about the importance of the interactive lobby in Stargarden, which allows players to explore the world and not just select matches from a flat lobby. Cedric emphasizes the value of building meaningful relationships within the game, as people or groups personalized their islands.

Continuing the social aspect Cedric told us about Stargarden offering various game modes, including single-player and team-based modes. With the goal of catering to both players who prefer solo gaming and those who enjoy playing with friends.

He also let us in on the upcoming features that allow players to customize and build their Star Gardens with friends. Procedural content generation and AI-driven world-building tools will enable players to create unique environments.

Whilst some players have been lucky enough to play an early build Cedric mentioned that they are still working on design decisions and will keep the community posted on playtest opportunities via their Twitter account.

Degen Royale

Fielding the questions for Degen Royale was Kevin, the co-founder and CEO of Degen Royale. He started by highlighting their key aim to bring Web 2 and Web 3 brand communities into their gaming universe.

Degen Royale offers high-energy casual battle games with different game modes, fun characters, crazy weapons, and rewarding quest campaigns. The first battle game they launched is a third-person shooter, with plans to introduce non-shooter battle games to expand their player base. Degen Royale introduces a progression system where players earn XP as they participate in battles, unlock rewards, and upgrade their characters and items. The game regularly releases new content, such as maps, loot boxes, characters, weapons, and game modes, to keep players engaged.

He described how art style aims to be vibrant and inclusive, combining various character styles to cater to different communities. With the goal to create a space where communities with diverse styles can come together and engage. Work has already started on this with Degen Royale incorporating Web3 and NFTs into the game, allowing players to use NFT characters and assets. Currently, there are over 60 NFT communities from the Web3 space that have been onboarded, with 3D avatars created for most of them. Including seals with hands…

However he was clear that it isn’t just about Web3 communities, Degen Royale collaborates with various Web2 and Web3 brands and communities, promoting inclusivity. They work with partners like Benfica, a top Portuguese football club, to launch avatar collections and in-game items for their fans.

The game is available on Steam, allowing players to download and start playing. Players can stay updated on Degen Royale through their Twitter.

Gam3 Changers

I had a busy web0 life this week with children starting school, so sadly had to postpone my interview for the week. However you can catch up on 20 great builders live on Spotify, Amazon Music, and iTunes.

What I Played!

You can join me live as I play new games on Twitch! Alternatively, you’ll find edited versions of my playthroughs on my YouTube channel. [Don’t forget to follow and subscribe].

Medieval Empires

Medieval Empires is a mixture of the Age of Empires and Travian. The aim is to build your town and army, and conquer new lands, and defeat enemies.

+ Looks very good.
+ Has pretty deep and intertwined Tech trees.
+ Even at this early stage has plenty of content to engage with.
+ Has various leaderboards to engage your competitive side.

- At risk of pay-to-win features.
- Some timers can put a halt to an “active” play session.
- Battlers are automatic, I’d like to see some Total War style battles added.

The game is currently in closed testing, but if you want to play make sure to follow their Twitter to keep up to date.

Castle Black Water

A social deduction game set in a castle (obviously), with added gameplay elements to set them apart from others in the genre.

+ The art is stunning and very engaging.
+ The added mini-games are varied and give you plenty to do whilst trying to work out who is the Satanic.
+ Each player has their own skills, which adds to replayability and variety.

- Dying sucks, if you go out early you have nothing to do really.
- A lot more to get to grips with than others in the genre.
- Sometimes “direction” is unclear.

The game is currently invite only, but you might be able to sneak into a community night so follow their Twitter.

Midnight Heist

In Midnight Heist you have to set up your own vault and defend it with combinations of heroes and equipment that are randomly selected for your inventory. You then use the same inventory to rob other players’ vaults.

+ Love the idea, reminds me of a game called Castle Doctrine I sunk hours into
+ The battle replays are engaging and help determine better strategies
+ Lots of variety in characters and equipment, allowing for a lot of different plans.

- Fully on-chain was a pain, I had several transactions hang, and even in an hour of play I spent $1, which could get expensive quickly.
- Some of the games felt a little hard to navigate.
- Sometimes a delay between planning your heist and the transaction going through meant the vault was already gone.

Currently invite-only, you can stay up to date by following their Twitter!

Thoughts on the week

Creators League

If you haven’t seen the Twitter drama around the Creators League, the short version is that the company in charge “hid” that the passes were on the Blockchain. Once this was revealed several creators left the program. Whilst I could rant about several aspects of this whole thing, my main takeaway is for those projects looking to Trojan Horse Web3 to traditional gamers. Don’t do it.

We are currently seeing several Web3 games trying to scrub all mention of NFTs from their public material, with the idea of being more acceptable to traditional gamers. This won’t work. If people don’t like Web3, finding it out later isn’t going to be a nice surprise. The method projects should take is, a) don’t make web3 your number USP, b) Still mention it though, and be clear of the benefits for both the players and the studio. Letting players make an informed decision will have a much better result.

GAM3gg

In the same week, we see Gam3gg double down on being open about Web3 with a rebrand and continuing to build your home for Web3 gaming. I’ve sung their praises on Twitter, so I won’t do it again in case they get too big-headed. They also managed to raise $2million. Congratulations to my friends over there.

Follow them on Twitter, and you can also check out my latest review on their platform, CyberTitans.

Moonlit Games Giveaway

Lastly this week I will be hosting a giveaway for Moonlit Games, I’ll be using superfine to reduce the bot entries. https://moonlitgames.superfine.org/gaspode

Thanks for making it to the end, that is all the new games for this week. Do you know any you’d want to hear more about? Let me know.

Remember to tell your friends about What’s Your Gam3? Otherwise, they’ll hate you for letting them miss out on all the new games.

Remember to play games you enjoy!