Kryptoria is a unique Web3 experience — a sophisticated, community-first ecosystem centred around an immersive 4X/RTS game. From the project’s inception in early 2021, we decided we would carve our own path. We will never look to follow.
In the midst of a bull run, the Kryptoria team committed to a focus on innovation, rather than hype and short-term profit. With the ensuing crypto winter and wider macro shift, this approach has meant Kryptoria is already well-placed to build and deliver for our community.
There are a number of pieces that underpin our ecosystem, differentiating Kryptoria from the market while opening up huge commercial possibilities. This article will focus on just one of them: our dynamic NFTs. Read on to find out what they are, why and how we decided to spend the time and resources implementing them, and the benefits to holders of doing so.
What are dNFTs?
Dynamic NFTs (“dNFTs” or, more dramatically, “living NFTs”) are NFTs which can be visually changed, even after mint.
Their smart contracts are programmed to adapt in response to external prompts, rather than remaining static from the moment they’re minted. In this sense, art dNFTs are much more like true digital avatars than traditional paintings. The prompts that trigger visual changes in the NFT can be anything from user commands (e.g. if you wanted to change your NFT character’s look) to an in-game or irl event. No matter the prompt, changing a dNFT will always need to be signed off by the holder — you own and control your digital assets. Always.
Why dNFTs?
Not only are dNFTs a technological innovation in and of themselves, they open up scores of new applications for NFTs. With every new use case comes the chance to apply this exciting technology to spaces from gaming to ecommerce. Kryptoria firmly believes that innovative products, delivered professionally, are key to driving mass adoption of Web3. Our dNFTs will be used to:
Open up commercial avenues between holders and businesses
Today we live in an attention economy, where brands, apps and influencers constantly compete for consumers’ curiosity. Efficiently connecting to audiences, new and old, is therefore critical to many businesses. Kryptoria’s dNFTs open up a two-way flow between holders and the wider Web2 business landscape.
Whether it be a fashion brand wanting to test demand for its new line of sunglasses or a sports team trying to bring its fans into the metaverse, Kryptoria is a platform for Web 2 companies to get low-cost exposure to Web3 communities. Not just a trait update on some NFTs, but a sophisticated community of thousands who will vote with their feet in response to drops of irl items and benefits, providing real-time feedback for minimal cost.
This system allows holders to be a part of the deals the team makes with existing business partners. As commercial relationships grow, the community, as token holders, will participate in unison.
The benefit also flows outwards to the Web2 brand’s own audience. It exposes new audiences to Kryptoria and Web3. This is therefore a three-party system of mutual benefit, providing multiple flows of activity. Holders can participate in deals (e.g. through new traits). Web2 brands can use Kryptoria as a testbed, in preparation for the billions of dollars of value creation arising within Web3. Kryptoria is exposed to new audiences, bringing new holders into our exciting ecosystem.
Futureproof for holders
dNFTs mean that your Alpha Citizen won’t just be your PFP at the time you buy it, but your digital identity, forever. As trends change, so too does your NFT. With interoperability the future of Web3, Kryptoria’s dNFTs will represent every facet of you, no matter what world or game you’re in. Just as you’d change your outfit before travelling to a colder country, you can now do the same for your NFTs, across platforms and worlds.
Enhance gameplay
Your Kryptoria NFTs are never just JPEGs. They represent true ownership of your in-game assets. One aspect of true ownership is customisation. Upgrading your Citizen’s armour won’t just be reflected visually in your NFT, but in-game as well. As we 3D model all 700+ traits across our collection, updating your NFT will immediately update your in-game character too. From a personalised look to better in-game performance, dNFTs mean enhanced gameplay all round.
Flip the gaming industry on its head
Kryptoria is using blockchain to change gaming. The traditional gaming model requires players to pay to play games, upgrade their characters, and access better weapons. All while receiving nothing for the time they spend playing. With true ownership via NFTs, the time that players (now holders) spend in Kryptoria goes towards upgrading their digital assets. Whether it be a rare visual trait you earned from a collab with a Web2 partner, or a cutting-edge weapon unlocked from reaching a certain level, your NFT is now rarer and more effective than when you first bought it.
How we made our NFTs dynamic (the simple version)
Making Kryptoria NFTs dynamic meant innovating on the existing standard in the space. Not just that, but the team has created a whole ecosystem where dNFTs are the crossroads that connect businesses, holders and our immersive game.
All Kryptoria NFTs exist on-chain (Ethereum). Their metadata, the code that dictates each NFT’s visual traits, is however held off-chain. This is done to reduce the gas fees from any dynamic updating. If all this metadata was stored on-chain, changing traits would require significantly more interaction with the Ethereum network, at a much greater cost to the holder.
Metadata for Kryptoria NFTs is held in ‘buckets’ within the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a distributed system for sharing and storing data. Every NFT’s own bucket of metadata, for ERC-721A type contracts, is expressed in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Each NFT’s JSON has a corresponding Universal Resource Identifier (URI) inside its smart contract, which points the Ethereum network to the correct bucket of metadata, thus displaying all of an NFT’s traits when it is viewed.
On the Kryptoria site, holders can access our traits marketplace, filled with rare and wonderful traits from partnerships with other NFT projects and Web2 brands alike. Should they wish to add a new trait to their NFT, our site creates a new ‘bucket’, or version, of that NFT’s metadata in IPFS. This new bucket has its own unique JSON. Kryptoria.io then changes the URI of the NFT to point at this new bucket rather than the old one. Upon execution, the NFT will now show all the traits described in the new bucket, rather than the old one. Correspondingly within the Kryptoria ecosystem, when a trait is removed from an NFT it is burned, making all others of its type that little bit rarer.
Using our own version of the ERC-721A smart contract, we have not only allowed for a massively gas-optimised experience but given holders the ability to update the metadata of their NFTs via our platform.
The possibilities opened up by dNFTs
The possibilities opened up by dNFTs are huge. Where many NFTs are single pieces of art, bought on a whim and held for days or weeks, dNFTs are upgradable, long-term assets that can change with their holders. Not just PFPs but a customisable digital identity. They allow holders to upgrade their in-game (and, in the future, in-metaverse) items, in turn affecting the strategies they use in battle. Businesses, other NFT projects, and creative partners can enter our ecosystem and Unity world for zero cost and massive upside.
Dynamic NFTs are just one of many innovations that provide the foundation for our ecosystem. More fundamentally, though, they’re an extension of Kryptoria’s desire to build an innovative, long-term business at the forefront of Web3.
