Introduction
In 2020 when we visualised, created and launched our first NFT collection my first thoughts coming into the project, probably not unlike many were of creating a unique piece of art on chain, a proof of undisputed authenticity and by design something which was also scarce, a one of one in its own right and therefore considerably valuable.
For most people what was possible at this time, was enough.
We live in a new world now where much, much more is possible, and the word “enough” is being obliterated weekly by “more”. In crypto years we have probably advanced a decade since that collection of 2020/21. Our thought process behind the development of this part of the project is different, even the team members we have added are different to what we once might have thought necessary to build value and achieve success in this space.
Build a project that raises the bar in terms of quality of art, one that provides value to its holders and is sustainable beyond royalties and minting of new collections, this was our aim.
After circa 12 months in our lab, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to BabyBulls of Claytopia or “Claytopians” as they prefer to be called, a new direction & art style for our Web3 brand, that has opened up possibilities for the project which were previously unreachable.
Art Style
Claytopians were born out of a 1980’s obsession with claymation art by Tony Heart with Morph & later Wallace & Gromit. We wanted to use modern technology to create realistic characters which appeared to be made from clay, in order to do this we needed to set a new benchmark in terms of the quality of the art. We knew that great care and time would be required.
Each of the 260+ elements & backgrounds were meticulously hand drawn, inspired by our 2D ancestors. We like A.I but you won’t find any in this artwork.
Each 3D claytopian character is drawn in high resolution, if you zoom in on any part of your character you will see texture which is representative of actual clay when moulded, you may even come across a partial fingerprint in the clay if you look close enough.
Claytopians
Because of the development plans we already had in place for the collection prior to creating the art we wanted to demonstrate the characters in their natural state, animated.
In order for collectors to get an idea of what their IP might look like in game/metaverse/animation we set about animating every single character, all 8069. Because we had made a commitment to set a new benchmark in the space we decided to work on each character individually to ensure that all elements of every character behaved in a way that was representative of the character in a developed environment.
An entire individually animated collection was optimistic to say the least mostly due to the massive expense of creating this, however it was not something we had seen before in this style, so not only was it cool to do it, we feel like we are pushing boundaries which is what our project has been about since day one.
The characters possess a few different walking styles which have also been added to their trait metadata.
Our backgrounds have been one of the most complex and intricate additions to this new collection, we have 16 unique backgrounds, I’ll mention a few. We have beach, summer, volcanic and even a bear market which some of you OG collectors will be familiar with.
We know you love your PFP’s
If like us, one of the most important parts of your NFT ownership is that unique representation of you in the space, don’t worry we have you covered.
If you own the animated Mp4 Claytopian you will also receive an additional static NFT of your character in pfp style (on plain background a bit like those ones above) to use as your unique pfp in and around the cryptosphere.
Even more cool is the fact that you will be able to switch between the animated and static version of your NFT whenever you want.
We are giving you the keys to the kingdom
We have also individually rigged all 8069 characters, let me explain why this is awesome and what it means to you as a holder. I recently met with a project who are building a metaverse with a view to having some of our Claytopians running around in there. I was quoted over $3k for them to rig a single character for use in their environment.
So we decided to rig all 8069 characters ourselves and provide the FBX file to you, the holder. So you can approach any compatible game/metaverse etc with your file. Again by connecting to our website with your wallet containing your Claytopian NFT you will be provided with a link to d/l your FBX file of your character.
Rigging all 8069 characters was a mammoth task. Due to the complexity of our art and variations of the characters it wasn’t possible to blanket rig the characters as we wanted real authenticity in the movement and not just basic point “skeleton rigging” we want to provide the holders with a hyper realistic claymation style motion, which meant all aspects of the character were rigged, cloaks, weapons…etc.
Here is a taste of the work that went into rigging one character, sound on.
The Game
The reason we are all here…
We started to think about what we love more than NFT Art and work backwards. Turns out we are/were all gamers. We sought about partnering with a 3D design and game development studio. The outline idea of the game was thrashed out and pushed from concept to concept before the characters were designed.
We believe that an important ingredient for success in this highly competitive market was to concentrate on making likeable, extremely high quality characters and an expansive & interactive environment. Probably the most important task for us was to design a game which is playable, fun & brings people back and then to think about the Web3 or “earn” mechanics, so a really good game that is based on Web3 tech as apposed to a “Web3 game”.
If you cant wait for the mint and additional information regarding the game you can read a lot more about it right now in our whitepaper.
Physical Collectooors, did you think we had forgotten about you?
We have partnered with a sculpture artist who is creating real Claytopian models made from Clay, these 12cm tall models are 100% handmade to order and presented in a numbered display case. Those who order early will of course receive a lower number.
As collectoors ourselves we love these raw hand made limited edition products, but we do have plans to launch a durable “action figure” version of Claytopians which will be a little more compatible with mass production as we scale.
If you have time check out the Claytopians LORE…
BabyBulls 2D Holders
Benefits to existing BabyBulls holders extends beyond simply whitelist, but YES of course all BabyBulls 2D holders will be entitled to guaranteed whitelist of Claytopians. For some who hold roles stipulated in the whitepaper you will be able to reserve 1 Claytopian pre mint.
We have also written the ancestors (2D BabyBulls) into the game, the NFTs will provide utility in terms of player perks in game.
We have written a fairly extensive whitepaper which we encourage you to download & read, you’ll find it here. In this we share development plans for the project, the paper gives a detailed breakdown of “most” of what we have planned for Claytopians. As you can appreciate due to the competitive nature of the industry we are keeping a lot of our developments in house until such time as we are ready to release them.
Further Topics You Can Find In The Whitepaper
- Every holder of a Claytopian will receive a fully animated Claytopian NFT varying in rarity, a static version in PFP style of the same character and the FBX file containing the rigged version of their character for use in games & metaverse environments.
- Claytopians the game will be a free to play battle royale x platform concept which will feature in-game purchases and an on chain token.
- We will be adding circa 1200 short animations called “Claymations” ranging from common to legendary in complexity, holders will be able to purchase them and add them to their characters inventory.
- Claytopians will be creating an animated pilot for a series featuring characters from the collection
- Handmade numbered physical collectables of your characters are already available to order, you can order your handmade Claytopian in our discord by verifying your wallet and purchasing from our shop channel. In a few weeks you will be able to order directly from our website by connecting your wallet and choosing the NFT you want to have made.
- We intend to provide support to holders of BabyBulls or Claytopians NFT by setting up a crisis fund for people within our own community who might need financial assistance.
- Holders of Claytopian NFTs will receive royalty payments for use of their licensed IP within the project, specifics regarding amounts & mechanics of how this will work are being finalised.
If you are interested in learning more about the project from the “bulls mouth”, follow us on twitter @claytopians_NFT and tap notifications so that you’ll be given a heads up of the spaces we will be in.
For those of you who were with us when we were a $13.6m MC NFT project on a $40 billion chain, the loyal supporters that trusted us & followed us to when we were faced with starting over from zero. This collection & new direction is for all of you. We never stopped building and never gave up on our dream… when we said “we are all in” we meant it.
To everyone else, we tried telling you… it’s the quiet ones you should look out for. ;-) -FIN
Join our discord and participate in the conversation: https://discord.gg/7FSF24jgjm
#BabyBulls #Claytopians #BuildShipNoBullShit
