The NFT market is a wild frontier of innovation and new ideas. There is so much to be discovered and so many things we have yet to try. However, like any new industry, projects tend to fall into the mold that successful launches before them have left behind. It’s important to take chances and look for fresh eyes to improve upon the blueprints that define our space. Proven ideas are hardly ever the most effective, and it takes a strong team and commitment to the plan to produce something that works even better than expected.
NFT creators have done an amazing job trying to do what is best for the community. Many projects have tested new things, and no matter the outcome each one has contributed to this ever growing new industry. As a former simple collector turned community manager, I try to appreciate when things start changing in the space for the better. When I joined Block::Block, I was excited to be part of some of that change and thought the drop would go well. A week later, I never could have expected the outpouring of positive feedback and support we received around it!
The launch of Savage Droids was my first experience hands on with a drop. The goal was to create a release centered around the community that would both ensure fairness and avoid gas wars where possible. The team started by laying out the foundation; the 12 hour Early Access window. This was put together for a few reasons. One, to make sure nobody on the list needed to feel rushed when minting. Two, to allow a long period of time for lower gas fees and no wars. And three, to reward the community that had been around for a while while inviting more early adopters in as well. No barriers to entry. Nothing but joining the list if you were interested in the project and wanted to participate.
Holders from our previous collections were added automatically, and the list was cut off at 4200 after a week of availability. We used Kryptosign, an in-house solution for signing up with your wallet. The team made sure it was extremely transparent, and only collected public data needed for the pre-sale. We stored only the public wallet address and linked Discord name to avoid multiple entries. Once this list was filled, we had an easy way to make sure those connecting to the website were supposed to be there for Early Access. A random amount of Droids (1, 2, 4, or 6) were then allocated to each wallet to keep things fair.
We also felt very strongly about giving an opportunity to those that had not been able to get on the list. To accomplish this, we held a general sale directly after our pre-sale window. Starting with a small pool assigned to this open sale, we added the unminted Droids from the pre-sale to it slowly over the course of the day. We began with a decent number available, and we believe everyone that wanted a Droid was able to get one. The sale lasted about 20 minutes before it sold out and we were very happy with how smoothly it went. Possibly even smoother than the pre-sale, which had a few user errors the team quickly fixed. A manual gas limit we added beforehand prevented any errors, and kept fees as low as they could be. It was a long day, but well worth it.
Overall the launch of Savage Droids went even better than I had first hoped for. We can’t thank the community enough for being so positive and for all the feedback we have received. We hope the blueprint for this drop can help other projects push their vision forward as well, and continue to move the NFT space in the right direction for everyone.
