DEFY — A Look To The Future
Community Updates February 2023
Dear DEFY Operatives & Friends,
It’s been a big few months for us at DEFY Labs and as we approach our next big milestone, the team and I wanted to bring you up to speed with our progress towards achieving our goals, what we’ve been building and why.
Since launching our Alpha test version of DEFY back in April 2022, we’ve been hard at work laying the foundations to allow us to launch a feature complete version of our game into the app stores as soon as possible. Our ambitions for DEFY are big and bold — that meant we spent more time building the foundational features and building the infrastructure for a truly world-first mobile gaming experience. It is exciting to share with you all that this work is reaching a crescendo and we will be launching DEFY v1.0 into the app stores in April 2023, if not earlier.
In the following sections, I want to refresh you all on our mission and to share with you what you can expect to see at public launch.
What is DEFY?
DEFY is a location-based mobile game with a rich lore and RPG elements. Players take on the role of Operatives joining a group of revolutionary hackers fighting back against the evil corporation Future Systems. Gameplay is based around the core map mechanic, with Operatives hacking Future Systems towers, collecting materials to craft equipment and battling enemy drones. DEFY has built a highly innovative and scalable in game economy based on crafting in game items (digital collectables) and peer-to-peer trading of these items, their parts and component materials.
The Mission
We believe that mobile gaming has the potential to create the first true mass adoption event for web3 technology and our aim at DEFY Labs is no less than creating the first cross over mobile gaming hit. With a fun, engaging and highly scalable mobile game experience, we aim to bring millions of new users into the space — experiencing their first digital collectables and understanding that ownership of in-game items will be the new standard for all game developers moving forward.
What’s coming at Public Launch?
Seamless onboarding for new users
To onboard millions of new users, we need a seamless onboarding experience. For new users of DEFY, creating an account and starting play will be as easy as entering an email address and clicking a link. All new players can get started via our free to play pathway, receiving a basic Virtual Private Mask, which can be upgraded to a digital collectable in app via an in-app purchase later.
A lot of work has gone into creating an onboarding tutorial that hooks the player into the gameplay, introduces the core characters to them and immerses them into the lore of DEFY. We can’t wait for you to experience it.
Crafting Game Loop, P2P Trading & New Items
When we launched DEFY Beta in December, we all waited to see how our new crafting game loop would be received. Well, it’s fair to say we’ve been blown away with how its been going so far.
Here’s a refresher for how our crafting game loop works:
- Operatives collect raw materials and blueprints on the map, using their Resource Scanner.
- Using self-collected items and those obtained through P2P trading on the Black Market, Operatives create new items (on chain digital collectables) in the Nanoforge feature in app.
- The items, at the moment limited to drone parts, are then used to craft complete tactical drones in the Drone Configurator.
- Tactical drones have full in-game utility, allowing Operatives to enhance their gameplay and better take the battle to Future Systems.
- Check out the blackmarket here: https://blackmarket.defydisrupt.io/
As we launch into the app stores, you can expect to see a raft of new raw materials and items to craft and trade. Some of these will have in-game utility and some will be skins and other rare aesthetic items to add some bling to your drone. Our content pipeline will be releasing new items into the game and the in app store on a fortnightly basis, keep the crafting game loop expanding and always fresh.
More drones to build, more items to collect & more opportunities for P2P trading. Lets Go!
In Game Economy Evolution
In addition to FCOIN & $DEFY, we’ll be adding a 3rd hard currency (non crypto) to our game economy. This currency is called CHIPS (Silicon not potato) and will be available for purchase via In-App Purchase and via gameplay rewards. This important move allows us to comply with app store regulations and also to create a full featured in app store with consumable items, skins and other lower rarity items on sale on a constantly rotating basis.
$DEFY remains the central token of the game eco-system, used as the primary unit of exchange and trade on the Black Market, where user generated digital collectables and rare items are sold.
You can expect game rewards to transition from purely $DEFY tokens to a combination of FCOIN, CHIPS & $DEFY — with any significant $DEFY rewards being limited to those players holding a premium NFT mask or who have upgraded their F2P generic mask (at a cost).
Once a new player is ingrained and immersed in the world of DEFY, they’ll be guided to the Black Market to continue to upgrade and expand their inventory of items, creating demand for the $DEFY token as our user base grows.
As the game grows in terms of users and revenue, the team will explore options for token buy backs and other similar mechanisms. First things first, we need to launch & grow the game!
More location based game play features
At our core, we’re a location based game. We’ve always believed that the experience of using tech to explore your world is an incredibly rewarding one. So, we’re excited to release a bunch of new location based features and optimisations.
Firstly, we’re ready to drop a new feature called “Geo-Loot”. This feature allows the developers to place specific digital collectable items in specific locations on map. You know we love a puzzle and this feature will allow us to run global treasure hunts, epic group tasks and more.
Secondly, we’re changing up how the scanner function works. Instead of having a zone scanner and resource scanner, we’ll be combining those into one feature for simplicity. You will also be able to scan for resources (raw materials etc) outside of your zone — encouraging you to explore further than you’ve gone before and expanding your opportunities for gameplay.
Last but not least, we’ll be giving your drones more range. Using a special edition drone parts and consumable items from the in app store, Operatives will be able to extend their range beyond your current hex and into the surrounding areas. And with time, that range will be extended even further — your drone is your ticket to explore the world and take down Future Systems at the same time.
Drone Piloting Mini-Game
We’ve built an incredibly fun Drone Piloting mini game which will be fully integrated into the DEFY game for public launch. Think Mario Kart, but drones 😉.
Your custom tactical drone not only has utility in the location based game, but also in this new DEFY experience. For now it’s a purely PvE game, in time trial mode. The aim of the game is to master your drone, race the course and top the leaderboard. Every drone has different flying characteristics and different courses will require different skills.
We’ll be running Drone Piloting tournaments, with prizes and game rewards on offer. So get those tactical drones ready!
We’re working hard to develop the next parts of this mini game, with PvP mode and in game missions where you’ll need to pilot your drone through Future Systems facilities to collect intel and other critical tasks for the revolution.
FPS Drone Battles
Something we’ve been working hard on is how to increase the threat posed by Future Systems drones in the location based gameplay. We won’t say too much now, but expect enemy drones to become more formidable opponents in the near future.
With this, Operatives need a new way to fight back so we’re introducing FPS mode into DEFY. As enemy drones approach, you’ll be able to grab your new weapon, Plasma Pistol, and start blasting. This new element to the game seriously ramps up the threat and the fun that having enemy drones represents.
Market Segmentation & New Art Direction
At the end of 2022, the team at DEFY Labs underwent a significant market research project. We gained access to the best mobile app data analytics platform in the world and spent time going deep on all the data we could get our hands on.
In short, we found that the market where mobile, location based games (excluding Pokemon Go) are most likely to succeed is Japan. Both in terms of downloads and revenue, Japan is the optimal market for the game we are building in DEFY — this marries up well with our initial traction in Alpha & Beta — where more than 60% of active users are in Japan.
So, we’re refocussing our efforts on being big in Japan and we have a clear data driven picture of our optimal target audience. Its an awesome feeling be armed with this information to drive our decisions. We’ve already made a great start on making it in the Japanese market, with partners, staff and connections being built up in 2022.
In order to achieve this, we’re doing a few key things:
- Localisation: DEFY will be launched with the choice of Japanese or English (same app — different language options). The localisation system will allow us to add new languages through 2023.
- Art Direction: We’ll be including anime elements into our game & marketing materials. This will help us better tell our story, introduce characters into the game and appeal to new users. To be clear, we’re not changing the lore or the story — just adding new ways in which we convey them. Our characters are currently being drawn by a professional anime artist in Japan, with the below images being place holders.
Positioning
For us to win in our target segment (which has an incredible TAM), we need to rethink how we position and describe DEFY.
You’ll see changes in the language we use, for example: Digital Collectable vs NFT. We’ll also be describing ourselves as a location based mobile game, not a blockchain game or a move to earn project.
This doesn’t change the centrality of the blockchain infrastructure on which DEFY is built. But importantly, we look at the blockchain as a set of rails on which we can build incredible user experiences that enable ownership of in game items — we don’t see blockchain as the feature or the most important thing about our game. It should be behind the scenes, enabling all the magic to take place.
This is also important for practical reasons. In order to pass the app store review process and to be able to advertise on the right platforms, we need to get our positioning right. We look at companies like Sorare as shining lights in taking this lead and we’ll be adopting a similar style of communication and positioning as them.
So, expect to see some changes to our website and other public facing channels in the near future. Let us know what you think!
Summary:
We’re going big. With DEFY in app stores and targeted at the right market, we believe that DEFY can be the “red pill” for millions of mobile game users. The game & lore we’re creating can be so fun and immersive, with the crypto on boarding so seamless that crafting, trading and owning your own in game assets will seem like a no-brainer.
The team and I are buzzing with excitement for what 2023 will bring and hope you’ll come on the ride with us.
Join The Revolution.
