NFT Gaming Review: Panzerdogs
Note: I have personally invested in Panzerdogs. Regardless, this post includes my opinions on positives for the project as well as my authentic concerns. Please see this post for more detail on my ethical guidelines for content.
In my opinion and most of the people I’ve talked to who are smart about this growing space, Panzerdogs has an excellent chance to become a bluechip NFT game not just on Solana, but in the overall blockchain gaming ecosystem.
There are a ton of green light checkboxes for this project to back up these high expectations, and I’ll do my best to cover them.
The Team
If you’ve been in the Solana NFT gaming space for any amount of time, you know the qualifications of the team producing Panzerdogs. It’s being made by Lucky Kat studios, and they have an immense track record of success; their prior releases have generated over 200 million downloads.
Late last year, Lucky Kat was acquired by Fragbite: a company that specializes in mobile gaming and Esports. There’s some exciting potential that comes from this merge, and I’ll go into detail a bit later.
Lucky Kat previously released a game called Thunderdogs, which saw solid success. This allowed Lucky Kat to get a head start on development thanks to a working engine rather than starting from scratch.
If you’ve played the Panzerdogs demo, you’ll immediately see the elements borrowed from its predecessor. This is a Very Good Thing. Working off an existing game engine that’s proven to be fun and captured an audience means a faster release time for a game that’s been battle tested.
You’ll also note that the play speed on Thunderdogs is fast. Like really, really fast. When Lucky Kat ported the engine over to Panzerdogs, they slowed the speed down to something much easier to manage. This was a great decision that lends itself to a lot of opportunities (which again, I’ll explain in more detail later).
Gameplay Basics
The sweet spot for any game is to make it easy to pick up and play within minutes, but then have tons of depth that can take years to master.
Consider Smash Bros. When I was growing up, fighting games required different combinations to throw those Hadoukens. Maybe you knew them for one or two games — otherwise, picking up and playing a new fighting game in the arcade was a universally bad experience.
Smash Bros made the brilliant decision to make all special moves easy enough for a kindergartner to execute. And yet when I watch Smash Bros professionals doing tricks on the ledge and using perfectly timed shields, I feel like a guy who’s trying to get his yellow belt watching Bruce Lee.
Panzerdogs has the same approach. Movement is controlled by WASD on the keyboard, aiming and shooting is done with the mouse. Done.
Gameplay Depth
After quickly picking up the basics, players are going to have SO much to dive into here. First, you have the elements of working together in a 3-on-3 Team PvP environment. The slower but still exciting speed of gameplay is very reminiscent of Brawl Stars.
You’ll want your team to have an in-game strategy based on each player’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, most games with these mechanics would have a “tank” (in this case a “tank tank” !!!) in the front that can absorb damage, providing protection for the more fragile but powerful DPS players in the back. And then you’ll want to adjust strategies on the fly while the game develops: maybe charging up the field to position by the other team’s spawn point, or if you’re ahead and the clock is winding down, group together to create distance, go on defense and run out the clock.
Three Minute Dopamine Hit
At least from how the demo plays, each PvP match is three minutes. That’s a perfect timeframe to make it easy to pick up and play anytime, and also creates a positive feedback loop that makes you want to just play “one more match” . . . . for a few more hours.
Team Construction and Metagame
The tank and NFT aspect of Panzerdogs brings a whole new level to the team construction strategy. Because you build your tank by combining three parts, there are countless ways to create tanks that are specific to your play style and the role you’re looking to play on a team.
There is a rarity scheme to the tanks, in addition to a crafting option that allows for upgrades. As strategies evolve and players chase certain combinations, the market swarm for tank piece NFTs is going to be crazy.
Esports Potential
This is where the partnership with Esports company Fragbite comes in. The “easy to pick up, hard to master” experience of Panzerdogs will easily port over to high-level tournaments that create an aspirational model. But again, because the pace of play is manageable and the game mechanics themselves stay simple, players of all ages will be able to watch and say, “Yeah you know what? I might be able to play at that level and become a pro.”
That’s a big difference from other major titles like League of Legends and high-level Smash Bros, where that age group is looking at something they don’t understand, or can’t develop the skill for. Professional level Panzerdogs is more realistically within reach.
But you know . . . that’ll require buying the right tank pieces on market to keep pace with the top level strategies.
Bullish.
Player Rewards and Win-Win Market Dynamics
The more the game expands at both casual and competitive levels, the more market pressure will increase for tank pieces. That means a higher level of real world money value for time and effort put in.
As I mentioned in this post, I absolutely love how the new NFT gaming dynamic completely changes the cutthroat environment we’ve always seen in the crypto and NFT space. Up until now, in these markets someone always has to lose money for someone to make money. But with 50% of the Panzerdog revenue going back to players, this is no longer the case.
And aside from funding, the in-game economy is equitable. Let’s say Player X has a tank piece they no longer want: maybe they want to cash it out for real world value or change to a different strategy. Player Y needs that piece to achieve their own personal goals. When Player X and Player Y make their transaction, they each get what they want for their individual needs and it’s a win-win.
Writing up the tokenomics of Panzerdogs would be a piece of content all on their own, so if you’re interested in those details please read through the whitepaper here.
Potential Problems:
All of these concerns (except the first one) are things that don’t really have an answer until the game is fully released and we get an idea of how the audience responds. So they’re not “Here’s something the team screwed up and should be looking into now”, and more “I hope they’re nimble enough to keep this in mind and adjust strategies to keep the train on the right tracks after it leaves the station”.
Why Weed?
My kids LOVE Panzerdogs. They play the demo over and over so I can’t imagine how they’ll react to the full release AND the ability to win real money from it.
A great part of the game design is that incorporates a lot of the team PvP dynamics you’d experience in more complex titles for older age groups, but makes that experience far more accessible to kids. Think Overwatch where teams come up with a strategy based on different roles and try to choke off the opponent’s mobility/push up the field to swarm the respawn point. Panzerdogs brings that same fun element without the complexity.
So . . . in my opinion the marijuana and smoking in the art is a bad idea.
It’s entirely possible that the Panzerdogs team isn’t intending for the game to be kid friendly, which would explain the issue and line everything up properly from their end. I haven’t done their market research and I’m not sitting in their boardrooms, so they’ve got a much better handle on their target audience than I do.
Considering it’s legal where we live and normalized, I can deal with my kids seeing this kind of small marijuana reference in a game they enjoy this much. I’d only have a problem with it if the reference was larger and more of a focal point vs. Panzerdogs having a handful of subtle pixels on an avatar. But I’m sure many parents will mind even on this small scale.
Again, if the target demographic for Panzerdogs isn’t kids then I’m not going to play the cliche “I know better than the gaming studio” community guy complaint. I’ve been in those types of meetings in my professional career, and there’s often a missing element someone in the community like me is missing by not having the big picture they’re working with.
Just speaking from my personal experience, I’ve seen firsthand how my kids got hooked on it in a way that’s been rare to see from them trying out countless other games. Regardless of the intended audience or target demographic they‘re very into it, pumped to see more and eagerly awaiting the beta. As a dad I’m cool with that.
As a side note, let’s address the marijuana issue removed from Panzerdogs and as a whole in the NFT gaming space. I do think trying to bring in a younger audience is a worthwhile goal. For sure we are in a weird space right now where kids would be operating cryptowallets, but I’d hate to see other blockchains capture this demographic away from Solana.
To be clear this section is in no way an attack on Panzerdogs. It’s a ubiquitous element that’s still included not just in the traditional NFT space, but other games I’ve seen currently in development that could appeal to kids. I just wanted to take this opportunity to bring it up as it relates to all projects in our growing space.
First off, I have zero issues with cannabis. Again, it’s legal where I live and I have family members who benefit from its medicinal properties. In my opinion Bill Hicks was spot on in his bit about cannabis being far less dangerous than alcohol.
So let’s take the next natural step from there.
Imagine a project that has massive appeal to kids but features character avatars drinking. Take a moment and put that imagine in your mind: an NFT avatar with a bottle of vodka in hand up tilted down into its mouth.
Parents would be horrified, right? Probably makes you feel uncomfortable too. That’s the same as what we’re dealing with here regarding the cannabis references. But we’re so used to it in the NFT space that we consider it normal. I think this is where taking a mental picture of a different legal substance like alcohol in its place can provide us with the proper perspective.
In my opinion it’s such a net negative for audience acquisition with no benefit I can spot at this point. At the end of the day we all want to “make it” together and get our share of profits as players, holders and the studio themselves (while having fun!) With that being the goal, I feel like this is an easy trope to discard for the massive added value it provides by expanding the audience.
If your target demographic isn’t kids, then this isn’t an issue. But on a broader scale, I hope projects as a whole will aim to cast the widest net possible to continue positive growth and bring new audiences into the Solana ecosystem.
Dog Avatar NFT Rewards
Panzerdogs had the first significant negative reaction from their community following their much anticipated tank airdrop. From Day 1 after mint, buyers were told that dog NFTs with higher rarities would lead to higher rarity tank drops. When the event finally happened, the rarities were not at the levels the community had expected, with mostly commons in the mix.
To their credit, the team responded to the negative response and made it clear that the feedback will be noted to create better future bonuses based on rarity. They’ve mentioned faster access to in-game resources such as tokens, tanks and crafting, plus airdrops for their native token. Still, there are not many specifics on what these benefits will be. Given their track record as a mobile game company, I have full faith this issue will have a solid resolution that makes holders happy.
And for sure, I’m excited the Dog Avatar NFTs will grant holders exclusive access to the beta release.
Balancing Rarity Rewards vs. Pay to Play
To the point about the Dog Avatar NFTs, the team made a point in the Discord channel after the tank drop that there needs to be a fine balance between paying to receive an edge in game, and keeping play fair for all. While holders of rare dogs are expecting better rewards for their investments (I sniped my fair share of them), the long term health of the game requires an environment where new players can win and have a good experience off the bat. Without those new players coming in and sticking around, the game and the value of the NFTs will decline for everyone’s personal collection.
Conclusion
As I’ve mentioned many times on this blog and on Twitter, my personal strategy for the quickly evolving NFT gaming space is to not take home run swings, but find projects that are going to make contact when they come up to the plate. I’m not sure if Panzerdogs is going to smash it out of the park for a home run (they certainly have good a chance as anyone), but I’d be hard pressed to think of a scenario where they don’t at least hit a double.
The challenge for the team will be to balance the gameplay and rewards to make sure players are happy with the in-game value prop, while keeping the game accessible for new people coming in. This problem isn’t unique to Panzerdogs by any means, as most projects have the same issue to tackle with their NFTs and token economics.
But Panzerdogs does have an extra layer to manage in terms of providing value for the Dog Avatar NFTs, which right now seem less than tank pieces despite being the core holding from launch. If the rarities for the free tank airdrops were higher, I expect they would be going for more market value than dog NFTs.
Following the tank drops, the floor for Panzerdogs dropped by about 1 SOL. This was to be expected: once the tanks arrived, holders had more motivation to sell. But I don’t view this as a negative at all considering the floor for tanks is around 0.7 SOL — that’s some excellent bonus value. And the drop in dog NFT prices provides an opportunity for new holders to buy in before the game starts releasing exclusive early access.
If these issues were being tackled by a different team I’d have a lot more concerns. But given Lucky Kat’s track record, I have strong confidence they’ll smooth it out and make any necessary adjustments along the way to balance value prop vs. fairness.
In my opinion there’s excellent potential here. If all the right notes are hit and marketing is on point, Panzerdogs has a chance to be one of the first games that transcends the current insulated, crypto-centric NFT Play-To-Earn silo, and break through to the mainstream audience.
Links for Panzerdogs
Demo: https://play.panzerdogs.io/bootcamp/
Website: https://www.panzerdogs.io/
Discord: https://discord.gg/dSbEq6fBA2
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/panzerdogs
Whitepaper: https://www.panzerdogs.io/PanzerdogsWhitepaperV07.pdf
Fractal: https://www.fractal.is/panzerdogs
Magic Eden (Dog Avatars): https://magiceden.io/marketplace/panzerdogs
Magic Eden (Tanks): https://magiceden.io/marketplace/panzerdogs_tanks_
Rarities (Dog Avatars): https://howrare.is/panzerdogs
Rarities (Tanks): https://howrare.is/panzerdogstanks
Please note I am not a financial advisor and none of the content on this website should be considered financial advice. All content shown here is based on my personal opinion. NFTs are a very risky investment where many projects go down to zero value. Please do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose.
