2023 Project Overview
2023 Year End Review
Rising like a phoenix, Ethlizards grew stronger during the depths of the bear market and is positioned as a leader in Web3 gaming.
While many projects struggled or failed over this last year, particularly with royalty enforcement ending, we kept our heads down and continued to thrive. This article will walk through our key milestones from 2023.
Who are the Ethlizards
To Know Who We Are, We Must Know Who We Were
Here is a short summary of our journey from Degen Alpha community to a thriving project with multiple sub-DAOs developing Web3 Gaming products and funding positions with emerging studios. To dive deeper into the Ethlizards history, check out this article.
White Paper and Project Growth
The most significant change that empowered the Ethlizards to grow was undoubtedly the white paper and subsequent LIP-16 governance proposal where the community granted the approvals to execute those items. The white paper laid out the path, products and structures to drive the Ethlizards’ success in 2023.
The white paper included updates to the value proposition, governance structures, vision and future products of Ethlizards, with some of the highlights being a revamped governance model, Battle in the Beyond platform launch developed via an exclusive Illuvium partnership, future collections like the Elemental Lizards and Champion Lizards, as well as the upcoming $LIZ token launch.
Lizard IP, Art and Lore Development
IP and brand positioning are critical for any successful project. In 2023, a key focus was on defining and building the foundation of the content that will carry Lizard Labs into the future. We have crafted not only an epic story arc, but have the right characters, art, and vibe to build our long-term brand into a behemoth.
LizDex
This Lizard Artifact is a mysterious tome telling the story of the lizards across a variety of mediums. Integrated with our partner projects lore and storylines, it is an innovative storytelling model that will keep you waiting for the next chapter.
Two chapters introducing some special Genesis, Venture and Elemental Lizards were released in 2023 and the pace is going to ramp up quickly into 2024. With some amazing writers and artists, we know the LizDex is going to have a special place in your heart as you follow our lovable lizards.
Elemental Lizards
The Highlizards are the leaders of the eight Elemental Lizard clans, each having earned their way to the top. Despite aligned goals, they have different methods of achieving their purpose and don’t always see eye to eye…
While the actual elemental PFP collection will look a bit different, this is a good introduction to the Elemental Lizards and how we are building out our universe. The collection design, utility and art framework was completed in 2023. As a heavily gamified group of NFTs, they serve as a combination of PFP collection, battle pass, and lite RPG elements. Their utility is going to be massive at launch in 2024 with our next major product.
Development and Products
Battle in the Beyond
Speaking of products, developed as a result of a strategic partnership with Illuvium, Battle in the Beyond is an Interconnected Gaming Experience (IGE) that offers players a cohesive cross-IP experience. Our platform is designed to enhance the Illuvitar unboxing journey, infusing it with a social dimension and seamlessly integrating players into the Ethlizards community. Generous rewards await top players at the end of each season in the form of D1SKs, Lizcoin, Elemental Lizards and Lore NFTs.
During our season 0 beta, we exceeded our projected metrics, capturing the the lion’s share of active Illuvium Beyond players, with greater than 70% of D1SKs being opened on our platform since launch. Not only that, but we finished development early and under budget.
Season 0 was just the beginning. There are many major features and game modes planned for 2024 including wagering, tournaments, strategic modes and more.
Website
A website overhaul was completed to ethlizards.io. This is by no means the final form but gave us a clean site that will dramatically expand in 2024 to serve as a hub for our activities.
Staking
With the approval of LIP-12, Ethlizards NFT staking was launched to allow users to participate in the ecosystem to become eligible for rewards funded by 40% of the Portfolio Sub-DAO revenue. From 2024, the Portfolio Council can begin investment liquidations, which kicks off the loyalty program rewards for Ethlizards. More than 65% of all Ethlizards Genesis and Venture are staked!
Loyalty Program Development
We have been working with social tracking and governance platforms to begin creating a loyalty points and rewards system.
Using a combination platforms, we aim to track the majority of user metrics and contributions (content creation, promoting social media, QA testing, DAO governance participation, contributor roles, etc.) needed to facilitate the loyalty program and active staking features laid out in the white paper. The more a user participates, the more loyalty points they get. This is critical for creating a regulatorily compliant and robust system to support active staking and reward users for their participation in the ecosystem.
NFT Redeployment
This was a large undertaking at the time and a technical accomplishment that required significant coordination and effort, led by Kmao. Our NFT contracts were redeployed as upgradeable contracts with the primary goal to enforce Blur/OS royalties.
While part of the benefit was ultimately undermined by OpenSea’s removal of the operator filter a mere 8 months after it’s launch, it was clearly the right call at the time and supported the community’s desire to provide us a pathway forward. Additionally, the upgradable contracts give us greater flexibility to address any future issues that will certainly arise in the ever-evolving NFT space.
Merch
We have recently received our latest merch samples and we are very happy with the high quality and comfortable materials. The first merch drop will feature an essentials clothing line. We are also working to prepare a special item to have ready for the initial store launch. The online shop is coming soon to deliver some much requested merch to your doorsteps.
Discord Community and Events
The Discord community continues to grow as the Ethlizards name rings throughout the halls of Web3 Gaming. We have had a number of gaming events and tournaments in 2023 with the likes of MetalCore, Fableborne, Illuvium, Celeros, Rumble Arcade, and more. We’re just getting started. You can expect these events to not only continue, but to scale up as we venture further into 2024.
Marketing and Social Media
One of the biggest areas of improvement in 2023 was our marketing, content and social media presence. This is largely due to our partnership with Not Corrupt Media and support from Lemz and Sam as our resident Web3 gaming experts. With over 50 years of combined experience in tech and media business, the Not Corrupt Media team have produced over 10,000 pieces of original media that generated over a billion views, and converted $100MM+ in revenue (and counting). We’re deep into our works together and we couldn’t be happier to be working with this powerhouse of a team.
Major works in marketing are focused on long-term strategy development, solidifying the brand and lining up marketing actions with the strategy changes. Grass roots marketing efforts continue. We are also building the Media Machine, our ultimate marketing top-funnel fueled by powerful AI engines and top tier production capabilities, that will distribute content to major social media platforms.
Industry Activity
Ethlizards at NFT NYC
Animositas attended NFT NYC, one of the biggest NFT events of the year. The aim was to lay the groundwork for investment support in the seed round as well as expand key partnerships. Being present at these kinds of events also generates awareness of the Ethlizards brand positioning. We walked away with several collaborations, partnerships, investments and a handful of new community members coming out of the event.
Partnerships
Our goal is to partner with the best studios and projects in Web3 gaming, and we’re well on our way. Quality begets quality and we have big plans with each of these partners. More details to come soon!
Investment Portfolio
Council governance and activities have gone smoothly over 2023. We’re now into Portfolio Council Epoch 3 and further funding of early stage projects continues. At the time of this writing, the council has deployed over 370k into 16 different projects. Notable investments were made in the following projects Civitas, Halls of Olympia, Thalon, MuseGroup, Illuvidata, Zaros, Celeros, Antara, Midnight Society (Deadrop). There are more still under NDA that will be released at a later time. Additionally, investment liquidations can begin in 2024 so this benefits both the DAO treasury as well as participating Ethlizards stakers!
With the approval of LIP-17, the Portfolio Sub-DAO is officially partnered with basedVC to allow deal flow for its members. Individual Ethlizard holders can participate in directly funding early stage projects on their own as part of this innovative partnership model. Keep an eye on the basedVC announcement channel in Discord for opportunities in 2024.
Governance and Organizational Updates
We’ve been working with advisors, partners, and legal representatives for the majority of 2023 to identify and establish entities in the optimal jurisdictions that ensure both regulatory and legal compliance per LIP-18. These works are ongoing and we estimate full completion in February.
Fundraising
The $Lizcoin pre-seed closed in May, had a greater demand than available allocations and easily closed raising the targeted $500k. These funds were used for initial development activities as outlined in the white paper.
Our seed raise is currently under way. Instead of going with the traditional secure-lead-investor-first strategy, we made the bold decision to offer first dibs to our community of holders. To our delight, our community round raised more than 2.5M of the total $5M target. This demonstrates the strength of the lizard community and we’re proud to continue to support the decentralized mission of the Lizard DAO. We’re currently in the process of closing the round with VCs, angels and DAOs. To learn more about our seed raise, visit our website.
Team Growth
Starting the year with only a single admin and two junior developers, we have expanded in 2023 to have a top tier team of 20+ contributors with strong leadership, developers, artists and more.
You can find out more in our Meet the Team series in Discord. We will continue to grow in 2024 as our operations continue to scale.
Operations
Operations and runway management are proceeding as expected. Growth is good, but we utilize lean operations strategy for all departments, preferring quality over quantity.
High performing core contributors continue to deliver consistently across the board. Continued improvements in infrastructure and organization have been implemented for items like project management, payroll, and communications as the core contributor team has grown.
What’s Next
Our team is rejuvenated and ready for a massive 2024. In a future article, we’ll lay out our upcoming plans and activities for the likes of Lizcoin, Elemental Lizards and more.
Happy New Year!
- Ethlizards team
About Ethlizards
Ethlizards, positioned at the nexus of innovative projects within the Web3 gaming landscape, brings together gamers, builders, and investors. With a vision to reshape the Web3 gaming world, Ethlizards introduces platforms like “Battle in the Beyond” to offer players unique and interconnected gaming experiences.
Twitter | Discord | Website | YouTube | Blur
This blog post is for informational purposes only. The dynamic world of Web3 gaming is constantly evolving, and we encourage our community to stay informed and make decisions based on your own thorough research.
