GAME ON! Web3 Insights from Jonathon McKay at Crystals of Fate– Now partnered with Myria
Crystals of Fate is a blockchain-compatible collectible card game (CCG). Built for Web3 mobile, players can buy, sell, win or earn digital assets through highly engaging, turn-taking gameplay.
Compelling and addictive, Crystals of Fate is a multi-platform esports CCG boasting a revolutionary combat system, tactical battle maps, and simultaneous fast-paced gameplay.
Players must choose the class they think will assist them most in battle. These include the Assassin, Guardian, Mage, Necromancer, Support, and Warrior classes — each with its own distinct set of attributes.
We spoke to the founder, CEO and managing director, Jonathon McKay about Crystals of Fate, his thoughts on Web3 and its future, the decision to partner with Myria, and more besides.
Name: Jonathon McKay
Title: CEO & Managing Director
Responsible for: Daily Operations, Creative Direction, Game Design, Story & Franchise Development
When and how did you enter the blockchain space?
Myself and the Crystals of Fate team entered the blockchain space back in 2019. Prior to that, we were in the Web2 game space. Individuals hail from many illustrious places including EA, Riot Games, Ubisoft, and more.
The one thing we all have in common is that we’ve always wanted to stay on top of innovation and technology. Blockchain is the first true evolutionary shift in gaming and we wanted to be one of the first to enter the space. Blockchain goes beyond technology by making new ideologies possible.
Digital asset ownership for players marks a historic milestone for the gaming industry, and we believe true interoperability between assets of different games, and even across chains, will become standardized.
For instance, all Crystals of Fate NFTs come packaged with layers of interoperability and utility. To clarify, if you own one of our NFTs, it will grant you access to every game in our ecosystem.
What was the inspiration for Crystals of Fate?
Crystals of Fate was born out of our love for competitive games such as Hearthstone, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft Arena. Imagine the elements of Hearthstone combined with the fast-paced nature of a game like Clash Royale, and you have a good idea of what our game feels like.
Crystals of Fate is here to disrupt the card game genre and crank up the adrenaline with its revolutionary live combat system and value-driven blockchain economy. The keys to the game are its simultaneous live gameplay combat system which fixes player disengagement and balances the issues that most TCGs have.
What I mean by that is, no more waiting up to 1 minute for your opponent to play their cards on each turn, and no more having to deal with first or second design play issues where you have to play catch-up throughout the game or be blessed with random luck to hopefully give you the right cards to deal with your opponent.
How many people are on the team and how did the team come about and grow?
Currently, we have around 35 people working on the project, with the aim to scale up to around 50 people in the near future. The journey started in 2013 when I began to build out the lore of the game and develop the IP. But it wasn’t until 2017 that we embarked on production.
Then I set out to recruit new people with talent, dedication, and desire who shared a similar vision. The project has been a genuine labor of love until just recently when we found the right investors to come on board and ramp up development through funding.
What were some of the early challenges in developing Crystals of Fate and how did you overcome them?
Ask anyone in this business about the most challenging aspects of developing a game and the most common answer is the thing I’ve just touched upon — funding. Up until very recently, the entire project has been self-funded.
We have built Crystals of Fate from the ground up, and I think we reached the point where there was enough for investors with insight and vision to feel comfortable about financing the project and taking it on the next leg of its journey. This has been a significant step for Crystals of Fate.
The other major challenge is coordination. Being remote-first, everybody is in different time zones, so that can be tricky. But we use global management tools to ensure everybody that needs to be is kept in the loop.
If these are not in your whitepaper or on your website, what is the type or genre of Crystals of Fate? Plus what, in brief, are the mechanics?
Crystals of Fate is a next-generation competitive collectible card game with simultaneous real-time gameplay.
For years, players have craved a game that mixes CCG strategy and collectability with dynamic play and combat so fast-paced that you can crush your opponent in 2-minutes flat. This action-packed tribute to Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone is the next generation of collectible combat.
Players can amass a library of cards they truly own, trade them freely, and use their acquisitions to build a deck that will destroy their opponents. In a nutshell, it’s in nail-biting combat.
Is Crystals of Fate playable on any device?
It’s a multi-platform experience spanning Android, iOS, and PC. The game allows you to face off with players regardless of which device they challenge you from — giving you flexibility and a larger pool of potential opponents.
What is the game’s user experience like?
As soon as you step into the arena, stunning visuals and sound design give you a sense of what’s to come for this AAA-quality game. With voice actors from World of Warcraft and League of Legends, the battles really come to life and the in-game atmosphere is electric.
Crystals of Fate has a single-player campaign, 1v1 and 2v2 ranked and unranked player matches, arena, challenges, practice mode, and even guilds.
With classes to complement every play style, you can tailor your loadout to suit your swagger. We’ve designed it to include everybody, so there’s a free-to-play mode and anti-pay-to-win. Being a champion of this arena is a true measure of skills and dedication.
Looking at the crypto and gaming industry today, if you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself?
Build faster — the world is waiting for the next generation of high-quality games that bring innovation and revolution to the different genres of games that currently exist.
Why did you decide to build on Web3?
It’s the future. We believe in the building blocks that Web3 enables for continued innovation and progress. Currently, there are not a lot of high-quality titles in Web3, and we have the opportunity to create and innovate in the same space. The games are getting better and more studios are realizing that Web3 is Web2 but with blockchain behind it. Fast forward ten years and Web3 will have done to games what the internet has done to printed publications and videotape. It’s inevitable.
In no more than 3 sentences, how would you explain Web 3 gaming to somebody working in Web2?
In Web2, you license the games you play, quit playing, and players have nothing but memories. In Web3, the time spent playing your favorite games, and the assets acquired, stay with you forever and can be traded or sold.
Talk a bit about your NFT collection. Tell us what you think makes it unique.
We have big plans in place for the Crystals of Fate NFT collection. Our ultimate goal is to offer players myriad customizable options so that they can build individuality around their avatars and differentiate themselves from other players. The team has been hard at work for many years crafting high-quality assets to be used in-game that we’ll be sharing with our community soon.
For now, the NFT collection consists of more than 200+ cards for players to use including 14 high-level quality 3D playable heroes with their unique playstyle and meta identity; 15 high-level quality cosmetic skins — one for each hero character; more than 75 customized emotes to use and collect; plus five unique pets with playable and passive abilities.
The thing we’re most excited about, though, is that NFTs purchased by our players offer true utility and interoperability across not just Crystals of Fate but our other titles and future titles. This is the sort of amped-up utility that we believe will really excite our players.
If you could invite a living or dead person to play a Web3 game with you, who would it be and why?
The first answer that came to my mind when I thought of this question was someone obsessed with technology and way ahead of their time in conceptualizing the future. So in that case, for me, it had to be a true visionary — Steve Jobs.
Why? Perhaps it’s because of his never-ending intent to pursue greatness and innovation and drive the evolution of technology. I think he would love to see the current state of blockchain technology, and it makes me wonder what kind of impact or contribution he would bring to it.
Tell us a bit more about the in-game economy and tokenomics mentioning anything you feel makes this special
We have a gold currency that can be earned in-game and be used to unlock new content, and level up cards. We also have Soul Dust which is a high-level currency created from the disenchantment of cards. Soul Dust can be utilized to create new cards and is an element leveraged in the evolution of cards.
As for the in-game token, which is yet to be launched, players will be able to earn it in a number of different ways including earning in-game rewards which can be traded on real-world exchanges; earning Crystals of Fate tokens that can be used in the game; battle and earn through our monthly PvP competitions with players ranked on our leaderboard, or challenge the world and compete in our planned esports event tournaments.
What is your favorite game of all time and why?
That’s easy. Chrono Trigger. This game holds a special place in my heart. As a kid growing up in the 90s, this game was just so ahead of its time I still can recall and remember the majority of the game interactions between the characters and how the story unfolds.
Everything about the game was masterful. Squaresoft was unquestionably the most gifted studio when it came down to building out their characters and the storytelling involved.
I have a deep appreciation for all of the effort put into that game and everything that Squaresoft did as a studio and their achievement in putting RPGs on the map. The Final Fantasy series up until 10 or X was fantastic as well. They created amazing games that have inspired — and will continue to inspire — generations of gamers and anyone working in the space.
Why did you choose to build on Myria’s L2 scaling solution?
When our company was first introduced to Myria, our first impression was ‘here is a company that wants to be at the burning hot center of Web 3 gaming’. So for us, as a company and team of passionate gamers and blockchain die-hards, it was a no-brainer.
We want to be where the players want to be, and Myria’s laser focus on high-quality games, built on the blockchain so that players have ownership of their assets, really resonated with us. When we met the team we instantly aligned. Our core vision of the future of gaming was the same, and our partnership was cemented very quickly.
What plans do you have with Myria in the future?
Currently, we plan to launch Crystals of Fate exclusively with Myria and focus our efforts on building our community alongside the Myria player base. As a company, we plan to build out our ecosystem of games revolving around our IP and want Myria to be a part of that.
We also have another game in the works called Zeal, a MOBA PvP fighting game, and want to integrate the back end with Myria’s Layer 2 scaling solution. In short, we are aligned with Myria’s vision to bring forward the best possible ecosystem of games to players, because everything we do at the end of the day is for the players.
If, like Crystals of Fate, you’re keen to build your next blockchain gaming project and NFT collection on a flexible L2 platform that delivers speed, scalability, and security, get in touch with Myria’s dev team today.
