Dev Spotlight: Mythereum
We caught up with the team behind one of the first trading card games on the blockchain
It’s no secret that we’re huge advocates of getting collectable card games on the blockchain. So when we found out about Mytherum —a multi-player trading card game built on the Ethereum network—we couldn’t wait to get them on board. With their official launch on the portal coming up, we decided to catch up with Mythereum’s Chris Cashwell and Mark Ranford to discuss the inspiration behind the game, and why it’s different from other blockchain games in the space.
What inspired you to create Mythereum?
Chris: From the early Bitcoin days, I’ve always been interested in ways blockchain technologies can provide a secure, scalable and transparent means of tracking everything from house deeds to household chores. As an avid gamer, it seemed only natural that those same benefits should extend to game assets. I created Mythereum as a way to bring my passions together and build a large-scale multiplayer trading card game where every player could feel confident that everyone is on the same playing field. Item clone bugs, disappearing inventory, and countless other flaws found in many of today’s most popular centralized games are entirely eliminated, thanks to the immutable nature of the Ethereum blockchain.
Mark: I’m a huge believer in Ethereum as a technology that can bring better governance to society and business. I’m especially interested in how it can incentivise the creation and maintenance of valuable public goods, including the environment. I also love sci-fi, fantasy and trading card games.
Mythereum represented all of this for me. It has all the crypto collectible goodness of blockchain based games like CryptoKitties, but takes it to the next level. The chance to help create a blockchain based TCG with real gameplay and set in a new hybrid fantasy sci-fi world was exciting to me.
Finally I believe games can become a great way to incentivise collective action for the public good. Mythereum for me is the perfect way to begin that journey. Today we incentivise dominating a fantasy world, tomorrow we might incentivise the protection of rainforests or a colony on mars.
What made you decide to create a blockchain game as opposed to a traditional game?
Chris: I believe decentralized games are in an entirely different class from their traditional counterparts. There are plenty of excellent examples of the latter and very few of the former. My motivation to create a cryptogame stemmed from a deep passion for decentralization and a desire to contribute something new to the blockchain space.
What sets Mythereum apart from current blockchain games?
Chris: We believe we have a much more “complete” cryptogame than any competitor today. CryptoKitties brought us breeding, but not much in terms of gameplay. Since then, many similar games have been popping up and offering a little more in the gameplay department. Most cryptogames that do have gameplay simply require a set of actions to be defined beforehand and then the system plays out the game on your behalf. Mythereum is a live game where, turn by turn, you actually have to outwit (or out-luck) another human. We’re not aware of any other game that does that. There are lots promising concepts out there, but Mythereum is the only game you can go to right now and actually compete against another player in real-time.
We heard you’re planning a free-to-play model, which is uncommon in blockchain gaming. Can you explain how this will work?
Chris: We have already introduced a system where anyone who signs up can claim 30 cards from the new “Survivor” edition, which is enough to create 3 seperate decks in the game. There is absolutely no cost to playing at all. In fact, with our current model, we avoid transaction costs altogether by having the game itself mostly off chain, and minimizing on-chain to ownership of the assets effectively.
The “Survivor” edition is a relatively low powered edition, but a survivor card is still upgradeable like any other edition card, once it has been played a hundred times. And so far people have loved the Survivor Edition. Most recently we had a free to enter knockout tournament. There were 32 players all using the free Survivor cards. The top 8 players all won at least 0.1 Ether with the winner getting 0.5 Ether.
We are going beyond just a free to play model. We’ll move towards a hybrid on-chain/off-chain model that will allow anyone to play — even without an Ethereum address. The uninitiated player will be given a free starter deck, and all their cards, XP and other blockchain assets they earn by playing the game will be held in escrow for them until they do get around to creating an Ethereum wallet.
How do you see this game in 5+ years? Do you have a plan to keep players engaged over time with new content or fresh mechanics?
Mark: Our vision is to grow this game into a whole world of games based around the Mythereum Universe, a futuristic Fantasy world. The current game is just the first of a series of games that will encompass a full range of gaming experiences, with the current game at one end and a persistent MMO on the other. So the current game will keep growing through card editions and fine tuning, while new games that integrate with the core experience will be introduced.
The first of these will be “Strongholds” a game where you build up your strongholds — both in terms of economy and military force. The core will be about mining magika dust and battling with other strongholds. Of course the magika dust has important uses in the broader Mythereum game, so it’s a real economically valuable asset to mine.
The next game to be introduced is Conquests, which is a game of strategy, much like traditional risk or diplomacy, but in the world of Mythereum, and where Mythereum characters play an important part in battling to control the map.
The third key game to be introduced is going to be Empires, this is the persistent MMO that ties together all the pieces. It uses a persistent map of the world that the Conquests game introduced, and persistent cities that strongholds introduced and all the battles leverage both the armies and heroes of the earlier games. Our time frame for these new games is months not years, we expect the full range above to be in place within 2018.
Our vision for 5 years includes lots of cross-game experiences. Allowing players to bring other game characters into Mythereum is one example. But over 5 years, probably the biggest expansion will be in the transmedia sense where we would like to see the story of the Mythereum universe seep into more traditional media publications such as books, comics, and film.
Moving on to smart contracts — what kind of challenges have you faced when setting these up?
Chris: One of the most challenging aspects of blockchain development is also one of the best hallmarks of blockchain technology: immutability. Everything on the blockchain is permanent. Because we can’t simply change a line of buggy code, everything had to be tested, revised, then tested again…over and over. We chose to make the functionality very modular to help make future changes as easy as possible while being mindful of the impact those future changes might have on trust. For example, although we can replace the contract responsible for generating cards, we can’t take cards away from players or change their attributes.
You’ll be available on the BitGuild portal soon. Can you tell us more about that?
Chris: Mythereum was the first blockchain-based collectible trading card game (CCG/TCG) to launch a private side-chain backed by the Ethereum mainnet. That means our users get the best of both worlds: secure and transferrable asset ownership, plus a totally gas-free, real-time battleground. We’re dedicated to reducing friction for newcomers, and integrating with BitGuild is another big step toward that goal.
Make sure to subscribe to the BitGuild Newsletter to get notified when the game goes live on the portal! 🚀
BitGuild’s mission is to revolutionize the global gaming industry by creating a platform for a brand new class of games that live on the blockchain. Blockchain games completely redefine the relationship between players and developers by facilitating full and true ownership of in-game assets, cheap & safe item trading, cross-game compatibility of items & currency, and more.
