DIP 6: SPICE IT UP

Intro

Mid-June 2022, we launched an open beta for a new game mechanic, Waves Ducks Hunt. This is an AR game, where the players are rewarded for their activity in the real world. Over the past 6 weeks, players have already travelled more than 1 million kilometers (that’s 25+ times around the Equator!), discovered over 14,000 golden eggs and spent over 50,000 hours (!) in the game. The beta test results are extremely satisfying in terms of engagement, so now we propose to integrate Waves Ducks Hunt mechanics more deeply into the existing ones.

The key goals we are pursuing with the DIP-6 offering are:

• Increasing player engagement
• Bringing new players to the game. Currently, there are lots of barriers for new players
• Improving the game’s tokenomics, so that new active players could earn by gaming, while investors would be getting the maximum profit from owning a duck
• Bring back the value to ducks, which already number more than 30,000. A duck is a unique digital item that should be valuable in its own right

Continue reading to learn about the changes we propose to achieve the designated goals.

SPICE

For a more predictable effect on the game’s existing economy, we propose to introduce a new token, SPICE. It will serve as a reward for opening the golden eggs in Waves Ducks Hunt.

SPICE will have a limited issue of 1,000,000 tokens. The emission rate will depend on player activity and the number of ducks taking part in Waves Ducks Hunt.

SPICE will be given as a reward for opening each golden egg, but the exact amount of SPICE from a single egg will depend on several factors:

• Player activity
• The attributes of the duck which laid the eggs, namely the date of duck’s birth (the younger the duck, the more fertile it is) and Hunt Power, a new stat exclusive for Waves Ducks Hunt. Hunt Power is calculated as follows:

Hunt Power = (1 / (\sqrt{number of duckswithsamegenes})) * 100

This formula is similar to the duck rarity formula, with one exception — the calculation does not include the generation of the duck, only its unique set of genes. Therefore, ducks with a truly unique set of genes, regardless of the generation, will have the maximum Hunting Power and, consequently, the highest yield.

Changes to mechanics

To properly implement SPICE into the game, we also suggest modifying the existing game mechanics as follows:

1. Revamped Incubator

To increase the rarity of ducks and their uniqueness, we propose changing the incubator mechanics so that the cost of hatching is always 1 $EGG. As a result of hatching, you will receive a duckling, which must be raised with the SPICE token. You will need to spend exactly 100 SPICE to raise one duckling (1 SPICE = 1% of growth). There will be a feeding limit of 2x the amount earned in Waves Ducks Hunt.

The existing ducklings will also be switched to the SPICE token, but to avoid any exploits, we will have to introduce a restriction. Only the current duckling owners at the time of this article being published will be able to feed them. We strongly advise against buying those ducklings to raise them — it would simply be impossible.

So, a fully-grown NFT duck can only be obtained by raising it from a duckling.

2. Updated breeding mechanics

Duck breeding will also be changed for a better utilization of SPICE and EGG tokens. You will need to pay $1 EGG to start breeding. The breeding will result in a duckling, which also needs to be raised with SPICE tokens (100 tokens for full growth). The difference from the incubator is that instead of a Genesis duck, you will get a duck of another generation. There’s also no feeding limit for such ducklings.

In other words, the mechanics of the game become closer to real life:

• You can only get a duckling from an egg
• A duckling needs to be fed to mature into a duck
• A duckling can grow into a Genesis duck or another generation, depending on whether it had parents or not

Game economy

The most important question for many players is, “What is the yield on the duck?” The model assumes a return of 30% to 380% APY for the duck, based on player activity and the uniqueness of the duck.

However, given that the price of the SPICE token is still unknown and the price discovery phase is yet to come, the APY calculation is based on the number of ducks you can hatch and grow for the egg hunting rewards. If the price of SPICE increases, the yield could be many times greater.

Changes to Waves Ducks Hunt

Based on the results of the Waves Ducks Hunt testing, we also made the decision to change some of the game’s parameters:

• Golden eggs will be spawning in a radius of 500m to 7km from the player. The range also depends on the characteristics of the duck, such as uniqueness, age, number of genes, and achievements.
• Each duck lays from 10 to 500 eggs in the span of 14 days. A player will be able to open up to 35 eggs from one duck per day. The maximum reward for opening an egg is 0.1 SPICE.

Additionally, the game introduces a leveling system, which will allow active players to get the most out of the game and maximize their results.

Leveling system

Permanent system with a certain number of levels that players can achieve. We suggest adding abilities for players that will improve as they level up. For now, there are three abilities:

1. “Magnetism” ability, which will spawn eggs closer to the player

2. “Additional Hatching” ability, which will let players hatch more eggs per day without new ducks

3. “Stealing” ability, which will increase the chance of stealing someone’s egg

Each skill has its own initial value:

1. Magnetism — 0 metres

2. Hatching — The way it is now, that depends on the ducks (X)

3. Stealing — 30%

Leveling mechanics

The mechanics are simple. There will be 30 levels in total

1. A player starts at lvl 0.

2. To level up, they need to hatch a certain number of eggs.

3. To get to level 1, they have to hatch 10 Eggs and pay for the update using SPICE token. After that, to get to level 2, they have to hatch 20 more Eggs, and so on.

4. After every level up, players receive upgrade points, for which they upgrade skills on the skill tree.

5. Skills are divided into 4 tiers. The higher the tier, the better the skill upgrade within.

6. Every tier has 3 upgrades for each ability. Except for tier 1, it has only 1 upgrade for each ability.

7. In total there will be 30 levels and 30 ability upgrades.

Skill Tree Calculations:

So, to get to the maximum level, the player will have to hatch 4650 golden eggs in total. With fully upgraded abilities, eggs will spawn 1500m closer to the player (but not less than 100m), they will have +30 Eggs per day to open, and the stealing success chance of 80%.

Beta Testing Period Is Over

With the publication of this document, we are wrapping up the beta test of Waves Ducks Hunt. Until the game’s release, we are closing access to the game. The rewards for the test period will be paid in vEGG to all players by August 4, after recalculations. After the end of the test period, the Capacity and other parameters of all ducks will be reset.

Outro

With the introduction of the SPICE token and changes to the game mechanics, we expect to achieve all of the goals outlined earlier: increasing player engagement, making the economy more balanced, and attracting new players. When successfully implemented, it should spark a new wave of excitement for the $EGG token and ducks.

Remember to join the Waves Ducks group and subscribe to the Waves Duck’s Twitter!