Q1. Why did Node Runners choose elements such as Punk and Dystopia to create games? Can you introduce the original intention of the team and how to play the game?
Alpha Noder: Our game theme is inspired by the current advancement in technology and growing power that corporations get from it. If we don’t resist their centralised control over our data, we might see a dystopian scenario where we are influenced by tech companies, unable to make choices of our own.
Cyberpunk 2077 game creators realistically pictured how our future might look like if we let corporations take control over our lives. At Node Runners we believe that only decentralisation and respect for privacy can save us from the upcoming corporate autocracy.
Node Runners collectible cards game, where players can select their decentralisation Heroes, upgrade them with support cards. and choose to fight corporate Villains to save the day.
Also Hero and Villain cards can be staked to mine NDR governance tokens. Currently NFT staking is live, and fighting Villains is coming soon.
2. Different from other game NFT projects, Node Runners has added DeFi and staking design. What is the process for new users to participate in staking? What progress does the addition of DeFi design have?
Alpha Noder: We wanted to add more utility to our game’s NFTs, by seeing the success of DeFi projects we thought why don’t we merge NFT with DeFi?
Our Hero NFT cards, just like liquidity, can be staked to mine NDR. In order to obtain a Hero NFT, player can farm it by staking liquidity, or buy it with Ether.
By purchasing card with Ether, 90% is used to buy back NDR from the market and permanently lock the liquidity on Uniswap. NFTs can be also bought on the secondary market like Opensea.
Essentially we have created an interest bearing NFT. We are also going to include NFTs from other projects, so they can be staked at our platform and earn rewards.
This will help us to grow our user base and bring more utility to all NFT on the market.
3. The single gameplay is the weakness of many game-type NFT projects. In addition to the existing gameplay, will the Node Runners team introduce or add other gameplay in the future? Can you tell me in advance?
Alpha Noder: Yes indeed multiplayer games are more exciting and popular, since it makes the game more social and dynamic. Team play would be the natural evolution of our game. Currently we are researching a new type of gameplay that would allow players to join “Gang Wars” where 2 teams would fight against each other. User would select a team, stakes his NDR tokens as health points, choose Heroes and start the game. Spectators would be able to bet teams.
Game mechanics would be similar to fighting Villains, the whole process would happen on-chain. Winning team would get NDR tokens from the bets and opponents’ stake. Spectators could also win NDR tokens if they bet on the winning team.
4. Recently, the price of ETH has soared, causing the gas cost on the chain to rise all the way, and even affecting the circulation of projects such as Node Runners. How do you view this situation? Is there any good solution to this?
Alpha Noder: From the beginning we were aware that on-chain games will face difficulties because of the gas prices. It creates a high entry barrier for users and adds unnecessary friction to play the game.
To address this issue we were looking for an Ethereum scaling solution. We decided to go with Matic Network since we could remain on Ethereum Mainnet and have a gasless gameplay.
That was possible with the help of Biconomy platform that bridges Matic with Ethereum. All the user needs to do is deposit assets and just sign the transactions during the game. This solution helped us to create a seamless experience, since users don’t have to change their blockchain network.
5. At present, most of the hero cards of Node Runner are the founders or core characters of famous projects. What is the process of hero card design? Will you consider allowing community members to participate in the design of hero cards in the future?
Alpha Noder: We are looking for the notable people that have a positive impact on decentralised technology. Also we listen to our community to decide whether to make a particular person a Hero or a Villain.
Once choice is made, rarity level and stats are assigned based on Hero’s influence. We are trying to capture our Heroes spirit by giving them attributes, weapons that suit their personality.
We are going to have collaborations with other NFT projects and artists. By merging different styles would achieve unique combinations that were not possible if we worked on our own.
6. As a DeFi project, Node Runners must be successful with good community governance. How does the team currently govern the blockchain game community?
Alpha Noder: We have created Node Runners DAO to have a more efficient governance process.
Our community can decide how our reserve funds would be spent, who is rewarded through the grants program and whether to take on the new initiatives. It also helps to spot issues early and find creative solutions to them.
We already had multiple votes on the matters of asset allocation, liquidity mining structure. Anyone can create a proposal and with enough of support from the community it would be implemented by our team.
7. In 2020, both NFT and DeFi tracks have experienced phenomenal explosions, but then the heat dissipated quickly. How does Node Runners view the development of DeFi and NFT? What is the future development of the chain game market?
Alpha Noder: Although DeFi mania in the 2020 summer was short lived, it proved the use-cases for Ethereum and other blockchains in the finance sector. NFT sales have also seen an exponential growth, there isn’t any reason why it would stop in the upcoming years.
Also we might see the rise of a new field which is NFT x DeFi. For example, you can take a loan by using NFT as a collateral, tokenize your NFT to erc20 tokens or earn interest by staking it. You will be able to do so much more with NFTs this year.
Also NFTs are on their way to reach mass adoption through the esports industry. So players can really own in-game assets, monetize them through staking, renting or just selling on the market. Soon existing creators will have to include on-chain assets in their game, or they will lose to the growing competition.
We are still at the dawn of blockchain gaming, but it already looks very exciting.
8. At present, Node Runners has successfully launched AEX Aswap. In the next few years, what goals does Node Runners want to achieve in terms of team building, project development, community governance, algorithm research, and market size?
Alpha Noder: In the next few years our goal is to create a fun, valuable and effortless gaming experience that would bring mass adoption of blockchain gaming. We aim to take a lead in NFT x DeFi space by allowing players and NFT collectors to get more value from their assets.
To achieve that we plan to hire more talented developers from esports and DeFi fields, scale up our marketing team and onboard industry experts that would help us to reach our goals.
Our community will remain at the center of our project, we hope to see more initiatives , ideas from our community that would make our DAO successful.
Regarding algorithm research, current blockchain gaming experience is far from perfect. We need to improve the experience of interaction with crypto assets, so there is no friction on using in-game items, playing games and getting value from it.
The future of blockchain gaming looks bright. With $26 billions locked in DeFi and 911% growth of NFT sales since 2020, we have seen proof that these industries are set for mass adoption. Global esports market was worth about $1.1 billion in 2019. NFT with DeFi solutions can offer a great secondary market for in-game assets and unlimited use cases. 2021 will definitely be the year of NFT in gaming.
AEX Team
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