Pixels is an open-world MMORPG pixel game with web3 gameplay mechanics. The crux of the game is gathering, building skills and relationships, ultimately expanding your empire. Stories and quests await you to keep you locked to your screen as you progress. It’s a free-to-play game with 5,000 plots of land, and one of your duties include to maintain it and even customize it.
This game is built on the Ethereum blockchain and founded by Luke Barwikowski. However in a recent surprise move, Pixels decided to migrate to the Ronin Network by Sky Mavis. The pixel game first launched around Q4 of 2021. That makes Pixels one of the earlier web3 enrichened games. However, the game is only gaining a lot of traction recently. Mainly from Japan, where Luke Barwikowski noticed a surge in traffic. Over the last 90 days almost 100,000 unique visitors from Japan found the Pixels website. However the 4.2% retention rate over a 28-day period is low.
There are currently two in-game currencies. The “BERRY” and the “PIXEL” tokens. Both cryptocurrenciesYou can buy virtual pieces of land in the form of NFTs that will be considered as your real-life assets showcasing a system of shared ownership.
The team behind ‘Pixels’ claim that the game’s best aspect should be how fun it is. If it is not fun for all types of players then it might not thrive in web3 communities.
Gameplay Mechanics in Pixels crypto game
The game has a Primary and a Secondary Mechanic.
Primary mechanics refer to the fundamental gameplay elements that are essential for tackling challenges and achieving the intended objectives.
Secondary mechanics are designed to facilitate an out of the game interaction for the player with the game, focusing on their progress towards reaching the ultimate goal.
Resource Gathering
The primary focus of the game Pixels has been around resource gathering, although they are used for the purpose of farming but the Team at Pixels is enhancing the Resource Gathering aspect of the game.. adding greater complexity and depth to the gameplay. Players will have to search far and wide in the Pixels Universe to find resources.
Resource — Types & Rarities
The currently available resources are, Soil, Crops, Wood, Water, Storage, Stone, Power, and Metal.
The availability of a resource is directly related to its rarity. There are 5 levels of Rarity – Common, Special, Remarkable, Amazing, Legendary from Level 1 to 5 respectively.
Hint : Lands with higher quality utility bare Resources of higher rarity.
Farming — How To Plant
Farming is another key aspect of the game. You can farm anywhere, everywhere on Farm plots. You can grow crops anywhere and receive your share from that Farm land. If you own the Farm land then you receive all of the rewards and you get a share from other people farming on your land.
In the game, Energy serves as a limitation, farming activities will consume your energy with respect to each action performed.
To regain energy you can wait at the increment of 1% every 5 minutes. Another way to gain energy is cooking food.
Farming Mechanics
The first step to growing crops is Planting seeds – to grow crops you have to plant seeds for which no farming tools are required but having seeds in your inventory is vital!
The second step is to Water your crops – watering is key to making your plants flourish. A watering tool is required for watering your plants otherwise they will kick the bucket!
You can also fertilize your crops and it will increase the speed of the farming process.
The last step is Harvesting – simply wait for the crop to be ready for harvesting and reap rewards like XP and resources.
Skillset Maturity
As you progress in the game there will consistently be an addition to the amount of things you will be able to do.
Cooking
Players will have the opportunity to embrace a new skill – cooking. Granting them the ability to make drinks, meals, and prepare fruits and vegetables. Some recipes provide bonuses as well.
Woodcrafting
Crafting can be used to create in-house furniture and decorative pieces just for the purpose of display. As for crafting, having a blueprint is necessary to go forth.
To get special recipes or blueprints that can really help in the game, players need to make progress, join events, or sometimes just be lucky. These unlocks are super important and can make the game even more fun and exciting.
Customization
You will have the ability to customize your farm as you move further in the game. The more time you spend in the game, the further you’ll progress and that will result in you having more and more control over your Farmland.
Specialized Industries
Pixels promises more specialized industries will be added to the game like – Woodcutting, Apiary, Mining etc.
Owners of land are limited to having a number of specialized industries on their farm. A base level industry can be upgraded to reap more rewards. Take the Apiary Base, for instance. As you advance in the game and develop the Apiary, it unlocks Wax-related industries such as Candlemaking. Moreover, also providing advantages like lubricating machinery etc.
Mission — Core Values
The Team at Pixels focuses more towards the playable aspect of the game rather than the play-to-earn aspect.
The entire Pixels ecosystem is dependent upon the belief that if players can pay for in-game items in web-2 games, they can very much do the same in the web-3 space. They want users to play without thinking about the play-to-earn aspect.
The Team at Pixels acknowledges that previous generation blockchain games have nowhere near an experience as a web-2 game. The only reason they were played was because of the monetary advantages. Therefore their tokens aim solely towards the gameplay.
There are 3 forms of assets in this web-3 game – Land, Resources and Tokens.
Land — Types
There are 3 types of land in the Pixels play to earn game – Free, Rented and Owned Land.
Free Land
This is the type of land that is available to all. It gives a nice start to players who have just started playing the game. The only downside is that you get small rewards.
Rented Land
This type of land offers players their own personal space and bigger rewards than Free land. The only downside is that a portion of your earnings go to the actual owner of the land.
Owned Land
This type of land gives players the highest level of rewards. Owned land is further divided into two categories – small owned NFT and large owned NFT.
The owner of land has access to all kinds of industries. The value of the NFT increases as more and more work is put into the Land.
They get 100% of the profits and can also rent some of it out and also reap profits from the shares of other players.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the rarest resources can only be acquired through a Sharecropping relationship with the Land owner.
Sharecropping is how free-to-play players can enjoy aspects of the game although they still have to pay the lease fee. Several Sharecroppers can establish a relationship with a single Land Owner’s Industry. However, there is no added advantage when multiple Sharecroppers are involved; the key factors are management and production. It is also possible for Land Owners to be Sharecroppers themselves.
Resource Collection
Advancement in Pixel centers on rarer and more challenging-to-acquire resources. Players must invest time and gain experience to acquire the most coveted resources. To ensure a well-balanced economy, the core team of Pixel will control the quantity of resources generated during specific intervals on the basis of the following factors:
- Restoration Period
- Effort put-in
- Resources per action performed
- Attention required per crop
Tokenomics for Pixels play-to-earn (P2E) crypto game
The game has two types of tokens. $BERRY and $PIXEL. Both tokens are earned by different methods. The $PIXEL token is heavily controlled and predictable compared to $BERRY with an infinite supply. Each day 100,000 new $PIXEL are minted and distributed to people actively playing the Pixels game. Most $PIXEL is distributed for performing the day to day tasks, including quests or finding specific items. Other ways to earn $PIXEL is by creating your own user-generated content for the community to use.
$BERRY Token
This is the main in-game currency. $BERRY is essential for players to progress through the gameplay. It’s also the currency that can be earned the fastest, since $BERRY is earned through selling resources. After earning some in-game currency, the $BERRY can be used in the internal marketplace, which is the same place where players also sell resources to exchange for $BERRY. This token is used for in-game purchasing and unlocking of industries is also done with the help of this token. If you do not own land in Pixels then you will need this token for simply sustaining your land.
$PIXEL Token
The $PIXEL cryptocurrency is a premium token, and much harder to obtain. $PIXEL is primarily used outside of the core gameplay.Players can buy items, upgrades, or make cosmetic enhancements to their beloved Pixels lands. The token primarily saves time and allows players to find more enjoyment and personalization in the game. . These tokens were primarily introduced because Pixels wanted players to have an experience just like a traditional web2 game but with the addition of play-to-earn.
$PIXEL can be used to:
- Mint new Land
- Speed up build times
- Temporarily boost energy
- Special items to place on land
- Unlock new skins
- Unlock XP and Skill enhancers
- Unlock new Crafting Recipes
- Unlock Player Pets
- Purchase IRL Merchandise
How to Get Started?
You will have to connect your MetaMask to save your in-game progress or to use any owned NFT assets you acquired already. If you do not own an NFT, you can continue as a guest without progress saving. You can even customize a free-to-play character. To play with an NFT, you will need to buy the actual NFT from the Opensea Marketplace. Choosing a world to play in is the next step, with server activity indicated. Upon entering the game, players meet and interact with others in a townsquare-like area. Quests can be initiated by talking to Mayor Dave in Terra Villa, who guides players throughout the game.
This article has been written by The Web3 Game writer Khawaja Affan, and edited by Jeffrey.
