Swoops is an up and coming basketball simulation game in the web3 space that is leveraging Ethereum sidechain Polygon for ownership in digital collectibles. Assemble your team with 5 of your very own unique heroes. Coach and manage them as you play in the metaverse league in this strategic 5-on-5 basketball simulation. The Swoops game has a lot of decentralized technology incorporated to the gameplay and vision, which means that you own your digital assets as well as have the power to shape the game’s future.
Own a team, manage them, coach them to success or join a team as a player and embark on your very own basketball career. Furthermore you can even trade or stake players for rewards. The choice is up to you. Ever heard of fantasy basketball? Well, Swoops is like that, but with its own IP and robotic players called Swoopsters who evolve and age as you play. Pretty cool, right?
As of 2022, Swoops managed to raise $3.5M from some of the most respected names in the industry that cover gaming, crypto, and sports. These names include – Courtside Ventures, Alpaca VC, Slow Ventures, Gary and AJ Vaynerchuk, multiple NBA team owners, Jason Robins (CEO of Draftkings) strategic angels, and Red Beard Ventures.
Kicking Things off
First things first, you have to simply go to the Swoops website and connect your wallet. Then you’ll receive an email after you put in one. Verify yourself and boom! You’re in, just like that.
Now that your account is all set-up. To compete you’re gonna need a player. Only one is necessary to get started. Swoops has a pool of free agent players you can pick from to help you round out a team of 5. So if you only have 1 swoopster, you can then choose 4 free agents.
You can get one through the minting process that takes place before each season or you can buy one on the secondary market from OpenSea. Currently over 3600 are listed.
Swoopster
Think of a Swoopster like a super cool robot basketball player. Each robot player is different and has its own special traits that make them unique, like how they look or how good they are at playing i.e skills. Some things, like their appearance, you see right away when you get them, but other things, like how good they are at scoring or passing the ball, get better the more you use them. So, if you want to be really good at the game, you need to know all about your robot players.
Age:
Age for a Swoopster is kind of like how old you are. When a Swoopster is made, it gets an age, and they start at 1 year old. Then, every 3 months in our world, they grow a year older. So, if a Swoopster was made on July 29, 2022, by July 29, 2023, they would be 2 years old. This aging thing is important because as they get older, they also get better at playing Swoops. So, it’s kind of like they’re getting more experienced and skilled as they grow up.
Name:
At first, all Swoopsters have a name that looks like “Swoopster#0001.” But, in the future, you can give them a cool name of your choice! This is a big deal because once you pick a name, it sticks with the Swoopster forever, even if you decide to sell or trade them to someone else. So, you want to choose a name that you really like because it’s going to be part of your Swoopster’s identity. It’s like giving your robot player a special nickname.
Position:
A Swoopster’s position is like where they like to play on the Swoops basketball team. Just like in regular basketball, there are different positions like guards, forwards, and centers. In Swoops, you need two guards, two forwards, and one center in your lineup. Some Swoopsters are good at just one position, like a guard, forward, or center, while others can be good at more than one, like a guard and forward (G/F) or a forward and center (F/C). This is important because it helps you figure out where to put your Swoopster in the game to make your team strong. If your Swoopster can play in more than one position, that’s even better because it gives you more options!
Rarities
Rarities with respect to Ratings:
- 5 Star: 5%
- 4 Star: 10%
- 3 Star: 25%
- 2 Star: 30%
- 1 Star: 30%
Skill Reveal
There are 15 different skill attributes to each player but they aren’t revealed to you even after you buy a Swoopster. These skills are on a 30-100 scale with ‘100’ being the maximum. For a freshie Swoopster, there will only be 1 skill out of 15 that will be revealed to you. For every year of experience, one additional skill will be revealed. So a 2-year recruit, for example, will have 2 skills revealed, and a 5-year hotshot will have 5 skills revealed.
When you see three gold skills with trophies next to them on a Swoopster, it means those are the top three skills, whether revealed or not, giving you important insights about the player.
The Player cards provide the following information, including: the player’s name, their overall win percentage, and their three highest-rated skill attributes.
Aging and Retirement
All players age at the end of each season, occurring in week 13. Swoopsters are initially equipped with DNA that governs their development and growth. Aging involves two aspects: skill progression along a hidden development curve and the revelation of undisclosed attributes.
Each Swoopster has a prospect rating and unique skills, determining their potential and progression rate. Users may impact development through factors like usage and enhancements. As players gain experience, a hidden skill is revealed.
Retirement, an irreversible action that only you can make. It is unrelated to age but links the retired player with an active one for a single attribute boost.
Locker Room
In Swoops, beyond assembling a talented team, managing the locker room is vital. It’s what your players call their home.
Game Modes
There are two kinds of Game Modes:
Head-to-Head
You can check out various game lists – open, live, or completed – where you can face off against other users or join tournaments. After Season 0, you’ll even have the option to play for real money! In head-to-head matches, your team competes against your opponent’s, and the winner takes the prize. Another thing worth mentioning is that this mode is great for gaining insights into your players in less high-pressure games.
In the matchmaking mode, the aim is to make things fairer. Therefore the game has an algorithm that assesses teams’ skills by looking at their win percentages from the last 50 games and then pairs teams with similar scores. Creating a more welcoming experience for new players!
Tournaments
This format is open to everyone and offers the chance to win big prizes by competing in a single-elimination format. Depending on the time of the season, tournaments can be regular or special. For example, most tournaments are open to the public but the end-of-season tournament is an exclusive event whose participation is based on leaderboard performance and winning bids.
Leaderboard and Swooper Points
Swoops has its own version of XP, they are called Swooper Points. They are the basis on which one can track their progression in the game. You can earn Swooper Points if you enter contests, win games, gain streaks, and partake in events, etc. Point system for leaderboards within the game is SP (Swooper Points) and can be accumulated to receive some benefits, like the ability to enter a raffle for a player. The relevant payouts are done directly to the wallet in ETH.
Swoops keeps track of your points and includes a leaderboard to show how you’re doing compared to others. If you do well at the end of the season, you might win special prizes and get to join special tournaments.
