Hello from the other side,

I am Marguerite deCourcelle, CEO of Blockade Games, and this is the story behind Neon District, our upcoming cyberpunk RPG. I’ve realized that many don’t know how or why we launched Blockade, and I believe it’s time for us to share our story. Blockade Games is different from other studios — we have different values and a different mission, and we want you to become a part of our story.

I started my journey into cryptocurrency in 2012, using GPUs to mine Bitcoin and Litecoin. From early memes, podcasts, and YouTube shows, I jumped into this lively community head-first. I was enthralled and excited by this experimental space, and my background in art and games called me to find a new way to contribute.

My first breakout hit was in 2014 when I introduced the idea of “crypto puzzles.” I embedded private keys into both physical and digital art experiences, including paintings, songs, a playable virtual dungeon, and more. Early on, I recognized a future in token gamification and created the first tokenized game in collaboration with Let’s Talk Bitcoin, which included the automated unlocking of levels based on token holdings acquired through gameplay.

Marguerite’s crypto puzzles

I loved the idea that anyone in the world could pull out a digital asset or a virtual currency by obtaining a private key encoded tangibly by data. There was no third party to restrict the liquidity of the virtual asset; one simply had to “pull the sword from the stone.” Fueled by this passion, I helped build open source projects by growing their communities through these interactions, while also educating participants about art, cryptocurrency, and blockchain.

From Bitcoin to Blockade

After creating games and playing with this technology for 6 years, I officially kicked off Blockade Games in January 2018. Blockade encapsulates my vision of onboarding people all over the world, without restriction, to earn their first crypto assets through exciting gameplay. I want to provide players with the opportunity to win, no matter if it is a final grand prize or some significant trophy that reflects their participation.

Today, traditional games consume both a player’s time and money and very rarely give back anything other than pure entertainment. I envision a future where a player’s invested resources into a gaming application will equate to measurable value, becoming more valuable through provenance. Imagine a notorious streamer using a sword to defeat another notable streamer, after which you come into possession of the prized item. The asset and its legacy carry on with you and how you wield it. In one game it might be a sword, in another title it might become an accessory or a vehicle. What you do with this asset moving forward is more meaningful and permanent. You might think twice about taking your favorite asset or character on a high-risk mission if there are real-life consequences.

While cryptocurrency has done much in the way of changing how we think about money, we are only now beginning to explore how blockchain will influence our views on art, affecting both the collectibles and video game industries.

We are trying to distinguish ourselves as a next-generation video game studio. We first aim to earn the respect of traditional gamers by releasing a great game, and secondly, amaze them with frictionless blockchain features. We believe that Neon District is our opportunity to demonstrate the power behind this idea. We’re not cutting any corners to produce a top-notch game. I have a personal goal to achieve an indie game award for Neon District.

But we can’t do it alone. We need a dedicated community to back us and make this dream a reality. This is why we hope to onboard Founders who embrace our vision and share our ethos to stay experimental. We want to retain all of the magic we delivered in our previous products and don’t want players to have to pay to play. Our history of products has always celebrated free-to-play challenges. That’s another reason we’ve spent over a year designing an architecture that abstracts away the notoriously horrible blockchain onboarding experience.

As a demonstration of this new approach, earlier this year we launched our experimental game PlasmaBears.com to showcase and test our vision of frictionless blockchain gaming. In 6 weeks, our players have minted over 300,000 game assets on the Plasma Bears game-centric sidechain, of which about 700 have been transferred to Ethereum since we opened the transfer gateway last week.

Participate in the Founder’s Sale

Our Founders will be given a special digital asset called the “Founder’s Key,” which will give these Founders early access to every major release we produce. The Founder’s Key is equipped with gem slots. Founders will have the opportunity to collect rare gems that unlock special in-game features. For those who participated in our first 10,000 people Founder’s Key Waitlist, you will be presented with a Key preloaded with a gem when the Founder’s Sale begins. This gem adds special effects to their gameplay experience. Future gems will unlock additional experiences.

Unlocking value in blockchain gaming

Each Key will be available for $5, no matter the quality of the key. We’re charging a small amount for the keys to prevent farming from individuals with ill intent. We aim to keep the keys in the hands of our community and not immediately scalped for resale. After purchasing the Key, it will enable players to unlock loot boxes full of scarce items that will never be available again. The only way to acquire these assets will be by participation in the Founder’s Sale. The quality of the keys is determined according to a player’s position on the waitlist. The better the quality of the key, the better the loot-drop rate.

The Founder’s Sale will be an exclusive event, only available to those who have signed up for the waitlist. Broken up into four tiers, your waitlist position determines when you gain access to purchase the key and loot box. Items within the loot box are scarce and may sell out. If there are leftover assets from a given tier, they will roll over into the next tier. Again, it is possible for the assets to sell out.

By owning Founder’s assets, players will be identifiable as the founding players and backers of Neon District. Our team is excited to introduce you to Season 0 coming soon this Spring. This is the beginning of a different kind of blockchain gaming platform, one that celebrates new technology, stories, and a culture that empowers you, the players.

Come and join us.

Marguerite aka @coin_artist