EverDreamSoft, the company behind Moonga (the first mobile trading card game), has committed to building a new game they view as “transforming the free-to-play genre.” And they're planning to use Counterparty assets to fund development.

Developing a game can get expensive. Thus, developers are increasingly becoming more creative in finding solutions to their cash flow needs. Some have decided to crowdfund through platforms like KickStarter and IndieGoGo to attract people interested in seeing their game come to fruition. And while EverDreamSoft could use traditional crowdfunding sites to raise funds for their next trading card game, Spells of Genesis, they have chosen a different path.

The Issuance of Counterparty Assets

The company will issue tokens known as BitCrystals to fuel the development of Spells of Genesis, the game formerly known as Spells of Orbital. A total of 100 million BitCrystals will be created over time, with a full 70 million of them being available during an upcoming token sale.

As stated on the Spells of Genesis website:

“BitCrystals are Counterparty assets acting as both the game-fuel and the premium in-game currency. There is a limited supply of BitCrystals which can be used (burned) to create new card packs or traded with other players in Spells of Genesis.”

Presumably, this means that players will also be able to trade their tokens outside of the game. Similar to how with Pokemon cards, one is not limited to trading within the walls of a tournament or a game store, players will be able to send their tokens to anyone with a Counterwallet address.

Ownership of actual trading cards will be explicitly known through the Counterparty platform, similar to the way that other assets are held on Counterparty – for instance, the LetsTalkBitcoin token, LTBCoins.

“Game assets in SoG will all be assigned a unique Counterparty token.”

This means some assets will be extremely rare, which is another benefit of using Counterparty’s technology in a trading card game like this. New players will be able to verify that the company has not issued more of a certain card than they say they have, and counterfeiting is effectively impossible.

As with anything, intrinsic value is in fact the perception of value. Players who desire the abilities of the cards of another will actually be the ones assigning value to them. At this point, a player could decide to trade several of his rare cards for actual bitcoins or another Counterparty asset.

BitCrystals and In-Game Purchases

Players will also be able to spend fiat currency in the game through the Apple App Store. When this happens, the company will spend 50% of those proceeds back on BitCrystals, in order to enrich the people backing them.

Essentially, if a player spends US$10 at the App Store, US$3 goes to Apple. Of the remaining US$7, US$3.50 is spent on BitCrystals, which is then used to create a new pack of cards to deliver to the player. This process is clearly explained in a diagram on the official Spells of Genesis website.

Spells of Genesis could represent a new paradigm in how games are funded as all players will have a stake in the value of a BitCrystals. The more that BitCrystals are valued, the longer the system will be able to create new cards and the higher the potential for new players to enter the game.

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