An incipient blockchain-based game project called Illuvium has already managed to attract the support of the industry’s top sponsors – a development due in part to the fact that Illuvium co-founders Kieran and Aaron Warwick are brothers of Kain Warwick, the co-founder decentralized finance platform (DeFi) Synthetix.
In a tweet on Friday, Kain announced that “after two years of pressure”, his brothers were revealing a blockchain-based game to the world:
Extremely excited because, after years of pressure, two of my brothers are launching an encrypted NFT game @illuviumio. Also, as promised, I just finished that $ 1 million @chain link market purchase on Kain.eth via @ 1inchExchange. I’m going to be offline for 2 weeks now, enjoy the early 2021! https://t.co/LMb5YkJbtr
– kain.eth (@kaiynne) January 2, 2021
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kieran Warwick clarified that development work has only been going on since September, and that the “two years” refer to the period of time that Kain had been pressing Kieran to re-enter cryptography full-time.
“I left to found a startup in the food industry in 2016, [and] in retrospect, it may not be the best choice, ”Kieran admitted.
Despite the late funding, the few resources released to the public already promise a title with numerous influences.
“The two genres we are most inspired by are collectible RPGs (like Pokémon) and Auto Battlers (like Teamfight Tactics or Dota Underlords). With regard to aesthetics, we are looking for a stylized feeling that is somewhere between the manga style of RPG and the most hyper-realistic games, ”said Kieran.
The gameplay will also present some unique twists, using an agricultural production program for the native ILV token, as well as implementing NFTs in innovative ways that can influence the strategy behind collecting game assets.
“We use a fusion mechanism where three Illuvial NFTs are burned by the user to coin a more powerful Illuvial NFT. This mechanism is common in automatic Battlers, but by employing smart contracts to control coinage and firing, we have introduced more security for collectors and players ”.
While the ambition is growing, the Warwick brothers are bringing a heavy burden of the ecosystem to bear. Despite only recently re-entering cryptography full-time, Kieran says he is no stranger to concepts like liquidity pooling, as he is currently “participating heavily in DeFi in more than 50 projects”.
Excited to see the @illuviumio next level Metaverse!
Games
NFTs
Build on @ Immutable X
(L2 scalable)Everything I brought you by @KieranWarwick And brothers!
If you want to arrive early, join the discord and stay calm
https://t.co/uc8ENQ3SEX https://t.co/1JQW9s18Xm pic.twitter.com/5h1BHImEN5– CryptoFit ($ NERDz) (@ Crypt0Fit) January 2, 2021
In addition, some of the biggest names in DeFi and games are early supporters. Kieran says that “six of DeFi’s top founders” invested in the Illuvium pre-seed round – probably including Kain. Illuvium will also be built using a layer 2 scaling solution from Immutable, the development studio behind the NFT card game, Gods Unchained.
Kieran says he hopes to take advantage of these connections to create a gaming experience that empowers players.
“One of the most frustrating experiences as a player is to feel like a consumer of a game, rather than a participant, and while many game studios have improved this in recent years by giving more control to their communities, there is no way to have the level of community ownership that we will provide in the world of traditional games. “
To ensure that community ownership, Kieran said that Illuvium will be governed by a DAO, allowing players to control the game’s balance and adjustments. In addition, a portion of the funds from the results of the high-risk “Leviathan” arena battles, the winner takes everything, will be allocated to a DAO-controlled safe, as well as other fees.
Although even a demo of the game is “a few months away” and the liquidity mining program is scheduled for March at least, the Illuvium team of 15 men is determined to deliver a product to a market that they believe will eventually become the standard.
“We believe that conventional players will see the opportunity to migrate to platforms without permission, where they can actually own the entire game.”