Review: Gala Games blockchain platform combines gaming and commerce

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Crypto games that combine play-to-earn (P2E) and non-fungible token (NFT) mechanics got a huge boost in 2021 due to the success of Axi Infinity and Metaverse promotions.

However, playability still remains a major problem, as most crypto games focus on tokenomics rather than providing a fun and enjoyable gaming experience.

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Other than the earnings aspect, they often offer nothing special compared to traditional PC or console video games, where players can find interesting plots, good visual effects, and addictive gameplay. Axie Infinity is known for its repetitive gameplay, which is referred to as “grinding” among gamers, while Sandbox and Decentraland don’t offer really attractive graphics.

One of the many games out there worth noting is that it’s not really a game, but a platform.

Gala Games presents itself as a gaming blockchain ecosystem. Its digital fuel is the Gala Games (GALA) token, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain according to the ERC-20 standard. It is also compatible with Binance Smart Chain.

The decentralized ecosystem of Gala Games aims to provide gamers with control over gaming assets. Thanks to decentralization, they not only own their game items, but also have the right to influence the entire project. Players will be put through a distributed voting mechanism to help determine which games should be added to the platform.

The Gala Games ecosystem comprises five components: the game itself, the game publishing platform, the NFT marketplace, cloud hosting, and Tokenomics.

Gaming Platforms: A Combination of Everything

Gala Games has a video game platform such as Steam, PlayStation Store or Xbox Store, but unlike these platforms, Gala Games does not rely on traditional video games but on projects combining P2E mechanics, NFTs and decentralized finance (DFI). Gamers can play freely and earn money just by playing.

Another feature of the platform is that the players themselves decide which games to add to the gala games. Voting will take place among all Gala nodes and any player can create a node using their PC. In addition to game choice, users will also be able to influence the development of the platform such as adding features and where best to direct developers’ efforts such as creating new games, improving the interface or fixing bugs.

In February 2022, users of Gala Games decided to add a game called GRIT to the same platform as PUBG.

Free P2E Video Game Development

Another important component of Gala Games is the creation of video games based on blockchain and NFTs. To do this, the company will open a separate division dedicated solely to the development of blockchain games.

Currently, there are nine games on the Gala Games platform, and only two of them are in beta testing: Spider Tank and Town Star. The next game, Mirandus, was due to come out in December 2021, but the release has been pushed back to the end of 2022 or 2023. The launch date of other projects is also unknown.

Jason Brink, president of blockchain at Gala Games, told Cointelegraph that the main idea of ​​the project is gameplay that will be interesting to gamers:

“The key difference for us is that we put games and gameplay first, before anything else. We believe that games and gamers should always be at the forefront of the gaming ecosystem. This is why we put AAA-quality Game development. Those with decades of experience winning games.”

Town Star is a mix of a city sim and a farming sim similar to Zynga’s FarmVille. It is currently the only fully released game available on PC. In October 2021, Town Star added an NFT and a P2E feature that allows players to earn money by participating in weekly tournaments, completing daily challenges, and earning special rewards.

Screenshot of my own city on a map of the United States in Town Star, where I built several farms and sold lumber.

Spider Tank is a session PvP shooter where one team of mechanical spiders fights another team. The specialty of this game is that players can build their own spiders from different parts such as chassis, weapons, skills and NFTs. The game is currently in beta and can be played on PC. Users can also buy and sell NFTs in-game.

Screenshot of in-game shop where NFT components are sold.

Looks like the most anticipated game from the Mirandas gala. It is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) similar to Project Skyrim, where players fight monsters, build cities and complete quests. Every state, city, character, weapon and armor in the game is an NFT that players can purchase.

The Walking Dead is a multiplayer survival video game set in the world of The Walking Dead series. Players will kill zombies, collect supplies and build houses. The release date has not been announced, as the project is in the early stages of development and will be available on PC.

Echoes of Empires is a sci-fi strategy game. Players can recruit heroes, deploy armies, gather resources, and build, purchase, and upgrade a Starfleet. There are two modes of Echoes of Empires: solo and team, which become available after forming or joining a guild. At the moment, the game is under development. The estimated release date is the second quarter of 2022.

Legends Reborn is a card game where players need to build a deck (collection) of imaginary creatures and fight against opponents. Unlike other similar games like Hearthstone, all creatures in Legends Reborn will not be represented as cards but as 3D characters. In addition, users will own the playing fields on which players will fight. The release date has not been announced yet.

According to the Gala Games team, the final campaign will be an AAA first-person shooter based on blockchain and NFTs. Last Expedition was created by the well-known development studio Certain Affinity, which helped other companies with add-ons for Call of Duty: World at War and several parts of Halo. In addition, it was the Halo series that became the source of inspiration for the final campaign. A release date for the game has not been announced.

Fortified is a PvP tower defense game where players test their strategies using their various assets. Players will build, develop and defend their own cities, as well as raid other players’ settlements. The release date and launch date of Fortified have not been announced.

Legacy will present a city-building business simulation. In Legacy, players will be able to organize resource production chains and market them while maximizing their profits. The game’s release is scheduled for 2022.

Platform Tokenomics and the P2E Model

GALA exists as both ERC-20 on Ethereum and BEP-20 on BNB smart chain. In 2022, the platform plans to migrate to its own chain called GalChain. According to the project team, this will increase the speed of transactions, reduce their costs, and solve many of Ethereum’s scaling problems that have hindered the project’s long-term development.

According to the project’s website, little is known about the platform’s tokennomics, Gala will be used to purchase NFTs and pay for licenses to run nodes. Also, each game project will be able to launch its own token, which can be bought and sold both in the Gala Games Marketplace and on cryptocurrency exchanges and exchanges.

Gala Games claims that any player can not only play their games but also earn money without any investment – ​​after all, these are free P2E games. However, this is not entirely true. For example, if taking the already launched game Town Star, the player can obtain the internal token of the Town Project and sell it for real money in one of two ways: by completing tasks or by participating in weekly tournaments and By winning But, in order to complete the tasks, the player must have at least one special NFT project, which can be purchased only if they have a first-level account in the Gala Games Network. So, it is very similar to staking.

Participating in tournaments is also not an option as players with special NFTs have an advantage over other players. For example, NFT building resources can provide a bonus to production speed or reduce costs. Therefore, players without these NFTs are unlikely to be able to win tournaments and thus earn real money. Such a mechanism cannot be called play-to-earn – it is more of a pay-to-win model.

Prospects for Fiesta Games

Gala Games now has 1.3 million active players. Additionally, he bought over 26,000 NFTs, the most expensive of which sold for $3 million. These figures testify to the considerable success of the project at the moment. However, the prospects of the Gala Games are still in question in the medium and long term.

The fact is that video game development is a very complex and expensive process with unpredictable consequences. Video game history is full of examples when a very promising game with cool developers and an unlimited budget failed miserably after its release. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict the future of any company in this industry.

It turns out that the prospects of the gala games depend entirely on the success of their games. If they gather enough audience and are financially successful, startups will survive. If not, Gala Games will be another company that video games have killed off.

ledge Very optimistic about the future of the project:

“Our current release cadence is planned to be about eight games per year. We have 26 titles in development, and we look forward to releasing more titles.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, so you should do your own research when making a decision.