Crypts and Caverns A Giant Awakened by CheDAO
CheDAO awakens giant in Crypts and Caverns
This article provides a comprehensive review of Crypts and Caverns (C&C) as a programmatic map NFT project and its history and role in the Lootverse ecosystem. The article explores the reasons behind CheDAO’s acquisition of C&C, highlighting the tremendous potential they see in its adaptive map-generating capabilities. CheDAO plans to integrate C&C into Lootverse and other domains, aiming to establish it as the standard map for widely adopted blockchain games. The article also traces the feedback from early C&C community members. Overall, the article discusses the prospects of community-driven blockchain games, which will enter a new era with C&C.
CheDAO Relaunches C&C
Crypts and Caverns (C&C) is a project that generates programmable NFT maps on the blockchain. It was recently acquired by CheDAO, which has attracted attention from various communities within the Lootverse ecosystem. Many people want to know what C&C is, its development direction, and how it aligns with CheDAO’s vision. This newfound attention provides an opportunity for CheDAO to relaunch C&C.
What is C&C and its History
Lootverse is an ecosystem derived from Loot as its core. Loot was created by Dom Hoffman in August 2021 (almost two years since the release of Loot!), consisting of 8,000 text-based randomly generated equipment NFTs. Despite its simple appearance, it has sparked infinite creativity and imagination within the NFT community. People have started to expand on the world implied by Loot, creating various extensions such as stories, games, art, and more. Lootverse encompasses all these derivative works, building an open metaverse.
There are four core projects in Lootverse:
The image below shows Atlas (the world map), which includes a total of 16 countries such as FOX, Power, and Giants. All these countries are derived from Loot’s metadata. From the perspective of complex political patterns and diverse countries, Atlas has many similarities to “Game of Thrones.” In addition, NFT projects such as Realms, Loot, Genesis Adventurers, and Crypts and Caverns also follow the basic settings of these countries in Atlas.
- U.S. Department of the Treasury Arrest and Sanction of Tornado Cash...
- Citi 74% of surveyed companies are exploring DLT and digital assets
- Which one, Layer1, rollup, or appchains, is most suitable for build...
Realms randomly generates land and kingdoms in the form of NFTs. It introduces a grand gaming environment to Lootverse. Players who own Realms can build buildings, collect resources, and wage wars against others in the game. This provides a background for strategic games and conflicts. As the core land and territory, Realms offer adventurers in Lootverse space for exploration and conquest.
Loot, as mentioned above, was created by Dom Hoffman, and it is the beginning of the entire Lootverse. Loot consists of 8,000 randomly generated equipment presented as NFTs in text form. Although they have a simple appearance, these mysterious items unleash endless possibilities. Loot provides the foundational components and a broader world for other projects to build upon through expansion and derivation. It is the core DNA from which Lootverse emerged.
Genesis Adventurers use legends, rarity, and other mechanisms to create upgraded adventurer characters in Lootverse. It extracts deeper meanings from the original Loot contract and builds complex background stories. Genesis Adventurers add identity, progression, and richness to the world through the characters they develop. As advanced adventurers, Genesis unlocks more complex storytelling and gameplay possibilities for Lootverse.
Crypts and Caverns created by Threepwave generate underground dungeon maps on the chain. The layout, doors, points of interest, and other elements of each map are randomly generated and fully stored on the chain. These map data can be interpreted by the game in text, 2D, or 3D formats. By providing these “seeds,” Crypts and Caverns allows game creators to easily incorporate randomly generated dungeons. This project enables games like Heroes and LootMMO to quickly build Rogue-like dungeon gameplay based on Loot items and characters. In particular, Heroes integrated C&C into the core Lootverse theme over a year ago, becoming a demonstration of the versatility of C&C. By using C&C for procedural dungeon generation and incorporating heroes, items, and mechanics, Heroes showcased the potential of C&C as a diverse element of blockchain games. In this way, Crypts and Caverns add “locations” to Lootverse, creating randomly but structured environments for adventures.
Crypts and Caverns fills an important gap in Lootverse. While Loot provides items and Genesis Adventurers create characters, there is still a lack of environments and backgrounds for adventures to take place in Lootverse. This is precisely the gap that Crypts and Caverns cleverly fills. The randomly generated maps stored entirely on the chain create infinite possibilities for game developers.
These maps also have a high degree of composability. Data is stored on the chain in a standardized way, allowing any project to access and build on the foundation of Crypts and Caverns maps. We have already seen this idea realized in games like LootMMO. As more creators realize the potential of building on Crypts and Caverns, various game experiences can emerge, combining elements such as survival, dungeon exploration, puzzles, and role-playing.
Just as Loot provides the basic items for the Lootverse world, Crypts and Caverns provide the basic building blocks for adventures – randomly generated adventure spaces. This perfectly aligns with the spirit of Loot – open, generative, and composable. Crypts and Caverns help translate the immense potential of Lootverse into tangible gaming experiences. Although still in the early stages, with imagination and the foundation provided by projects like Crypts and Caverns, the future looks bright for creating an engaging metaverse. We eagerly look forward to seeing what creative minds will build with the puzzle pieces available today. Crypts and Caverns help turn these dreams into reality.
The four NFT projects mentioned earlier shape the basic worldview of Lootverse, but to realize Lootverse, a powerful game development framework is essential. And that framework is DOJO.
Dojo is an open-source verifiable game engine built using Cairo. As an important tool in the blockchain gaming industry, Dojo represents a significant milestone in on-chain gaming. Its breakthrough proof system enables new possibilities in games, such as verifiable random number generation (RNG) and private inputs. Dojo provides core infrastructure such as ECS, networking, and tools to help developers build high-quality blockchain games quickly. With Dojo, the promise of true ownership and interoperability in crypto games can finally become a reality. By providing scalable and cost-effective computation, Dojo unlocks game complexity that was previously impractical. As a community-driven open-source project, Dojo fosters permissionless innovation among blockchain game developers. While it supports many Lootverse experiences today, Dojo’s goal is to empower the next generation of players across chains with game universes.
With the DOJO game engine, the game development process will be simplified. We are also committed to advancing the core projects of Lootverse and forming its foundational framework. This paves the way for developers to create games consistent with the Lootverse framework and use DOJO in the future.
The current status, community situation, and early holders’ perspectives of C&C
After the birth of C&C, it now has a loyal community of holders who still appreciate its visionary premises. Early holders discuss its immense potential in Lootverse and on-chain interoperability. However, the lack of progress has led to fatigue, and many wonder if the initial promises will be fully realized.
However, after hearing the news of CheDAO’s acquisition, the community’s interest has been reignited. The community maintains a cautiously optimistic attitude, hoping that this marks a restart of development without abandoning previous work. Many support retaining the core vision of the project’s adaptability mapping module. They emphasize that creative applications are more important than commercial motivations.
Overall, under CheDAO’s leadership, the C&C community is excited about its prospects for revival, but at the same time, strongly desires to maintain the founding ideals that initially attracted them to participate. The insights from community members provide valuable perspectives for CheDAO in planning future paths.
Why CheDAO took over C&C and community feedback
According to interviews with early holders of C&C, they mentioned that one key motivation for their participation was the promise of integration with Realms Eternum. This reveals the community’s expectations for the applicability of C&C in the Realms Autonomous World. Some disappointment arose when progress stagnated.
In the proposal, CheDAO expressed confidence in the huge potential and strong community of C&C. The main motivations for acquiring C&C include: developing a fully on-chain C&C game to showcase its utility; collaborating to build a multifunctional C&C mapping module; taking on community management responsibilities; and establishing partnerships to expand the integration of C&C games.
CheDAO’s overall vision is to build a fully on-chain ecosystem through community autonomy. By utilizing C&C’s generative mapping capabilities, CheDAO can enrich the autonomous world it is building and accelerate the realization of its vision.
The C&C community largely welcomes CheDAO’s proposal to revitalize the project. They hope that CheDAO’s resources can unlock the potential of C&C on a larger scale. It is crucial to maintain close contact and involvement with the community throughout the transition process.
Applications of C&C in Loot and Realms
Loot has pioneered a new form of NFT art and collectibles with its algorithmically generated virtual item bags. By envisioning a community-driven collaborative on-chain world, Loot showcases extraordinary imagination. It has spawned the “Lootverse” and sparked a wave of derivative projects in gaming, art, fashion, and other fields. Its emphasis on openness and community autonomy embodies the decentralized value of blockchain technology.
Building on the concept of Loot, Realms further constructs a wide-ranging autonomous world, encompassing various experiences from legends to games. By sharing characters, assets, and environments, Realms closely integrates with other Lootverse initiatives.
Realms provides tools and conditions for experimentation, nurturing the creativity of developers and builders. It also inspires community enthusiasm by allowing participation in the construction of a sustainable on-chain world. The spirit of collaboration and growth cultivates a vibrant ecosystem.
As a programmatically generated map NFT project, Crypts and Caverns seamlessly integrates into the on-chain worlds of Loot and Realms. By contributing unpredictable and unique maps, C&C brings new possibilities to these environments. C&C can also be integrated into games independently developed by CheDAO and others, showcasing its versatility across different projects.
Loot envisions a community-driven ecosystem, Realms expands it into a collaborative autonomous world, and C&C provides adaptable and combinable components that enrich world-building. The synergy between them pushes the evolution of participation economy and creativity in blockchain games to new frontiers.
CheDAO’s Future Plans for C&C
Roadmap
To fully unleash the potential of C&C, CheDAO plans to develop in three directions in the future:
‘Realmpire’ Goal
To deeply collaborate with the Realms team and seamlessly integrate C&C generated maps into the core Realms gameplay loop. This will solidify C&C as a crucial component of the flagship core in the Lootverse project.
In this development direction, C&C plans to integrate into Realms Eternum by the end of the year, while developing a map version of Loot Survivor (please refer to our Realms Grant Application for more details).
Map Version of Loot Survivor:
Loot Survivor plays a crucial role in Lootverse and has important connections with Realms. In this context, it was decided to start integration with C&C in Loot Survivor, and then expand to Realms and the broader Lootverse, presenting a natural development process.
Here is a demonstration of specific game scenes that appear after integrating CC NFT into Survivor.
Functional Overview
Before embarking on an adventure in Loot Survivor, players with C&C NFTs can choose to enter the map, while players without C&C NFTs will follow the original game process.
About Resources
We will make the search events in LOOT SURVIVORS consistent with the data structure of C&C NFTs, including resource output, encounter scenarios, and escape situations. For example:
0 – Stone Temple (30%) → XP(8,15) Enemy_1(level)
1 – Mountain Deep (25%) → XP(10,20) Enemy_2(level)
2 – Desert Oasis (20%) → XP(2,6) Enemy_4(level)
3 – Forest Ruins (12%) → XP(25,50) Enemy_5(level)
4 – Underwater Keep (7%) → XP(35,60) Enemy_9(level)
5 – Ember’s Glow (5%) → XP(50,100) Enemy_10(level)
Reward1 (12%) → HP(1,20)
Reward2 (40%) → WEAPON(X,Y)
In short, different types will be assigned different output reward coefficients, including the type and level of encountered enemies.
About Adventure
We will include map information in the adventure results.
For example: Encountered XXX (monster name) in XXX (map name).
In addition, we will enhance the narrative of Loot Survivor by adding unique descriptions to each map. This will include special events that occur on the map and their effects.
‘Lootverse’ Goals
In addition to Realms, active development of other game experiences will be carried out around the Loot theme to highlight the adaptability of C&C. The integration of C&C will enrich these new game universes and expand its presence in various Lootverse derivative projects.
In this direction, C&C plans to integrate into 5 Loot-themed games by the end of this year. Looking ahead to next year, this number is expected to significantly increase, possibly reaching 20-40 games.
According to recent plans, C&C will integrate with DevilCell (details can be found in our Realms Grant Application), while integrating Loot items and $LORDS. This plan is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
DevilCell:
The development plan for DevilCell will be divided into three stages. In the first version, DevilCell will use C&C as the game map, and the initial version is scheduled for testing in September 2023. The second version will integrate Loot items, and the third version will integrate $LORDS.
Below is an introduction to the functions of C&C, Loot items, and $LORDS in DevilCell.
The Role of C&C in the Game
Users begin by crafting their own cells at the start of the game. These cells maneuver across the dungeon map, which is represented by CC NFTs, acquiring resources, competing, reproducing, and engaging with a variety of events.
Players can craft their own cells at the beginning of the game. These cells maneuver across the dungeon map represented by CC NFTs, acquiring resources, competing, reproducing, and interacting with various events.
The Role of Loot Items in the Game
Similar to how characters in other games can equip Loot items, in DevilCell, each cell can also equip Loot items. Different Loot items have different positive effects on cells. For example, some items may increase a cell’s health, prolong its lifespan, enhance its agility to improve its escape ability, or enhance its attacking power, affecting the outcome of battles with other cells.
The Role of $LORDS in the Game
In DevilCell, there is a cell marketplace where players can mate their own cells listed for sale (as buyers) with cells owned by other players. Players listing cells for sale can set specific attribute conditions for cells owned by other players (as sellers). If the conditions are met, the player who listed the cell (seller) can use their cell for breeding. The offspring cells generated belong to the player who listed it (buyer), and the gas cost of the breeding operation is paid by the player providing the cell. Tokens corresponding to the listed price belong to the participants (sellers). $LORD will serve as the circulating currency in this marketplace.
‘C&C Era’ Objective
By fully integrating C&C into a game project that is completely different from the Loot theme, the universal and scalable mapping primitives of C&C can be fully utilized for the construction of autonomous worlds. To pursue this direction, C&C will drive the integration of more types of external games.
In this direction, it is expected that C&C will be integrated into 5 non-Loot themed games by the end of this year, including Heroes and Cellula. By next year, this number is expected to expand to 30-60 games.
To better achieve this goal, we will continue to develop C&C into an advanced map editor. This development aims to make C&C compatible not only with Dojo but also with Mud and other future game engines. On the other hand, we will actively expand the developer community. For example, we plan to organize various types of grants, hackathons, game creation contests, as well as online/offline conferences.
Our Overall Goal
Our overall goal includes Realmpire, Lootverse, and the C&C Era, which is to integrate into a total of 10 games by the end of this year and expand this number to 50-100 games by the end of next year.
By pursuing these three directions, CheDAO aims to showcase the diversity of C&C and integrate it into blockchain games such as Lootverse and other games. This will move them closer to their vision of a self-governing world. Other plans include collaborating to optimize C&C as a flexible mapping module for game creators. By expanding the toolkit while respecting the spirit of community-driven development, the goal is to empower developers to build immersive worlds by generating NFTs such as C&C. Continuous community engagement and participatory design are crucial throughout the integration process. Despite challenges, CheDAO remains committed to unleashing the full potential of composable NFTs like C&C.
The future of community-driven blockchain games is hopeful.
CheDAO envisions building a thriving developer ecosystem, initially centered around Loot and C&C, empowering developers to create Loot-themed game experiences with C&C. The ultimate vision is for C&C to become the standard for generative mapping in the entire blockchain gaming industry. In the long run, CheDAO aims to enable most blockchain games that require procedural mapping to adopt C&C, even those unrelated to Loot. This will achieve the broader goal of unlocking the full potential of composable NFT primitives like C&C and empower community-driven innovation in the blockchain gaming space for the next generation.
Key Points from the Community Call
CheDAO recently held an engaging community meeting with Crypts and Caverns members on July 31, 2023, at 14:00 UTC, conducting a direct dialogue.
CheDAO expressed deep gratitude to early believers and shared progress on game integration and the StarkNet bridging plan, as well as support for C&C’s evolution as a flexible mapping module. In addition to CheDAO, other major participants also shared their thoughts.
Luke and Yao introduced themselves and their projects. Luke talked about Web3MQ, which is a trustless relay network providing infrastructure for autonomous worlds like C&C. They aim to offer seamless and trustless interactions for users within these worlds. Yao is focused on building communities and governance tools for crypto projects with Metaforo, emphasizing the importance of community governance in decentralized gaming.
Taylor reviewed his journey with C&C. He explained that he was initially attracted to C&C’s universality as it could be a part of any dungeon game. He mentioned his continuous support for the project since its launch and expressed his desire to see C&C integrated into the broader Loot ecosystem. Taylor also revealed his belief in Damien and Rex’s ability to control C&C, citing their experience in operating companies and launching games. He mentioned spreading information about C&C through domain grants and contributions made to its ecosystem. Ultimately, he expressed confidence in Damien and Rex’s further advancement of C&C.
