Last Friday, Ruby.Exchange was joined by Block Brawlers' Chris Lovell, who answered questions about the game, the BB team, launching on SKALE, and how they hope to build out the Block Brawlers ecosystem.
You can find a transcript of the entire AMA below. There's a lot there, but it's well worth a read!
Introduction And Questions From Ruby.Exchange
Ruby
Joining us from Block Brawlers is @craslovell. Could you please tell us a bit about yourself, your team, and your background in blockchain?
Chris | BB
My background is originally in enterprise IT. I actually got my start in blockchain way back in 2013 after a colleague told me about it. I argued with him for about one hour as to how it would be stopped and why Bitcoin won't work. That very same night I was up until sunrise tweaking my work laptop as it began mining bitcoin... so I got my start as a crypto miner. I wanted to be more involved in the space so I learned everything I possibly could and started reaching out to project teams to see if there was any way I could assist them.
Here we are many years later. I feel like I've seen it all... I've worked with various size projects over the years in varying capacities, mostly as a generalist with support and marketing focuses. Now I'm heading up the marketing efforts at Block Brawlers and looking forward to growing this game and player base. Fun times ahead!
Ruby
We’d like to start off with a short pitch for the people who haven’t yet heard of Block Brawlers. So tell us, what is Block Brawlers?
Chris | BB
Block Brawlers is not exactly a P2E game as we've seen advertised in this space, but more of a Play AND Earn game. To summarize, it's really a Blockchain Play-And-Earn RPG game on the SKALE Network, with a little bit of "idle game" to it. On the surface, that game seems simple, as it has a gentle learning curve. Once you break into the probabilities of certain attacks triggering and game planning for the Arena, it becomes much more complex.
Players organize teams of 3 Brawlers in a specific configuration based on the teams already in the Arena, and send them in to fight. Your Brawlers earn XP and Gold every time they fight (and $BRAWL if they're victorious). There are 5 clans: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Doom. There are also 9 classes of Brawler: Barbarian, Warrior, Knight, Amazon, Rogue, Monk, Cleric, Wizard, and Witch. Each class has unique abilities they can learn. There are also alignments for each and every Brawler. They can be Good, Evil, or Neutral, and Lawful or Chaotic. Clan and alignment bonuses are crucial to winning in the Arena regularly, so crafting the best possible combinations of Brawlers is key.
Matching all 3 Brawlers of the same clan or alignment will provide a 10% combat bonus for each match. The only Brawlers that can't get an alignment boost are "True Neutral." There are 6 different pack types available for sale on the site in varying tokens, and we also run tons of giveaways. So keep an eye out for a chance to score some starter Brawlers!
Ruby
What inspired you to build Block Brawlers?
Chris | BB
The most detailed stories will come from our CTO Paul so we'll have to let him go into greater depth for fun at some point in the future. But it really started out quite innocently. Imagine the question "What if we could do Dungeons & Dragons meets CryptoKitties," with a little bit of humor involved. The forthcoming SKALE technology as the game was being built was also a key factor in the decision as it's really the only blockchain network that can properly support Block Brawlers with the raw numbers of transactions the game is designed to generate through play.
Ruby
What is the longer term roadmap for Block Brawlers?
Chris | BB
We have no fixed roadmap for Block Brawlers, for two reasons. Firstly, we’re launching with a fully working game, not waiting 12 months for a game to be created. And secondly, we’re looking to build the features and projects that our community wants the most, rather than dictating what should be built.
As for what possibilities that roadmap now includes, there's Block Brawlers Dungeons and PvE, more in-game NFT functionality, new exchange listings, specific player quests, and a polished mobile release. On a personal level, I'm also looking at introducing some physical Block Brawlers goods for various contests and regular players. You can let your imagination run wild with this. Think past the standard t-shirt and hat giveaways.
Ruby
There are many crypto games out there. Please tell us, what makes Block Brawlers unique?
Chris | BB
Block Brawlers is unique in that it's a blend of positives that we've observed in some other gaming projects in blockchain and also intentionally designed to remove some of the pain points we've seen. It requires very little time to play (unless you're a Brawler whale), and the initial cost to begin is generally lower than other games in the space. After each Brawler enters a battle there's an 8 hour cooldown period. So the most games you can play in a day with a given Brawler is 3, if you're a die-hard.
The fact that it runs on its own chain, BRAWLCHAIN, on SKALE, is also unique in the sense that there aren't many games that exist in blockchain today that can claim the low gas experience we deliver. You will never burn valuable tokens as transactional gas while playing Block Brawlers. That's something that won't change if there's 100, 1,000 or even 50,000 players.
Another cool feature in Block Brawlers is the battle replay option. You can watch every single battle in the Arena after it takes place, or sort by your own battles. If you held the Arena for 4 wins but were knocked out, you can go back and watch those wins (and the loss) that you may not have seen if you weren't at your computer or phone. The final unique piece is that this is very much a living game. We listen to all player and community feedback and take that to heart when performing updates. It isn't just lip service. Playing a game should be an enjoyable experience and not feel like work.
Ruby
Let’s now talk about the milestones you have achieved so far and about your upcoming plans.
Chris | BB
Back to that last note about it being a "living game," you can expect to see some larger announced planned updates to the game but also the occasional surprise update. Since launch in late May, we've had two code changes to the game.
The first update modified the balancing mechanism of the combat system, making it much easier to get started if you only have a handful of LVL 1 Brawlers. It also added the "Tired" mechanic to Brawlers who can't seem to be knocked out of the Arena. After the 3rd win, each consecutive win is a -10% to all stats at the beginning of a battle. This effect increases until they are VERY tired.
The second update helped refine the general user experience. This includes a more specific trigger percentage displayed on your Brawler's abilities, a new way to view Brawlers by serial number, and various visual improvements on the game site. Block Brawlers can be played on desktop or mobile using MetaMask, and we expect to have an Android and iOS app officially released in 2023.
We have a LONG internal list of updates we'd like to see and some of that includes community feedback. We are always open to player ideas, so if you're a player and there's something you'd love to see, tell us! It just might become a reality. Some of the larger and more imminent things we're excited about are Block Brawlers Dungeons and PvE Questing against monsters, some awesome collaborations we're working on to deliver airdrops to other communities in the space, and of course finally listing the $BRAWL token on Ruby Exchange.
Ruby
Can you explain the tokenomics of the project to us? What is the token model and what value does it bring to holders?
Chris | BB
$BRAWL is the token that powers the entire Block Brawlers ecosystem. $BRAWL is used for running transactions on the Block Brawlers chain, buying and leveling up Brawlers, and entering the Arena. In addition, players earn $BRAWL as play-to-earn rewards in the Arena. Economically, if a player doesn't have enough $BRAWL to enter the Arena, we offer a free battle option. This option will still earn both XP and Gold for your Brawlers, but a win will net you less $BRAWL than a win in the Arena.
To give a sense of the token breakdown, the total supply of $BRAWL will be no more than 100 million at the end of year 1, 150 million at the end of year 2, and the maximum of 270 million at the end of year 5. The token is distributed to early adopters (10%) and the player community (10%), as play-to-earn rewards (25%), DeFi and liquidity incentives (25%), to the team (20%) and to an ecosystem development fund (10%).
This token distribution is heavily influenced by Axie Infinity's AXS token distribution, which is a proven and well-supported model. Note that while $BRAWL is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum mainnet, or on other SKALE chains, it’s the native token for the Brawl Chain. This makes for a smooth user experience, as when you connect to the Brawl Chain, you’ll see your $BRAWL balance in MetaMask, in the same location you’d see your ETH balance on mainnet Ethereum. When you connect to mainnet, or to another SKALE chain, you’ll see $BRAWL as a regular ERC-20 token, so you can trade it on Ruby.Exchange or Uniswap.
Questions From The Community
Community Question
Marketing is a central element for every project. What is your strategy to attract new users and investors to your project and keep them long-term?
Chris | BB
As of right now, being nimble during the bear market is one of our top priorities. When looking at potential marketing spends we take that into account, i.e. what the impact will be based on the cost of an initiative, and whether it makes sense at the time. With that in mind, there are some more traditional marketing initiatives that we'll be running soon.
Right now priority #1 is expanding the player base and that's where marketing efforts have been focused. This is being done through a variety of contests and collaborative airdrops with partners and friendly communities in the space. For instance, we completed a Block Brawlers airdrop with Ruby.Exchange in the past week. As for operating income, pack sales are a large part of this. We expect that as we build a more loyal following of regular BB players, we'll see momentum start to form on that end.
Community Question
How can I buy this token? Is it available on any exchange?
Chris | BB
As of right now $BRAWL is only available by purchasing a pack of Brawlers on the main site. Each pack has a different amount of tokens bundled depending on the price and contents of the pack. After you have Brawlers, you can earn more $BRAWL with the free play option or by battling in the Arena.
$BRAWL will soon be listed on Ruby.Exchange, which will make it much more accessible to everyone. In fact, there are a few current players who ran out of $BRAWL and needed to begin running the "play to earn" matches. The good news is you can buy a pack and go straight to running the play to earn matches without spending 100 $BRAWL every time you enter the Arena.
Community Question
What will Metaport be used for? Is this the only way it will be possible to buy/sell $BRAWL? When will the work on Metaport be completed? When will $BRAWL go public?
Chris | BB
Simply put, the Metaport widget will allow the easy transfer of tokens between all the various SKALE chains in existence, and the ones that haven't come to be yet. As for progress, I'd have to check in with the SKALE team. But my understanding is that it's at the cusp of being ready, and may even be complete on their end and just receiving some polishing before integration. As soon as that's ready we'll work closely with the Ruby and SKALE teams to get $BRAWL listed on Ruby.Exchange. I mentioned previously we planned to have this done before the end of July. I think it might take us a few extra days. But this would not be a situation where you get news that "it'll be another 2 months". You'll likely get news that it's imminent and only a few days away when ready.
Community Question
Are you planning any more contests related to $BRAWL?
Chris | BB
There's quite a bit. I've been talking about a large pack giveaway contest involving 500+ packs. That's still happening but some other initiatives have taken priority as they will help support that contest. I'd look for news on that big one by mid-August. We're working with some other SKALE partners to align airdrops for their communities. I can't say who exactly right now as we're still working out details but you'll definitely want to keep your eyes open for news on this. We might have a large flush of new players in the very near future. Get your leaderboard wins in now before it gets even more tough!
Community Question
Do you have a common vision for the development of BlockBrawlers? Do you leave the development of the game to the developers and BB's team?
Chris | BB
Development of BB is very fluid. It's not left to one person or team. Everyone involved with the game has a say, myself included. Earlier the AMA I mentioned this is a living game. To expand on that a bit, it really means if there's a cool idea and we think we can do it, we write it down. That becomes part of the plan. Because of the nature of the game, it's very much a blank canvas and there are many different ways we can take it. Community feedback is critical as well. If you play the game, tell us what you'd love to see. Right now I collect this info and store it but in the future we'll have something more formal, a portal of sorts, where you can drop the ideas you'd love to see. Think along the lines of a DAO/voting system. I don't want to say too much because some plans are not concrete, but imagine physical goods in the future, Brawlers modeled in 3D and integrated into other games and apps in this space, entirely different game modes, etc.
Community Question
Staking programmes are very important for any project. Can I stake your token? Do you have any plans to start a staking programme?
Chris | BB
While I can't comment specifically on whether you'll be able to stake $BRAWL now, I can say ideas around this have been discussed. One of the things you will be able to do that is somewhat akin to staking is providing liquidity on Ruby.Exchange once $BRAWL has been listed. The liquidity pools will be incentivized with extra rewards on top of the normal LP transaction fees, so the pool will have a varying yield of its own. If you've not provided liquidity before I highly recommend you read up on the technicals and possible risks before beginning. I am not certified to give financial advice but would be happy to point you to some basic resources on the web that describe the process of becoming a liquidity provider.
Community Question
Will there be competition seasons, in addition to the weekly leaderboard?
Chris | BB
Actually yes, there will be. There's also been some talk of spreading leaderboards' rewards differently at certain periods of time. We can be very flexible with this. Additionally, we're going to have periods where we bump the deflationary Arena reward WAY back up, so the reward for winning is higher. It's been on a decline since the game launched as designed, but we can "stimulate" that at certain times to increase player activity and rewards for those playing.
Community Question
When do you think there will be an opportunity to sell or trade Brawlers? When a Brawler is put up for sale, can he or she participate in a fight?
Chris | BB
I'll check in on this but I believe we wanted to wait until NFTrade began supporting SKALE assets to really kick off marketplace trading. This helps the SKALE ecosystem as well, since Brawler trade volume is a positive. I'll have to check on the fight option. Theoretically a Brawler could still battle when listed for sale depending on the marketplace smart contract. I believe what that will look like is this: Say you have a Brawler listed and they go into combat. Their cooldown period begins. If someone buys the Brawler with 7 hours left on the cooldown, they'll get the Brawler in their wallet, they just won't be able to use it on the game site until the cooldown has elapsed from the battle the previous owner entered. Don't quote me on that, but that is likely what the experience will look like.
Community Question
I also wonder when we can sell Gold? Will there be items to boost Brawlers in the game? New skins?
Chris | BB
Gold will have utility once Dungeons & PvE Questing comes into the game. Right now saving it up is the best and only thing you can do. There are indeed plans for more in-game NFT-based items. Also ideas around the skins. One hypothetical idea (this is not official or set in stone) that I had was to have various art types players can toggle through. E.g. the "classic" BB view which is what the art is now, then other derivatives, like a 3D version, different armor, etc.
So if you get imaginative you can really see how we can have a ton of fun building this game. There are so many different ways it can go, without necessarily needing a mountain of graphical or coding changes to accomplish those milestones.
Community Question
Will it be possible to make an ordinary Brawler legendary for $BRAWL tokens?
Chris | BB
This is unlikely, only because of the Legendary Brawler cap. I don't want to say it's totally off the table, but if you want Legendary Brawlers I'd definitely grab them in their packs when you can. As the game gains momentum, I expect the legendary Brawlers will sell out quickly. There will only ever be 10,000 Legendary Brawlers. Theoretically we could have 1,000,000+ standard Brawlers minted. It's all about demand.
I will still answer any questions I see, and of course any posted in the BB Telegram or Discord. But as for prizes, I'm going to close it down! If you asked a question between the end of the AMA and now, DM me your Ethereum address. Block Brawlers has a gift for you!
Ruby
Thanks for joining us for this AMA @craslovell! Great talk! Please send some links to your channels where the Rubies in here can check out Block Brawlers.
Chris | BB
Absolutely! We're always expanding our resources. Keep your eyes peeled for more content, including a GitHub with a Block Brawlers FAQ and other important information. For now, these are some of the best ways to connect with us. Keep an eye out on Discord, Twitter, and Twitch in particular if you want to score a free pack soon!
- Main Website: https://blockbrawlers.com
- Game: https://play.blockbrawlers.com
- Block Brawlers Discord: https://discord.gg/KmWDjKRnXJ
- Block Brawlers Telegram: https://t.me/blockbrawlers
- Block Brawlers Twitter: https://twitter.com/brawlchain
- Block Brawlers Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/blockbrawlers
Stay tuned for more announcements from Ruby about Block Brawlers. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter and Telegram, and subscribe to the Ruby blog for regular updates.
