Author: TechFlow
Currently, as the internal competition in the Meme and AI sectors intensifies, the returns from searching for projects are continuing to decline.
The transfer of funds from Solana to Base to find new AI projects a while ago is a very obvious signal: where there is fire, there is gold.
You should pay attention to track opportunities outside the spotlight when the noise is everywhere.
If you turn your attention to Ethereum, you can see that the recent rise in ETH prices has led to a general rise in the ecosystem as a whole, and the L2 ecosystem has regained funding and attention;
At the same time, the gaming track is in urgent need of change after a long period of silence.
Musk even posted a message expressing his hope to "make games great again." Although this sentence is not about Web3 games, it also reflects the collective desire of investors and players in the entire gaming track.
The current problems of Web3 games are clear and commonplace --- the "leek-cutting" token economic model is prevalent, "predators" undermine fairness, and studios make money and make it difficult for real players to move forward; at the same time, the economic model of a single game is difficult to sustain, and there is a lack of an effective value circulation system...
Continuing with the logic of looking for opportunities in the dark, Metis, one of the L2s in the Ethereum ecosystem, doesn’t seem to be mentioned by many people, but it has excellent performance and can fully support the operation of games; at the same time, the ecosystem is relatively blank, and the benchmark effect value is relatively large.
So, is a game built on Metis and dedicated to solving the above historical problems more likely to have the first-mover advantage of early planners?
This brings us to the protagonist of our research in this issue --- Arena of Faith, a game that started as a MOBA but is striving to expand its game matrix and new gameplay.
After trying to play this game and understanding the ecosystem related to the game, the author believes that it has thrown off the historical baggage of previous Web3 games and is trying to break the collective curse of the death spiral of the entire track.
A TL;DR version could be:
Deflationary token design makes every token "worth its value and fully utilized"
POFS frame generation proof technology innovation makes fair games no longer a slogan and makes cheating impossible
Game matrix layout, shared economic system and multi-game token assets interconnected to form a value cycle
Focusing on long-tail e-sports, pioneering value areas that giants have never explored
If you are interested in these value points and are still paying attention to Web3 games, you might as well click the battle preparation button to start a journey of interpretation.
Originated from classic MOBA, broadening the game matrix
When we first played Arena of Faith (AOF), we had a familiar yet unfamiliar experience.
It is familiar because the game is a MOBA type that almost all players have come into contact with; and it is unfamiliar because the game is not just one MOBA, but a multi-game matrix that is interconnected and influences each other.
First of all, let’s start with the MOBA gameplay of AOF itself.
The traditional 5v5 battle mode is the core gameplay of AOF. Players need to advance the defense tower in the three-way map and eventually destroy the opponent's main base.
This gameplay has been long-lasting and has been proven by the market.
As one of the most successful game types in the world, MOBA has a user base of over 500 million. AOF can draw on the game design experience of DOTA2 and LOL for more than ten years, and rely on the existing e-sports ecosystem. Players' operating habits and tactical thinking can be seamlessly transferred, which actually greatly reduces the difficulty of promoting the game.
For Web3 games, having "familiar" parts similar to other games is the basis for expanding the base.
In addition, in terms of battle rules, AOF has created a unique arena room mechanism, allowing players to create or join a match at any time. The entire system uses the popular ELO points matching in MOBA to ensure that the strength of both sides is equal. At the same time, the game also has a season mechanism. Each season lasts 30 days. Players accumulate points by participating in ranking events and receive season rewards. All game data will be recorded on the blockchain to ensure competitive fairness and provide a reliable data foundation for professional e-sports.
Seeing this, you may think that this has nothing to do with Web3 games. What about the asset design of the game?
In the game, players can earn gold coins by killing soldiers and monsters to buy equipment, and upgrade their levels to learn skills, which is consistent with traditional MOBA; however, the game also has an off-game growth system (on-chain): players can gain experience by using hero NFT cards, and gain attribute bonuses after upgrading their levels. Skin NFTs provide different degrees of bonus effects based on rarity, and these bonuses are designed to ensure game balance.
This also corresponds to the on-chain incentive mechanism, that is, playing the game and making money are separated.
Ordinary players can experience the core gameplay completely for free, and the economic incentives mainly come from the competition system: winning in the arena room can get ACP token rewards, and the daily reward pool is dynamically adjusted according to the activity of the entire network.
At the same time, after the ranking season ends, NFT rewards will be distributed according to the player's rank; large tournaments have generous prize pools composed of sponsors and ticket revenue, and the rewards are also on-chain tokens.
Considering that Web3 games need to expand their user base, AOF is also equipped with a global unified server architecture that supports cross-platform battles, and uses an AI system to help novices get started quickly, so that players in any region of the world can fight against each other without any lag, which also lowers everyone's learning threshold.
It is worth mentioning that unlike general blockchain games that overemphasize economic efficiency and ignore game polishing, AOF's self-developed mobile graphics rendering engine supports real-time lighting and soft shadow effects, uses multi-layer texture blending technology to improve image quality, and optimizes performance through ambient occlusion (AO). This system allows AOF to run smoothly on mid-range mobile phones while maintaining high image quality.
However, this is just a MOBA game after all, and its life cycle and the number of users it can attract are still limited; examples of achieving success through a single game are rare in Web3 games.
AOF has obviously also learned from the experience of previous projects. In addition to its own MOBA games, it is also working hard to expand the matrix of multiple games to maximize the value of the same IP and corresponding on-chain assets.
At present, based on AOF, other games released by the project include:
1. Action PVP game (Arena of Ancient Warrior): A 1v1 fighting game scheduled to be launched in Q1 2025, it combines a Street Fighter-style combo system with a unique on-chain ranking mechanism. The game will support cross-platform battles and reuse AOF hero characters, allowing players' NFT assets to gain new usage scenarios.
2.ARPG PVP game (Arena of Dungeon Challengers): An innovative product that combines Roguelike gameplay with PVP competition, expected to be released in Q3 2025. The game will use the AOF skin system
3. VR competitive product line: Two VR fighting games for the Metaverse are planned to be launched in cooperation with well-known VR hardware manufacturers. They will also be connected with AOF's NFT system to allow players' digital assets to be displayed in the VR world.
4. Mini Program Support: TG robot service developed for light users and to enhance community interaction, providing real-time event data query, performance statistics, equipment recommendations and other functions.
What benefits does the matrix formed by multiple games bring to on-chain assets?
AOF's approach is to allow on-chain assets to be interoperable across games to maximize the liquidity of assets; at the same time, share an IP in game content to form a synergy, and then establish a larger game economic system so that assets can circulate smoothly.
First, from the perspective of unified IP image design, all game products share the same world view system, and the settings and images of hero characters remain highly consistent. Each new work will expand the depth of the world view and increase the cultural value of the IP.
Secondly, since important rights and interests in the AOF game all rely on the NFT series, it is obviously not technically difficult to use NFTs in a single game in multiple games; then using NFTs in all games in the game matrix can greatly enhance the practical value of NFTs, and more usage scenarios also mean more empowerment.
Finally, ACP tokens are used as a unified settlement currency in all games. Economic activities of different games, such as NFT transactions, event rewards, prop purchases, etc., are all settled using ACP.
We will provide more details about ACP tokens in the token economy later in this article.
It can be seen from this that a game is just the base of a matrix, and AOF obviously wants to do more about the platform and ecology.
However, everything is difficult at the beginning. Does AOF have enough base? Perhaps we can get the answer from recent data.
In terms of attracting new users and retaining users, public data shows that the game has accumulated more than 250,000 active users, covering the three major platforms of PC, Android and iOS. Users are distributed in many regions around the world, of which Asia Pacific accounts for 45%, Europe and the United States accounts for 35%, and other regions account for 20%. On average, nearly 1,000 new users are added every day, and the user retention rate is above the industry average.
In terms of on-chain indicators, AOF's daily active wallets (UAW) are stable at around 5,350, with an average of 28,790 on-chain transactions per day and a daily transaction volume of approximately $185,000. These data are outstanding in the current environment where blockchain games are not very popular.
It is worth noting that since the game uses Immutable (IMX) login components and related technologies, AOF actually has complete contract deployments on both the IMX and Metis chains. The former has launched an on-chain check-in system and guessing system, which can be understood as an on-chain proof of game operation activities; while the latter has deployed the game's test network data and the corresponding node system.
In addition to technology, AOF’s financing background should not be underestimated.
Web3 gaming giant Animoca Brands led the A round with an investment of US$8 million; Immutable and Metis participated in the B round as strategic investors, providing technical and ecological support for the project; the world's largest gaming guild YGG also made a strategic investment in the early stages.
At the same time, AOF has established a deep strategic partnership with Metis, including obtaining $1 million in funding support from the Ecological Fund, directly connecting with Metis' marketing resources and technical team, and participating in the early project incubation plan of the Metis ecosystem. These collaborations not only provide financial support, but more importantly, they have achieved complete ecological resource docking.
In the Metis ecosystem, where competition is relatively low, the value brought by a benchmark project may be far greater than that of other ecosystems where projects are crowded.
So to sum up, we can see that AOF currently has a solid game foundation, a complete game matrix and significant market performance and endorsement. These are the basics for a game to become popular.
POFS on-chain verification, a new look for fairness
However, these alone do not seem to completely solve the long-standing curse of blockchain games and e-sports: too many cheaters and non-gamers have poured in, leading to the extinction of the gaming ecosystem.
Right now, we do need a good game, but we need more infrastructure and technology that can maintain a good gaming environment.
This is another value-added point provided by AOF.
Why are you not interested in Web3 games? My answer might be:
First, cheating occurs frequently, and a large number of players use scripts and robots to automatically earn money, which dilutes the income of ordinary players. Second, the low-frequency confirmation mechanism of traditional blockchain makes it difficult to verify game behavior in real time, and you cannot identify cheaters in real time.
In response to this common problem, AOF proposed POFS (Proof of Framesync), which is proof of frame generation.
To put it simply, it means dividing the game logic into fixed frames and uploading the player's behavior data in the fixed frames to detect whether there is cheating.
Whether you play or not is clear at a glance under this POFS mechanism.
At the same time, the POFS mechanism naturally requires AOF to design its own network for verification and post-tracing:
Decentralized nodes verify each frame of operation in real time, and any observer can participate as a verification node to ensure that the game process is completely transparent; all operation data is stored on the chain, supports playback verification, and provides an unalterable historical record for the game.
This is more like a PoS-based network, which then uses the technical means POFS to verify whether there is cheating in the game.
By verifying the compliance of each frame's operation trajectory with the game rules, abnormal behavior can theoretically be discovered at millisecond granularity, which can ensure that tokens are not distributed unfairly or hacked.
To obtain tokens for the current game, one must carry the hero card NFT to play the game, upload the game process data to the chain, and use the verification node to confirm whether the user playing the game does not meet the requirements (basic game data, idle behavior will inevitably not meet the requirements).
Users who do not meet the standards cannot generate tokens. Therefore, the behavior of making money from worthless games can be effectively avoided.
Currently, this mechanism is used in the AOF game itself, but if it can be opened in the form of an SDK, there will be a standard solution for fighting games in the entire gaming track, which will reshape the fairness standards of Web3 games.
The Art of Token Deflation: Coins are Used to Their Fullest and Worth Their Value
Cheating methods can be solved through technology, but how can we solve the common problem of "death spiral" in Web3 games?
We have seen too many games that rely too much on a single mining method and lack real demand scenarios, resulting in token supply far exceeding demand, and ultimately the coin price plummeted and the ecosystem collapsed.
AOF's solution is to design a natural deflation mechanism driven by multiple scenarios, so that every participant has a clear demand for the use of ACP tokens.
From game charging, node staking to event tickets, everyone who participates in the game ecosystem with different motivations has multi-dimensional token consumption to ensure that "the coins are used to their full potential" and thus achieve "value for money".
Generally speaking, if you participate in a Web3 game, your identities are nothing more than the following: heavy players (from the perspective of investment, those who play games for free also count), light participants (who benefit through mechanisms such as assets or pledges), and organizations and individuals who organize various activities or marketing around the game itself.
Next, we will start from these three motivations and see how AOF makes full use of the currency.
Heavy players: Gaming is mining (PoW):
As mentioned above, AOF players need to purchase hero NFTs to participate in the game in order to experience the entire process of making money in the game.
So, in essence, NFT becomes a mining machine that produces tokens, and players drive the mining machine to participate in the game and win by relying on their skills. It is more like a proof of work based on the rules of the game. You complete the game and win, and the system recognizes your work and issues corresponding rewards.
In short, gaming is mining.
Under the main logic of this game, in order to avoid infinite inflation caused by continuous gold farming, NFT is designed with a 30-day charging cycle system. Players need to regularly charge NFT to maintain mining efficiency, and each charging will consume tokens. At the same time, in pursuit of higher returns, players will invest tokens in the skin synthesis and upgrade system. Having better skins and higher-level NFT heroes will have higher gold farming efficiency.
For players, as long as you play, there will be the following token consumption path:
NFT charging: ACP tokens are consumed every 30 days, and the consumption amount is dynamically adjusted according to the popularity of the game
Skin synthesis: ACP tokens are invested, and the part used for synthesis is permanently destroyed
Validator: Co-builder who maintains fairness in the game (PoS):
The fairness and results of AOF competitions require decentralized data verification, which requires the establishment of a trusted verification node network around the POFS (Proof of Frame Generation) mentioned above.
Designing a decentralized validator network around an anti-cheating mechanism actually gives people who lightly participate in the gaming ecosystem room to make profits.
What you can do is to become a verification node by staking tokens. For the game itself, the participants' staking can ensure the authenticity of the data; for your own interests, staking can also obtain staking income, realizing the organic combination of POFS and the staking mechanism.
The node operators who accept your staked tokens can obtain basic income through staking and additional rewards by verifying event data. AOF has designed a linear release to ensure the long-term stability of the node, while forming a deflationary effect through token locking.
The inevitable token consumption path here is:
Node staking: long-term lock
Penalty mechanism: Evil behavior leads to token destruction
Handling fee: Part of it will be permanently destroyed
Tournament organizer: ACP becomes a value bridge for e-sports
As an e-sports game, AOF needs continuous competition operations to maintain the vitality of the ecosystem. Competition organizers bring traffic and attention to the game by hosting competitions, while the game provides a sustainable business model for the competition through the token economy.
Organizers can issue tournament passes to earn revenue, while establishing a prize pool to encourage the holding of quality tournaments and the participation of players. Part of the tournament ticket revenue is used to buy back and destroy ACP tokens, turning the popularity of e-sports into a deflationary force.
The inevitable token consumption path here is:
Event registration: Consume ACP tokens, and the consumed part will be permanently destroyed
Ticket revenue: used to buy back ACP tokens, which means buyback and destruction
Event deposit: Temporarily lock ACP tokens, which can be understood as a deposit for hosting the competition
If we look at the above three roles together, AOF has obviously designed a multi-level token deflation closed loop. Through the daily consumption of heavy players, the continuous locking of verification nodes, and the repurchase and destruction of event operations, ACP has formed short-term, medium-term and long-term multi-level deflationary pressure. This three-dimensional deflationary design ensures that the value of tokens can be effectively supported in different time periods. As the base of game players expands, the number of verification nodes increases, and the scale of events increases, the demand for tokens of the three major roles will grow simultaneously. The deflationary pressure brought about by this demand growth will in turn support the value of tokens, thereby attracting more participants to join the ecosystem and forming a virtuous circle.
Grasp the "long tail" of e-sports and seize a unique ecological niche
The design mentioned above of using e-sports events to consume tokens is good, but is it necessary to do this when organizing e-sports events now?
In fact, this involves a structural problem in the gaming industry --- long-tail e-sports events are still in a demand vacuum.
You may understand e-sports events such as League of Legends' S-League and CS's Major, but in fact, these are all events at the top of the pyramid. Large-scale events are monopolized by leading organizations, and small-scale event organizers have difficulty obtaining resource support, resulting in an overly sharp "pyramid" structure of the e-sports ecosystem.
In places we cannot see, grassroots competitions actually have a large amount of long-tail demand, but due to the lack of a stable business model and revenue source for small-scale events, they cannot be maintained smoothly.
The logic of Web3 has always been to disrupt from the edge, and catching the long-tail e-sports has become a new breakthrough point.
For example, as introduced in the previous article, it is actually a decentralized e-sports event organization mechanism. Any user holding an AOF verification node can become an event organizer. Smart contracts automatically handle core links such as registration and prize distribution, greatly reducing event operating costs.
At the same time, event revenue is uploaded to the chain in real time, the prize pool is automatically distributed, and rewards are directly credited to accounts, ensuring the transparency and efficiency of fund flow.
As for cheating and fairness issues, POFS technology can realize real-time verification and permanent storage of event data, providing a reliable technical foundation for e-sports competitions.
Although only AOF itself is promoting such an e-sports platform at present, a logically smooth and fully functional competition framework has the potential to expand outward to release the value of long-tail demand.
The author believes that if properly operated and promoted, AOF's event infrastructure has at least two value points worth paying attention to:
First, the dimensionality of event operation is reduced. It provides a one-stop event hosting tool, including registration system, schedule management, data analysis, etc., so that grassroots events can also enjoy professional-level operation experience.
Second, activate the community economy. Through mechanisms such as ticket sharing, digital peripheral creation and incentives for event commentators, we can build diversified sources of income and achieve sustainable development of the event ecosystem.
ACP Token Release and Airdrop Rewards
This concludes the introduction to AOF. But for pragmatic Web3 players, what are the project opportunities you can pay attention to at present?
First of all, participating in staking is certainly a cost-effective option.
Official data from the early stage of the project shows that more than 1 million US dollars of Metis are being staked; and those who participate in the staking can obtain the dual rewards of Metis + ACP, the latter of which also corresponds to more value expectations after the mainnet is launched.
However, the staking activity has come to an end. Public data shows that this staking activity attracted a total of 5,500 users, about 21K Metis were used for staking, and a total of 200,000 ACP rewards were generated, reflecting the players' high enthusiasm for participation.
Secondly, if you miss the staking, there are still related airdrop activities based on the expected release of ACP tokens.
According to the official announcement of AoF, the project token ACP will be listed in January TGE. This also means the beginning of a new round of gameplay for the project, and there will be more operations around the token itself.
To coincide with the token launch, AoF will kick off a 14-day “Airdrop Tournament” in the aforementioned MOBA game Arena of Faith on January 6th, with a total prize pool of 5 million $ACP.
The way to get these ACPs is also very simple, just participate in the game Arena of Faith.
The game has designed a season pass system similar to traditional MOBA games. Players need to complete game matches to obtain corresponding points. Every 100 points can upgrade one level. After reaching the corresponding level, they can receive the rewards corresponding to that level.
These rewards include but are not limited to:
FP: Faith Point, in layman's terms, it is used to exchange for the official token ACP during the token TGE;
ACP: Project token, which can be used to synthesize skins or purchase game tickets to open up more gameplay;
ACP treasure chests of different levels: ACP can be dropped randomly when opening the chest, and the drop probability and quantity vary with the level of the chest.
Season Treasure Box: Season Treasure Box contains skin fragments of different levels. Skin fragments can be used to synthesize hero skin NFTs.
It is worth mentioning that if you hold NFTs in the game, such as the game avatars or hero cards we mentioned earlier, you can also get more excess returns by staking NFTs:
Under the same game progress, staking NFTs will correspond to different levels of VIPs, and will enjoy rights such as accelerated upgrades, increased rewards for each level of pass, and less game resource consumption.
For players who want to participate heavily in the game, holding and staking NFTs may be a more efficient option to obtain profits; and for ordinary players, they can also get rewards in normal games; it can be seen that the threshold for AoF to obtain profits is not high, and the excellent game experience is also worth a try.
In general, through AOF we can see that the project is not making a game, but building a complete Web3 e-sports ecosystem. Through POFS technical infrastructure, deflationary token economy and decentralized competition system, it provides a sustainable development paradigm for the entire industry.
For the project itself, through a unified token economy and NFT equity system, value interoperability among multiple games is achieved. This innovation not only enhances the use value of players’ assets, but also brings stronger network effects to the entire ecosystem.
In the future, aiming at the long-tail e-sports market, AOF provides a complete set of solutions, from technical support to economic incentives, from event operations to data rights confirmation, opening up a new path for the development of Web3 e-sports.
Everything is no longer as simple as just a game, and we also look forward to the project taking a different development path.
