Hello everyone, I’m Paul from Coinmanlabs. Today I want to talk to you about a shooting blockchain game - Shrapnel.

Chain Games

Chain gaming, also known as GameFi (game finance), means gamified finance.

The biggest difference between blockchain games and traditional games is the enjoyment. Blockchain games are a mode of earning money while playing. While enjoying the fun of the game, players can also sell the tokens, props, NFTs, etc. obtained in the game in the trading market to earn profits! Although the assets of traditional games are in the player's account, the actual ownership of these virtual props still belongs to the game company. The player is just a consumer, not the owner, while the assets in the blockchain game belong to the player himself.

Currently, blockchain games can be divided into two categories of users:

Product-oriented users: refers to consumer users who focus on the user experience and functions of the product itself and expect to gain satisfaction or convenience through the product.

Investor users: refers to the user group that expects to get a return on investment through the product. Their focus on the product is not only on the user experience, but also on the economic value and future development potential of the product.

Currently, WEB3 players are typical investment users. They do not have much energy and time to play a game. At this time, the project owner needs to set up a good economic model. If the P2E income is too high, the project will collapse quickly, and it will be difficult for both the project owner and the VC to make a profit.

Q· Build a gaming ecosystem centered on playability?
The core of GameFi in the last cycle was Fi. Game was just a means of promotion and Fi was the goal, so playability was not taken into consideration. However, the number of users of the game would fall into a death spiral as the price of the currency fell, and the project would die soon.

Therefore, if a blockchain game wants to continue to develop, it needs to change its thinking and focus on playability and radiate outward.

For example, The Beacon, which has been popular recently, is a fantasy action RPG game. The Beacon also incorporates Roguelite elements to make it more challenging. The dungeon levels are procedurally generated, and each clearance will face a unique set of challenges and bring a different experience. It incorporates multiple game modes to make the game more challenging. In fact, the game is not very amazing, but it has attracted a lot of attention. It's just that compared to other games, this game gave everyone a big surprise.

I personally think that only when users really consume for the playability, rather than for the purpose of making money, will there be a chance to generate positive game revenue and enter the initial stage of success.

Today I would like to introduce you to the game Shrapnel.

Shrapnel

Project website: https://www.shrapnel.com/

Project Twitter: https://x.com/playSHRAPNEL

Project Introduction: SHRAPNEL is a 3A first-person shooter game where skill-based competition, creative mod tools, and true digital ownership are all supported by blockchain technology. As a competitive multiplayer game, SHRAPNEL is equipped with a variety of player creation tools that combine combat, creation, planning, and connection into a community where players can own the platform and decide its future.

Investment agency:

Game Analysis.Coinmanlabs
Overall experience of the game

Shrapnel was tested at the beginning of this year, and I also participated in it. Overall, this game is similar to Escape from Tarkov (in Escape from Tarkov, players can choose to play the role of PMCs of two camps or join the battle as scavengers (SCAV in the game). The goal of the game is to search for supplies from the map, kill enemies and escape from the map at a specific evacuation point). Because I personally like to play this shooting game, such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Maybe it's also because of the boy's personality. In this type of game, I always want to get the first place. The same is true in the beta Shrapnel. Shrapnel is set as a fast-paced extraction shooting game. The gameplay of Shrapnel revolves around players competing for rare Sigma materials from the moon. Players who successfully evacuate the battle can take away Sigma materials for character skill upgrades and advanced weapon exchanges, and gradually enhance their own strength. The game has a built-in trading market, allowing players to freely trade game props. When I first entered the game, I was really shocked by the setting of the game scenes, but I also felt a lot of frustration (it can’t be said to be frustration, maybe it’s because I’m not good at it). The more I felt this way, the more I wanted to play, especially the feeling of winning by obtaining rare Sigma materials. I remember there was a small group at that time, and we showed off our wins to each other in the group.

My overall feeling was that there were fewer game scenes in the internal beta test, but the visuals were very strong, in line with the visuals of a 3A big production, giving people an immersive feeling. Because I played it at the beginning of the year, it was difficult to coordinate. In fact, the purpose of playing the game was more to play with multiple friends (they are also developing a two-player mode in the roadmap).

development team

DON NORBURY is a well-known RPG shooting IP and sports game developer, such as "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones", "BioShock", etc.

MARK LONG has 27 years of experience in the gaming industry and has participated in 32 games. He has served as director of Microsoft Xcloud and head of HBO's publishing department.

COLIN FORAN is a shooter game developer. His experience is totally relevant to his field. He has participated in Ryse: Son of Rome, Sunset Overdrive and the Emmy Award-winning Westworld VR: The Delos Experience.

If all the people are experienced in games, then they can just make a WEB2 game. Therefore, the most important thing in chain games is to combine the financial attributes of the game with the knowledge of blockchain. Therefore, in order to better integrate blockchain, their advisory team is also very strong.

For example, in order to better integrate blockchain finance, they invited the CTO of the well-known Defi protocol Compound.


In order to better integrate blockchain games, we also invited the founder of another sports blockchain game Genopets.


Investment lineup

On November 12, 2021, it received a seed round investment of US$10.5 million led by Griffin Gaming Partners, Polychain Capital and Forte.

In April 2022, it completed a financing of 7 million US dollars. Dragonfly and other well-known investors in the industry also participated in it, and Razer was also one of the investors.

On October 25, 2023, it received US$20 million in Series A financing from Polychain, IOSG Ventures and others.

The total financing reached 37.5 million US dollars, and the investment team was led by well-known institutions in the circle, which can be said to be very luxurious.

Economic Model

In the case where the team and seed round investors hold nearly half of the SHRAP, the token unlocking period is mostly set to 6 months after TGE, followed by linear unlocking on a monthly basis, ranging from 6 to 48 months. It is worth noting that the SHRAP rewarded by the community is set to be unlocked 12 months after TGE. This is because the token release contract will be deployed on the Avalanche C chain first, and the SHRAP will not be migrated and unlocked until the game's own subnet is deployed. Therefore, this unlocking time is relatively long, and it also depends on the smoothness of the game subnet construction.

Currently, SHRAP’s Token has been launched and we can purchase it on CEXs such as Bybit and Bitget.

Currently, tokens can be obtained mainly by selling props obtained in the game in the mall, creating maps, selling skins, and subsequent promotions.
Currently, the consumption scenarios of tokens are mainly used to purchase props in the mall, create skin maps, and your own unique nameplates. Of course, the most important thing is the governance token.

Gameplay

Shrapnel is a fast-paced extraction shooter game where players compete for rare Sigma materials from the moon. Players who successfully evacuate the battlefield can take away Sigma materials to upgrade character skills and exchange for advanced weapons, gradually strengthening their own strength.

Currently, the game has the world’s largest shooting anchor Myth as an official consultant, and has participated in many offline activities, such as the San Francisco GDC (Game Developers Conference), San Diego Comic Con, etc.

We all know that FPS games are very prone to cheating, especially automatic aiming. Previous anti-cheating mechanisms have been unable to eradicate cheating in FPS games. SHRAP uses a large AI model to analyze user behavior in real time and automatically determine whether it is cheating. For example, the time interval from when the player discovers the enemy to when the player aims at the enemy; the trajectory of the player's camera movement; the player's keyboard tapping pattern.


Q· How to retain existing users?

Currently, SHRAP is a single-token model. Once the price falls into a death spiral, it will not be able to attract incremental users. If the game content is weak, it will not be able to activate existing users.

In FPS game themes, the primary consideration for user participation must be the graphics. The Emmy Award-winning film and television production team in SHRAP's team can undoubtedly escort the game in terms of graphics presentation; secondly, most of the project team members come from first-tier FPS game IPs in Europe and the United States. It is important to have a complete, mature, transferable and playable product to retain users in making a good shooting game.

In order to better improve the playability of the game, the official has also updated the 2024 roadmap.

Next round of internal testing

Starting from May, SHRAP will give out tokens worth 100,000 U in each internal test, and NFT holders who complete all tasks will share 50% equally.

Example Task

1. Kill 3 times with Sigma Blaster: 1x Skin Fragment

2. Extract 5 weapon skin fragments: 1x skin fragment

3. Successfully evacuate 7 times: 1x Universal Skin Fragment

4. Create 1 weapon skin: ? SHRAP

5. Get 12 kills with silenced weapons: ? SHRAP

6. Extract 4000 Sigma Matter: ? SHRAP

NFT holders who complete all tasks in the internal test in May will receive 300u (3000 coins), and the NFT price is 200u. It is suitable for shooting game players to make money at low cost.

The next round of internal testing will begin on July 26th.

At the same time, the project party will participate in ChinaJoy from July 26th to 29th.

2024 Roadmap

When I first played SHRAP, I downloaded it from the Epic Store. Currently, SHRAP has launched Hyperplay (a web3 native gaming platform).

Update 1 Continuous Update

In order to provide a better user experience, the official continues to improve movement, shooting hit feedback, combat, etc.; voice chat, safe house, battle pass, new accessories, new weapons, throwables, new Sigma abilities, wearable devices, etc.

Update 2 Warehouse and skin updates

Allowing users to keep the loot they successfully obtained is not only helpful for building future equipment, but can also be used in subsequent battles. At the same time, a new skin - Sigma skin - is introduced.

Update 3 Blind box system, props update

Players earn blueprints by purchasing them from the Market, completing quests, finding them in the world, and as social engagement rewards. This new system replaces the fixed skin rewards for completing STX quests. Blueprints are plugged into a 3D printer, which destroys the blueprint and converts it into items. As the game progresses, items can range from weapon skins to weapon charms and more (eventually including SHRAPs). Blueprints are tradable and come with varying qualities.

New weapons (new sniper weapons like the DMR, new pistols like the revolver), new attachments, a major update to the Sigma grenade, first aid kits.

Update 4: Two-player mode, recommendation system, eSports competition

As I said above, the game is more about the happy laughter when playing with friends, so the updated two-player mode is also worth looking forward to.

The introduction of two-player mode will allow players to create squads using the Epic friends list. So you can invite friends from your Epic friends list, or if you don't have friends to play with, you can go into the matchmaking system and a player will be paired for you.

Coinmanlabs Thinking

1. The game production team is top-notch, the game quality is guaranteed, and the team has rich experience in relevant FPS games.

2. The project encourages players to create independently, taking into account both economic design and emotional value to extend the life cycle of the game, but plug-ins are an inevitable hidden danger in shooting games. Since the rewards for NFT holders participating in the internal test increased in May, many Chinese players began to use plug-ins in the internal test in June. You can also search for plug-ins for sale on Xianyu. The official continues to ban accounts and stated that they will crack down on plug-ins. I hope that anti-plug-in measures can be added from the bottom level instead of simply banning accounts.

3. Single token model, the fluctuation of currency price will affect the game ecology. The token price has been falling since March. On the one hand, it is mainly affected by the overall market and the shutdown of the overall chain game track. On the other hand, there is a lack of ways to consume tokens in the game. At present, there is no other strong and effective way to consume tokens except creating call signs and mall transactions. Fortunately, the rewards given in each round of internal testing do not exceed 100,000 US dollars. So the selling pressure is not particularly large. In addition, the official extended the unlocking period for investors and teams in April, which shows that they still have a pattern and want to continue to expand the project. At least wait until 25 years after the public beta in the traditional game circle. I hope that there will be enough traditional shooting game players at that time, and the quality of the game is high enough for them to spend money in the game to buy skins or decorations.