Is this P2E game poised to be the new “Axie Infinity”?
Introduction
Play to Earn (P2E) on the blockchain has seen major growth in recent months. There are many projects that are working on bringing crypto gaming to players all over the world, and one example that you might have heard of frequently, is a pokemon inspired game called “Axie Infinity”, an Ethereum-based game that features collectible digital pets called Axies.
According to dApp Radar, Axie Infinity has over 10,000 daily users, up from less than 1000 daily users in January.
The native token itself, AXS, has also seen major growth and is trading at $100 currently, up from $0.60 in January.
So the questions you might be asking yourself now is:
1. Why did it grow so much?
2. Are there any other games that I should be looking at?
To answer the first question, Axie Infinity gained traction because it is helping people earn a living off playing Axie, and much more as compared to working in a traditional 9 to 5 job.
The way Axie Infinity is structured is that your initial investment can be recouped by investing your own time, skill, and effort through playing the game (P2E), which is a compelling proposition for people; gamers and non-gamers alike.
And as for the second question… well meet DeFi Kingdoms.
Disclosure: I am invested in DeFi Kingdoms and hold JEWELS and DeFi Kingdoms NFTs. This statement is to disclose any conflict of interest and is not a recommendation to purchase any tokens. This content is for informational purposes and should not be treated as investment advice.
What is DeFi Kingdoms?
To put this simply, DeFi Kingdoms (DFK) is a DeFi suite built on the Harmony ONE ecosystem.
However, apart from just your normal day to day DeFi things — such as yield farming through providing LPs or swapping tokens on their native DEX — DeFi Kingdoms’ aim is to also bring the ultimate game experience through the usage of heroes, quests and lands… all wrapped with nostalgic pixel art and music.
What JEWEL is, and how to use them in DeFi Kingdoms
In DeFi Kingdoms, the native token that is used on a daily basis is called JEWEL. You use JEWELs for LP-ing, to summon heroes, rent heroes and in the future to purchase in-game items such as land and more.
DeFi Kingdoms’ NPCs
Before moving on, I actually want to highlight the different core NPCs/objects that you will meet and interact with often— as of writing — and what they do.
- Teller: If you want to stake your JEWELs because you don’t want to deal with impermanent loss, this is the guy you talk to.
- Trader: The trader allows you to swap between tokens, and brings you the best deals using the DeFi Kingdoms embedded DEX.
- Druid: If you want to manage your LP positions — adding/removing LP — or if you want to create a new LP position, the druid can help you. Do note that in the current version, LPs are called seeds.
- Seed Box: If you want to stake your LP (aka seeds), this is where you go to stake it.
- Barkeep: If you want to view the heroes currently on DFK based on ID, or want to send heroes to another player, this is who you talk to.
- Agent: The agent allows you to bid/hire/sell heroes.
- Arch Druid: Arch Druid helps you to infuse a crystal used for summoning, using 2 heroes.
- Summoner: The summoner allows you to summon new heroes after you infuse crystals from the Arch Druid. There’s a 10 seconds cooldown after you infuse the crystals from the Arch Druid before you can summon.
- Dockmaster: This man allows you to bridge tokens from other chains into Harmony ONE. Do note that the tokens are not native and are wrapped instead outside of Harmony (for now).
DeFi Kingdoms Map
When you first enter the DeFi Kingdoms website, you will be welcomed with a character selection screen. Following that is a grand welcome to the DeFi Kingdoms game, couple with nostalgic music and pixel art.
This is their current map and there are only a few places you can truly explore in DeFi Kingdoms as seen on the map above (for now).
Marketplace
The marketplace is one of the core places you will visit very often. Essentially, this is the DEX embedded in DFK. Here, you will find the trader and the druid.
Gardens
The gardens are where you grow your crops (ie. stake your LP positions) and also collect the rewards. One thing to note here is that JEWEL’s base emission rate decreases every epoch (based on Harmony’s block number), and rewards have a locking model*.
The seedbox is where you would stake your LP tokens, and harvest is where you collect your rewards.
Currently, as of writing, we are in epoch 12 and rewards are 27% unlocked, and 73% locked. To read more about the lock/unlock mechanism, go here.
Bank
The bank is where you would stake your JEWEL, and get xJEWEL in return. If you are a hands-off investor and want to just hold JEWEL for the upside, this is where you go to.
How does it work exactly? Well, let’s say now you deposit 1 JEWEL, and in return, you get back 1 xJEWEL. After a few days, now your xJEWEL will be worth more than 1 JEWEL, maybe around 1.2 JEWEL and it keeps increasing.
But where does DFK get the money to pay depositors? The money comes from trading fees, and also part of it is from sales of in-game items such as the sale of the gen0 heroes, and maybe in the future, land sales.
Tavern
So if you are interested in buying heroes, or want to rent out heroes that you own, this is where you go to find the Agent. Likewise, if you want to view heroes based on ID (eg. Hero #123), this is where you go to view it through the barkeep.
Portal
The portal is where you will go to summon heroes. If you read this and are still confused — don’t worry — we’ll go through this later in depth.
- First, you have to go to the arch druid and create a crystal using 2 heroes. If you only have one hero, you still can summon by renting a second hero through the arch druid as well.
- After you have the crystal, head over to the summoner and summon your hero while simultaneously praying to every God that your hero will be a legendary one.
Professions
Remember, your heroes are not couch potatoes like you… I mean like your friend. Every hero has a specialty — which again, we will go through more in-depth later — and they can do different quests, such as fishing, or foraging to get experience and also various items.
This is where you send your heroes off to do quests.
Docks
The dock is where you will find the dockmaster. If you have funds in other chains and want to transfer it over to Harmony, the dockmaster is who you will find to assist you in that.
How to get started with DeFi Kingdoms
Now that you’re familiar with the lay of the land, the question you probably have now is… how to actually get started. Of course, first up you have to go to https://game.defikingdoms.com/#/ and create an account. You will need some ONE for the gas fees.
“Urgh gas fees”, you say. But ser… 1 ONE can last you and 3 different generations after. The beauty of Harmony ONE.
Ok, what’s next? Well — fret not — because I will be sharing with you the 2 different strategies I use. Of course I’d recommend doing a mix of both to maximize your gameplay.
- JEWELooor
- Questooor
JEWELooor
Now as a JEWELooor, the strategy is very simple. You want to just collect JEWELs, and then compound the JEWELs for more JEWELs.
Your go-to places? The marketplace, the bank, and the gardens.
So the first place you would go to is the marketplace, to buy some JEWELs first from the trader. Remember, you want to eventually LP your JEWELs so only buy 50% of your initial funds (ie. If you’re coming in with 5k, only buy 2.5k worth of JEWELs)
After you’re done, head to the Druid who is on top and waiting for you, and purchase some seeds (create an LP position). There are various LP positions you can create, so head over to the gardens to check which LP position you want to take up before this, then create the LP.
Lastly, head to the gardens and actually deposit your LP or seeds via the Seed Box. I had a friend who created an LP position but forgot to deposit it… and he only realized it after 2 weeks (comment “F” to pay respect for Bob).
Now… with your rewards you can then keep compounding to your current LP, or put it in the bank for pure upside on the JEWEL token. To do that, head over to the bank and stake your JEWEL after talking to the teller using the “Deposit” button.
I talked to him before and he’s quite friendly, so it’s all right!
To withdraw, just click “Withdraw”. The “Claim” button as I heard from my friends is just to deter bots so if you are a bot, click it but if you are not, you don’t need to click the Claim button for anything.
Questooor
Questooor! Well, obviously you hate money so that’s why you want to just purely do quests right? I mean It’s a simple life since all you do is questing.
How to do quests? Get a hero. Currently, you can obtain a hero by buying one from the tavern, or via summoning a new hero through the archdruid.
And for the harder question… Which hero should you get?
Let me refer you to this hidden “cheat sheet” below. Right now, there are only 4 different types of professions a hero can have. Mining, gardening, foraging, and fishing.
Now using this cheat sheet, if you wanted to purchase a hero that is good at foraging, you’d pick the ones that have good DEX and INT as well. And in all cases, the dread knight would be better than a sage or ninja when it comes to foraging based on the sheet.
Currently there are only 4 professions available (as you can see) and more will come as soon as DFK decides to expand to other chains such as AVAX, FTM or even LUNA (gotta keep em’ guessing).
Questooor: Buying a Worthy Hero
Here, we go through the steps on how to actually buy a hero. First, head over to the tavern and meet Agent Selina. Next, she will give you an option to “Buy Heroes”.
Click that, and the filters are on the left side. With another tab, open up the cheat sheet and start shopping like how you’d shop at ASOS.
Questooor: The Summoning
Now, this will go through the steps on how you can actually summon a new hero by yourself. Here are the steps to summon a hero:
- You first need one hero. If you don’t have any, head over to the Tavern to buy one (refer to “Buying a Worthy Hero”).
- Once you have your first hero, head over to the Arch Druid to infuse a crystal. For this, you need a 2nd hero, but you can rent him/her directly from the Arch Druid.
- Then with the crystal, head over to the summoner who will then be able to help you summon a new hero.
Quick Math & Conclusion
I hope that the above has given you a good headstart towards the DeFi Kingdoms realm and I will definitely be updating this article as new features pop up. But before you leave for the Kingdom, let’s do some quick math (Not a full economics breakdown because mans running for planes right now).
Comparison of JEWEL against other P2E games
AXS: MCAP of 6B, FDV of 27B
ILV: MCAP of 700M, FDV of 12B
JEWEL: MCAP of 390M, FDV of 2B
ATLAS: MCAP of 266M, FDV of 4B
Here’s how I intepret this: Given that a lot of the volume comes through DFK because it’s a DEX in itself, and DFK is currently only at phase 2, there is still much more room to grow. I genuinely think that JEWEL can and should be 1/4 of AXS’ marketcap, which brings JEWEL up towards a multiple of 3.8x, giving it a fair price of around $25.
And that’s it for this article! Once again, I will update it as new stuff comes live from the Beta, and I hope you enjoyed. Do share it with your friends if they are interested in coming into the Kingdom, and if you have any discrepancies, feel free to DM me on Twitter!
