DeFi Kingdoms - Nostalgic pixel art game that combines DeFi and gaming

Introduction

DefiKingdoms is built on the Harmony Blockchain and was launched somewhere in September 2021. Since its release, it has been a major success. The game has shot up to the number 1 position on the Harmony Blockchain Decentralized Applications (Dapp) list, with a Total Value Locked (TVL) over 200mio USD on October 28. The price of their native token (JEWEL) skyrocketed to $5,50, the team and community has grown rapidly, and new NFTs and other functionalities were implemented with speed and rigor.

Unlike any other game analysis we publish, DefiKingdoms has just launched their platform and doesn’t really offer a live game yet. However, it already went through a few cycles. Initially, as it is a Game Built on aDEX it started as a gamified approach to farming. Later, with the introduction of Heroes NFT, the focus shifted to a breeding/trading game of NFTs like we know from Axie Infinity. Current available features center around their DEX (Merchant Matoya), Liquidity Pools (Druid LazarusGardens), Staking (Banker Ian), NFTs trading platform (Agent Selina), as well as Summoning of Hero NFTs. Summoning is an extremely interesting and crucial gameplay mechanic in DeFi Kingdoms, but more on that later in this analysis. Their roadmap is aggressive and previous functionalities were launched without any hickups. GeckoVerse believes it is a very solid team and is confident the game will be launched according to their roadmap timeline. For the time being the team decided to stay anonymous, but we know it comprises 18 people with relevant backgrounds in design, marketing,and development.

Although many projects exist today and many more are launching, DefiKingdoms clearly stands out from the rest. It has a strong team,exciting UI, graphics and music, a large and engaging community on many channels, solid TVL and financing, cool and useful NFTs, and exciting potential gameplay. What makes DefiKingdoms even more bullish is that they leverage proven gameplay such as breeden from Axie Inifnity and battling from Idle Heroes. Their vision is bold: becoming a real-time gaming company. For us, DefiKingdoms is just the start of this amazing team and community. Read more about it below.

Ecosystem today

The DefiKingdoms ecosystem is currently built around the DEX (MerchantMatoya), Liquidity Pools (Druid Lazarus Gardens), Staking (Banker Ian) and the NFTs trading platform (Agent Selina). Let us explore each of these components. First, starting is easy. Go to https://game.defikingdoms.com/#/ to create your own game character. These are the same for every player and do not have any specific in-game value or functionality. Switch your MetaMask wallet to the Harmony Mainnet, pay your $ONE gas fees and you’re good to go.

You will now enter the DefiKingdoms map. Hate or love the peaceful music that plays in the background and explore the world:

• Top left shows your character and locked and unlocked token balance (not captured here)

• The middle displays all different parts of the kingdom you can visit

• Top right shows your navigation panel, for easy navigation around the kingdoms and the main portal

Merchant Matoya DEX

• Click on marketplace – click on trader.

• Enter the amount and click swap

• It is very simple and works just as any other DEX

• Select the tokens you want to trade/exchange

Liquidity Pools (Druid Lazarus Gardens)

• The Liquidity Pools are called Gardens and the portal automatically generates a list of all Gardens available. At the top of the list the TVLis highlighted

• For any Garden or Pool the APR, Total Deposited amount, Pool Reward allocation, and emission rate is highlighted. Please check the emission schedule here

• Note the high APR includes a substantial proportion of locked rewards which vest with a much longer time horizon (very well detailed in the DefiKingdom docs)

We understand you want to know more about the DefiKingdoms ecosystem. For completeness we recommend to visit the DefiKingdoms medium channel.

The Tavern

The Tavern is the NFT marketplace where you can purchase, sell and rent out Heroes in DeFi Kingdoms.

Heroes

One of the most exciting gameplay mechanics in DefiKingdoms so far is defintely around the Heroes NFT. What started as a gamified approach to farming has quickly evolved into something much bigger. Breeding and trading NFTs. The first generation Heroes were launched during a live event on October 1 and are called Gen-Zero or Gen-0. It is so cool they go one step further than your standard NFTs as our Hero NFTs will be playable characters that you can level up and earn JEWELs with. No, these NFTs aren’t meant to just sit on a shelf and look pretty, they’re one of the key features in the game.

Launching soon, they can be used to participate in quests, battle in PVP, or dressed up in gear to maximize their stats. In doing so, they can be leveled up and allow users to earn tokens in DefiKingdoms. Today, with the introduction of the Tavern marketplace you can not only breed but also trade these Hero NFTs.

Before you pick your NFT and get started it is important to understand a few basic principles. First, each hero is unique and is given a set of specific genes such as job class, subclass, profession. Second, each hero has its own starting stats that is determined by their class, their stat bonus genes, their rarity, and bonuses applied during the summoning process (granted by the summoners spending extra Gaia’s tears and/or certain enhancement stones). As heroes have many different attributes, we understand the complexity of the ecosystem. However, for simplicity and completeness we have decided to list only the most important information. If you want to know more we recommend reading the DefiKingdoms website.

Equipment: Based on a Hero’s profession they will be able to find and equip valuable equipment NFTs that will grant them special passive and active abilities, and increase their stats.

Stats: heroes will have various stats that determine how effective they can be performing different quests. These stats can be increased as heroes gain XP and level up.

Quests: Heroes are able to go on various quests within the kingdom. Gardening guard duty allows them to help protect the gardens from attack, increasing the number of JEWELs their owner is able to get from staking. JEWEL mining allows them to mine for those locked JEWELs deep underground, unlocking them early. Dungeon raiding gives them the opportunity to discover rare treasures by defeating enemies.

Pets: Heroes can sometimes find and capture rare pets that will accompany them on their adventures. These pets can grant stat bonuses, passive abilities, and more.

PVP: Heroes will be able to participate in periodic tournaments in parties of 3, to compete against other players for JEWEL prizes. Maximize your stats and take your rightful place as the world champion

Very recently, new classes have popped up! We are not going to mention them here for now to add to the mystery

Summoning

In this section you can find more information about Hero NFTs and summoning these. Again, summoning is an extremely interesting and crucial gameplay mechanic in DeFi Kingdoms. With countless combinations and Hero classes the possibilities are endless. However, it is important to understand how this works, as Heroes will have an impact on your performance and earnings when playing the game.

• Summoning starts at the Arch Druid. There you choose two Heroes that you own or rent from another player. Be careful that you cannot summon with heroes having direct lineage (i.e. parent or sibling)

• Each Summon Requires 20 Gaia’s tears (10 for each), and the amount required will increase with the Heroes level and/or special Advanced/Elite classes

• There will also be a summoning fee in JEWEL for each Hero, which increases by +10 JEWEL after every summon, except for Gen0 that increases by +2 after every summon

• After you ‘Begin Summon’ and confirm the transition in your wallet, you will be given a Hero crystal to use in the Portal. In simple terms, within two clicks you open your new Hero. However, do this within 5 minutes or you pay an extra 18 JEWEL.

• Keep in mind that the new Hero’s Gen will be based on whichever Hero used to summon is more ‘recent’. If you summon with a Gen 0 and a Gen 3, the summoned Hero will be a Gen 4.

• The new Hero’s genes (both stat and profession) will be based on the two Heroes you summoned with. However, there is a chance that your Hero(es) may have a recessive gene. For example, you summon with two Gen 0 Warrior Heroes. It is highly likely that you will get a Gen 1 Warrior, but you may end up with another class entirely (e.g. Monk). This means that a recessive gene was activated, and the same logic applies to professions.

• You will not be able to use any newly summoned Hero for summoning until 24 hours has passed.

• Summoning procedures. stats, professions, ranks, and generations in might be a challenging concept to navigate, but there are some helpful documents available. See strategies section.

Ecosystem - what´s next

Land sale

• Limited supply of lands that can be developed and used for resource gathering and NFT equipment crafting.

• The first land raffle snapshot was successfully completed on 15th October, each Friday for 3 weeks will be an additional snapshot and then on November 8 they will livestream the lucky winners. Another snapshots + Landdrop is also planned in November/December. To qualify for 5000xJewel should be held in the bank (see strategies section)