Cryptopia

Cryptopia is unique and difficult to categorize. It has elements of so-called 4X games, Tycoon games and RPGs. The game lore is about an unsustainable world in which an unfair financial system unhinges society. A group of people decides to restart society, using blockchain technology. Of course, people could not agree on the direction and split into four factions. Players have to chose sides, making all players feel that they belong to something larger, something greater, something that matters.

Faction influence plays an important role in Cryptopia. The stronger your faction, the better the bonuses and the lesser the penalties. For instance, the Eco faction gets more productive at lower carbon emission levels. Being near the Industrial faction impacts the effectiveness of Eco players directly.

Within this world-level dynamic, players try to reach their own goals. As with any serious game, you can play any way you want. You can be a real Tycoon and invest in land, resources, production facilities, real estate and so on. You can also play as an Adventurer and take on jobs, specialize in a profession and earn an income. You can become a crafter selling precious and rare tools. You can go into the breeding business: capturing companions and cross breed these for a profit. If you like PvP, you can use these companions in PvP battles: train them to become more powerful. Or, if you are lazy and like to be bad: you can rob other players and become a pirate. It is really up to you how you want to spend time in Cryptopia!

Cryptopia is fair from an economical standpoint. We allow everyone to play and earn. We aim for people that have the means and want to spend. At the same time, we also aim for people who don't have the means or don't want to spend (again, very important for web2 gamers who want to test the blockchain waters). We have two playstyles that cater to each group, and, very unique, complement each other. The Tycoon playstyle is about investing in land, resources, facilities, etc. The Adventurer playstyle is about exploring, questing and leveling up your avatar. Although Tycoons may own the assets, Adventurers hold the key to making these assets productive. When you want to build or produce, you need labour. There is only one source of labour. It has to be provided by other players: Tycoons recruit Adventurers and pay for their services.

There is no pay-to-win, only "pay-to-progress". Just like regular games with an item shop: if you have the means, you can make it easier for yourself. But, unlike regular games, when players pay in Cryptopia (for convenience or power-ups) their money does not end up with the game publisher. Their money goes to other players. In short, when Tycoons pay, other players earn, so they too can progress.

The peer-to-peer mechanism of Tycoons and Adventurers makes Cryptopia sustainable. Wealth is redistributed and time spent in the game is rewarded. This system also stimulates players to stay in the game: by spending more time to level up (and become more attractive as a worker/specialist) or by spending the earned rewards to make it easier to level up (better ships, better tools, etc.) In other words, instead of extracting value from Cryptopia, they are stimulated to keep adding value to Cryptopia.

In addition, the game generates rewards for future players. All resources that are used for building, producing, crafting, upgrading and repairing are saved in a treasury (in a web2 game these resources are simply removed from the game). Rewards for new players come from this treasury. Lastly, there are gameplay elements which generate rewards. For instance, when a pirate loots another player, part of the loot will drop in the ocean and becomes a treasure. This treasure is a future quest reward for other players.

We think Cryptopia is fun to play. Of course, this is up to the players to judge. By building a game with rich gameplay, we believe many players will agree!