Proposal: Game7 Game Jam

[finalboss]

We propose that the Game7 community hosts a 2-week game jam to build Web2 and Web3 games using Rensa Games’ Showcase platform, wherein prizes / bounties may be offered by the Game7 DAO and the Game7 community will be engaged as builders and / or judges.

1. Background

My name is Anthony Apollo (Final Boss | Rensa Games#9033), and I’m one of the founders of Rensa Games. We’re creating a unified platform for video game development, distribution, and crowdfunding. Built on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, Rensa Games performs real-time and transparent payments to game developers and digital asset creators.

We’ve developed a feature called Showcase (Intro / How It Works) that automates the key features of any game jam, hackathon, or pitch competition with on-chain records. This includes forming a team, funding a prize pool, submitting content, judging, and payouts. Using blockchain, we’ve significantly increased transparency and efficiency.

2. Summary

• Host a game jam organized by the Game7 community and sponsored by the Game7 DAO, in February 2023.
• Use Showcase to automate the key features of submissions, judging, and payouts on-chain.
• Create multiple challenges within one overarching game jam to reach the widest audience possible – i.e., both Web2 and Web3 developers.

3. Introduction

Game jams and hackathons are designed to foster experimentation and rapid prototyping of novel concepts. There is a strong need for this kind of testing in the Web3 space, where new features and functionality are developed every day through trial and error.

We also believe that game jams are a great way to bring Web2 developers into the Web3 space. There is no long-term commitment necessary, a stronger focus on experimentation, and an opportunity to meet builders you may not have crossed paths with in traditional game development.

4. Ecosystem

There are more than 3 billion gamers on the planet, compared to 30 million downloads of the popular MetaMask digital wallet. Further, only 500k Ethereum wallets are active on a daily basis. We have a long way to go before a meaningful portion of gamers are using blockchain.

Onboarding gamers and developers will require…

• Greater trust in the crypto and blockchain ecosystems. I have covered above how Showcase increases transparency and therefore trust.
• Interoperability between Web3 platforms. Many skeptics claim that blockchain does not add any value to gaming. However, further advancements in interoperability between tokens, games, platforms, and engines can exemplify the power of this technology.

5. Initial Proposal

1. We propose to help organize a game jam for the Game7 community, with one overarching “Jam” on Showcase, and multiple “Challenges” within that Jam. Each Challenge should have its own unique prompt, with a specifically targeted audience in mind.
2. As an example, one Challenge can target the community of Web3 developers already present within Game7 (and hopefully some new members!) with a focus on interoperability – e.g., “create a game that best demonstrates trading in-game items represented by NFTs across chains.”
3. Conversely, another Challenge can target existing Web2 developers who are curious about blockchain by creating a prompt with few guardrails – e.g., “make the best game you can within 2 weeks.” There would not be any Web3 requirements for the content created, only for the registration and submission process itself.

6. Decisions

Challenges – There will be three (3) Challenges. Every Challenge will be a game jam. There will be no hackathons or pitch competitions. WE ARE SEEKING FEEDBACK ON THE FOLLOWING:

• Challenge #1: Mouse-Only Madness
• Challenge #2: Web2.5 Gaming
• Challenge #3: Swap It

Location – The game jam will be fully remote and online, without any associated physical venue, to get better buy-in from a global pool of game developers.

Sponsorship & Prizes – Prizes will be awarded to first (1st), second (2nd), and third (3rd) place winners as such:

• Prizes per Challenge = $3,000
• 1st Place @ 50% = $1,500
• 2nd Place @ 30% = $900
• 3rd Place @ 20% = $600

This results in an total sponsorship requirement of $9,000, which will be provided by Game7 DAO.

Additional prizes may be offered by community members, such as Lattice1 hardware from @MidnightOnMars.

Timing – refer to Process section below.

Promotion

• Game7’s marketing stewards will assist in drafting and disseminating messages from the official Game7 accounts.
• We ask that Game7 community members help advertise the upcoming game jams in their own circles, with a focus on bringing developers into the mix.

Judges – Game7 stewards and Rensa Games have created a list of 20 candidates to judge the submissions. These lean towards creatives, with some crypto or gaming influencers included to help with promotion. We also intend to include several Game7 community members.

POAPs – will issued for (i) registrants participating in any manner, (ii) winners as voted, and (iii) games elected by players as the “People’s Choice.”

• Per Nejc, @drewskii_1 within the Game7 team can assist. He helped with the POAPs for some of the Gitcoin campaigns Game7 participated in.**
• @MidnightOnMars offered to “​​help contribute to the effort by finding a graphic designer to assist with the creation of a POAP (a free NFT badge certifying participation in a time limited event) and to create benefits for holders of these POAPS such as raffle prizes that could benefit those that didn’t win the contest outright."

Live Component – should we incorporate “live” components to the game jam?

• “Physically” Live - game jam could be hosted in a physical space at ETH Denver, with teams building together / beside each other.
• “Digitally” Live - the game jam could be streamed on YouTube / Twitch / Discord, in whole or in parts.

7. Updated Process

Phase 1A: Proposal
Fri., Jan 13 – Thu., Jan 26

1. [Rensa] Create proposal and post to Forum.
2. [Community] Provide feedback, ideas, support, and criticism on the Proposal.
3. [Rensa] Reply to community comments and update Proposal as needed.
4. [Game7-Ops] Preliminary conversations with Anthony @ Rensa Games.
5. [Game7-Legal] Preliminary conversations with Anthony @ Rensa Games.
6. [Game7-Marketing] Preliminary conversations with Anthony @ Rensa Games.

Phase 1B: Preparation
Fri., Jan 13 – Thu., Feb. 2

1. [Rensa] Update Showcase “Code of Conduct” for Game7 game jam.
2. [Rensa] Update Showcase “Official Rules” for Game7 game jam
3. [Rensa] Update Showcase “Parental Consent” Form for Game7 game jam.
4. [Game7-Ops] Confirm Sponsors, sponsorship amounts, and amount format (e.g., MATIC vs USDC) – refer to the “Sponsors & Prizes” section, below.
5. [Game7-Legal] Complete any final due diligence or contracting required.
6. [Community] Confirm Challenges prompts – refer to the “Challenges” section, below.
7. [Community] Confirm Challenge structure (e.g., max number of teams per Challenge, max number of participants per team, number / composition of judges etc.).
8. [Game7-Marketing] Initiate POAP design.
9. [Rensa] Draft initial promotional materials for review by Game7 stewards,
10. [Game7-Marketing] Confirm marketing campaign outline – refer to the “Promotion” section, below.

Phase 2A: Promotion
Fri., Feb 3 – Thur., Feb 16

1. [Game7-Marketing] Announce Game7 game jam and kick-off social media campaign.
2. [Rensa] Live Demonstration of Showcase.
3. [Community] Internal Community Engagement (Game7).
4. [Community] External Community Engagement (e.g., js13k, Itch, Reddit, etc.).

Phase 2B: Registration
Fri., Feb 3 – Thur., Feb 16

Week 1

1. [Game7-Marketing] Create Discord channels for game jam.
2. [Community] Recruit builders and form teams within the Discord.
3. [Community] Onboard Web2 developers to Game7 and set them up with digital wallets.

Week 2

1. [Game7-Eng] Deploy smart contracts and perform on-chain transactions (including funding) through Showcase.
2. [Rensa] Provide hands-on support through deployment.
3. [Rensa] Perform art / asset uploads as necessary.
4. [Community] Formal registration and team formation on Showcase.
5. [Rensa] Perform onboarding support as necessary.
6. [Game7-Eng] POAP airdrops to registered digital wallet addresses.
7. [Game7-Ops] Airdrop 1 MATIC to each registrant to cover gas (participants registering, submitting votes as a judge, etc.).

Phase 3: Game Jam - Building Phase
Fri., Feb 17 – Thur., Mar 2

• Two-week period to build games in response to the Challenges.
• Ongoing promotional push, including streams from developers as they build.

Phase 4: Game Jam - Judging Phase
Fri., Mar 3 – Fri., Mar 10

• One-week period to review submissions and vote on favorites.
• Ongoing promotional push, including streams from judges as they review.

Phase 5: Game Jam - Completion
Fri., Mar 10 - Sun, Mar. 12

1. [Game7-Eng] Call “End Game Jam” function for each Challenge and confirm payouts.
2. [Game7-Marketing] Push social media promotions / announcements for winning teams.
3. [Rensa] Aggregate analytics around devs, players, and game metadata.
4. [Rensa] [Game7-Marketing] [Community] Perform an event retrospective to assess performance, what went well, and what can be improved upon.

I look forward to the community’s feedback!

[Hornet]

Everything looks and sounds good. But like you mentioned about being transparent to the public is not an easy to a skeptical public. What if we were able to do some of live. Every step broadcasted. I’m connected to a lot of communities. And they are some hard skeptics about blockchain. I think some form of live would be helpful. Also may I suggest a partnership or collaboration with Microsoft Xbox Gaming Camps would be a huge in educating the public. Another great connection is a marketing company called Games Branding. I do know them personally.

[finalboss]

Thanks for the feedback Joe. Although the jams we’ve hosted on Showcase so far have been online, there is increasing interest in running parts of it “live” – which in itself has a bunch of connotations. I’ve updated the proposal to reflect this as another question.

For example, desire for a “physically” live event would be a good argument for hosting the game jam at ETH Denver, as thousands of people do travel for that event.

Conversely, a “digitally” live event could stream on Discord / Twitch / YouTube. Our team does not have a ton of experience here so we would defer to the community for input / assistance.

If those intros are on the table, I would love to connect with both those groups. Please DM me on Discord so we could take that conversation offline (Final Boss | Rensa Games#9033). Thanks!

[Hornet]

yes that would be great to host it live at the event, but I was thing more along the lines of a live stream. And put it on as show. A series. I have a streaming platform that could be a big help

[OSuZQ]

I love this proposal! My one question is how do we show interoperablility in our project? There’s many ways to achieve this, would we set some kind of standard?

[tmulvi]

I love the idea and this should be pursued. There will be many questions before the event that builders will solve during it. The result will be stronger community of web3 gaming and that’s a noble mission. This deserves stronger positive feedback IMO.

[Admiral]

Sounds awesome.

Would suggest during ethdenver and having it be remote first. Stream on twitch or YouTube. Also if we can discuss ways non devs can get involved and join teams that would be great.

I would be willing to contribute some prize money if certain milestones are hit. This sounds really fun.

[jierlich]

Hosting a Game Jam via Showcase seems like an excellent opportunity for the Game7 community to lead in testing new initiatives aligned with the community’s goals: making the gaming industry equitable and fair.

The Rensa team has developed tooling to directly empower individual creators within the game development lifecycle to ensure they are properly rewarded for their work. This game jam will help the community understand how this tooling works in action, and how it can be better applied for community goals in future iterations.

[MidnightOnMars]

As an avid gamer working for a blockchain hardware security company, I’m always frustrated by coverage of NFTs in the gaming press. The technology is empowering for gamers but the way traditional game studios have tried to leverage blockchain has rightfully given many a poor impression. I strongly support this proposal as a way to show indie devs who might be skeptics just what this technology can do for them when used thoughtfully.

True ownership of a digital asset is today only possible via blockchain technology. This means no longer paying for gaming assets that can disappear when a publisher chooses to unplug a centralized server.

I’d be happy to help contribute to the effort by finding a graphic designer to assist with the creation of a POAP (a free NFT badge certifying participation in a time limited event) and to create benefits for holders of these POAPS such as raffle prizes that could benefit those that didn’t win the contest outright. (I’d happily supply GridPlus hardware security bundles for this purpose.)

In terms of timing, I’d strongly advocate doing the event prior to ETHDenver because it is a really chaotic week for those in the web3 space. Simultaneous scheduling would not only limit the pool of participants in the web3 challenges, but could also limit external assistance to devs experimenting with this technology for the first time. It will also allow for more promotional focus rather than getting lost in a sea of announcements.

[playerx]

I love the idea. I love the proposal, thanks for sharing it!

I have an addition to the proposal and please share your thoughts, also I’ll try to cover the open questions mentioned here.

I love 50/50 split between web2/web3 games

However, I think it’s really important to have some kind of limitation as an acceptance criterion for games at GameJam. It shouldn’t be too open and not too niche as well. It should be some kind of a theme for the GameJam.

My proposal (addition):

Online Games

I see many benefits if we apply it:

1. Engagement - The user needs to invite someone to play with them, which will give us an organic reach to more people.
2. Communication - Participants will become more connected by playing/testing each other’s games
3. Sponsorship - Companies providing a real-time communication layer are good candidates to become a sponsor of this type of GameJam. Sponsors can provide demos of how to build a simple chat application. However, users shouldn’t be limited, they can solve real-time communication the way they prefer.
4. More fun - It’s always fun when you interact with a real human in the game. It will be more fun for Judges as well

About Live Component and Timing:

I think it should be online, to reach more people, around the world

I see the timing of GameJam before ETH Denver. However, the final part (the formal part), the announcement of the winner and giving of the prize to happen at ETH Denver.

This way we will not limit the number of participants and also there will be a connection with the ETH Denver event. It should be a much better motivation for participants as well.

My addition to the proposal is too draft. It needs lots of additional work, communication with potential sponsors, etc.

However, It’s important to get your thoughts first and if there will be enough interest we can work together to solve all challenges

Looking forward to getting your thoughts

[nejc]

Thanks for putting this proposal together, @finalboss! I think it’s a solid initiative idea that will engage a good chunk of the community in a very active (& productive!) way!

I echo many of the previous comments on this post - some of my additions:

• prizes: KYC is not strictly needed if the rewards are below $250, but it is good to keep in mind when we think about prize distribution.
• graphic assets: @drewskii_1 can help out here! He also helped us with the POAPs for some of the Gitcoin campaigns we were a part of.
• judges: I propose a judging board stacked with community members! Some long-time contributors could have their place here. Is there perhaps a document we can share with them so they can understand the needed commitments?

[Noun12]

Agree here re: timing. During ETHDenver there will not be enough oxygen, it’s like a mile up there.

What about the idea of minting an open edition NFT of the winner of each challenge, proceeds going 80% to them, 10% to Game7 DAO, 10% to Rensa? It may be small dollar or it may be a way for the crowd itself to reward the top entry and the hosts and it would be on top of whatever prizes can be sourced.

The fit overall seems strong.

If there’s a workable model between Game7 and Showcase/Rensa that pans out, a 2nd entry that might make sense in a few months is another Game Jam focused on Nounish games – using Nouns CC0 IP and Nounish sensibility. We’d want to see a successful first effort here but if this is a good model and the kinks get worked out, NounsDAO funding the prize pool and overall effort of a Nounish Game 7 Game Jam would make sense and be a good way for Nouns to build relationships with game creatives and new fun people who vibe with our meme. I speak myself and my own 4 Nouns, it’s a DAO but I think there’d be a fit.

[upandbeyond]

I worked together with the Rensa founders back at ConsenSys and can vouch they are a capable team with much knowledge and experience in this space, with the ability to execute. I’ve watched as they have built the initial Rensa platform. It’s great for streamlining gaming hackathons. However, I hope they can also make progress on achieving another long-term goal: building out the back end asset management system and asset catalog that enables creators to mix and match many people’s work while automatically handling appropriate royalty distribution while respecting content rights management. It would be great to see such a toolkit leveraged by Game 7 in the future.

[finalboss]

@OSuZQ - I’d like to clarify your question a bit. What kind of interoperability are we talking about? This could be cross-chain compatibility, moving digital assets between game engines, etc.

[finalboss]

@Admiral - thanks for the offer! Discussions regarding sponsorship are open and ongoing with the Game7 stewards. If funding is not an option, would you be interested in judging a challenge? Or just looking to experience the games?

[finalboss]

@MidnightOnMars that you for the support! let’s sync up on POAPs and Lattice1. The Game7 stewards have some in-house talent that can help with POAPs and marketing materials, but if we do this pre-ETH Denver, the timeline will be tight, and the more hands we have for support the better.

[finalboss]

@playerx thank you for your thoughtful feedback! A couple of responses to your points…

• Please keep in mind that this is indeed a Draft, to be refined based on comments from the Game7 community. I will defer to the Game7 stewards on the best process to “refresh” the proposal with additional details - whether that happens in this thread, or a fresh post.

• Similarly, having descriptive Challenges will be helpful in communicating the “guardrails” of any given jam. I intend to upload draft challenges this afternoon - though these might be in Discord, unclear if they’ll fit here or I can attach them.

• Provided we have a lightweight onboarding process in place for participants (i.e., allowlisting wallets), the builders / sponsors / etc. should be able to interact with any of the content created during the “build” phase while the judges are review during the “judging” phase.

• It looks like there’s agreement that this should happen before ETH Denver.

[finalboss]

@nejc

• As a quick correction, KYC is is not required for rewards below $2500, provided the Game7 entity is deploying the smart contracts and funding challenges.

• We are in the process of relaunching our site with Dev Docs that should explain how each element of a given game jam will work, including judging. That should be live on Monday, but in the interim I can upload the steps for our testing script somewhere for context?

[finalboss]

@Noun12 and @upandbeyond - I think you brought up similar points regarding what happens after what’s proposed here. If competitors in the Game7 game jam want to host their completed games or assets (they may want additional time to refine them) on the Rensa marketplace and sell them, they can reach out directly to us to initiate that process. As mentioned, this could include royalty / revshare payments to contributors, sponsors, etc. There is legalese involved to make sure the creators continue to own their content, so we can take those conversations offline.

[jeronartest]

I think it would be best to do this shortly before ETHDenver, especially if in person because game jams will take up most people’s time from doing anything else. A remote jam would be more accessible to the larger community, so I would prefer that.