Realms: Week in Review - Starknet Provisions Announced and Blobert Arrival Imminent
Issue #9 - February 15, 2024
By O_Excess
Welcome to Issue #9 of the Herald: Week in Review.
This week we feature updates from BiblioDAO/Realms, Starknet, and two Lootverse related projects/games.
Here are our top stories:
The Starknet Foundation announces the $STRK Provision Program, detailing the distribution of over 700 million $STRK tokens to 1.3 million stakeholders. Reception has been polarized within the community but Starknet remains the home of onchain gaming.
The Frontinus House funded team behind Loot Underworld announces formation of the Underware Gaming Studio
Blobert NFT Mint announced for February 21
Loot Survivor updates including final results of the Testnet Tournament and development of Loot Survivor 2
Frontinus House project reports light this week but significant updates from Underware, Paved, Rising Revenant, GM Lord and others.
Farcastles introduced as a community-driven, strategic gameplay experience within the Farcaster ecosystem, promoting collaboration and creativity.
Timshel is sponsoring a Loot-inspired race with prizes.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy! Scroll on for details.
STRK Provisions Program
The big news this week is the eligibility announcement from the Starknet Foundation for the upcoming $STRK Provision (aka, Airdrop). In total, 1.3 million addresses will receive just over 700 million $STRK tokens to be distributed on February 20 at 12pm UTC.
Initial reactions have been polarized as many users who thought they’d be eligible were disappointed. This distribution is primarily going to early Starknet users, developers, Ethereum contributors, and Ethereum stakers, which has been consistent with earlier remarks by Starknet team members who commented on allocating the majority of incentives to individuals and teams building within the ecosystem.
Though specifics have not been officially announced about future provisions, the Starknet Foundation has noted on multiple occassions that this is only the first provision distribution. It is likely that future drops will be directed to users, players, and other ecosystem participants.
There are several sources that are worth checking out to better understand the rationale behind the initial distribution.
Medium Post from the Starknet Foundation introducing the Starknet Provisions Program
Bankless interview with Diego Oliva, CEO of the Starknet Foundation, and Eli Ben Sasson, Co-founder of Starkware
BiblioDAO News
Underware Gaming Studio: The team building Underworld, Pistols at 10 Blocks, and Underdark officially announced the creation of an onchain and autonomous worlds gaming studio. We’ll be publishing a standalone article next week with statements from the team’s founders.
Ecosystem Council Development: Several BiblioDAO members have contributed to a revamped ecosystem council but more input is needed. Please take a look at the shared doc within this Discord channel.
Imminent Blobert NFT Launch: The not-so-humble squire of Realms has been teasing a collectible/art launch for the past month and finally, details have been revealed. The mint is taking place on February 21 here. Be sure to mark your calendar as the blobs are coming whether you want them to or not. Oh, and if you are a Realms NFT holder, reach out to Gogibear in Discord for a special surprise.
Loot Survivor Braavos Collab and Tournament Recap
Realms and Starknet Quest recently wrapped up a major collaboration with a significant turnout for Loot Survivor. This initiative kicked off on January 31st, invited players to try out the game on Testnet to claim unique Starknet Pro Score NFTs, and compete for a share of a $1,000 prize. The momentum was followed up with a Realms-sponsored tournament beginning on February 5th, awarding the top fifteen scorers a portion of the $1,500 reward. In total, more than 8,000 unique wallets participated in the event.
Here are the results. Congrats to the Top 10!
kingb - 1075 xp
boat - 897 xp
Mr B - 868 xp
pnin - 831 xp
lelbert 514 xp
hydra - L user - 499 xp
akamaru - 491 xp
Feeble - 458 xp
Leland - 451 xp
ComposableHub - 445 xp
Loot Survivor 2 Announcement
Parallel to this, Loothero, the creator of Loot Survivor is now working on the game's sequel, Loot Survivor 2. One of the most exciting features that has been announced is that beasts from LS1 will be used in the sequel. Players who have collected NFT trophies for defeating these monsters will receive a reward if their beast defeats a players in the upcoming game. Additionally, unlike the first game that was built before any game engines existed on Starknet, Loot Survivor 2 will be built on the DOJO engine.
Frontinus House Updates
The Frontinus House projects were somewhat quiet this week on new developments as several teams with members in Asia-Pacific took holidays in connection to Chinese New Year. Nevertheless, we still saw significant progress by projects.
The CtB team has been focused on their upcoming Pixel Banner mint and demoed the project this week to BiblioDAO members. They are rolling out a new website featuring over 1,000 collection traits from 40 artists. If you’re lucky you might even pull a 1 of 1 collectible.
Crypto Heroes
The team has spent the past two weeks working primarily on tokenomics and exploring collaborations. They should have more significant updates later this month.
GM Lord
The GM Team provided a demo of their product this week showcasing NPC interactions alongside real-time moves within Eternum. For technical updates, the team reported focusing on prompt improvements and a better logging system.
Loot Royale
Despite a portion of the team being on holiday leave, the Loot Royale team is working on UI improvements and experimenting with new game assets and mechanics (integration of cannons and lasers). There will be more to come after the holiday period.
The Mississippi team is currently on holiday as well but have been busy working on their Starknet integration. Last week they created a small demo for the resource harvesting function (which hopefully we will be able to show soon) and have been iterating on a new economic model to better function with game mechanics. There likely will not be any updates next week but much more to follow.
Paved (FKA Stolsi)
Paved is now working on multiple game modes that should be released at or near the Mainnet launch. This week the team has been internally testing game mechanics and ensuring that tiles function smoothly. A lobby has been implemented along with several UI and UX improvements.
The Rising Revenant team demoed their most recent stable game version showcasing incorporation of some of the initial feedback from playtesters. They are currently transitioning from REACT to Unity which should slow things down for a month or so. The end result should be a more robust experience but it’ll take a bit of time.
Underware (FKA Loot Underworld)
The big news this week for Frontinus House projects is that funDAOmental is transitioning into the gaming/Autonomous World studio, Underware. Nothing substantive changes for the teams goals. They are still currently working on three games: Underworld, Underdark, and Pistols at 10 Blocks.
This week they’ve focused on Pistols at 10 Blocks, adding new characters, pushing animation updates, and revisiting game mechanics, such as the blade mechanic that often results in a duel draw. Additionally, the Underdark demo is operational with improved rendering techniques following an upgrade to Dojo 5.
Finally, if any DAO member wants to add a custom character to the Pistols site, please reach out to their dedicated Discord channel or contact Recipromancer directly.
zConqueror (FKA Risk of the Realms)
zCorp demoed their Risk-inspired zConqueror game on Tuesday to BiblioDAO members showing off UI improvements and PVP gameplay. They’ve also started to incorporate a wager system allowing individuals to win or lose NFTs or $LORDS. They’re currently working on the animation to make the game feel more alive for players.
*Other funded projects including Arcane Assembler, Crypts and Caverns, GenLoot, Instaswap, Kist, Loot Auto Chess, Realms Connect, Starkland, and The Whisper Guard did not report any significant updates this week.
Around the Lootverse - Closeup on Farcastles
Farcastles is what its creator, Raulonastool, terms a "minimum viable game" or "gaming primitive," featuring a minimal narrative framework and game loop. Inspired by Loot, it aims to foster community engagement, collaboration, and fun on Farcaster, while also pursuing a bottom-up approach to intellectual property (IP) development.
At its core, Farcastles is a text-based, where players engage in a strategic battle between two castles: North and South. The game is hosted within the /farcastles channel on Farcaster and is free to play. No token requirements or enrollment are necessary. While simple, the game uses game theory elements, where players must balance self-interest vs collective moves.
Beyond the direct gameplay, there are additional meta-tasks at play. Gameplay compels the community to collaborate and recruit new players, fostering organic growth within both the Farcastles ecosystem and Farcaster at large. Given Farcastles' CC0 status, the community is encouraged to create content, art, and experiences, thereby attracting even more participants, becoming a cycle of continuous expansion, creativity and play.
If you have the urge to storm some castles, and who doesn’t?, check it out here.
Loot Race
Longtime Loot contributor Timshel invites racers to compete and celebrate the Loot ecosystem. The top seven times will be airdropped a Lootverse memento. Hurry though, the deadline is tomorrow (Feb. 16).