It’s the hit sport that crypto avid gamers can’t cease speaking about on Ethereum scaling community Ronin—and no, it’s not Axie Infinity this time round. It’s Pixels, a comparatively easy and social farming sport that has rapidly amassed a large following.
Pixels takes cues from beloved video games like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing, however layers in crypto parts like assist for NFT avatars plus a token-driven sport financial system. And that latter bit is essential, because the PIXEL token launch and the play-to-airdrop campaigns that preceded it have helped drive momentum round Pixels.
Unsure what all of the hype is about? We’ve been masking the rise of Pixels at Decrypt’s GG and tending our personal lo-fi crops all of the whereas. Right here’s the whole lot you must know.
What’s Pixels?
Pixels is a web-based farming sport you could play by means of an internet browser. It launched in 2021 and has regularly developed and expanded since. Whereas initially constructed on Polygon—one other Ethereum scaling community—Pixels migrated to Ronin in late 2023.
As of this writing, Pixels helps you to tackle duties like rising and tending crops, adorning land crops, speaking to villagers, finishing quests, and extra. And it’s social, as you’ll usually see dozens, if not lots of of different little pixelated avatars roaming by means of the sport world.
Do I want NFTs or tokens to play?
By no means. You may check in with a Ronin pockets or MetaMask, or in any other case select to create an account with an e-mail handle or telephone quantity, however Pixels is free to play and luxuriate in.
Nevertheless, there are bonus options and capabilities out there. For instance, there are NFT land plots which might be a lot bigger than the free, fundamental plots, plus holders of belongings from sure NFT initiatives—together with the Bored Ape Yacht Membership and Pudgy Penguins—can use their owned profile image (PFP) characters as in-game avatars.
There’s additionally an non-obligatory VIP move that unlocks extra in-game options, and you’ll pay for that with RON, the native cryptocurrency of the Ronin community.
What’s the PIXEL token?
PIXEL is the one crypto token of the Pixels gaming universe. Launched on Binance on February 19, 2024, the ERC-20 token PIXEL was airdropped to tens of 1000’s of wallets of early gamers, plus it is going to be awarded additional sooner or later through play-to-earn options within the sport.
Pixels beforehand had an in-game BERRY token that was described as a “tender forex” and used for issues like shopping for and promoting farmed objects. Nevertheless, BERRY is has been phased out, and holders have been granted PIXEL tokens at a preset trade charge. BERRY is now thought of totally out of date within the sport, although the worth truly surged proper after the PIXEL token dropped.
Who was eligible for the PIXEL airdrop?
Pixels held a pair of “play-to-airdrop” campaigns that incentivized play with the promise of probably incomes future token rewards. In complete, 20,000 gamers’ wallets made the reduce within the first spherical in 2023, with one other 8,000 wallets picked in January 2024 forward of the token launch.
Moreover, Pixels held a Binance Launchpool marketing campaign that ran from February 9 up by means of the precise token launch and itemizing on February 19. Binance served up 350 million PIXEL tokens as rewards for customers who staked Binance Coin (BNB) or the FDUSD stablecoin. The Launchpool allocation represented 7% of the entire PIXEL provide of 5 billion tokens.
Pixels additionally introduced simply earlier than the token launch that it will provide up 20 million PIXEL tokens as an airdrop to Ronin (RON) stakers as a reward for supporting the community. The snapshot was taken on February 8 and the entire allotment is being cut up into two rounds, with the primary at launch on February 19 and the second to comply with a couple of month later.
The longer term
In accordance with Pixels founder Luke Barwikowski, the sport has a considerable roadmap forward that features fleshing out the present farming gameplay, increasing the scope of the sport, and discovering new methods to incentivize and reward gamers properly into the long run.
With BERRY being deprecated and PIXEL about to launch, the sport has already carried out a brand new activity board that offers gamers each day quests to finish—a few of which is able to award PIXEL tokens. Within the close to future, the sport may even make modifications to how scarce sources are managed and supply extra advantages to NFT land homeowners.
Right here’s what to anticipate from Farm Land in Chapter 2…
Chapter 2 will change the gameplay considerably and, subsequently, additionally the meta, utility, and demand for land. The extra you retain updated, the extra alpha you’ll have as these modifications roll out.
Chapter 2Chapter 2 brings… pic.twitter.com/8j6ziBkXWt
— Luke Barwikowski 🚜 (@whatslukedoing) February 9, 2024
Even so, Pixels will stay a free-to-play sport that’s open to all, however it appears clear that the group desires to ensure that individuals who both purchase NFT land or pay for the VIP improve see tangible perks for investing within the expertise. And there might be scads of different gamers who search to align with these gamers to share in the advantages.
Editor’s observe: This story was initially printed on February 14, 2024 and final up to date with new data on February 19.
