The Crypto Prophecies
The World’s Cuttest Price Prediction Web3 Game
As a Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer, I embarked on an ambitious journey to create The Crypto Prophecies, a pioneering web3 game that blends price prediction, NFT collectibles, and a player-owned economy. The challenge was to design an engaging and intuitive game that not only captivated players but also leveraged blockchain technology to introduce innovative gameplay mechanics. My role involved co-shaping the product vision, leading a talented remote team, and ensuring an exceptional user experience that seamlessly integrated the thrilling aspects of price prediction with the strategic depth of NFT-based gameplay.
CLIENT
ROLE
CDO
Responsibilities
#User Experience Design #Wireframing #Prototyping #High Fidelity UI #Visual Design #Animation #Art Direcion #Branding #Team management
The World’s Cuttest Price Prediction Web3 Game!
In early 2021, the cryptocurrency market was booming, with Bitcoin (BTC) nearing its all-time high. Simultaneously, blockchain gaming was on the rise, but many of the emerging projects lacked excitement and engagement. Recognizing this gap, I partnered with my good friend, another game enthusiast and fellow designer who shared a common vision. Together, we set out to create a game that was not only fun to play but also rewarded players for their time and investment. This collaborative effort led to the birth of The Crypto Prophecies, an innovative web3 game that combines price prediction, NFT collectibles, and a player-owned economy.
ART DIRECTON
Concept and Art Direction
The initial challenge was to define the look and feel of the game. After extensive research, I opted for a classic vector-based style. This decision was driven by the anticipated complexities of animation work and the trendiness of this style in the current market.
Bringing the Vision to Life with World-Class Artistry
To bring the vision to life, I hired and managed top-level illustrators and artists to create the characters and game scenario environments. Their expertise helped shape the vibrant and engaging world of The Crypto Prophecies.
DESIGN PROCESS
Crafting the Core Mechanics: From Concept to Execution
As the game art direction took shape, my focus shifted to defining some of the core game mechanics. This was a greenfield project, meaning everything needed to be conceptualized and developed from scratch. I collaborated closely with the team to brainstorm how the game could be played, the approach to take, the technologies and external dependencies such as data providers. After numerous rounds of trials, we solidified our direction for game logics, game balancing and game economy. This thorough groundwork set the stage for the design production to take place, ensuring a cohesive and engaging gameplay experience.
user Journeys and flows
Initially, I defined over 50 user journeys, covering various aspects of the game. This comprehensive process involved mapping out each user touchpoint, from the initial log-in to navigating the interface and engaging with different functionalities.
By creating high-level user flows, I visualized each step users would take within the game, from summoning NFT characters to participating in battles and staking NFTs. These visual maps were essential for identifying potential friction points and ensuring the interface design was intuitive and aligned with users’ expectations.
Crafting these user flows allowed me to strategically design interactions that facilitated not only the completion of game loops but also a cohesive game play experience, directly supporting player engagement. This work ensured that the game was not only functional but also exceeded user expectations, significantly enhancing user satisfaction and overall retention.
Wireframes and Prototyping
Creating wireframes for The Crypto Prophecies involved a structured, iterative approach. I began by gathering the requirements from the flows, game design document and team feedback. Initial sketches were made to visualize the layout and flow, which were then refined into detailed wireframes in Sketch.
Setting KPIs, Metrics and Results
To ensure the success and continuous improvement of The Crypto Prophecies, we established various KPIs to assess the project's performance comprehensively. These metrics allowed us to monitor player engagement, retention, and overall user satisfaction. By regularly analyzing these KPIs, we could identify areas for enhancement, optimize game mechanics, and ensure that our design and development efforts aligned with the players' needs and expectations. This data-driven approach was crucial in maintaining the game's high standards.
Daily Active Users (DAU)
10,000
Retention Rate
Day 1: 45%
Day 7: 30%
Day 30: 20%
Day 7: 30%
Day 30: 20%
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
$7,17
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
85%
*Data covering the period from November 2021 to February 2022
USER Feedback
To continually improve The Crypto Prophecies, we placed great emphasis on listening to our community. Being a community-based game, we understood the importance of player input in shaping the game's evolution.
We established an official game server on Discord, where the community could gather to share their thoughts, feedback, and comments. A dedicated feedback channel was integrated into the server, allowing us to collect user input efficiently. This setup enabled us to gather and assess feedback quickly, providing timely responses to keep players engaged.
We prioritized feedback based on the value of each request, ensuring that crucial developments were addressed promptly. This approach allowed us to base much of the game's ongoing development on features that emerged from our established feedback workflow.
Additionally, we maintained a closed group of beta testers composed of hardcore gamers and the game's biggest supporters. These testers received beta versions of the game with new features, providing qualitative feedback on the fly. Their input was invaluable in identifying and addressing any bugs or flaws before wider release, ensuring a smoother experience for all players.
VISUAL DESIGN
Core Gameplay
Players face off in thrilling head-to-head battles, predicting whether trading candlesticks will close up (green) or down (red). It's a points-based game where faster and accurate predictions earn you more points. The player with the most points at the end of the battle wins the wager.
Equip your Crypto Prophets with powerful magic items to gain the upper hand and disrupt your opponent's strategy. Use these items to tilt the odds in your favor and dominate the battlefield.
Summoning NFT Collectible Characters
Players must acquire a magic stone to summon their NFT Crypto Prophet into the game world. This process randomly selects a Crypto Prophet, at a specific rarity level, from one of the four races in the lore. Once summoned, the Crypto Prophet NFT is minted onto the blockchain. To promote this exciting feature, I created a captivating animation in Adobe After Effects that highlights the summoning process.
Preparing for Battle
Gear up for epic battles by equipping your Crypto Prophets with powerful items from various schools of magic—Fire, Arcane, Earth, and Telekinesis. In the Inventory room, players can mix and match different weapons and items based on their maximum magic capacity, creating unique loadouts and strategies. Save your configurations and get ready to dominate the battlefield!
Battle the Oracle
Players can take on the legendary Oracle in this thrilling free-to-play and play-to-earn game mode. Players face off against the Oracle over 20 challenging levels, wagering Magic Potions along the way. These Magic Potions are valuable assets, used for upgrades and summoning new Crypto Prophets. I created this animation to promote the Battle the Oracle game mode. The TCP game community went mad about it.
NFT Staking
Each Crypto Prophet NFT can be staked—or checked-in at the hotel. Players can rest their Crypto Prophets while they are not playing the game to earn even more crypto.
In-Game Purchasing
All summoning stones for Crypto Prophets and Magic Items are exclusively available in the Store. Players can buy new NFTs using their TCP and bTCP tokens, giving them the chance to enhance their gameplay and expand their collection. Get ready to power up and dominate the battlefield!
UI Kit
UI KIT and game assets
As the project progressed, designs and patterns began to emerge clearly. Recognizing this as the perfect opportunity, I started consolidating all the components into a single document. This file allowed the team to access and utilize these assets for creating additional content and promotional materials, ensuring consistency and efficiency across all marketing efforts.
Conclusion
Working on The Crypto Prophecies was an insane journey! Turning an idea into a fully realized game and seeing the enthusiastic response from fans was immensely rewarding.
Unfortunately, the high operational costs combined with the crypto bear market in 2023 presented significant challenges. In the volatile world of crypto, player activity tends to diminish when the market isn't performing well, impacting the core economy of the game.
By Q2 2023, we had to scale back operations, and the project eventually came to a pause. This experience has set a new direction for addressing challenges in designing a crypto gaming experience that can withstand bear market conditions. I am excited about what the future holds and the new problems I will solve.
For more information about the game, please visit:
www.thecryptoprophecies.com
