Greetings fellow Arbinauts, Adam here.
I’m nominating myself for the position of Gaming Domain Allocator.
1. Name: Adam
2. Forum Username: Flook
3. Twitter: https://twitter.com/Flook_eth
4. Experience
I come from a long background of gaming. It’s been my main passion and hobby since I was old enough to hold a controller. I’ve been in the Ethereum ecosystem since late 2017 and I’ve been building games in the web3 gaming space since September, 2021 (on Arbitrum One since March, 2022).
I’m the Co-founder and CEO of Merlyn Labs, the gaming studio responsible for the Knights of the Ether: Blightfell and Squires games.
I’ve lived and breathed web3 gaming, game design, and the gaming industry for the past 2 years. I’m extremely clear-sighted when it comes to what makes web3 gaming unique, as well as what green and red flags can be found in early to mid-stage web3 gaming projects. At Merlyn Labs we’ve surmounted a lot of obstacles related to design, development, contractors, partnerships, economy, bridging to Arbitrum, and so much more. This leaves me very well suited to spotting and anticipating these issues for other Arbitrum gaming builders.
I’ve been featured on over a dozen spaces and multiple podcasts speaking specifically about web3 gaming. You can find the most recent podcast here: Spotify
I’m also slated to speak at NFT Fest Lugano this September on a web3 gaming panel. You can find me on the list of speakers on their website. (I’d be happy to share more links, but I’m currently limited to 2 links per post).
Over the last 2 years since creating the web3 gaming studio Merlyn Labs, I’ve worked in partnership with major gaming art studios such as Volta and Liquid Animations, who are responsible for Halo 5, New World, For Honor, Borderlands 3, and many more.
I’ve also worked in partnership with dozens of game developers, game designers, sound effects engineers and Solidity engineers in the blockchain gaming space who have worked on projects as well known as Atari and Goblintown, as well as multiple Treasure ecosystem games.
Additionally, our studio has been a partner and game builder in the Treasure ecosystem since April 2022, when we initially launched our Squires game on Arbitrum.
As one of the very few web3 game founders who has been building and growing in parallel with the Arbitrum chain for over seventeen months now, I believe I’m uniquely suited to helping foster the expansion of gaming and its culture on both Arbitrum One and Nova. I truly care about the ecosystem and I’m very motivated to help grow gaming on Arbitrum to realize its full potential.
I know what good work looks like and I know what level of organization and execution it takes to deliver on not just a traditional game, but the promise of a web3 game with unique meta-mechanics and economics derived from blockchain integration. After almost two years of working nonstop on an innovative web3 gaming ecosystem, to much success so far, I’m confident I can detect which traits a game in this space would need to be successful.
While I don’t have specific experience in running grant programs, I’m positive I’ll get up to speed quickly and deliver great results on behalf of the Arbitrum community.
5. Vision
Arbitrum will be the home of Indie gaming. Let’s avoid using incentive programs to fund high-risk and high-cost AAA gaming initiatives. Instead of trying to compete in that arena, let’s build our own.
By focusing on passionate indie developers and talented indie studios, we can foster a tight-knit, interoperable ecosystem of unique, innovative, and fun games that attract gaming enthusiasts from all walks of life.
There should be a strong focus around utilizing blockchain in new and interesting ways that brings both ease of trading and intrinsic value to a game’s economy, as well as value centered around community participation, on-chain profiles and achievements, mutable evolution of characters and items, verifiable randomness, and the many other benefits blockchains can bring to games.
I personally have a great grasp on where and how blockchain can be implemented in games in ways that enhance the user experience without throwing up obstacles to user acquisition such as wallet integrations and cryptocurrency purchases. I’d like to see more games built with blockchain in the background, less obvious to the average user.
Alternatively, there is undoubtedly a space for on-chain gaming and games that forefront their blockchain technology. They both serve different niches and can co-exist in the wider Arbitrum gaming ecosystem. I’m looking forward to reading proposals from all sorts of games and gaming products.
As the domain allocator I’ll remain both open-minded to all types of gaming proposals, while also pushing back (and outright rejecting) where needed if I notice gaps in the armor.
Finally, I’d also like to see multiple games create joint proposals together that fund meaningful interoperability between themselves, as a way to prove the concept even further that interoperability can be a driving force of differentiation between web2 and web3.
As for quality grant proposals I’d like to see several key attributes:
Context: I’ll need background on each of the moving pieces to fully consider any proposal. Tell me all about:
- The team
- The game or product
- The vision
- The KPI’s and Milestones coming up
- The journey so far
Content: The 5 W’s.
- Who is getting paid from the grant?
- When can we expect completion?
- Where are the funds being put to use?
- What structure or pre-requisites are in place to ensure the KPI’s are met?
- Why Arbitrum? Why your game or product? Why this grant program?
Challenges: What might get in your way?
- Where are the foreseen obstacles and how do you expect to surmount them?
- Does this grant give you a meaningful and measurable leg up in that process?
- How have you overcome previous obstacles to reach the current stage of your project?
6. Time Commitment
I will happily spend the full 15 hours per week as a domain allocator. Builders can expect a <24 hour TAT during weekdays and <48 hours during most weekends. I’ll also make sure to respond to any builder’s messages before 5pm PST on Fridays so as to ensure the builders can spend the weekend making any necessary revisions.
7. Declaration of Conflict of Interest
I do have two conflicts of interest that I’d like to declare.
I’m in charge of another gaming project on Arbitrum, Knights of the Ether, and I’m also a core game partner at Treasure. Obviously no grant money from this program will go towards Knights of the Ether for as long as I am the domain allocator, that should go without saying. As for other Treasure projects that may apply for funding, I will be ultra transparent with my decision-making process and I will make sure to loop in the project manager more closely to ensure that every builder that applies receives an equal opportunity for funding.
I’m a firm believer that there is no need for a competitive mindset between games or gaming ecosystems on Arbitrum. Instead of quarreling over the small audience we all currently share, we should be building in concert, arms linked, for the next 1, 2, 5, 10 years and beyond of gaming on Arbitrum in order to help grow the pie for all of us.
I’d be honored to help steward that expansion, even if only for the next 6 months.
Thank you for your consideration.