It’s the hit recreation that crypto players 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 recreation 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 recreation financial system. And that latter bit is essential, because the upcoming PIXEL token launch and the play-to-airdrop campaigns that preceded it have helped drive momentum round Pixels.
Undecided what all of the hype is about? We’ve been overlaying the rise of Pixels at Decrypt’s GG and tending our personal lo-fi crops all of the whereas. Right here’s every part that you must know.
What’s Pixels?
Pixels is an internet farming recreation that you would be able to play by an internet browser. It launched in 2021 and has step by step 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 permits 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 typically see dozens, if not lots of of different little pixelated avatars roaming by the sport world.
Do I would like NFTs or tokens to play?
By no means. You possibly can register with a Ronin pockets or MetaMask, or in any other case select to create an account with an electronic mail handle or telephone quantity, however Pixels is free to play and revel in.
Nonetheless, there are bonus options and capabilities accessible. For instance, there are NFT land plots which can be a lot bigger than the free, primary plots, plus holders of property from certain NFT projects—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-compulsory 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 would be the single crypto token of the Pixels gaming universe. Set to launch on Binance on February 19, 2024, the ERC-20 token PIXEL shall be airdropped to tens of hundreds of wallets of early gamers, plus it will likely be awarded additional sooner or later through play-to-earn options within the recreation.
Pixels beforehand had an in-game BERRY token that was described as a “delicate foreign money” and used for issues like shopping for and promoting farmed gadgets. Nonetheless, BERRY is currently being phased out, and holders shall be granted PIXEL tokens at a preset trade charge. By the point the PIXEL token is generated, BERRY shall be thought of totally out of date.
Who’s 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 launched a Binance Launchpool marketing campaign that runs from February 9 up by the precise token launch and itemizing on February 19. Binance is serving up 350 million PIXEL tokens as rewards for customers who stake Binance Coin (BNB) or the FDUSD stablecoin. The Launchpool allocation represents 7% of the entire PIXEL provide of 5 billion tokens.
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 nicely into the longer term.
With BERRY being deprecated and PIXEL about to launch, the sport has already carried out a brand new process board that offers gamers every day quests to finish—a few of which is able to award PIXEL tokens. Within the close to future, the sport may even make adjustments to how scarce assets 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 adjustments roll out.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 brings… pic.twitter.com/8j6ziBkXWt— Luke Barwikowski 🚜 (@whatslukedoing) February 9, 2024
Even so, Pixels will stay a free-to-play recreation that’s open to all, but it surely appears clear that the group desires to be sure that individuals who both purchase NFT land or pay for the VIP improve see tangible perks for investing within the expertise. And there could possibly be scads of different gamers who search to align with these gamers to share in the advantages.