The Future of Gaming is Now
For two weeks this March, hackers from around the world joined forces for BuildQuest—a hackathon devoted to the future of gaming and the metaverse, built in partnership with our friends at Protocol Labs. Though the state of Web3 gaming has progressed by leaps and bounds since CryptoKitties graced our stage, there is still much to explore. Our hackers took the space to new heights, with 630 hackers creating 140 new projects to take home over $125k in prizes.
- ??? 630 Staked Hackers
- ??? 50 Ecosystem Mentors
- ? 18 Partner Teams
- ? $125,000+ in Prizes
- ? 67 Countries
- ⌛️16 Timezones
- ? 140 Projects Submitted
- ? 10 Finalists
BuildQuest came out the gates roaring, diving deep into the state of Web3 gaming with high-level workshops that gave hackers hours of valuable insights into their potential project builds. David Goodrich, Taivo Pungas, Mark Dawson, Carson Farmer, Justin Hunter, Alec Wantoch, and Austin Griffith all shared their extensive knowledge of decentralized systems—all on the same day.
Our hackers were up for the challenge and spirited discussions popped up in our Discord throughout the day. Though the event was held entirely online, the level of energy and excitement allowed you to feel like you were really there, sharing a space with some of the most talented developers and creatives the world has to offer.
Moving into week two, BuildQuest hackers were given access to hours of content related to the future ways the decentralized web will intertwine with gaming and the metaverse. Our hackers wasted no opportunities to grow their skillsets or learn from our partner teams, working around the clock to create their builds. This enthusiasm led to highly attended Team Formation and Project Brainstorming sessions, which further stoked the energy and optimism felt within the community channels.
At the end of the week, our packed Gaming and Metaverse Summit featured some of the most important voices in the ecosystem. Jonas Jetschni, Benedikt Woelk, Omri Bouton, Matteo Vallone, David Amor, Justin Glibert, Sid Sanyal, Konstantin Tkachuk, Daryl Lim, Pan Chasinga, BZ , Paul Gadi, and Kwame Bryan all led talks and deep discussions on the nascent Web3 gaming space. These sessions delivered actionable insights to our hackers, allowing them to explore new pathways and augment existing ideas with new inspiration. You can watch these talks and many more on our YouTube Channel.
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again because it couldn’t be more true: coming up with an idea, creating a project, and completing it to the best of one’s abilities is a stretch — to do so in twelve days is nothing short of incredible. Our hackers rose to the challenge, exploring uncharted waters, and creating some of the most impressive projects we’ve ever seen. Read about our finalists below, and check out the showcase to see everything built at BuildQuest.
? Parcels
Parcels is a game where players own parcels, which are chunks of a big common terrain. Each parcel produces a token $RES (resources) and $RES can be used to mint.
The team: @benoitded, @JulienBlanchon, @0xlouis_, @NoheHf
What we liked: Imaginative game scenarios and captivating gameplay will elevate the Web3 gaming space to new heights. Kudos to this team for giving us such an incredible project.
? Clash Of Cards
Clash of Cards is a web app game based on Monster Cards as NFTs. You play your monster cards, win coins, buy rare and super rare cards and have your own collection of NFT Monsters.
The team: @NaikAayush, @Samyak210
What was cool: Great UI implementation, great mechanics, and genuinely fun gameplay. We were impressed by this project from the start.
? Ollie Verse
Ollie Verse is an NFT Trading Card Game that allows players to create and mint their own trading cards. These trading cards can be traded and playable in the game.
The team: @Ollieginal
What was interesting: Ollie Verse marks a repeat win for the team at @Ollieginal, following up their finalist-ranking at Road to Web3. This game takes the Ollie character to new heights, and had our attention from the start.
? NiftyGuilds
A web3 based NFT gated group chat platform with blockchain-level security.
The team: @HarpalJadeja11
What we liked: NiftyGuilds took on the problem of community in Web3 gaming. A game is nothing without its fanbase, and without frictionless communications platforms Web3-games will lag behind mainstream titles. NiftyGuilds presents a tenable solution to this problem, and we hope to see more from their team in the future.
?Shake Shock
Shake Shock is a utility-based NFT MMORPG game that draws inspiration from Super Smash Bros, allows you to fight against other champions, earn loot, and evolve with your clan.
The team: @joalavedra
What was cool: If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past three decades you’re aware of Super Smash Bros, the epitome of live multiplayer gaming. Shake Shock aims to bring Web3 gaming to that level, giving players access to an incredible experience that blends collaboration and competition perfectly. Though LAN parties may be a thing of the past, at least we can count on fun times ahead in decentralized gaming.
? Shattered Realms
Shattered Realms is a 90s style RPG with top-down pixel-art graphics. Gameplay involves exploration and dungeon clearing.
The team: @Ki__Jey
What we liked: There’s something comforting about pixel art graphics. Perhaps its that they pull the nostaligic strings of our heart, bringing us back to cherished childhood moments huddled around a TV screen. Shattered Realms brings us that same joy, throwing the player into a new, but familiar world packed full of adventure. This level of story telling is what will bring Web3 games up to the level of their mainstream counterparts and we’re here for it.
? GeoNFT
An NFT game where players move around in the real world to collect Geolocation based NFTs.
The team: @iyushjain, @ishikaapareek
What was cool: GeoNFT gives us a new, more literal interpretation of Proof-of-Work, forcing players to interact with the real and digital worlds simultaneously. GeoNFT follows in the footsteps of great games like Pokemon Go and Ingress, and we can only hope it will become just as big a cultural sensation.
? NF3D
NFT 2D to 3D generator. Make your own 3D models to be used as game avatars.
The team: @pecorino_cheese
What was interesting: Onboarding users to the metaverse means giving them the tools to truly embrace and enjoy it. NF3D does just that, allowing users to build 3D models of their 2D NFTs and use them in-game as avatars. This is an excellent example of the future possibilities of Web3 gaming, and we can’t wait to see more.
? NFT bonfire
Purging the internet of unwanted NFTs and at the same time helping KlimaDAO to rid the planet of Co2.
The team: @DisturbedPretty
What was cool: We liked this concept, and loved its execution. NFT Bonfire is a tongue-in-cheek response to the proliferation of “unwanted NFTs,” at a time where they have started to become larger issues in the discourse.
? MetaverseMusic
Ever wonder how music could exist in the metaverse? Metaverse Music is a WebXR prototype that puts you inside of a song, creating a spatial, interactive audio experience.
The team: @jasperdegens
What we liked: Absolutely one of the coolest projects to grace our stage. Tying spatial sound into the metaverse will help users cross the uncanny valley and will most certainly play a big role in metaverse adoption.
When the incredible team at Protocol Labs approached us to create a gaming and metaverse focused hackathon, we had no idea how successful it would truly become. This year has gotten off to a strong start, and we’ve been impressed by the growth of our hackers, and the enthusiasm of our community, and the project that have come out of our events. This would not be possible without the dedication of our partner teams and their willingness to support our vision for onboarding hackers to Web3. Take a look at some of our generous partner teams below.
Our next event just started! Join us from March 18th — 30th for LFGrow, a fully-digital hackathon and workshops devoted to the future of decentralized social networks, brought to you by our good friends at Lens Protocol. As always, come prepared to meet new friends, build cool projects, and hack the status quo.
On top of that, applications are now open for ETHAmsterdam—our first in-person event in over two years! Follow us on twitter to stay in the know about future updates, share these events with friends and potential teammates, and tag us in your project updates. We can’t wait to see what you build next!