World of Ether is a decentralized crypto collectible video game on the Ethereum blockchain. Players can breed, battle and sell digital monsters.
WEBSITEContributing members: Senior Software Engineer, Game Creator/React developer, Full Stack Developer, Solidity Developer, Marketer/SEO specialist, Illustrator, Sound Composer, Animations Designer, Junior Designer, 3 Interns.
The crypto-gaming industry is brand new. Many apps in the space lack the polish of their fiat counterparts. It was my job to establish our brand so that we could build trust amongst our players.
We built a full scale video game on blockchain, something like this had never been done before. Because of how much learning a user will have to do before they start playing a crypto game, I had to make sure the onboarding was as simple as possible.
I designed some pages on the website and mobile app, I created all of the media and social media assets as well as our presentation slides to investors and the public.
In anticipation for our launch we sold "digital eggs' secured on the blockchain.
Because of the excitement we generated with our concept, branding and characters we were able to sell $500,000 worth of eggs within the first two days.
Making a great first impression was critical. We want to display our playful collectible game as well as educate on the concept. I did this by displaying large, captivating headers, large CTAs, and thorough explanations on the homepage.
Our audience consists of Crypto Enthusiasts and casual gamers. Our reach is over 16 different countries around the world with 6 different languages translated.
This was my first role as a creative director. I provided art direction and some UX/UI design throughout the app for both mobile and desktop.
For this project, I was able to give my insight on what would be the most aestheticly pleasing, branding and made decisions on the game mechanics. I managed art direction and was responsible for executive producing our original soundtrack.
Our team is highly skilled and is made up of a solidity developer, a full stack developer who also designs, a junior front end developer, a senior backend developer and myself. I created wireframes, full-scale designs and coded webpages in html (which would later get converted to react by the full stack developer).
The World of Ether is a planet inhabited by magical fauna. The player is a traveler and visitor of this world. Our players first introduction to the game application is the splash page that gives the appearance of flying through space. Crypto games are normally pay-for-play, so I found it fitting to borrow from the arcade games of my youth for our splash page.
While interest in cryptogaming is booming, there are key problems hindering mainstream adoption:
Cryptocurrency is too complicated/intimidating for the average player. Integrating cryptocurrency and blockchain is also too difficult for game developers
On-boarding new players has been the biggest battle. There is a lot of learning a user will have to do before they start playing a crypto game. The best solution was to provide a robust game guide on the landing page. As well as prompts throughout the gameplay.
After much testing my team and I decided to add a new mechanic to the game. Crystals, limited power ups that would boost enjoyment and cut play time, were added as our launch date approached. I designed the sale page of the power ups and the Crystal outlines.
I worked closely with Dan Farley on the original soundtrack for the game. We thought it was important for our brand to have a soundtrack like the games we grew up with.
Our soundtrack is live now on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, and Tidal. I also designed the album art and the media rollout for the launch.
The launch of World of Ether was a success and the months afterward we've received many great reviews.
Creative reviews from fans and players on Discord and Telegram.
Even though the DGaming world is full of nicely designed games, some of them stand out from the rest. After playing 25 games, our writer named @WorldofEther as the best-designed one. Follow the link and find out why https://t.co/Qzea8oey0r pic.twitter.com/1SirfSKPXG
— DGaming (@DGamingIndustry) July 16, 2019
World of Ether was acknowledged by Dapp Gaming as the best designed.