Web3 Overview
Last updated
Last updated
Sparkball is an unambiguously fun and addictive game that sits at the center of a Web3-enabled ecosystem we call 'Sparkadia', a comprehensive platform designed to provide players additional ways to engage with all things Sparkball.
This unique architecture allows us three key wins:
Players will find their gameplay experience in Sparkball completely unaffected by Web3, able to play, compete, and unlock content as they would in any traditional game.
Actively allows us to be more aggressive in how we provide valuable utility to players and additional flexibility in how we integrate Web3 beyond just PvP matches within Sparkball.
Ensures maximum reach by allowing Sparkball to launch on primary distribution platforms like Steam, Xbox (already confirmed!), and PS5.
The Sparkadia platform encompasses our entire ecosystem, and not only includes Sparkball, but also our universe, characters, IP, and even future games!
Traditional gamers, hardcore traders, and everyone in between can interact with the various Web3-enabled 'Companion Apps' within Sparkadia. Using Sparkball's data and content as their engine, these 'C-Apps' can range from simple 'secondary' implementations like staking portals or analytics tools all the way to 'primary' buildouts like Fantasy Sparkball or UGC/Mod Tools.
Through these C-Apps, a synergistic relationship is formed:
an increase in players/playtime within Sparkball translates to increased interactions in Sparkadia
Additional engagement within Sparkadia leads to higher retention in Sparkball
Players are now free to participate only in activities they want to participate in while at the same time being actively encouraged to participate in others. Traditionally, the onboarding ramp into non-native activities would deter users, but with existing IP attachment and content carryover, this ask becomes a much simpler one. For example, a purely Web2 player may love a hero so much, they educate themselves on Web3 solely to engage with that hero in new ways (an example we've already demonstrated on our Vision Board!).
At the core of Sparkadia lies your identity - your legacy of everything you have done and will do within the ecosystem. Define what role you play in the universe of Sparkball, fill your trophy cabinet, and even mint your accomplishments to cement, and maybe even monetize on your greatness!
Put simply - You PLAY Sparkball, but you MANAGE, COACH, OWN, CREATE, and LIVE within Sparkadia.
Eggs function as Sparkball's primary loot box and gacha system. All players receive receive free basic tier Eggs simply for playing, but can acquire higher tier Eggs through engaging with other activities in Sparkadia, working all the way up to on-chain/NFT Eggs with special rewards!
Eggs can be 'charged' simply by playing Sparkball, staking tokens, consuming #Glimmer (in-game currency), completing quests, and more. Once charged, it's time to see everything Roostandor! has crammed into this thing.
Rewards are based largely on the type of egg and the activities used to charge it. Acquire legendary cosmetics, Fantasy Sparkball heroes, and other fun bonuses to be used across both Sparkball and Sparkadia, many of which can even be traded on the secondary market!
Eggs are one of the primary drivers of on-chain transactions within Sparkadia, extending even to traditional users who can decline opening any fully charged Eggs they possess. In exchange, they can receive Battle Pass progress, in-game currency, or even a full month's subscription, with these poor neglected Eggs now coming on-chain, primed for economic participants to snatch up and tier up themselves.
Eggs provide the perfect onboarding experience for Web2 players into Web3. As users become familiar with charging their egg to receive in-game rewards, they'll eventually stumble upon a Sparkadia asset and potentially even use the spoils as the start for their Web3 journey.
Eggs provide the perfect vessel for controlling our primary faucets and sinks within the Web3 aspects of Sparkadia, namely providing players to 'own the means of production' and creating an uncapped/repeatable process for the heavy-hitters (spend depth)
In 'Fantasy Sparkball', your favorite heroes serve as the 'athletes', with each of their cosmetic skins representing all new iterations with varying stats and talents (think of it as Sparkball Ultimate Team or Sparkball Sorare!). Players acquire these heroes and equippable items independently to the mode through Eggs and mode-specific pulls acquired from ecosystem activities like playing Sparkball or staking tokens/NFTs.
Your knowledge of Sparkball plays a key role in FSB as you construct your team, efficiently use (or just increase!) your current assets, and perfect your team comp. Players can put their squad to the test by creating or joining either Official or Player-run leagues, each with their own set of rules and rewards.
FSB matches are primarily AI driven using bots trained via Machine Learning on all active player data meaning that Kana on your Ultimate Team will play just like Challenger-level Kana's do in real matches. Taking it even further, players can acquire specific bot profiles based on famous players match patterns. Understanding how heroes behave together is key to winning your Fantasy Leagues and you'll even be able to watch in real-time how your team performs. Note, some leagues will allow players to control a single hero in the match, creating teams of 3 bots and 1 human player, finally giving you a chance to pilot that legendary-tier, 99 overall Hotpaws!
Lastly, an Ultimate showdown wouldn't be complete without something on the line. Players can wager on AI vs AI matches and even create prop bets based on fun stats like frying pans hit or less fun ones like goals scored. This extends especially to the official Opti-run league, where we'll broadcast our AI overlords in their full glory, creating narratives and storylines pro wrestling could only dream of.
EA generated over $1.6B in revenue from Ultimate Team related modes in 2021 - a whopping 29% of their total revenue that year. While we more than disagree with many of the predatory decisions made in the design of these modes, the fact remains that Fantasy and Ultimate Team style game modes are incredibly popular and putting pieces of their economy in player's hands has massive potential value.
Beyond just the economics, Fantasy Sparkball can take place entirely asynchronously through a Web Browser because sometimes you need to get your Sparkball fix at work! With all matches able to run as a simulation, you can participate concurrently in as many leagues as your brain can manage without having to worry about spending your time playing in hundreds of individual matches.
FSB provides the ever-important progression angle to a cosmetic system without disrupting the balance of the official Sparkball experience, while simultaneously introducing a massive secondary market ripe with demand.
In a gold rush, sell the picks and shovels.
Sparkball is the gold - its characters and core combat loop providing the perfect backdrop for a variety of genres and custom modes. Similar to the editors found in Warcraft 3, Roblox, and Unreal for Fortnite (UEFN), we're putting the power in our player's hands, partnering with ReadyCode to provide comprehensive tools to create and publish their own Sparkball creations.
The fun part? Each map can be fully Web3-enabled, allowing players to implement their own on-chain assets or even implement a robust micro-economy where they can directly monetize their creations. This functionality extends across Sparkadia where creators could, for example, create a mode where players pilot upgraded heroes from their Fantasy Sparkball team through a complex dungeon!
Web3 solves two key problems in regards to UGC, Creator Payouts/Attribution and Cross-IP integration (our version of the fabled 'asset interoperability' use case - your asset can be used across custom Sparkball maps)
Sparkball's unique gameplay translates into nearly any game mode. We created a basic version of Sparkball meets Vampire Survivors in a couple days and it was a BLAST. While Opti will continue to utilize this tooling as well, we're even more excited for what our community will dream up.
Custom maps drastically extend the lifetime of a game and Sparkball will be no different. This increased retention is even more important given the synergistic loop between Sparkball and Sparkadia mentioned above.
Fun use cases include:
A DAO or Guild NFT-gating a custom map made specifically for their members (including potential rewards!)
An endless wave survival mode where players can wager tokens on how far their party will progress
An esports team creating a custom training ground where you can train like the pros!
Creating a custom skin for use in your maps based on your favorite Web3 PFP or IP.
If you're like us, you've spent more time flying in circles around Stormwind/Ogrimmar than you have actually playing World of Warcraft. Our tailgating/hub map is a simple concept designed to make our users see others as human beings, not just players. Beyond just a perfect place to flex both your Web2 and Web3 achievements, players can also partake in fun social activities between their matches including fireworks, trampolines, platforming, dodgeball, and maybe even some coordinated dance numbers.
Nothing complicated here, it's just super fun to play Spark Pong while waiting for your queue to pop and a great place to show off that cosmetic you just unlocked.
While our full economic whitepaper coming in Phase 3 will detail exact NFT and token flow within Sparkadia (staking utility, faucets, sinks, tokenomics, etc.), here's some high-level use cases around staking or burning the $SPARK token:
Currency - Stake to slowly generate our in-game soft currency, #Glimmer, or burn for a burst.
Lottery - Earn raffle tickets for daily/weekly giveaways for things like NFTs, in-game content, and more.
Eggs - Players can tier up and/or speed up their Egg charge via staking or burning.
Acquire - Stake to own a literal part of Sparkball and Sparkadia (more coming on exactly what that means!)
Sparkball will be sold as a $20 premium product which includes one free month of an optional monthly ~$10 subscription that allows players to unlock additional content across the ecosystem (like a battle pass), including exclusive cosmetics like skins, sprays, emotes, loading screens, and more. The subscription is ecosystem wide, providing not just bonuses within Sparkball, but Sparkadia as well.
Sparkball is always better with friends. Each copy purchased comes with a free game code to send to a friend which can also be 'supercharged' for only $5 (or $SPARK!), granting the recipient a free month subscription as well!
Sparkball is designed primarily as a 'retention and reach' tool, aiming to attract as many players as possible and keeping them engaged for as long as possible. We do this by enforcing an extremely friendly monetization strategy within the game, giving players additional reasons to play and building significant goodwill with players (see Helldivers 2).
Sparkadia on the other hand serves as an 'engagement and monetization' tool, aiming to discover the various ways that players WANT to engage with Sparkball. You can grind the game, or you can grind the metagame, but regardless, you'll be able to access content through mechanisms you want to participate in while avoiding the ones you don't.
