Gala Games: Will the Steam of blockchain games be the infrastructure of the metaverse?

Source: BlockBeats

Recently, the blockchain gaming platform Gala Games has experienced rapid growth, with monthly active users reaching 1.3 million. At the same time, leveraging the hype around the metaverse and GameFi, its token has also triggered a certain FOMO effect after being listed on Binance and Coinbase.

However, whether it is the liquidity and visibility brought by the aforementioned effects or the capital's speculation on concepts like the metaverse, it reflects the market's optimistic view of Gala's development potential. Next, BlockBeats will provide a detailed introduction to the Gala Games project from aspects such as its nodes, gaming ecosystem, token economy, and team for reference.

Project Overview

Gala Games was established in 2018 with the aim of becoming a decentralized gaming ecosystem, akin to "Steam" in the blockchain gaming field, providing users with the blockchain games they truly want to play, thereby bringing traditional gamers into the world of blockchain games and the metaverse.

On the Gala platform, players are given control over their in-game assets, allowing them to trade items obtained from games on the blockchain. Players will not only experience the fun of gaming but also have control over their game assets, while also being able to earn rewards in GameFi based on their gaming skills.

In addition, Gala serves a dual role as both a game developer and a game aggregation platform. Besides the games developed by its own team, other game developers can also launch games on the Gala platform after receiving approval through node voting.

Therefore, Gala has introduced a node ecosystem, where users can run nodes by purchasing node licenses to participate in the platform's decentralized governance and earn GALA tokens and NFT rewards.

Subsequently, Gala will also generate standardized crypto toolkits, NFT libraries, and wallets to facilitate other game developers' integration into the Gala platform ecosystem.

Node Ecosystem

Node Network

Gala Games utilizes blockchain technology to achieve the goal of returning gaming rights to players. The games themselves run off-chain to ensure a smooth player experience, while game items that serve different functions will be minted as NFTs on-chain based on demand. The NFTs can exist independently of the games and be traded outside of them.

However, Gala's NFT game items and the platform token GALA are minted on the Ethereum network, with the security of the assets provided by the Ethereum network. The platform's network, such as in-game transaction data, is maintained and secured by Gala's own network nodes.

Therefore, players can purchase platform nodes to provide decentralized computing power, transaction validation, and storage services for the gaming ecosystem. By participating in the construction of the Gala ecosystem and platform governance, players will earn GALA tokens and random game NFT rewards.

Although there are certain differences in the underlying technical logic and operation methods, the simplest understanding of Gala network nodes is somewhat similar to the sidechain Ronin of Axie Infinity, which ensures a smooth user experience in a decentralized environment while providing asset security and sufficient traffic and liquidity through the Ethereum mainnet.

Gala's design for node network maintenance by the community and players decentralizes more rights and responsibilities to the core users of the games. This not only further promotes the development of the platform's decentralized mechanism and increases revenue distribution to players to enhance user stickiness, but it also allows the platform to reduce network operation and maintenance costs to a certain extent.

Node Types

Currently, there are over 16,000 nodes operating in the Gala ecosystem, divided into the following three types:

1) Founder Nodes: Users can purchase node licenses within the platform and run founder nodes using a computer/VPS without needing to stake any tokens. Purchasing a node is similar to running a mining machine; running the node for more than 6 hours a day can earn official rewards.

The total limit for founder nodes is 50,000. Node licenses can be purchased using ETH, GALA, BAT, and various mainstream cryptocurrencies. The price increases as the number of licenses sold increases, with the price rising by $100 for every 100 licenses sold, and the final 100 licenses priced at $33,000.

2) Paid Nodes: Suitable for specific games, nodes can be rented based on smart contracts, with renters receiving GALA tokens and NFT rewards generated by the node, with rent collected through smart contracts.

3) Free Nodes: Used for proof of work and proof of storage, anyone wishing to support the ecosystem can start one. Most of the rewards obtained from these nodes will be used to support the Gala network.

However, it should be noted that the official statement considers that the long-term stability of the network relies on nodes being online 24/7, and neither the "paid" nor "free" models can meet the operational goals or minimum requirements of the network. Recently, it has been announced that the "paid" and "free" nodes have been removed from the ecosystem roadmap.

Node Rewards

For rewards, the system distributes GALA tokens daily based on the proportion of each node's "points" relative to the entire network. As long as the Gala node is running, points can be earned. Additionally, points can also be earned by providing computing power and storage to the network.

The specific reward methods follow these three consensus mechanisms:

1) Proof of Stake/Proof of Availability: Stable operation of nodes can earn 1 point;

2) Proof of Work: Nodes support the Gala network by providing hashing power, with the number of points earned per unit of hashing power determined by a decentralized algorithm that rewards points based on the resources most needed by the network. For example, if the network has high computational demands, providing hashing power can earn higher points;

3) Proof of Storage: The long-term goal of the Gala ecosystem is to exist entirely in a decentralized form, hosting all games on decentralized storage. Nodes can provide storage support for the ecosystem, and the number of points they can earn depends on factors such as storage location, speed, and reliability, determined by a decentralized algorithm.

Gaming Ecosystem

Users need to register a Gala platform account using their email before they can play games on the Gala Games platform.

Currently, Gala has launched 5 games, including the highly praised self-developed Town Star, as well as PVP battle game Spider Tanks, tower defense game Fortified, strategy game Echoes of Empire, and the self-developed RPG game Mirandus.

Overall, although the number of launched games is not large, the variety is rich, covering multiple popular game categories, and the quality is far superior to other blockchain games released around the same time.

Town Star

Town Star is the first blockchain game released by Gala. It is a farm management simulation game where players can plant crops, collect resources, and build factories to continuously improve their economic level, thereby establishing a dynamically operating economic system with high playability. Moreover, this game is completely free, requiring no prior purchase of digital assets like Axie.

However, the difficulty level of Town Star is also quite high. The starting game provides players with over 20,000 funds and 40 barrels of gasoline, but if players cannot quickly establish a self-sufficient oil production system, once the gasoline runs out, they will be unable to sell goods or pay workers, leading to a gradual deadlock in the game.

Therefore, to break through the economic deadlock in the game, it is recommended that players start building the fuel system when there are still 13 to 15 units of gasoline in stock, and maintain 2 to 3 processing plants (Wind Mill), 2 to 4 water pits, 5 to 7 sugarcane fields, 3 to 5 forests, 5 farmers, and 1 lumberjack, etc.

Additionally, it is important to first build other infrastructure before constructing the oil refinery, as the refinery has the highest labor costs. If other raw materials are not prepared, production cannot proceed, and wages will be wasted.

Currently, Town Star has also launched a Play to Earn mechanism on October 5, introducing a new gameplay. Players can earn TownCoin based on the rarity of the NFT items used in the game, and all node players will receive daily distributed TownCoin as long as their nodes meet the daily requirements.

TownCoin is a token created by Gala Games, positioned as a reward token for players using NFTs in Town Star.

As more players join Play to Earn, the number of NFTs sold in the store will increase, creating a cycle of incentives and rewards, and players will likely choose to invest their earned rewards into items that can generate more rewards.

Town Star Nodes

With nearly 20,000 founder nodes launched in Gala Games, the Gala node ecosystem is rapidly realizing its vision of becoming the world's largest decentralized gaming player network. To accelerate the development of Town Star, Town Star node licenses will soon be released in a limited quantity of 400, allowing players in the network to share some of the workload of Town Star and have the opportunity to earn Town Star token rewards.

Town Star nodes will follow the same reward plan as founder nodes, currently requiring 6 hours of operation to earn rewards. Additionally, Town Star node rewards will not in any way take away or reduce the rewards of founder nodes.

Token Economic Model

GALA

The official token GALA is designed to be used within the Gala gaming ecosystem, providing participants with a convenient and secure payment and settlement method for digital goods or in-game items, allowing players to truly own their game assets rather than having them controlled by game companies.

The total supply of GALA tokens is capped at 50 billion, with halving occurring every year on July 21. It can be mined daily, with half allocated to founder nodes and distributed according to the proportion of each node's points relative to the entire network. The other half is allocated to the regulatory body of Gala Games, with a current daily output of 17,123,286 GALA.

It should be noted that the GALA tokens distributed to nodes are not directly sent to on-chain wallets; instead, nodes need to manually mint and claim them in their Gala platform accounts. This means that according to the output rules, over 30 billion GALA have been produced, but excluding unclaimed minted tokens, the actual circulating supply is not that high. According to CoinGecko, the current circulating supply is approximately 7.54 billion GALA.

Ways to Obtain GALA:

1) Become a node in the Gala network, maintaining system stability and security to receive daily rewards. Players need to purchase founder node licenses and ensure they run for at least 6 hours daily to earn 1 point;

2) Recommend the purchase of founder nodes to earn invitation rewards;

3) Season rewards for ownstar, with the top 500 receiving seasonal rewards;

4) Purchase on the secondary market.

VOX

In addition to in-game NFTs, Gala has also launched a platform ecosystem NFT called "VOX" based on the Ethereum network, with an initial release of 8,888 pieces. Currently, VOX can be used for mining in the Town Star game, producing TownCoin daily. In the future, players can also earn VOX coin through VOX, with rarer VOX yielding more VOX coin. VOX coin can be used in the Gala Games metaverse or exchanged for other cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, VOX based on the Mirandus game will officially go on sale on December 6. Players can purchase directly from the Gala Games store instead of through the Collect VOX website, meaning players will not need to pay high gas fees.

Team and Project Progress

Gala Games is a project composed of participants and veterans from the traditional gaming industry.

CEO: Eric Schiermeyer

A serial entrepreneur and co-founder of social gaming company Zynga, which is publicly traded in the U.S., he developed and operated numerous games such as FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Cafe World. He is also a co-founder and CTO of the social media site Myspace and an investor and advisor for the game company Bee Cave Games.

Director of Games: John Osvald

Previously worked in game design at Zynga, then left to co-found a cartoon studio with Shiver Entertainment, later serving as the product head of the mobile division at Electronic Arts (EA).

Creative Director: Michael McCarthy

With 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, he has worked at several game companies including Troika Games, Massive Black, Sandbox Games, and Zynga. Additionally, Michael was the original creative director of Zynga's popular game Farmville 2, which had about 50 million players at its peak.

Town Star Director: T. Elliot Cannon

One of the original designers at Epic Games, he has been involved in the production of several famous games such as Unreal, Crysis, Killing Floor, and Doom since the mid-1990s, holding multiple roles as a writer, director, and designer.

According to official data, Gala has sold 26,000 NFTs, with the highest price reaching $3 million. Additionally, the platform's monthly active users have reached 1.3 million.

In terms of market popularity, Gala's Twitter followers have reached nearly 120,000, and the Discord community has 78,000 members, indicating high engagement. Furthermore, Gala has received coverage from multiple media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

Conclusion

Gala Games differs significantly from traditional blockchain gaming platforms, focusing more on games rather than blockchain, aiming to make blockchain games comparable to or reach the playability of traditional games.

This enhances player immersion compared to the currently dominant Play to Earn model, encouraging players to spend more time enjoying the fun of the game and exploring the metaverse. However, the development cycle for high-quality games is long, which will greatly delay the launch time of games on the platform.

Additionally, the current five games showcased on the Gala platform demonstrate the richness of its game library, while the node ecosystem, an important part of the GALA ecosystem, continues to play a role in increasing user stickiness. If more game developers can be attracted to the platform for collaborative efforts, Gala's vision of becoming the "Steam" of blockchain gaming remains promising.

However, in terms of the economic model, the GALA token is subject to continuous inflation, and there is currently no effective burn mechanism or staking mechanism in place. With only 50% of the output allocated to nodes, there is significant potential selling pressure, so players and investors should also be aware of price risk.