AW Frontier: The Ultimate Guide to Starknet's Full-Chain Games

Written by: 0xdf2A@WASD

Compiled by: MetaCat

Starknet 101

Before we dive into Starknet games and their supporting infrastructure, let's first understand the background of Starknet as an L2.

Starknet is a zero-knowledge (zk) Rollup. It differs from other ZKRs like zkSync and Polygon zkEVM because it uses STARKs instead of SNARKs and is not EVM compatible. Smart contracts on Starknet are written in Cairo, a Rust-based programming language.

For a detailed technical overview of Starknet, please click here.

The lack of EVM compatibility can certainly cause some trouble at times. You cannot use traditional browser wallets, and there is no block explorer that can match the quality of Etherscan.

However, Starknet's unique properties also provide it with features that make it very suitable for on-chain gaming.

For example, Starknet provides native support for account abstraction, allowing for a built-in user experience enhancement by adopting session wallets and eliminating the need to sign transactions while playing games.

Starknet also completed the Quantum Leap upgrade in July 2023, increasing throughput by 10 times and significantly reducing confirmation times from several minutes to just a few seconds.

Quantum Leap is crucial for Starknet as it has elevated the previously poor user experience to a level comparable to other L2s.

Dojo: The Game Engine (Development Framework) of Starknet

As mentioned earlier, Starknet has numerous infrastructures to support its ambitions for on-chain gaming.

One of the main components is Dojo, which is Starknet's native on-chain game engine.

The engine is a development framework composed of contracts, tools, and libraries that makes building on-chain games easier.

Dojo was created in February 2023 and is community-operated, maintained by well-known Starknet teams like Cartridge, Realms, Briq, and Toplogy (which will be detailed later).

Dojo is centered around an Entity Component System (ECS), a commonly used data modeling approach in Web2 game development.

Like MUD, the main component of its architecture is the World contract. The World is the "main contract" of the on-chain game as it contains all its logic and components to help simplify its development and management.

Dojo also has multiple infrastructures to enhance performance, such as Torri (an indexing layer that can query game data faster) and Katana (a high-speed local Starknet node).

In the future, Dojo plans to further leverage Starknet's capabilities by integrating features like optimistic updates, which will enhance user experience by reducing transaction confirmation wait times, as well as storage proofs for cross-chain communication.

Cartridge: The "Steam" of Starknet

Another major component of Starknet's on-chain gaming infrastructure is Cartridge.gg.

Game entry in Cartridge

Cartridge is Starknet's "Steam" as it is a game launcher where you can find and start playing different games.

This addresses a major pain point for developers and gamers, as it improves distribution while allowing players to easily access their favorite games and discover new ones.

Cartridge currently supports Influence, Roll Your Own, Loot Survivor, Briq, and Frens Lands, and has recently undergone a complete UI overhaul, making the site simple, smooth, and easy to navigate.

The team is also actively providing additional support features throughout the ecosystem and is building its own games (more on that below).

Games Based on Starknet

Now that we understand Starknet as an L2 and the core infrastructures like Dojo and Cartridge, let's take a look at some of the most exciting games built on it.

Realms

Realms is a game ecosystem based on the NFT project Loot.

There are two main games within the Realms ecosystem, managed and developed by Bibliotheca DAO: Loot Survivor and Realms: Eternum.

Loot Survivor

Loot Survivor is a roguelike survival game running on StarkNet Goerli.

In Loot Survivor, players fight monsters in a post-apocalyptic world. The game is strategy-based, and when you encounter monsters, you must decide whether to fight or flee while allocating experience points to upgrade various attributes to extend your survival.

Overall, Loot Survivor is very engaging, especially if you enjoy strategy games. It has a high aesthetic appeal, with neon green text on a black background giving it a retro yet stylish feel.

The entry and gameplay experience is quite smooth due to the use of Arcade accounts.

Similar to a burner wallet, an Arcade account is a wallet generated and stored in your browser. Arcade accounts can be controlled by an external wallet known as a master account and support features like withdrawal permissions and restrictions to help protect user funds.

On the mainnet, Loot Survivor will integrate a Play 2 Die mechanism, which allows players to purchase characters (called Adventurers) using LORDS, an ERC-20 token used as currency in the Realms ecosystem. When players die, these LORDS tokens will be released back into the game world.

Although there is a risk of limiting its user base to whales due to the necessity of purchasing NFTs to play, Play 2 Die seems like an interesting mechanism, and I am curious to see how it will be implemented.

Realms: Eternum

Realms: Eternum is an upcoming MMO strategy game where players must build and develop their own Realm while defending against attacks from others.

Each Realm in Eternum is represented by an NFT, which is also used for governance in Bibliotheca DAO and can be staked to earn LordS. The game features 8000 Realms, but more players will be able to participate through expansions of the Adventurers NFT series.

Briq

Briq is an NFT building protocol.

In Briq, players can design in a voxel-like world.

Briq is similar to on-chain Lego bricks, as each design can be minted as an NFT and can also be disassembled or reassembled into something else. Like Lego sets, Briq kits also come with instruction manuals to guide you in recreating designs on your own.

Various different projects have been built using Briq, including games, art, and PFP collectibles. One example is Ducks Everywhere, which collects 271 different ducks, many of which Starknet community members use as their PFP.

One of the best features of Briq is its onboarding capability. You can start designing in Briq just by opening their website, and you don't need to sign transactions or connect a wallet before you want to mint a design.

Another nice benefit is that it is easy to use for both artists and non-artists: even I was able to create something in it!

I believe Briq has great potential as a primitive for creating interoperable and unique art, merchandise, and gaming experiences. Despite my lack of design skills, I am excited to continue experimenting with it.

Roll Your Own

Roll Your Own is a crime-themed strategy game.

Adapted from the game Dope Wars, in Roll Your Own, players unleash their inner Heisenberg by buying and selling drugs, hoping to become a big shot and climb to the top of the game leaderboard.

Roll Your Own is a collaborative project between Cartridge (the game's development team) and Dope DAO, the organization behind Dope Wars, both working together to build "Dope World," an ecosystem of different games utilizing Dope Wars assets.

Although still in its early stages, Roll Your Own is already quite fun. I enjoy the PVP aspect of the game, as you trade with other players, affecting the prices of different drugs. I am also a big fan of crime-related IPs (GTA and Breaking Bad are my favorite game series and shows).

Entering Roll Your Own is also very easy, as the game uses a burner wallet, meaning you don't need to connect your own wallet or sign transactions.

While there is room for improvement in communication and documentation within the Dope Wars ecosystem, I believe it has great potential to create rich lore and engaging gameplay, given the caliber and capabilities of the Cartridge team.

Influence

Influence is a strategy MMO developed by Unstoppable Games.

In Influence, players compete against each other to colonize asteroids, accumulate resources, form teams, and earn SWAY (an ERC-20 token used as in-game currency).

Currently, a limited version of Influence is live on the testnet, where you can create your team and start determining which asteroids you want to conquer.

These games are not the easiest to pick up. They are complex, and you must read the documentation to better understand the gameplay.

However, I do believe Influence has great potential.

It has developed extensive knowledge about its game world, and its sandbox-style emerging gameplay could lead to exciting experiences and interesting stories.

I will be keeping a close eye on Influence's progress as it prepares for its mainnet launch, and I am excited to try the full version when it goes live.

PixeLAW

PixeLAW is an autonomous world developed based on Dojo.

Like Briq, PixeLAW aims to be a primitive where developers can control the properties of programmable pixels on a grid to create different games, art, and gaming experiences that can interoperate.

PixeLAW won the first prize for Best Use of Starknet at the ETHGlobal hackathon held in Paris in September 2023, and the project has currently created a drawing board, Snake, and Rock-Paper-Scissors games.

Although still in the early stages of development, PixeLAW has the potential to become a unique design primitive. I look forward to seeing it in action.

Other games to keep an eye on:

There are many other interesting games being developed on Starknet, and some of the most notable ones for me are:

Shoshin, a PVP fighting game developed by Topology.

CafeCosmos, a restaurant simulation game with a novel P2E mechanism.

Tsubasa, a soccer game based on Starknet L3.

Optimistic About Starknet Gaming

Starknet Gaming fam.

Starknet's on-chain gaming ecosystem embodies many attributes of its L2.

It is still rough around the edges but is fun, creative, and exciting.

Many promising games and design primitives are currently being built, and there is a passionate community of talented protocol and game developers.

Like MUD, Dojo, as a pioneering game engine, has the potential to establish strong network effects, with developers eager to leverage its supporting infrastructure and composability.

Starknet games should also benefit from strong distribution channels like Cartridge and the native features of the L2 itself, as account abstraction and (future) storage proofs should greatly improve user onboarding and in-game user experience.

However, I believe Starknet games face more barriers to overcome compared to other ecosystems due to the lack of EVM compatibility.

There are far fewer developers for Cairo than for Solidity, and as a player, I still dislike having to download new wallets or use cumbersome block explorers.

The best thing Starknet can do is to create a plethora of engaging games to sidestep these concerns.

Of course, it's easier said than done, but Starknet has already shown signs of doing so through Briq, Roll Your Own, Loot Survivor, and many other promising projects in development.

In summary, I believe Starknet is fully capable of becoming a leading on-chain gaming ecosystem alongside MUD.