The first recursive inscription game in the Bitcoin ecosystem - PIXEL
Recursive inscriptions, as a significant update of Ordinals, have brought new innovative application directions to the BTC ecosystem. Among them, PixelWar, currently the application with the highest number of recursions on the market, deserves our attention. This article will introduce you to the mechanisms, economic model, and issues to be aware of regarding PixelWar.Introduction
Recently, with the rebound of the crypto market, there has been renewed interest in BRC-20 tokens on the BTC ecosystem. After a period of silence, these tokens exploded again, especially after Unisat announced the launch of the SWAP feature, reminiscent of the inscription boom in mid-2023. After half a year of development, the BTC ecosystem has given birth to many new things, which are markedly different from the previous frenzy.
BRC20 Heat Reignited
According to data from Dune, in May, BRC-20 transactions accounted for as much as 50% of all Bitcoin transactions. After a brief lull, BRC-20 transaction numbers surged again starting from the end of October. The proportion of BRC-20 transactions among all Bitcoin transactions reached 68.7% on November 12 and remained around 50% for a time. The proportion of non-BRC-20 Ordinals inscription transactions has consistently remained in the single digits.
Source: https://dune.com/cryptokoryo/brc20, 2023.11.13
The transaction fees for BRC-20 tokens accounted for 36% of all Bitcoin fees on November 4. Depending on market enthusiasm, this currently maintains a proportion of 20%-30%.
Source: https://dune.com/cryptokoryo/brc20, 2023.11.13
Introduction to Recursive Inscriptions
On June 12, 2023, Raph, the chief maintainer of the Bitcoin protocol Ordinals, merged the recursive inscription #2167 proposed by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor into the Ordinals code on GitHub. Before the introduction of recursive inscriptions, ordinals were depicted as isolated and finite islands. Although text, images, and code could be inscribed, they could not reference each other. With the introduction of recursive inscriptions, this situation changed, eliminating the awkwardness of each inscription being isolated and unconnected. Recursive inscriptions break this limitation through their referenceable nature, creating the possibility for free combinations. In short, recursive inscriptions refer to an inscription that can reference the content of other inscriptions. With the introduction of recursive inscriptions, users create inscriptions on the Bitcoin chain while occupying less capacity and incurring lower fees.
Characteristics of recursive inscriptions:
Enhanced interoperability, reduced costs, and the ability to exceed the 4MB size limit, among others.
Applications of recursive inscriptions:
Utilizing recursive inscriptions can achieve inscription disassembly and combination, Bitcoin music, Bitcoin chain games, generative art, decentralized websites, etc.
Source: https://medium.com/@gryphsisacademy
Due to the flexibility of recursive inscriptions, they provide a stage for artists to showcase their talents, with creative projects further exploring the various boundaries of Ordinals, with PixelWar being a typical representative.
Introduction to PixelWar
PixelWar is a new social experiment, and the team is anonymous, with no relevant information available online. Currently, most chain games merely use blockchain as a medium for distributing and transferring their ecological tokens, but some blockchain-native game developers and players are attempting to create a pure on-chain gaming experience, and PixelWar seems to be such a team.
PixelWar is not only a BTC full-chain multiplayer game based on recursive inscriptions. Participants create on a 256*256 pixel canvas. They can directly click on pixel points to create or place pixel points generated from uploaded images onto the canvas. Each submission generates an inscription of the latest state of the entire canvas, with each generated inscription referencing the state of the previously generated inscription, creating a recursive chain. This may be the project with the most recursion currently on the market and is a landmark application in the field of recursive inscriptions.
PixelWar is also a new type of BRC-20 Launchpad on BTC. As the project develops, PixelWar will gradually open permissions. Ultimately, everyone will be able to create pixel canvases and tokens on PixelWar.
PixelWar Mechanism
PixelWar proposes a new standard—BRC721Cofound, which utilizes recursive inscriptions to allow all users to create on the same canvas and record the process. Every moment during the creation process is an inscription that contains the currently added or updated pixels and references previous inscriptions.
In PixelWar, the game provides a public digital canvas with 256*256 pixel points, where any player can add color. In PixelWar, players can submit single or multiple pixels on the public canvas or upload images from their desktops, creating on blank spaces or covering previous players' pixel points, collectively creating a piece of art.
Earning tokens: In PixelWar, each time a player places a pixel, they will receive 10 $BPIX tokens. After submitting pixels, they can exchange tokens on the official website.
NFT: Each pixel submitted by players on the canvas is permanent and immutable, contributing to the completion of the canvas and rewarding players with an NFT image containing the latest state of the canvas.
How to Participate in the Game
- Set up a Bitcoin wallet
Create a Bitcoin wallet: Create a Bitcoin wallet on Unisat and save the mnemonic phrase.
Deposit Bitcoin: Deposit some Bitcoin as transaction fees and to purchase pixel points.
- Enter the game
Visit the website: Go to the PixelWar website.
Connect wallet: Click the wallet icon in the upper right corner of the screen to link the BTC wallet to the game.
Source: https://btcpixelwar.io/
- Create art
Select pixels: Choose the pixels on the canvas to add color or use drawing tools or drawing robots to create images. You can cover any pixel during creation.
Submit pixels: After selecting the pixels, follow the on-screen instructions to clear or purchase the selected pixels, preferably when the BTC network is in good condition.
Source: https://btcpixelwar.io/
- Obtain tokens
After completing the creation, click the Claim button in the upper right corner of the game to exchange tokens, with one pixel corresponding to 10 tokens.
Source: https://btcpixelwar.io/
- Auction
As the PixelWar game progresses, when the remaining number of pixels is less than 3,000, the remaining pixels will be auctioned, and they will only be sold during the auction phase. Players can bid on the remaining pixels, and the highest bidder at the end of the auction will win the right to purchase. If the highest bid is not updated within six blocks during the auction, the remaining pixels will be automatically auctioned.
Analysis of the PixelWar Economic Model
$BPIX Token Details
Name: BTC PixelWar
Symbol: BPIX
Total Supply: 21,000,000
Max Supply: The maximum supply is fixed at 21,000,000 $BPIX
Current number of holding addresses: 882
Total number of transactions: 4,007
https://unisat.io/brc20/bpix
$BPIX will become a staking token in the future. During the distribution of BRC-20 tokens, most inscriptions are often preemptively inscribed by bots, and there are frequent occurrences of bots raising GAS to compete for inscriptions that players are currently inscribing, which somewhat undermines the fairness of BRC-20 token distribution. PixelWar will develop a bot named BTCBOT on the BTC chain. $BPIX will serve as a staking token, granting token holders various rights such as priority experience, profit sharing, and exclusive bot features.
How to Obtain $BPIX
Pixel rewards: Players will receive 10 $BPIX for each pixel submitted on the canvas.
Free pixels: The official marketing campaign distributed some free pixels early on, and using these free pixels for creation on the canvas will earn $BPIX (the airdrop activity has now ended).
Guild rewards: After joining a guild, free pixel rewards will be given based on the guild's ranking, and these free pixels will also earn $BPIX when used for creation.
Marketing activities: Participating in official marketing activities can earn certain pixel rewards, which will earn $BPIX during creation.
Personal ranking rewards: The number of pixels a person draws daily, entering the top 10 of the daily leaderboard, will also receive additional rewards (the ranking will end after the fourth halving).
Secondary market purchase: You can purchase on Unisat's secondary market or wait until the project goes live on CEX.
Source: https://pixelwar.gitbook.io/btc-pixelwar/tokenomics
How Halving Works
At the start of the game, a maximum of 50,000 pixels can be submitted at once. As players add pixels to the canvas, the total number of accumulated pixels increases, approaching critical quantity nodes of the total supply. When the accumulated pixels reach 50% of the total supply, the first halving occurs. This means that users can only submit 25,000 pixels at a time. When the accumulated pixels reach 75% of the total (50% of the remaining pixels), the second halving occurs. This pattern will repeat for 5 rounds, with each halving reducing the number of available pixels for submission by half.
The halving mechanism in PixelWar is not just a countdown; it is also a strategic challenge. Since the total number of pixels is fixed, and each pixel submission brings the game closer to the next halving, it easily drives player participation enthusiasm.
What Advantages Does PixelWar Have?
The crypto market is quiet and needs a new narrative. The BTC ecosystem is currently in a construction phase, causing a huge stir, with great potential for development. As the BTC halving approaches, interest in the BTC ecosystem in the crypto market will continue to grow;
PixelWar is the first recursive inscription game on the BTC ecosystem and adopts the new standard BRC721Cofound. The game design is quite creative, with significant storytelling and playability;
The PixelWar team plans to gradually open permissions in the later stages, making PixelWar a BRC-20 Launchpad platform;
PixelWar will develop a bot called BTCBOT, providing token holders with priority experience, profit sharing, exclusive bot features, and more rights;
PixelWar has a lower participation threshold compared to traditional chain games;
PixelWar has a competitive mechanism that easily triggers participants' FOMO emotions.
What Issues Does PixelWar Currently Face?
BRC-20 tokens have the public opinion advantage of fair distribution, while PixelWar's token distribution is managed by the project party;
High Bitcoin network fees and block delays increase the cost of player participation in the game and may also affect the gaming experience;
The $BPIX token currently only circulates in a few secondary markets like Unisat, and these platforms are highly susceptible to DDOS attacks, leading to poor liquidity for the $BPIX token in the secondary market. However, this issue can be effectively resolved once the game goes live on CEX exchanges.
Conclusion
Overall, the explosive popularity of BRC-20 tokens has driven the development of the BTC ecosystem, while PixelWar, as an innovative and landmark BTC multiplayer full-chain game based on recursive inscriptions, opens up new possibilities in the field of multiplayer gaming applications on the Bitcoin chain and demonstrates the potential of recursive inscriptions in gaming and social domains. With the improvement of the BTC ecosystem, the development of PixelWar is also worth looking forward to.
Author: Snow
Translator: Sonia
Article Reviewers: Piccolo, Wayne, Elisa, Ashley He, Joyce
