Unicorn Fight Club - A Bridge Proposal

Draft Proposals
1

Abstract

On June 28th, 2024, we will be launching the Closed Alpha phase of Unicorn Fight Club, effectively bringing the work of our original proposal to close (pending final check from the DAO Facilitator). This Alpha launch includes all of the functionality and requirements that we intended to build at the onset with many additional features built in, but there’s a lot more that we want to build.

We are in the process of securing outside grant funding from several sources. In order to continue building and moving the project forward while this funding takes place, we are requesting bridge funding from the DAO until we become self-sufficient with additional outside capital.

Motivation

The original proposal for Unicorn Fight Club passed with a 98.5% approval rating from the DAO showing clear indication from the community that there is desire for an outside developer and builder to create a pvp RPG battler. We are incredibly excited to share our Alpha Launch with you all on 6/28/24. And while we have completed all of the initial scope that we set out to build (pending DAO agreement), and much, much more, there’s still a lot that we weren’t able to get to with our limited time and budget.

Now that the Alpha Launch is here, we’ve been able to begin the process of applying for outside grants to bring additional money into the CU ecosystem to continue building. We view it as our responsibility to win any and all grants that we can and believe we have some great options underway. Plans are underway, where if successful, would fund our team to continue building Unicorn Fight Club for the next 12 - 18 months.

This bridge proposal will provide our team with an additional 2 months+ to help get us to our Beta Launch this fall, while we continue to pursue these outside funding options from Arbitrum and XAI.

Details

The project has expanded significantly since our original proposal of a 1:1 autobattler. We’ve managed to incorporate a lot of the upgrades and enhancements into our Alpha Launch without the need for any additional funds, but have had to make many tough decisions along the way. We will be launching Unicorn Fight Club with all of the requirements from our original proposal, plus a bunch more things that we prioritized that we believe make for the best game for our Community. We prioritized strategic and interactive elements to make gameplay much more participatory based on all of the great feedback we received.

The Alpha Launch will include:

  • the web3 module which allows players to connect their Metamask wallet so that they can Stash-In and Stash-Out $CU tokens from the XAI blockchain into our game (building on XAI this early came with its own complications which forced us to come up with some creative solutions)
  • the ability for players to play with CU Unicorns that they own on XAI with real-time checks for newly bred unicorns, unicorn transfers, purchase and sales, burned unicorns and so on (unicorn IDs on XAI mainnet just became available a few days ago)
  • players being able to choose a paid bracket or a free bracket
  • players being able to select their team of 5 unicorns, enter the matchmaking queue, view their opponent and the shadowcorn region, select their team of 3 unicorns and then fight it out on the battlefield
  • on the battlefield, players facing off in 3v3 battle that includes 3 RPG roles with bonuses, the ability to attack, draw and play powerup cards, and unicorn class specific matchup bonuses to create an evolving meta and counter meta for dynamic battles
  • enhancements and iterations that came out of our initial playtest with amazing feedback from the community

While it was a huge lift to get this done in this short timeframe and budget, there were also many conflicting priorities and hard decisions. We purposefully choose to under invest in artwork, design, animations and much of the polish that would make it feel like a more cohesive game. We chose to focus on demonstrating the interactive capabilities of this battle system and the strategic player choices that become available. We also chose to invest in the quality of our code and the foundation of the game, ensuring less production issues and easier iterations and future development moving forward. The areas we under-invested in are now the priority for us to have a more cohesive game experience for the full Beta Launch.

We are requesting $70,000 USD as a bridge round of funding to continue building towards the Beta Launch, while allowing us to go out and raise additional funding through XAI and Arbitrum grants. While none of those grants are guaranteed, we feel confident in the strength of our proposals to bring outside money into the CU ecosystem.

FAQ

What upgrades will be created for the Beta Launch as a result of this proposal?

  • Check out the Roadmap for the full list of details. Mainly: 1) artwork, animations and polish to feel like a cohesive game 2) overhaul of the S.I.M.P. card mechanics allowing each player to customize their deck with unlocks for new cards custom to each unicorn class

What is happening from a game design perspective?

  • Sysmal is a battle mechanics genius and has been gracious enough to support us through initial conversations and recommendations for enhanced game designs. His contributions have already been invaluable, and we’re excited to continue to have him as a sounding board in all that we do. We feel comfortable with the system we are taking into the Alpha Launch and have many levers we can tune as needed to keep things balanced and fresh.

What grants are available to the team that we are going after?

  • We have our eyes on 3 outside grants at the moment:
    • ARB Foundation Grant in the range of $60k - $150k which only becomes possible with a product launched on mainnet (application will be submitted on 6/28/24 with Alpha Launch). This is priority #1.
    • XAI Builders Program - this is through the $100m in game incentives that XAI has dedicated towards game developers (and what LG tapped into to get the sweeeeeet XAI hookup). The requirements and specifics of what’s available here are unclear, but we’ve already been in touch with LG and reached out to the XAI team to explore this.
    • Gaming Catalyst Program - the Arbitrum DAO has passed a proposal to allocation 200m ARB to rapidly accelerate Arbitrum’s support for game builders in the ecosystem. They have a program specifically for builders like Unicorn Fight Club who are looking for grants under $500k that can be fast tracked. The latest timing suggests that proposals will be open for submission in 2 - 3 months, and we plan to be first in line.

Can I play the Alpha version before voting for this bridge proposal?

Of course. We timed it so that that this proposal, if passed by the council, would go live to snapshot after the Alpha Launch. This will give the community all the information they need to support this new proposal, while still allowing us as a team to not skip a beat in terms of our building pipeline.

What happens to Unicorn Fight Club if this proposal doesn’t pass?

We will continue to build on, with or without this bridge funding from the CU DAO. We plan to apply for grants from all 3 above sources regardless of the outcome of this proposal. We have squeezed the last of our original budget to keep our developers building and iterating in July, but after that our funds will be fully depleted to keep building. If we stop building after July while we wait for outside grant funding to come in, we run the risk of our developers moving on. While it wouldn’t prevent us from building in the future, it would not be our preferred route to have to bring on new developers to pick things back up again. We also believe that the passing of this proposal shows strong support from the CU DAO and community when submitting our applications for outside funds.

Proposal Cost & Deal Terms

The team is requesting an additional $70,000 USD as a bridge round of funding to continue building towards the Beta Launch and hunt down additional grants from outside the CU DAO.

Payments for this proposal are being requested as follows:

  • $35,000 USD upon passing the proposal
  • $35,000 USD one month after the first payment is received

The operational framework for this proposal follows the same structure as the original proposal.

As a third party game developer, the team will continue to work closely with LG while also completing our work independently.

Conclusion

We truly believe that we have just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible when building external games on top of the CU ecosystem. While we are satisfied with the work done for the original proposal for the Alpha Launch of Unicorn Fight Club, there is so much more that is possible with an RPG battler that aligns closely with CUs plans for future game development. We view it as our responsibility and primary objective to win additional grants from outside the ecosystem to continue building for this community. To give us the greatest chance of hitting that outcome, we are requesting this bridge round of funding to keep building.

2

Hey jbp,

Before going further, can you please explain what has been done in respect to your initial proposal that already got 150.000 USDC funding ?

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According to your initial proposal from January (screenshot above), we should’ve had a full game release in month 4, which should be May-June at the latest.
So far, we have only seen some very unpolished play tests, deadlines haven’t been met, though most of the 150k USDC have already been paid by LG to you.
What is the point of asking another round of funding with yet another part being asked in advance if you haven’t delivered on your first proposal?
I would expect that your team delivers a full playable game, as promised with the initial proposal and budget.
Only after we get feedback from the community and measure the game performance, we should consider sinking even more funding into an expansion.

3 Likes
3

I’m hesitant to agree to more funding until I see more gameplay.
Waiting for more discussion in here.

4

Hey Nev. We are actually in agreement here. We are in the final, final stages of delivering the fully playable game as agreed upon from the initial proposal and budget. That is coming this Friday (as mentioned as the very first line of the proposal :rofl:), and I can’t wait for the community to get their hands on it.

In my ideal scenario, I would have submitted this proposal after this coming weekend, but because of the timing of the DAO and procedures, it wouldn’t have been live for 5 days prior to this voting session (which as discussed in the proposal could potentially slow us down).

So in my attempt to perfectly thread the needle of timing, I submitted this proposal a few days ahead of the full release in an effort to maximum our building efficiency and still having the snapshot voting by the community come after the game is released. I fully accept the possibility that every single comment from now until Friday will be the same as yours.

5

I think if we are at a stage where the game is ready for demo we need some live versions of the alpha. The terms of the original agreement are such that a game can be at a minimum demonstrated for it’s intended use; audience and play. Before this goes forward for vote I think we need to see where things are at with the actual game vs. just words in a proposal. That is where I land.

If we can get a recorded demo posted on the Alpha game then I will be more inclined to recommend this for vote.

So, basically, I will put it up for action that a demo is posted for review / comment to the developer. If there is no demo in the next 24-36 hours then I will recommend we hold on this decision until there is time to review the actual product.

6

I’m with you. Please see my comment above to Nev.

Also, in a great suggestion by a fellow community member privately, we will be providing video highlights of the complete gameplay for those who do not wish to try it out themselves, but still want to be informed council members and DAO voters.

2 Likes
7

Some of us are shy on time. I think it would be good to do a demo video and talk through the game for everyone. For the benefit of a vote from the DAO a demo video will aid in ensuring everyone has an opportunity to see the intended product start point.

Also, a demo would include commentary from the developer on where things are and where things might go. Those comments are beneficial vs. a “Try this out and muddle through it” approach.

2 Likes
8

You will have the full version in your hands on Friday to play and test and enjoy as much as you’d like – 3 days ahead of the council vote

And re: the demo video – absolutely. It’s coming.

1 Like
9

Now this said, I definitely want you to be successful. So, I’m not apposed to pushing forward. I just want to make sure we are not doing a “Surf Labs” … I see text and looks good" … rubber stamp. That whole thing in the past sort of makes me think we need to ensure communication is much clearer from folks requesting funding.

1 Like
10

OK, then if you do all that… I’m good on pushing this forward.

Meaning, based on that when it comes time to “Recommend for vote to push to DAO snapshot” if you have met the parameters of what we are talking about you have my vote.

1 Like
11

Thanks Goliath! Coming soon :tm:

12

I agree with the above. Would like to see the community have access to the full version and ample time to test it.

With the game coming back online, people could be distracted. Timing feels a little off on this. You might want to consider moving this to the next voting session. It’d only be ~15 day delay.

13

Thanks IG. I’m with you. If after releasing the game and video highlights, if we feel like it’s not enough time for the community given everything else going on, we will consider pushing it back a session. It would not be ideal or preferred and would impact our building cadence, but I’m open to that discussion if we feel it’s needed at that time.

14

I agree with the previous comments above. Before we vote on additional funding for this, we should have the community play and test the game. This proposal might be better suited for the next month after people have time to get in tune with the new game changes and “scratch the itch” on the main game after it
being down for a month. Let’s give the comminity a chance to play the game and give some feedback on it.

1 Like
15

If the full game is ready on Friday , I don’t see the point of rushing this proposal.
Let the community play for several weeks, evaluate the game value against cost and see it’s impact.
After that, if the game gets traction we can asses the need for an expansion and further funding.
Let’s not forget that your initial proposal stated that LG should recoup his funds before any profit goes away, so that’s another important point before considering another funding.

4 Likes
16

I’m struggling to understand the reasoning of the timeline here.

You initiate a new proposal BEFORE launching the demo, arguing there will be a full - wait for it - 3 days for the community to have a look, before the council is supposed to vote on this?

Why the hurry?

Let’s see the demo first, get feedback, then see what the next steps are. I don’t get why you don’t want community feedback before pushing for a next funding round.

So far, only very unpolished (to say it nicely) basics of a rather simple game have been shown.

Let’s wait for the demo first, I really don’t see the point of such a rushed proposal.

1 Like
17

Gonna wait to see the game before voting for this.
I understand why it was send before the game release, cause of the timing and stuff but for now I just want to see what was made and then decide later if additional 70k$ is worth it or not.
This proposal should be pushed to another session, we can’t judge and make any decision on this one.

1 Like
18

We both are aware of a game buildout that’s far along in development that has received no funding thus far. Feels like you all could find a way to keep that building cadence going, if that’s the direction you want to go. It’d only be ~15 more days.

Friday launch puts us on jousting timeframe and the weekend. With game just coming back online, this feels like rushed timing. With only a few days to test out the game.

1 Like
19

I voiced pretty much all of what’s been said in forums privately. Jbp3 said they will be putting together video for voters/community who wont want to connect a wallet yet for alpha. Lets give him some time to make one and we can see launch on 28th. We can all talk openly and if need to pause arrives for more info we can. They know we all have some trauma from other games. Lets keep communicating and see where things go. First thing first. Lets check out the game they have worked hard on :sparkling_heart: Thank you Jbp3 for the open and clear communication.

2 Likes
20

I fail to understand why this was forwarded before you even have a working product to show, as assumed by you in initial proposal. DAO has to see first what they paid 130k on before throwing more money at it.