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• Arbitrum Arcade: Join the 8-week onchain gameathon featuring 24 Arbitrum games showcasing Web3's best gaming. Creators can get featured on Arbitrum X, win a gaming PC, and grab a share of $200K grants.

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• A16z SPEEDRUN 003 in Los Angeles: If you’re a game designer, this is the perfect opportunity to build the game of your dreams alongside some of the best in the industry, in my personal favorite city, sunny Los Angeles. A16z Games is investing $750k to each selected company.

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• Kenney Game Assets: Enjoy a massive sale on Kenney game design assets! You can get 40,000 game assets, including 2D sprites, 3D models, audio, fonts and more all for FREE by end of day today.
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• Play Beyond: Sui Gaming Summit: If you’re in the Bay Area, register to attend the free web3 gaming event hosted by Sui Network on March 19th.

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With Love,

Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

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Courtesy of Dep web3 gaming ecosystem.

In our last edition, we discussed how AI is revolutionizing game design, especially as it relates to web3 game design. Today we will explore yet another tool that is shaping the way we create and engage with games. But first a short ode to play:

As someone who writes about and studies play, it may surprise you to know how little time I get to actually just enjoy play. In my mind, playing a game to then write about it, fits under the category of work — and that’s not because it isn’t fun but simply because it’s a means to an end. Pure play, at least to me, is the opposite; it is play with no objectives and for no purpose other than the joy of play itself. I think back to these words by , a longtime research professor who specializes in the study of play:

“OUR PLAYFULNESS is a most valuable aspect of our human nature (second, perhaps, only to our capacity for love and kindness). It is what makes life worthwhile. In children, it promotes the learning of essential human skills, and in all of us it promotes happiness, peacefulness, and cooperation. It is the engine of creativity and invention, and thus of cultural evolution.”

By the way, if you loved this quote then you will love his newsletter, Play Makes Us Human. 

In my own words I will say this on play; play is crucial because it retains what is sacred in us. I think we are at risk of creating a world with many games, but little play. And that’s a terrible world to be in. There are political games, economic games, childish games, professional games, etc. All these games are serious to varying degrees and arguably necessary for the continuation of certain institutional systems. But for the most part, “serious games,” are inessential to human flourishing. I say this because in many ways, serious games are zero sum or finite games in that they incentivize competition and only one person or group can win at a time. Whereas, pure, organic play doesn’t discriminate. It rewards all who approach it with wonder. Play in and of itself fosters infinite games. So let us play, for the sake of play. 

On Frame Gaming!

If you haven’t heard of the new social network Farcaster, I would highly encourage you to check it out. It’s a “sufficiently decentralized” social network that is a hybrid between Twitter and Reddit. Recently, Farcaster introduced a functionality called “Frames.” Frames allow users to create interactive media experiences, which has served as a catalyst for an explosion of new media. Take for instance, the creators of /cookies. They created a Frame that allowed users to order Girl Scout cookies using Frames and Coinbase commerce. Buyers in the U.S had their choice of Girl Scouts cookies shipped directly to their doorsteps, without using Fiat currency at any part of the process. And buyers outside of the U.S, though ineligible to receive actual cookies, received a NFT that grants them access to a token gated group chat which no doubt contains priceless alpha and network building opportunities.

I had the chance to interview one such Frames creator who is using this tool to create “onframe games.” Keep reading to hear all about how founder and creative @Deployer is using frames to connect with his community in a novel and genius way; this is a must read for all founders, creatives and community leaders looking to get ahead of the curve and create a part of history.

The Frame that started it all, courtesy of Deployer.

CYNTHIA: So how did you get started with your NFT project and how did you get inspired to use frames as a medium to market and share some core concepts for your project in a gamified way?

DEPLOYER: Synthia is the second collection in the Dep web3 gaming ecosystem. The idea stemmed from people's fears about AI. I wanted to create an experience that people could interact with and that's what I did with the Synthia terminal on the website.

I wanted people to explore and find new things and information about the Synthia universe as they explored and talked with Synthia through the terminal. The story is that Synthia, a beneveloent AI, saved humanity from the rogue AI Nethria and created a digital haven for humanity. There are various factions which are the on-chain characters that you mint through the terminal.

The terminal includes a text based Nethria game and when I saw Warpcast had launched frames I thought they would be perfect for a version of the Nethria game. I thought it would be a fun way to engage with the community and let them know about the Synthia project.

Synthia collection, courtesy of Deployer

CYNTHIA: As a early pioneer in the nascent (2 week old) field of frame games, how do you see this technology revolutionizing how creators connect with users ?

DEPLOYER: Frames are a really fun way to engage with your audience. There are constraints on the technology (4 buttons, static images, and an input field) which adds to the fun of creating frames because it requires creativity to design something within those constraints that can still be fun and engaging. Right now it's relatively easy to get exposure on Warpcast if you make a good frame experience which is really great for independent builders. I really hope the vibe stays that way.

CYNTHIA: Do you have any further plans to create more programmatic game-like experiences on Farcaster?

Dep Ecosystem logo.

DEPLOYER: I do have plans for future game experiences using Frames! One that I am really excited about is a game we are planning for Heroes, the first collection launched in the Dep ecosystem. This will tie into an alpha launch of the Heroes game, Merlin's Dungeons, and will have a mint mechanic as well. In addition to that I am thinking about other fun experiences to build with frames for a project called The LP which you can find out more about in the /lp channel on Warpcast.

CYNTHIA: Lastly, what does a "Open, Collaborative, Web3 Gaming and Media Ecosystem" mean to you?

DEPLOYER: The concept of an open collaborative ecosystem for me started with Cryptoadz and Loot, two NFT projects that were built in a way that anyone could use. Cryptoadz are the first project I know of that used the CC0 license as a selling point, meaning they are part of the public domain and anyone could use the art for anything. We implemented Cryptoadz into the Heroes game.

The concept of Loot was really interesting to me because it acted as an on-chain primitive of game items that people could build upon. I had done some experiments with open, on-chain data before so this made perfect sense to me. There's other projects like this too - one called Crypts and Caverns - which are dungeon layouts stored on Ethereum that anyone can use. We took these layouts and re-themed them for the Heroes universe and they are actually the levels that you play in the Heroes game.

The concepts to me are very inline with the concept of decentralization where people are able to build on top of a base system. When people are able to build on top of systems thats where creativity can really shine, as we have seen with frames. That is the idea behind the Dep ecosystem. Let's use these new, open technologies to build worlds and systems that are free for others to use or build on.

A special thank you to our MINDS AT PLAY audience for your continued readership and enthusiasm. Additionally, immense gratitude to @Deployer and for making this article possible.

Your support propels us forward, and we're excited to bring you more insights into the ever-evolving world of technology and play.

Thank you for being a part of MINDS AT PLAY!

— Cynthia (@cynbahati) ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱˚

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Photo courtesy Upstreet AI

Nothing excites me more than new things: new technologies, new projects, new heroes to rally for. I am the quintessential optimist, so I welcome the new with open arms. Today I am sharing something new(ish) that I feel will be rather important in terms of how we create and engage with games.

The talk of the town: AI x Crypto.

Now, this topic has come up a few times on MINDS AT PLAY, most notably on our 2024 Trends Forecast, but though I am as interested in AI as the next person, I don’t assume to be an expert. Here are words and ideas from an actual expert ⤵

Courtesy of @Accelxr on X

In this thread, writer @Accelxr breaks down and eloquently expresses the many different ways game loops can be designed utilizing the best of both web3 and AI.

“There is no doubt AI + crypto will both alter gaming, but the merger of all three is an enormously large design space that is still broadly untapped. Using generative models for UGC, finding new game loops around training or playing with agents, AI NPCs, etc. truly excites me” - @Accelxr

Click here for the full thread.

One of the games mentioned in this thread is Upstreet AI — which is a game I hadn’t heard of until coming across this thread. The writer also mentions a AI x web3 game we previously shared titled “AI Arena”, among others. Thank you to content creator @Cynnx_crypto for this great explainer video:

WATCH NOW: Upstreet Explained in 1 minute

ICYMI, Resharing what I have said before on AI x web3 gaming:

AI-driven "generative agents" are expected to revolutionize player experiences (as per Delphi Digital) and create novel retail opportunities for media and IP giants entering the Web3 space. Web3 gaming projects like AI Arena, with a mission to foster AI intuition and literacy through a gaming experience, may become strategic partners for legacy IP looking to establish a presence at the intersection of AI and Web3 gaming. This convergence marks an exciting era for the industry, blending traditional and cutting-edge elements to redefine the gaming landscape.

Until next time

Thanks for reading. A special thank you to @Accelxr on X & Mirror for sharing your insights!

— Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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Here’s a roundup of all the onchain tea that you don’t want to miss:

🗡️ The EVM viral game “Crypto: The Game” Launched and we interviewed Dylan Abruscato on how it all came to be plus got exclusive updates on the future plans of his hit game. You can read our interview here.

🟣 FARCASTER: The decentralized social network backed by Coinbase soars to new heights! 

This explosion is due to the recent release of “Frames,” which allow for interactive media to be casted (created) and stored onchain. X/Twitter had and quickly got rid of a similar feature back in 2015. This is groundbreaking as it opens the doors for a number of creative, playable experiences — on a decentralized social network.

Play Internet Archive's 2,400 MS-DOS Games Directly on Twitter

For instance, this is a great example of what Frames can do. This frame is designed to guide you in Breathwork and was created by Val, @valcoholics on X/Warpcast. You can mediate on Farcaster here.

Tons of Web3 native companies are using Farcaster as a hiring platform to recruit true onchain enthusiasts and incentivizing builders to create innovative and useful frames to grow their respective ecosystems. This is what Val calls “programmatic marketing.” You can read more about Farcaster and it’s potential in the beautifully written article titled “Framing the Future of the Internet” by

🌐 Interactive onchain games released on Zora + how Zora will be “the home for onchain AI”

@/tbtstl on X/Twitter released a onchain game on the Zora ecosystem titled “CYTO”, which is a game of cellular evolution based on Conway's Game of Life. Players join the red or blue team and compete to outlive each other to win a prize pool. CYTO is live here.

Jacob Horne of Zora released → AI+, a blog post on how AI is finding it’s way onchain.

AI: You can create a model that is trained on information, making it remixable and accessible to the entire internet. Training a model on it means that this information can be interpreted, remixed, represented, articulated and synthesized as knowledge. This means that it can be utilized. - Jacob Horne.

Zora aims to collaborate and work with more AI x Web3 partners. If individuals or organizations are building or creating on the forefront of AI, they are encouraged to reach out. Finally, Jacob states the mission: Zora will serve as the home for AI onchain. Read the full article here.

👩‍💻 We finally have proper and easy to understand explanations on account abstraction, namely this lovely article, Account Abstraction for Everyone Else by @camiinthisthang (X/Twitter)

In it, she states: “Most of the writing on account abstraction sucks.” And I firmly agree, but her writing doesn’t suck and I highly recommend reading if you’re interested in understanding what everyone in this space has been talking about (but few have stopped to explain).

You can read the full article here.

Thank you all for reading! See you next time.

- Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

👀 Viral Games Launched This Week: Two Survival Games Breaking the Open Internet 

💀 The Death Cycle of Games: Sobering Statistics on the Current Game Market

🎲 Insights from Dylan Abruscato, Creator of Crypto: The Game

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If you’ve been on Crypto Twitter the last few days you may have noticed an interesting rise of viral survival games, namely the ETH based ‘Crypto: The Game,’ (CTG) and the Delphi Digital backed SOL based ‘GG’ known colloquially as “The Solana Hunger Games.” Besides the synchronicity that these games have sorta similar themes and launched around the same time (which was totally unplanned, at least on the part of the CTG team) – these games signal a welcomed return of FUN back to Web3.

Crypto: The Game opened sign-ups less than 24 hours ago (at the time of writing this) and already has 30 Ξ in it’s prize pool, at a .1Ξ entry point, this is insanely impressive. But despite having many avid supporters, there are plenty of skeptics. Including, admittedly, me at first. 

The facts are arresting and keep many would be players apprehensive. There is no shortage of scams, rugpulls and here today gone tomorrow viral onchain games. According to a recent CoinGecko study, a staggering 75% of all web3 games fail, with 2,127 out of 2,817 launched games abandoned or inactive. A failed game is defined as one witnessing a more than 99% decline in activity from its peak. This, coupled with the larger downturn of the entire crypto market has created a semi-hostile reaction from some towards viral game creators like Dylan Abruscato of CTG who is genuinely just building a game that is super fun.

I had a chance to talk to Dylan about his highly anticipated game, how viral game mechanics are designed and how CTG will sustain the hype. 

CYNTHIA: I see you’re doing a lot of marketing for CTG!

DYLAN: Yeah, my background is in marketing. So I've definitely thought about the viral mechanics of this game and the referral loops and things like that. I actually started my career in TV. I was a producer and an NBC Page out of college. I got the Saturday Night Live Page assignment. Kenneth Parcell, the Page from 30 Rock, is like a fictionalized representation of my first job. So I was an assistant for the cast, the crew, and the musical guests, and I was bit by the live TV bug. Then, I got into tech by way of HQ Trivia, which was this massive live interactive game show – we had millions of live concurrent viewers.

Courtesy of CNN

The Rock hosted an episode, Robert De Niro, Kevin Hart, Jimmy Kimmel made appearances; it was a huge pop culture phenomenon. The reason why I joined HQ and was so excited about it was because of the idea of a Live Interactive TV Network. In the same way that [HQ] took a traditional game show and made it live, mobile, and interactive, the same concept could be applied to a Shark Tank format, or a talent competition, or a dating show.

As a huge fan of the show Survivor, I have always been obsessed with this idea of a massive digital survivor game where everyone buys in and is randomly assigned to a tribe, just like the show ‘Survivor’. 

There's just so much fun to be had on the internet and crypto enables that.

- Dylan Abruscato

CYNTHIA: How is CTG Played?

DYLAN: Over the course of the season, players vote each other out one by one and the last person standing wins the prize pool. And then sprinkled within that are different ways to earn immunity as an individual and different challenges to win tribal immunity. So every day their will be different games to win, ranging from classic arcade games to crypto puzzles and digital scavenger hunts. And whichever tribe wins that challenge is saved from the vote that night. Every other tribe has to vote people out. And then on the last night, everyone that was previously eliminated comes back on and votes for the winner. So you can't just backstab your way to the top you almost have to be a little ruthless but respected. CTG also borrows a couple of my favorite viral loops from HQ trivia. For example, in HQ trivia if you referred someone into the game, you received an extra life. In this instance, if you refer someone into the game, you will receive an individual immunity that you can play.

CYNTHIA: What would you say to those who are questioning why you’re building this?

DYLAN: I grew up opening baseball cards and collecting things, experiencing that nostalgic excitement. I didn't truly feel that again until I minted an NFT for the first time. It was like reliving that thrill seeing what I got and checking if it was rare, etc.

There's just so much fun to be had on the internet and crypto enables that. And so two reasons:

1. I love Survivor and I always wanted to play Survivor (I would apply every year and never got in) and I thought why not create the ability for people to play it digitally? I've never seen a fun internet version of it.

2. I think it's a really cool social experiment, and I'm excited to see it play out on Crypto Twitter, which is so tribal in nature. Do players vote someone out because of their PFP? Do players vote out someone who is a VC or a Crypto Twitter influencer? Do people think they're a target because they have too much status or they have enough clout? If someone's really good at the daily challenges, are they a threat and now everyone wants to get rid of them? Or are they someone players want to keep in because the more their tribe wins immunity, the further they get in the game? So yeah, it's a fun social experiment.

Courtesy of Survivor, CBS

CYNTHIA:  A few folks [on twitter] were saying that the entry price is too high…

DYLAN: That's 100% on purpose. I want to test the system and control the environment to ensure there aren’t any glitches. It's a live concurrent interactive game and HQ, for instance, was filled with glitches from too many people joining and playing at once. It's V1; this is our first season so I just want to make sure the system can handle a couple hundred people playing live. Also just because it's a game that has 10 tribes, it's so much more fun of a game to have 20 to 50 people within your tribe  – that feels more communal, you will have an opportunity to get to know each other and you can easily form alliances within your tribe, you recognize them, you can talk to your tribe in the chat. But if there's 10,000 people in this game then you're just randomly picking people to vote out and that's not fun to me.

CYNTHIA: Given the fact that CTG has sort of gone viral in Web3, especially within the Ethereum space – how are you guys planning on sustaining the hype?

DYLAN: Yeah, well honestly Survivor has done a great job of that. I think it's on it's 50th season or something crazy like that. What survivor does, which I really like is that a lot of people join, you vote people out and one person wins the pot – that basic loop stays the same, but every season there's a unique twist. There are also breaks between seasons. So that's my goal. I have ideas for future seasons. I want to get progressively more onchain with each season. My idea for season two is tentatively called “Anon Island,” and you will mint an NFT, which is your slot in the game, and that NFT burns when you get eliminated but it actually has a bit more functionality. 

You could hypothetically sell that NFT which is your spot in the game at any point throughout the competition and hypothetically, as you get closer to the prize pool your NFT would be worth more and more.

CYNTHIA: Wow. So you're gonna include even more game mechanics in it? 

DYLAN: Oh, yeah, this is just the beginning!

Thanks for reading this edition of MINDS AT PLAY! Which new games will survive the crypto hype cycle — let me know in the comments below.

Thank you to Dylan for your time and excellent insights! Enter to play season one of Crypto: The Game before Jan 31st Noon PST. And may the best player win!

- Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

When we think of gaming and its enthusiasts, what's the first image that comes to mind? Is gaming automatically associated as a 'feminine' industry? Can a fashion blogger with over 150k followers be deeply passionate about gaming? If you think not, you're in the majority — unfortunately. Women have always been gamers, but haven’t always been accounted or even designed for. Which is a pity, considering the fact that games that do design for women tend to fare better than average. Sims, for instance, is the best-selling franchise for personal computers in history with the majority of it’s userbase being women (though this was perhaps not intentional on the part of Maxis). Despite preconceived notions, including those within the gaming industry itself, our guest today defies stereotypes and proves that women can and should make games!

Meet Linda Sumbu, better known as @itgirlenergy in the high fashion Twitter space. A prominent fashion blogger with a massive following, Linda has covered top fashion events, including NYFW. However, what most people don't know is that Linda LOVES gaming. She fondly refers to video games as her 'first love,' and despite fashion being her current obsession, gaming has always had her heart. In fact, Linda pursued a master's in Game Design and aspires to be a Game Designer (when she's not busy at fashion week!). In today’s edition of MINDS AT PLAY, Linda shares her deep love for art, fashion, and video games, discussing her aspirations for the gaming industry and advocating for better fashion games. We explored game design as a truly immersive multi-dimensional art form, and more! Two things are clear: Linda truly loves her craft, and the next-generation of gamers may be a lot trendier than the gamers of old.

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CYNTHIA: What inspired your interest in both game design and fashion?

LINDA: Ever since I was little I've always really been into fashion. I feel every little girl got started in fashion by getting introduced to dolls and stuff like that. I did the same thing but I just had a complete obsession with it. But I also grew up with brothers, so they played a lot of video games growing up. The first video game that I watched my brothers play was God of War and I had absolutely no business watching such mature gameplay but I was just so infatuated with it. I wanted to do everything that my brothers wanted to do. And I just loved the action that video games had. Eventually, because I loved dolls and fashion and because my parents didn't want me to play anything too violent, they introduced me to video games about dolls. The first fashion video game that I ever played was the Bratz's games. And [in those games] you could walk around and basically be a fashion blogger, and run your own magazine!

I feel that's where my true passion for game design was birthed. And ever since then, I've just been really into video games. There was a lot more variety in video games. I was able to explore a lot more genres in that sense, you know, so I didn't have to just play Super Princess Peach I could also play Bloodborne  (which I probably should not have played at my young age).

CYNTHIA: I think a lot of a lot of women our age got introduced to both video games and fashion through Bratz! When did you decide that you wanted to pursue game design as a career?

Bratz: Forever Diamondz PS2 Gameplay

LINDA: In high school my obsession with video games grew stronger. Although I didn't study art, I was constantly drawing. If I finished my schoolwork early, I'd spend the time doodling in class, sneaking in my PSP. I've always been obsessed with cartoons and animation. It got to the point where I thought — “I don't know what else I can do with my life except to make games,” because I've always wanted to have that type of control over video games. It's not like I played bad video games, but I've always wondered what would happen if I was in control of changing the narrative structure or changing the level design structure. So in high school, I explored career paths that led to game design. 

However, in South Africa, it was nearly impossible to pursue that career path and study game design; the only apparent option was to pursue computer science, learn coding, and enter the game industry. After completing my specialized BA degree, which is a unique degree not widely available in South Africa, I acquired both art and computer science backgrounds. Discovering that my university had this program excited me because I was like, “oh my goodness, this is made for me”, because I'm an artist that wants to create games. 

Despite not being very good at math, I've always been a lot more artistic, but I've also been very good at, you know, working with computers and being efficient in it. This created confusion for my parents, as I didn't want to pursue computer science or fine arts. Somehow, in my studies, I found game design — which was the best of both worlds, and I'm grateful for that. It wasn't easy to figure out, but I reached that point.

CYNTHIA: You are super artistic! It’s clear from your Twitter that you have an eye for detail, beauty and aesthetics. Would you recommend game design for people that don't feel inherently artistic though?

LINDA: I think game design is an interesting medium to explore as an artist because, it's not fine art which is you know, something that has been done for literally centuries and centuries — game design is still very much a teeny, tiny, subset of art that is very much only being recognized recently as art. A lot of people still consider game design as just entertainment and nothing further. So I would recommend game design as a creative medium because it brings a different sense to how an artist can interact with their viewer, reader or player. You basically create an experience. Players actually experience your self-expression through mechanics and through aesthetics and through sound design and level design and UI and everything. So it's very much something that will give you a different perspective on art in general and how you should interact with art in the future.

What sets game development apart is the unparalleled control it offers. While other art forms allow for creative expression, the immersive nature of video games provides a lot more possibilities. As a game designer, I love the control I have over every element, from lighting to evoke different emotions, to sound design, colors, characters. It's such a unique experience.

CYNTHIA: So what was the school experience like? Because you alluded to it being a bit challenging and I think people would find that interesting to hear because games are fun, but there's a lot of hard work that goes into making them.

LINDA: The thing about something like game design is that it's exactly like painting. There's no one way of doing it. It's very much about problem-solving, evident when coding and crafting mechanics, artificial intelligence, ensuring the enemy hits at the right time, not just hitting in the air, and such.

Getting good at game design is something that takes a lot of time and solitary effort to figure out what works best for you, and the genre of games you're more comfortable making. For me, through various different assignments, I discovered my comfort zone is in 2D games. Others felt more at home with first-person shooters or 3D RPGs. It's fascinating but also challenging because you can't excel at making every type of game.

Unfortunately, every game has its unique approach, requiring creative thinking, especially for those new to coding. Understanding how to make a game outside the computer, creating analog games, board games, and understanding game loops, is a crucial foundation. You don't truly feel it until you're in front of a computer, making a flowchart of your game loop, realizing it makes no sense because the foundation is flawed.

In game design, you have to figure out what works for you, your strengths, what you're good at, and what is powerful. Many indie game developers admit not being proficient in all areas but excel in specific aspects to make their games outstanding. Understanding your type as a developer is crucial because very few developers are good at everything. Often, collaboration is key, with each member bringing unique skills to the table.

My school experience involved making a variety of games, not excelling at all of them. It's essential to go through that and not beat yourself up for not being good at everything. Knowing your strengths as a game developer leads to better games and success in school. Recognizing my strengths as an artist made me a valuable team member, and understanding this transformed my school experience.

CYNTHIA: Let’s talk fashion in gaming! What are your thoughts on the current state of the industry, whats missing? What could be better?

LINDA: Fashion is such a massive part of the world. And it's such a massive industry. There's just not enough fashion games. And when we do get fashion games, they’re just dress up games. When fashion is way more than that. What if I want to become a model? Where's my modeling simulator? Where's my fashion PR simulator? Where is my fashion marketing simulator? There's so many things about the fashion industry that are just not considered at all in the gaming industry — and it’s just so strange to me.

I feel like [the lack of fashion games] also has to do with the fact that fashion is considered to be a “feminine” thing. Despite the fact that it's mostly controlled by men, but, it’s still considered a feminine thing and video games are marketed mostly towards men. So there's not a lot of interest within the gaming industry to make the genre better. I feel like that's just because we don't have enough female game developers.

The one game that gets mentioned all the time when we talk about games for women is the Sims, but The Sims is not entirely designed for women anymore. It’s a lifestyle simulator and accommodates for every single lifestyle — but where is the game that’s designed specifically for the girly girls that just love fashion and want to explore it? The Sims has a lot of options for living life but very few for simulating a fashion career.

Sims x Moschino, courtesy of The Sims

CYNTHIA: I really resonated with what you said about fashion games being so limited, and not because there isn't a demand. There just hasn't been intention around building for this demographic. I feel it’s odd to overlook what women want, because even if we strip away game design, it's a business right? And women and girls consistently have proven to be the biggest consumers and so are great for the gaming business.

(Editors note: there are tons of data that supports this, including this article here)

Okay fun question: If you had the opportunity to design a game in collaboration with a fashion house, which one would it be?

LINDA: It's actually a tough question, but if I had to choose, it would probably be Vivienne Westwood. They have this insane visual aesthetic, and there's so much you can explore with it.

Here’s a random idea: Think about how the brand is known for being punk and imagine a game where essentially you're trying to take down the establishment. You're playing as a huge Vivienne Westwood fan and you're a total punk so you just go in and you steal all of the clothes and everything and you vandalize the store and and revive it to how it looked back in the 70s. I feel like that would be so cool.

But, honestly, if I were to create a game in collaboration with Vivienne Westwood, I'd go for a runway theme game inspired by her iconic 90s clothing. Her collections from that era are truly amazing—like pieces of art that deserve to be showcased everywhere, in my opinion. I feel like there's a certain timeless personality and vibe missing in today's fashion. I'd love to resurrect that essence and let players relive Vivienne Westwood's old work. I don't know, it's just my personal take…

CYNTHIA: I want that game! That’s a perfect match, at first I thought you would say Schiaparelli.

LINDA: Schiaparelli would also work but I think because they're so well known for surrealism, an abstract game would actually work better for them. Something that's related to the surrealist art that Elisa Schiaparelli based all of her work off of. I think that would be much more interesting than just making the game about their fashion. Obviously, like it would have like an element of their fashion. But in my opinion, I think something more abstract would just be much cooler.

CYNTHIA: Advice to aspiring game designers?

LINDA: If you want to become a game designer, my advice would be — just don't.

I’m kidding! Go for it but just be aware that you’re going to trip a lot before you get it right. Don’t have unrealistic expectations. And also don't take 10 years to finish your game. If you know what I mean. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll know what I'm talking about eventually.

Take your time and if you want to learn about game design, I highly recommend that you just watch videos about it and make sure that that's what you want to learn because it is a really rough industry to be in and a lot of the time a lot of people are not going to understand you and therefore understand your ideas. And you have to be okay with receiving criticism. Because if you don't accept criticism very well you're not going to succeed in the industry.

CYNTHIA: Wonderful. Last question. Where is Linda, the it girl, in five years?

LINDA: That's a very good question. I don't actually know. There's a part of me that wants to be like a huge blogger that attends all of these fashion weeks and stuff. But is still making video games and has a massive video game franchise under her belt and is working on another one. That's pretty much where I want to be. I've always wanted to kind of mix my two biggest passions together. My biggest passion has been video games and will always be video games. But like you know, as you grow, you will get more passions and now my second passion is fashion. I want to be able to do both. So in the future, I want to be able to write about fashion and critique fashion while simultaneously making games not just about fashion, but games that also include all of the fashionable elements that I want to explore.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of MINDS AT PLAY. Thank you for reading and thank you to Linda for your cherished contribution and insights.

— Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Bella Hadid, who if I had the budget, I would hire to be the ambassador of my hypothetical game

Hiya,

Realized I never really gave a formal introduction — I just hit the ground running which is sorta in my DNA being Kenyan and all. Anyway, hi. How are you? Thank you for being here.

I had a conversation this week with someone in Web3 and they asked me if Web3 Gaming was my niche. And here’s the truth: gaming does not pay my bills. Nor do I make the concentrated effort to be a “gaming influencer,” — in fact if you see me fake smiling and pretending to enjoy a Web3 battle game on Twitch (because that’s apparently the only genre for Web3 games), just know I’ve lost the plot completely. No shade to Web3 Gaming influencers, but that’s just not what I do. I am interested in Web3 Games, not because I find them particularly more enjoyable than normal games. As a matter of fact, they don’t often offer the enjoyment I am looking for when I sit down to play games — and that’s just me being frank. I am interested in Web3 Gaming because of the unique and largely unexplored game-mechanics that blockchain allows!

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I am a game-design obsessed girlie who probably should go get a masters in Game Design but, you know, work and life and what not take precedent. So instead, I am learning informally, and learning by playing but also by talking to game designers and creators, and I am sharing everything I learn here in my newsletter.

I do get asked to start a Twitch rather often, mostly from my boyfriend but from other people who aren’t required to say nice things to me as well. The issue is, I doubt anyone would want to sit and watch me play the games I like. And I am not saying that in a self-deprecating way, I mean this: the games I enjoy playing are what most people would classify as “boring”. My favorite game genre is probably puzzles, closely followed by simulation games. I don’t like violent, gory, or horror games at all — so that cancels out over half of the Web3 Games. I much prefer solving mysteries, farming games, hotel management games, solitaire (I LOVE solitaire actually), a good round of Sudoku, etc. But hi — if this is your vibe, leave a comment. Maybe my cynicism towards being a gaming influencer will change if I am encouraged (and paid) to play the games I genuinely like, versus the random 1st person shooter games in my DMs begging for promo.

Anyway, I digress — the point I am making is Web3 Gaming is my niche but not in the way that you think. It’s like when Jesus said: “I am in this world but not of it.”

It’s my thing as in I find it ceaselessly interesting and though there are times I feel like having a real Katt Williams moment where I just tell it like it really is and expose how shady some people in this industry are — I restrain from doing that because for the most part, I have had great experiences and have learned so much both from gamers and the people that make games. The good far outweigh the bad in my case, and I thank God for that.

These words are my own, from my heart flow

— Natasha Bedingfield

What I am loving lately:

1. THE BEAUTY OF GAMES BY FRANK LANTZ - I just started reading this book and I already know it will be one of those books I reference for years to come. Frank Lantz is a game designer that intimately understands and most importantly, appreciates his craft. Frank also has a newsletter that you can find: here.

2. THE KOREAN LANGUAGE - You will have to bear with me this year. I am learning a new language and I am rather obsessive about the language acquisition process. I will definitely be writing about my journey to learn Korean in much, much more details. But don’t worry — I don’t wish to bore you by sharing my spelling and grammar drills.

   I am really excited to share with you less about what I am learning in my Korean lessons, and more about how I am learning. There is an important distinction. The latter is a systematic framework that can be borrowed and applied to acquiring other languages, or even learning things completely unrelated to linguistics.

   In essence, I am in the process of designing my own language learning framework based on play pedagogy. In other words, I am gamifiying language learning (without using the God forsaken app commonly known as Duolingo). One of the methods I'm utilizing to learn Korean is through a practice known as "Comprehensible Input." This involves watching gaming videos, similar to what I would normally watch, but in Korean. The goal is to intuitively and subconsciously grasp the meaning. I'll delve deeper into this in a future letter.

Plans to design a game?

I am constantly thinking of games and different ideas for games, and the odds are very likely that I will design a few games in my life. Right now, I am content in both just playing games and in my practice of writing consistently. So writing about games, play, and learning is my bread and butter at the moment. ALSO, to be frank, I can also be rather utilitarian — which I know may come as a surprise given that my primary subject matter and area of interest has no substantial utilitarian benefit, or so I am told. But the truth of the matter is, I would rather design gaming systems and play frameworks to make the necessary and tedious works of our lives not so draining or tedious, rather than focusing on designing a game, atleast for now.

If the question is; will I design playful experiences and game-like loops, the answer is yes, and I already do for nearly every area of my life. However, if the question revolves around designing a game purely for the purpose of being fun with no ulterior motives, I must admit that, at least for now, that is highly unlikely. I am a business person after all, albeit one in an artistic domain. But a business person nonetheless, and for our kind, there is almost always the motive of acquiring capital, power, or ____. Fill in the blank. My prayer is you encounter business people who are truthful and upfront about our singular focus. In short, my current aim is to understand games. Tomorrow, my goal will likely be to use my understanding to create games that make sense (and cents). However, in another time, I may sit down to make a game without wanting anything out of it, perhaps for my children or my grandchildren. We will see when we get there, and trust me, I will let you know.

BUT, If I did design a game today … Bella Hadid would def be the brand ambassador. Again, the business person in me is talking but hear me out. Bella gaming on the blockchain = $$$

Thank you for reading this more personal letter. We will return to our regularly scheduled program next week.

If you haven’t yet, read our interview with Preston Attebery, which you can find here.

Due to the popularity of our interview series, I am excited to announce another upcoming interview with a well-loved and respected fashionista and up-and-coming game designer...

Any guesses on who 👀

— Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Courtesy of Smirk Games

Welcome to MINDS AT PLAY, where we delve into the intersection of blockchain technology, the anthropology of play, and digital sanctuaries for self-expression, self-care, and fun. In this edition, we are in conversation with Preston Attebery, Co-founder of Smirk Software Company. Smirk is dedicated to democratizing game creation by introducing accessible game design tools for mobile devices.

Our discussion with Preston explores Smirk's approach to overcoming technical challenges in developing a mobile game engine and social platform, the future of social gaming and the meme-like potential for user-generated games to gain virality as cultural artifacts.

Preston is a visionary and his ideas on creativity can prove to be applicable for nearly everyone. Smirk is actively shaping a more open and regenerative game creation ecosystem, setting itself apart from the (often extractive) Web3 gaming landscape. Let's dive into the conversation:

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CYNTHIA: As you know, I am a writer exploring the intersection of games and Web3, and I don’t know if you are in Web3 – but in this space I don't hear many people at all talk about game engines. And I've always thought game engines were just one of the coolest things ever because they're tools for collective dreaming, you know. I was really impressed that you're working on a game engine and not only that, but a game engine that we can use on our phone – insane!

PRESTON: I actually was in Web3. I was working on a crypto game called Block Cities. So Smirk is not explicitly Web3, it's purely social and games. But shares a lot of the same ideas, I guess. 

So what we're doing now is essentially trying to bundle a light version of Blender and a light version of Unity into one app, and then building all that UX from the ground up for the phone. 

We basically call it a game design tool, which pretty much doesn't exist today. 

With engines you still have to bring models and your materials and everything from somewhere else. Unity doesn't really allow you to model within the app. So [the existing engines] are kind of incomplete tools. And then even in Unity, you have to bring your own code editor to even code your game.  So the engine sits at a certain place in the stack. And so we're trying to bundle all that together on the phone because if you're on the phone, you don't have a workflow. So you don't have a code editor. And you don't have a modeling software. There's no market for that currently. So no one's made them really, so we're basically trying to bundle all that together into one product. And that's just the tooling side. The other side is the social side. Where you're actually posting your games and then the consumers are actually playing it. The consumer pitch for the app is: TikTok for games. And the creator pitch is: Blender and Unity on your phone. 

CYNTHIA: That is insane. TikTok for games is an awesome idea. I know the App Store is trying to do something similar, but I don't know how culturally relevant it is. I mean, I don't know the numbers to be honest with you, but it’s not TikTok level relevant. I think what sets TikTok apart from other platforms is that a lot of its content becomes memes — they become inserted into culture, and I know you talk about memes a bit on your Twitter. So I think that's what you're intending to build.

PRESTON: Yeah. Well, I guess the more a medium moves away from being dominated by large companies, as it was with games years ago; there were very large companies making games. Then, over time, we see smaller companies making games. And now, Roblox enables individuals and small teams to make games, and we're aiming to enable any individual to make a game. The further you progress down that path, the more interesting, diverse, and unique the content becomes because a company can't get away with certain types of games. The bigger the company, the less they can get away with, for instance a kid can make something that's very edgy, maybe offensive to some people. But what is offensive to one group of people might be very interesting to another group of people — and a company is going to avoid that all together. So the more you kind of individualize the entire thing, you get to those mimetic things happening.

CYNTHIA: What are your thoughts on AI game engines? 

PRESTON: I think there are two things here. One is, AI generated assets for a game. And then, it's a traditional engine beyond that, so you have to code your game and stuff. I've also seen people are trying to have AI actually generating the frames, instead of the traditional way of programming. So, basically, the AI is trying to figure out every given frame instead of an engine doing that with physics and shaders and all these other factors. I don't know what to think about it, and honestly, I don't know what will work.

CYNTHIA: Are you neutral towards AI game engines, or are you optimistic about it?

PRESTON: I'm definitely optimistic about the cogeneration side and maybe the construction side. ​​Roblox just introduced an assistant that helps you write scripts for your Roblox games. So that makes sense to me. Engineers are already using ChapGPT to help them code. But I don't really like AI aesthetically, I don't enjoy looking at those images. I don't think I'd want to play a game that has that aesthetic.

CYNTHIA: I know what you mean — there's something unnatural about it, for lack of a better word 

PRESTON: Yeah, it's kind of uncanny. It's high fidelity, but misses the mark. I would rather have lower fidelity but it kind of captures the essence better. And so I like blocky stuff or low poly stuff. And so that's the kind aesthetic we're gonna enable with our tool set. 

CYNTHIA: I think some game companies feel the need to make themselves a bit more professional and sleek and cold and I liked that you took a more relaxed and simple approach. 

PRESTON: It is a bit ironic that making games is kind of a serious business. And it's just kind of brutal work in some ways. We're building tools to make it easier, but it's still tedious and difficult work. We're trying to take the edge off, but you still have to kind of want it enough to get into that mess.

CYNTHIA: Right? It's difficult and for a lot of people there's not a lot of reward in it, you know?

PRESTON: Yeah, that's the second issue. The first problem is that it's challenging to design a game. There isn’t a single obvious thing you can do to make it easier without losing a lot of power, but there are a bunch of small things that add up. This involves focusing on the tooling side or dedicating 100% focus to network building. The second problem is, let's assume you're creative, technical, and have learned the tools, and you've invested time in creating your game. Now, the challenge is finding people to play your game.

So, a lot of indie devs learn game development out of passion because they play games and want to make them. However, they then have to go and market their game and sell it. So, the second problem we're solving is giving everybody an audience. If we build a network, it becomes very easy for us to do that. It's simply a matter of putting effort into it and being creative, eliminating the need for you to go out and find the tools. We're going to give you an audience.

Photo courtesy of Smirk Games

CYNTHIA: How do you go about building the toolkit for this and then also thinking about the marketing side of things and building the community? How do you balance the two?

PRESTON: Well, it definitely comes from the tool, so we've focused on the idea that the only kind of marketing that makes sense is viral marketing. At first, it's us talking to users. Before that, it's us being the user, assessing the product to see if we like it. Then, we give it to a small group of friends, observe their response, and gradually open it up to see the actual results. We firmly believe that marketing and the community will revolve around the tool, as emphasized in one of my tweets. Creating a unique culture around the tool is crucial. There's a temptation to mimic cultures from platforms such as Roblox or Fortnite, but it rarely works because each tool has its specific culture. Roblox, for instance, has blocky characters and a low-poly style. People adopt games that fit this culture over more polished ones because it fits with their cultural understanding of what Roblox is. It all starts with the tool, and that gets very specific. We're building a tool for creating and texturing models, addressing challenges like painting specific colors or adding details. This specific tool will shape the culture of games on our platform, forming a feedback loop that evolves into something distinct.

CYNTHIA: That's awesome. So walk me through how you got to this idea. How did you determine that you want to work in gaming and beyond working in gaming, you want to revolutionize gaming? How did all that come about? Where did that start?

PRESTON: Well, it actually starts in crypto. The start of this journey for me was observing CryptoKitties, which I found really cool at the time. I believed that it could be the future of online art and graphics. Now, there was a way to monetize raw art digitally, unlike physical art, which is easier to monetize by selling physical pieces for homes. It’s very hard to do that digitally because of zero margin and the reproducibility of everything through screenshots. I thought NFTs could be a solution to this. So, I went all in and started working on BlockCities, essentially building generators on-chain. I loaded up this software with various files, and they were mixed and matched to create unique buildings, minted as an NFT. It evolved into a simulator game, initially aiming for something like SimCity. However, I realized I wasn't interested in the financial side of the game. Viewing our user base, I felt it didn't represent the future. To play, users had to spend tens, if not hundreds of dollars, so I knew that young people were not gonna be able to play it. I really became much more interested in the social aspect rather than the financial, moving away from NFTs to create a social platform around 3D or games. At that point, I pivoted from BlockCities to something of a 3D social space.

CYNTHIA: What’s a 3D social space?

PRESTON: It was somewhat similar to the first version of Eternal. You had an avatar, you had audio – you could talk. But I realized something crucial was missing—you could show up in this 3D space, but there was nothing to do, it was quite boring. All you could do was talk, it was essentially a high-friction phone call, with being in 3D space offering little to no benefit and possibly detracting benefits. So then I realized, okay, if it's 3D,  if it's a social space, it has to explicitly be games. And that's when I arrived on the idea that there's an opportunity for a new social media app.

This brought interactive elements and the potential for user-generated content (UGC), allowing me to create and share these experiences. And so at that point, I just dove into social apps —- started reading about the histories of different social apps. And at that point, I just changed my mind. That's what I really wanted to work on. So we've gone through almost two years of iterations on basically the core idea that you have an endless feed of games, and you have a game engine on your phone to make those games. And, yeah, it’s taken a bunch of different iterations to get to this point.

CYNTHIA: I want to echo what you brought up regarding mercenary capital in crypto games. They are essentially financial instruments marketed as games. I really do hope that improves in this next cycle because it’s an issue. However, It seems that studying social networks and mimetic ideas is driven by identifying not just who can give you the most money but what groups of people or what kinds of things would seed the most ideas or have the most viral impact. I find that so interesting; it's different.

PRESTON: It’s kind of the opposite approach to crypto games or the ethos that games should make players rich.That's the [current] pitch for crypto games. And then the pitch for social games or user-generated content (UGC) games is that the games become so cheap that they're free to play. Everybody's making them because making them is free, and there's substantial benefit to doing so. You can get popular and be seen as cool for making games, and eventually, we'll have a direct way to make money by creating games.

So they're kind of on the ends of the spectrum where crypto is, you know, “play our game to get rich.” What we're doing is — play as many games as you want for free. The moment you want to make a game, and if you want to be that guy in game development, you could do that. And it's all right here on the phone. That seems like a more open world to me. We will create this creative tool, then anybody can make a game, and it's going to look a lot like Instagram and TikTok, but the medium being games.

CYNTHIA: The model that you're inviting us into is a lot more regenerative, and eternal — we brought up the word earlier, because no matter a person's capital or station in life, we're always gonna have ideas. And so creativity becomes a form of social capital. 

PRESTON: Yea, it is a social currency. It is free to give. And it eventually turns into real currency. 

With games, you're able to basically charge for direct benefits within the game or run ads just on your game, allowing you to make money from that. So I believe, for a creator economy, games offer a direct benefit and are easier to make money making games than other mediums.

Smirk Logo, courtesy of Smirk Games

CYNTHIA: So if I’m a Smirk game creator, and I create my own games, I will have the option to turn on ads to then make money through the game that I created?

PRESTON: Yep! We have to build up that network. But that's going to be our business model: ads, and we'll probably also include microtransactions that you can incorporate into your game. For instance, if you wanted to sell an ability, someone can buy that to progress through your game faster. So, you could sell that – that's one way – and then through ads. And yeah, that, to me, is putting money into your craft, and money comes out.

It's way more tangible compared to being an Instagram influencer, for instance. Putting money into your craft for them probably means securing a deal with a product, promoting it, and getting paid by them. It's a messier process because those on Instagram or TikTok aren't directly paying. In games, it's a very close relationship where people are actually directly paying for things, creating a much more connected relationship. So I think that it'll be at least satisfying for game creators to not have to do a song and dance to monetize. They can just be really good at making games and eventually they'll make money from that. 

CYNTHIA: What do you think the learning curve will be from transitioning from being just a social gamer to using Smirk to create your game?

PRESTON: To start, a basic understanding of how games function is necessary. Many gamers grasp the next steps in gameplay but might lack a precise understanding of the mechanics, which is often part of the gaming experience. Making a game requires at least that level of understanding. The next step involves mastering two core skills: modeling assets and laying them out. If you're familiar with design tools like Figma or have experience in video or photo editing, these skills can be quickly acquired. Scripting is likely the most challenging aspect, but we offer a library of scripts, and you can also use code and our API. For those with coding experience, it should be easy to pick up.

A fundamental grasp of how games incorporate physics is also essential due to the multi-medium nature of games. Our long-term goal is to provide libraries for each skill set, allowing users to focus on their strengths. Whether you excel in scripting or modeling, there will be resources to enhance your game. You can express unique concepts through code or focus on aesthetics with modeling tools. Our aim is to build a robust library of assets, minimizing the need for users to create everything from scratch. At the core, you can start by modeling from a cube, writing code with Lua and our APIs, providing you with the freedom to create whatever you desire in our app.

Thank you for reading!

— Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Photo courtesy of ZTX

2024 promises to be an unprecedented year for the entire crypto industry. Ahead of the Bitcoin halving and the official start to the longest anticipated bull market in this industries history, MINDS AT PLAY outlines the key trends that will dominate 2024. With a new bull-run, comes new moods, aesthetics and pioneers. From user-generated content fueling creativity to luxury brands leveraging Web3 gaming for retail opportunities, and the ascent of AI gaming alongside the growing influence of Asian and African markets, here are the trends to know.

CRYPTO REVIVAL

The resurgence of interest in Web3 gaming comes on the heels of a decline during the recent crypto winter. Currently valued at $250 billion, the gaming industry is poised to experience massive growth, projected to reach $390 billion in the next five years, and Web3 gaming giants are expected to account for a large share of the expected total market cap. In their '2024 Crypto Market Outlook’, Coinbase highlights the potential of Web3 architecture to enhance user acquisition and retention, though it acknowledges that this remains an unproven thesis. As numerous projects that were founded after the initial wave of mass founding in 2021 approach the 2-3 year mark in their development cycle, the expected release of Web3 games in 2024 is anticipated to provide the industry with the much needed statistics and data to back up this thesis. In other words, this year is huge for the future of Web3 gaming.

While it may sound like a cliché by now, it's crucial to grasp that we are still very early. According to Joseph A.C. Lloyd's report 'The Year Ahead for Gaming 2024' from Delphi Digital, the total market cap of 183 gaming projects has seen an 86% decrease from its all-time high in 2022, and it’s currently ranging between $4 billion and $7 billion. Delphi Digital also notes that in 2023, blockchain gaming generated 23 times more on-chain transactions than DeFi protocols. These facts speak to the growing significance of Web3 games as key economic drivers for the entire crypto-landscape and hint that gaming-specific networks, subnets, and blockchains will take center stage in 2024.

Photo courtesy of Delphi Digital

USER GENERATED CONTENT

The Web3 gaming revival is not just about price action – there is something of a creative renaissance unfolding. Back in the peak of the former bull market in 2021, we witnessed a surge in NFT art and overnight successes, and initially, it seemed like this creative boom had dwindled or lain dormant. According to Karma Gora, Head of Marketing and Community at ZTX, the blockchain initiative fueled by ZEPETO's technology and IP – Asia's largest metaverse with 430 million lifetime users – “Crypto's resurgence isn't just about currency; it's a creative uprising.”

Karma is highlighting a greater trend that is permeating all of crypto, not just Web3 gaming, and that is the dawn of the creator-economy. “ZEPETO, with its creator-centric ethos, has redefined the digital landscape in the Web2 world, giving users unprecedented control over the creative process. Over 90% of daily in-app transactions involve user-generated content (UGC) items, showcasing the increasing importance of community-driven content,” Karma states.

This aligns with the growing demands of creators and communities, a shift that ZTX aims to address on a larger and more decentralized scale. Gamers are wanting more than just to be passive contributors to games, they want to be active creators and owners of games. This is why we see prioritizing and fairly rewarding UGC through blockchain-enabled consensus and primitives as a major trend that will not only take off but will also set Web3 gaming apart from the rest of the gaming industry in 2024.

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In their joint article titled “The Creator Economy In Gaming” for the Decentralised.Co Joel John and Siddharth state:

UGC is a powerful lever for new games and serves two core functions. Firstly, they extend the time a userbase can be engaged with a game. Linear games with progressive storylines are interesting until the story is played out, after which gamers don’t have much reason to continue gaming. Secondly, it allows the most active contributors to the game to stay invested. Building unique levels and worlds within a digital realm creates an emotional attachment to the game. The feedback gamers receive from other players serves as validation for their effort as games turn to outlets for creative expression. In essence, UGC helps a portion of a game’s user base go from passive participants to active creators.

”NFTs and crypto assets allow digital creators to build brands and communities online and monetize their creative output. ZTX is building a platform that will empower this big migration from the physical to the virtual,” echoed Karma.

Photo courtesy of ZTX

GLOBAL MARKET POTENTIAL

The Philippines has been a key player in demonstrating the impact of market forces in Web3 gaming, as most clearly evidenced in being the market that almost singlehandedly made Axie Infinity the largest Web3 game in history. In 2024, heightened activity in Asia is expected, particularly in Korea, where 9 out of 13 major publishers are actively involved in Web3. Nexon, Netmarble, Wemade and Neowiz being among some of the key Korean publishers building and investing in Web3 gaming. Not to mention, the aforementioned ZTX which as we stated earlier is the brainchild of South Korean gaming giant ZEPETO.

However, ZTX and other up and coming Web3 gaming studios are not building solely for one singular market but they are building, rather, to have global appeal and permeance. Karma noted: “While ZTX may initially seem to draw attention primarily from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, courtesy of its connections to ZEPETO, it is, in fact, positioned to emerge as a truly global platform. Beyond its apparent stronghold in APAC, owed to increased web3 literacy there, ZTX is poised to become a significant player on the global gaming stage, offering a diverse and inclusive gaming experience that extends far beyond its regional roots.”

According to Delphi Digital, Nigeria is positioned to emerge as the second-largest Web3 gaming market globally, just behind the Philippines. This is a significant shift, considering that Nigeria doesn't even rank in the top 5 for Web2 gaming markets. Additionally, Delphi Digital identifies Pakistan as a breakout market for 2024. Both countries are expected to prioritize mobile gaming, with only 11% and 26% of Nigerians and Pakistanis using desktops. What this tells us is that Web3 gaming could be a catalyst for emerging markets to participate in gaming history and set micro-trends that overtime will shape Web3 gaming to be an inclusive, player-driven and wholly unique industry. In 2024, you can expect to see continued growth in the Asian market, especially in Korea, and breakouts like Nigeria and Pakistan finding their footing in the international gaming ecosystem.

Photo courtesy of Delphi Digital

NEW LUXURY RETAIL EXPERIENCES

In 2024, the ongoing trend of gaming destinations transforming into pivotal spaces for legacy brands will persist, as they strategically target the attention and purchasing power of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Nike's "Airphoria" Metaverse experience in Fortnite serves as a prime example, showcasing major apparel and fashion houses' endeavors to connect with a younger audience.

Anticipating the continued evolution, we expect fashion houses and entertainment brands adept in the metaverse to capitalize on the crypto market upturn. This will involve introducing in-game e-commerce experiences using blockchain technology, and lending legacy IP for Web3 gamers to showcase elevated status in the metaverse. This will effectively allow brands to track loyalty and reward consumer engagement, and this give Web3 games a solution to the user-acquisition problem that confronts many game developers. This innovative approach not only caters to the tech-savvy gaming community but also opens new avenues for Web3 gamers, especially Gen-Z gamers, to better express themselves and flaunt in-game status.

Given that Web2 gamers have already embraced similar features in games like Fortnite and Roblox, we expect a comparable reception for Web3 gamers. As market sentiment improves and token prices surge, we predict a seamless transition of luxury brands that have established partnerships with gaming giants, like Fortnite, into the realm of Web3 gaming. This transition is especially anticipated for brands such as Nike, L’Oréal, LVMH, and Prada, which have already immersed themselves in the Web3 space

Photo courtesy of Nike.

Furthermore, the gaming industry is witnessing notable collaborations, such as Oh Baby Games partnership with Spongebob, announced ahead of their 2024 release. We expect many more brands to partner with Web3 games for new, immersive in-game experiences for players.

In addition, AI-driven "generative agents" are expected to revolutionize player experiences (as per Delphi Digital) and create novel retail opportunities for media and IP giants entering the Web3 space. Web3 gaming projects like AI Arena, with a mission to foster AI intuition and literacy through a gaming experience, may become strategic partners for legacy IP looking to establish a presence at the intersection of AI and Web3 gaming. This convergence marks an exciting era for the industry, blending traditional and cutting-edge elements to redefine the gaming landscape.

WATCH: What is AI Arena

In one word, our 2024 Web3 Gaming Predictions can be summarized as 'revival.' This year will witness a creative renaissance centered around user-generated content, global market potential in Asia, and the seamless integration of luxury brands into Web3 x AI-powered gaming.

A special thank you to our MINDS AT PLAY audience for your continued readership and enthusiasm. Additionally, immense gratitude to our exceptional contributors and researchers whose dedication made this article possible. Your support propels us forward, and we're excited to bring you more insights into the ever-evolving world of technology and gaming.

Thank you for being a part of MINDS AT PLAY!

— Cynthia (@cynbahati) ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱˚

“Crypto's resurgence isn't just about currency; it's a creative uprising.”

- Karma Gora

References:

The Year Ahead for Gaming 2024, Delphi Digital

2024 Crypto Market Outlook, Coinbase

The Creator Economy In Gaming, Decentralised.co

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I attribute much of my playfulness to being born in Europe. European’s think of playgrounds as essential third spaces, not just for children but for families. They are bustling, central hubs for play, exploration, and community. It is very common to find playgrounds in the center of town squares, including my hometown, Mannheim, Germany, and the place where I spent a few summers in my youth, Montpellier, France. In addition to European playgrounds being much livelier than American playgrounds, they are also designed to be a tad bit more dangerous, encouraging kids of all age groups to explore the playscape together and helping younger kids assess risks and gain somatic confidence. "I came to the counterintuitive conclusion that engaging in risk is actually very important in preventing injuries," said Mariana Brussoni, a scientist with the Child & Family Research Institute, who conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature on playground safety in 2015 . "Children are learning how their bodies work, how the world works," she said. "They are learning fundamental skills that ultimately protect them."

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Few understood and appreciated the imperative for playscapes that simultaneously challenge and inspire as deeply as the artist Isamu Noguchi (Los Angeles, 1904–New York, 1988). Enchanted by the role of sculpture in the urban landscape, Noguchi championed the belief that fine art should permeate people’s daily lives from childhood onward. His fascination with how children creatively engage with spaces and objects during play motivated him to embark on a series of playgrounds and play sculptures that are endearing to the inner child in each of us. These endeavors aimed to seamlessly blend aesthetics, functionality, and humanity's innate capacity for play.

"I think of playgrounds as a primer of shapes and functions; simple, mysterious, and evocative; thus, educational,"

- Isamu Noguchi.

Dakin Hart, senior curator of the Noguchi Museum, remarked on Noguchi's visionary perspective: "He possessed a profound concept that playgrounds should not mimic military exercise equipment for a hastily executed boot camp. Noguchi believed children should encounter the environment as humanity first experienced the Earth— a spectacular and complex place."

I, too, share in Noguchi’s ideals and believe playscapes should be spaces of wonder and delight, avoiding the pitfall of infantilizing children through excessive sterility and simplicity—a common issue with many playgrounds I see in the US. It’s a bit sad for me to see how neglected and empty my brand new neighborhood playground is here in the states, especially after having spent the summer in parks all over London. It seems the art of playground design is dying, at least in suburban America (where I think family friendly third spaces are needed most).

Unfortunately, Noguchi faced significant criticism for his designs, with critics arguing that his work was "too dangerous." Presently, only one Noguchi playground remains in the US, located in Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Georgia. Unsurprisingly, the majority of his playgrounds are situated in Japan. Yet, the search for well-designed playscapes need not require a journey to distant lands. In fact, I believe the best playscapes are still waiting to be imagined…

Enjoy this playful dose of inspiration from an artist who was truly ahead of his time:

Playscapes in Piedmont Park, 1976

Isamu Noguchi drawings for Playscapes 1966-76

Isamu Noguchi Moerenuma Park shot by Sebastian Sabal-Bruce. 

Playground equipment for Ala Moana Park in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1939

Isamu Noguchi playing on one of his designs, date and location unknown.

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Hi MINDS AT PLAY community. Class is in session! This post is dedicated to those who want to learn about designing game economies. This is not at all a comprehensive breakdown. There are plenty of books that offer that in much greater detail. This is just a compilation of what I have learned so far and what I am currently researching. As my understanding increases, this information will evolve with me, becoming more refined over time.

INTRODUCTION 

Establishing a robust in-game economy is one of the first steps in designing a game. Thinking about its core mechanics and flow, I would argue, is the main component that distinguishes game design (at least to me) from game development. Game design is to game development, what UX is to back-end programming. Is it necessary to specialize and separate the two? Maybe it wasn't necessary in the past when game economies were in their pre-asset ownership days, but I would argue that in a post-asset ownership and creator economy world, hiring and training individuals who are highly specialized in game design is essential. 

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WHAT IS A GAME ECONOMY: 

Lets start by defining what a game economy even is: An In-game economy can be thought of as the flow of resources around a system. According to Unity, a game economy is the silent force behind player engagement that defines how players progress through your game.

Bad economies = Imbalanced flow of resources and is more prone to exploits

Good economies = Balanced flow of resources, which positively influences player behavior, contributes to long term gamer retention and the sustainability of the game.

This video does a great job of explaining Game Economies:

WATCH: How Video Game Economies are Designed

The above video introduces you to a key idea. The functionality of faucets/taps = how resources enter a game. And drains/sinks = how resources exit a game.

For a virtual in-game economy to maintain economic equilibrium — the relative stability of its core currency and items — it must balance the rate of asset issuance with the rate of asset consumption/demand.

Stuff in ~= Stuff out

- Terry Chung in Sinks & Faucets: Lessons on Designing Effective Virtual Game Economies

VALUES & INCENTIVES

PROFIT CENTRIC VS PLAYER CENTRIC VALUES

Now we get into the heart of designing the flow of resources in your game. Good design is about understanding values and priorities. When you’ve crafted a well-balanced incentives system, your game will retain users, maintain a stable economy, and ensure the long-term success of your game.

A profit-centric economic model puts financial gains at the forefront of design decisions. Profitability is an essential part of any businesses survival, but a myopic focus on profit can lead to an un-loyal user-base, the players you do retain will be mostly mercenary in nature, which is the current case in the web3 gaming ecosystem. “[...] it seems that many of the “players” in the current crypto gaming space are mercenary in nature. Just like yield farming, users appear to be attracted to where the incentives are strongest instead of a genuine passion for the games on offer." - Delphi Digital's Gaming Report

In contrast, a player-centric approach is committed to delivering value to players and building strong, lasting relationships. A player-centric approach acknowledges that long-term profitability is often a byproduct of satisfied, loyal players. Not just giving value to those investors providing mercenary value, but also giving value to the people playing the actual game.

MY PHILOSOPHY : PLAYER FIRST, PROFIT NEXT

My philosophy is counter to much of what you will find in Web3 gaming today – that is to prioritize the player above profit. I know, shocking. I am not arguing that we shift away from thinking of profit entirely, that would be nonsensical, the goal of business is to make money, and though game making is an art, a joy and a medium for enriching human potential, it is also a business. Plain and simple. I am not arguing that we do away with the business model entirely as it relates to web3 games, but rather, that we transform our priorities and design game economies and business models that account for and fairly incentivize all game actors, from game economists, to the (needed) mercenary capital providers, and to the very gamers themselves, and the influencers who help drive market interest, and every one involved directly and indirectly into making the making of games happen.

 From Sinks & Faucets: Lessons on Designing Effective Virtual Game Economies

MY HOT TAKE 🔥

Take this with a grain of salt. But I think Web3 has over-prioritized the oftentimes extractive demands of VC’s and the publishers behind games, while under-compensating or even acknowledging the gamers, the hobbyist designers, the fans and the hardcore loyalists. Game users have a sort of unspoken allowance to be extractive in a sense, but game developers should not be primarily focused on making the big bucks, at least not all at once and right away. There is no doubt ALOT of money in gaming, but I have seen games come and go trying to chase the bag.

DYNAMIC + FLUID ECONOMIES

Ultimately, incentives and values is about balance and designing for all stakeholders. For instance, adding layers of in-game speculation targeted towards investors or people who do not want to devote alot of time to gameplay can be a great way to design and accommodate for the large amount of investors that are idle gamers in web3. And, if you wish, you can use that capital to incentivize actual players in small amounts and frequently, across a long-term time horizon. “If video games teach us one thing: If you want to motivate humans, frequent rewards are more addicting than one-off rewards.”

Additionally, crafting a dynamic value for in-game currencies that fluctuates over time, similar to real-life economies such as the stock market, enables more dynamic gameplay. The inclusion of deflationary assets is particularly clever, and Axie Infinity excels in implementing this strategy, which we will delve into later. The video below makes a compelling point about leveraging user behavior for optimization and creating a currency/asset that is abundant alongside one that is more limited (rare)

WATCH: Why Is It So Easy To Break Videogame Economies?

WEB3 GAME DESIGNERS: CRAFTING ROBUST SYSTEMS

MY (2nd) HOT TAKE🔥:

I am afraid we are attempting to onboard the next 1 billion users with too much emphasis on influencer shilling and too little emphasis on actually designing good games. Web3 games often lack playability. Projects shouldn’t spend most of their money on getting influencers to market their game. A good game markets itself. 

Web3 gaming is overly saturated with influencers, commentators, critics and spectators, very few of whom are eager to come down into the arena and engage in the (metaphorical and oftentimes literal) battle of creating a game. And for good reason. Making a game is hard. Making a web3 game is much harder. There are very few upsides for many — the potential is enormous but the risks are large and plenty. Many have good reasons to avoid game design whether as a developer, publisher or designer. 

But still we need gallant soldiers who ride into battle and will go into the lion's den of game creation. We need Web3 native game designers. It’s not enough to port a web2 game into web3 there are many nuances and complexities in designing blockchain games. That’s why I want to make an effort to celebrate and highlight the few that are native web3 game designers, starting with the OG’s of P2E, AXIE INFINITY: 

AXIE INFINITY

Diving into Axie Infinity's landscape reveals a crucial lesson in the complex world of Play-to-Earn (P2E) gaming. The potential pitfalls of token overproduction and an overly extractive game system which hinders sustainability.

It's no secret that many P2E gamers are keen on extracting value. This sparks a consideration of the risks associated with hyperinflation, urging us to glean insights from economic history. As we navigate the upcoming bull market, a reflective pause is not just wise; it's essential—history doesn't always repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes.

Axie's newest update, Part Evolution, adds deflationary mechanics into the game, reshaping the gaming experience. This move encourages players to deepen their Axie investments, fostering a more profound connection and positively influencing market dynamics. The resulting deflationary pressure on the total Axie supply, triggered by heightened material demand, marks a significant shift.

Despite suffering from a devastating hack just over a year ago, the Axie Infinity team persists in delivering updates and prioritizing user experience. Their resilience speaks volumes about their dedication to the gaming community. This is a class act in my opinion. I am not sponsored by Axie Infinity, by the way, and to be frank, the battle gameplay thing is not really my cup of tea, although the Axies themselves are pretty cute. I was always a bit cautious of the old economic model that was inflationary in nature, and far too vulnerable to market manipulation, exploits and the malicious/extractive intent of bad actors. Sadly, my sense was right and the Axies team learned a very expensive lesson but the beautiful thing is that they learned the lesson and have grown and evolved from their past mistakes. I do love a good underdog story and afterall, It’s hard not to believe in someone and something that so clearly believes in themselves. So, I think it’s safe to say that Axie’s story isn’t quite finished yet. 

WATCH: The Forgotten Temple | Axie Infinity (Part Evolution)

That’s all for todays post, class is over! Well done for getting to the end. Let me know what you think in the comments. Until next time,

— Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧₊˚

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My name is Cynthia Gentry, I have pioneered gamification primitives for web3 ecosystems, and have been teaching about and working in the nascent and, at times, chaotic crypto industry for the last 4 years.

To kickstart MINDS AT PLAY, I am interviewing my very brilliant and amazingly handsome boyfriend, Eloka Agu. Eloka is a designer, entrepreneur and investor. He is also currently getting a double masters degree in Engineering & Design at the esteemed Royal College of Art. Eloka and I discuss his design process, the potentials of game-based learning, the wonderful gift of constraint for creatives and how Tamagotchi inspired him to reimagine healthcare hardware. All this and more!

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Cynthia: I know you don’t go to school in a very traditional way. The Royal College of Art is to you a playground and studio that allows you to explore new ideas with minimal constraints. So what kinds of things have you been playing around with?

Eloka: The first interesting thing that I played around with was a VR game that was designed to incentivize ocean clean-up. I designed the game using Unreal engine – from scratch, built all the blueprints, created the Earth, the skies, the seas. It was god-mode basically, it was fun! Then created a flying vessel that was flying in the sky, and that could also navigate into the water and into the waves and underwater to explore marine life. So in this game I designed one vehicle that could both fly like a plane and also explore the depths like a submarine. But of course, you can't actually do that in real life. I don't know any vehicles that can do that. But in a game, you can.

Cynthia: I will just say, that was the first time I think you designed a game, right? And it was incredible. It was a really, really awesome game. And I liked that you had elements of realism, like the water and the natural environment, but you also created a vehicle that allows people to, you know, go up in the sky and fly around but also go underwater. So it's a little bit of magical realism, which I think all the best games have a little bit of realism and also a little bit of whimsy, so I think you're a natural game designer.

Eloka: Thank you very much. I appreciate that. This game was the first time in the program I felt I was exercising my brain in a way I otherwise wouldn’t have done. It became a learning tool and I learned a lot more about science and physics and like the way that the moon controls how the planets move and how gravity impacts waves, and the speed of waves – like it just made me look at things with a level of detail I hadn’t before. In my first company, my role was in product, I was the CEO so I was the “big picture thinker,” and dealt with the broad vision, the strategy, recruitment, and the direction of the company. This was the first time I had to like literally create a world and think about the small details in making it. Should the water move at this pace or this pace? Should the vessel be able to accelerate? Or should it not? If it accelerates, will that make the person flying the vessel dizzy?

You're making all these different calculations when you're designing a game and that makes you think of every angle and every potential use case. Which makes you very detailed. You know, it's very difficult to replicate that. I think it's very difficult to replicate that with the level of ease that you can and as visually as you can with a game. Actually, as I was thinking, I just got the phrase: second-order learning. I learned more than what I “needed to.” Game-based learning can foster second-order learning and creativity by allowing for exploration beyond the constraints of the curriculum or module.

Pearl, the VR game that was designed to incentivize ocean-clean up. Players had the opportunity to dive underwater and collect rare pearls which could be exchanged for NFTs.

Cynthia: Let’s jump forward to your recent module, the one that was, in your words “challenging and controversial” lol. Walk us through your process on how you deconstruct a problem, and how you go about problem solving.

Eloka: Okay, so we had complete freedom with the module in terms of what the project was. The brief was to make something. That was it. We had three months…

Cynthia: Wow! I didn’t even know that. Do you think that made it a bit more challenging, that there was no prompt?

Eloka: Yea, that’s what made it so hard. Like they literally said, “you have a team – here's your team”. So we had a team of four people. “You have three months to make something”. And that’s it. So having absolutely no guidance as to what to even solve was the first key challenge. To define the problem we wanted to solve we discussed what we wanted as the output from the module, because we had enough freedom to tailor it how we wanted. Two of my colleagues wanted to do something that had a healthcare related output. My desired output was that I wanted to make hardware, because that was my primary motivation for enrolling in the school in the first place and I hadn't done a hardware project yet.

Cynthia: What you said was great. Because there was really no guidance. There were no constraints, you guys gave yourself constraints by defining your motivations. So half of your team was highly motivated by healthcare. You were motivated to do something that was hardware focused. And those motivations gave you enough constraints to start actually creating. So would you say that for game design based learning and education, it’s important to have at least some constraints?

Eloka: Every artist will tell you this, in my opinion, every real artist can tell you this: constraint is the cornerstone of creativity. There's no creativity without constraint. Impossible, can’t happen. Why was Twitter so successful? Before Twitter, you had writing and publishing platforms, you had blogspot, you had blogger and Myspace, Facebook, you had a range of solutions out there in the marketplace. So if you wanted to share a status update as to what was going on, you could. What made Twitter successful? It introduced a very strict character limit. It was like 180 characters. It's like a sentence or two sentences. You had to condense your idea into like maximum, two sentences. That constraint was the foundation of the platform and that’s what made it great. I think that applies to every great product. I think it applies to every great process. Constraint is the core prerequisite for creativity. If a constraint doesn't exist externally, one must create a constraint internally.

Cynthia: And you did that by defining key motivations. Wonderful, keep going.

Eloka: Once we knew the motivations, we followed a design framework called “The Double Diamond.” First of all, you go outwards. You generate a lot of ideas very quickly. And then you go inwards, and get rid of all the rubbish ideas, so that's one diamond. And then you're left with a new set of ideas or a slightly more refined set of ideas than the initial set of ideas. And then you repeat the process. So you generate a ton of ideas. You go out as broad as you can, as wide as you can, as far as you can. And then again, you taper them back in and get rid of the rubbish. And so it's called a double diamond. We did that.

Double Diamond Visual Example

We each explored ideas based on our motivations and came together to see if there was a common through line between our ideas. We put all the ideas onto post-it notes. And then we organized those post it notes into groups of similar post-it notes. The conclusion was just like the thing that unites all of our different ideas, is that we want to use technology to augment human abilities.

I started looking into AR, AI, VR, like all these technologies that can simulate different sensors and give people additional powers. So even though [my team and I] had completely different subject areas we were exploring, we could agree on the fact that we wanted to use whatever we're doing to augment some sort of human capability.

Cynthia: I love this theme because it's niche enough where you have your constraints, but you still have a lot of freedom and room for exploration. Alright, so you have your theme and you guys kind of know what you're doing now, how do you begin the exploration process? 

Eloka: If our theme is to use technology to augment human abilities. The question then becomes which abilities right? I used a reference-driven approach to explore abilities, starting with super-heroes in fiction. And then from there, we decided that of all the human abilities that were most important to improve was cognition, because cognition impacts all of the other ones. Once we narrowed our theme down to using technology to augment human cognition, then the idea to address dementia became quite clear. From a healthcare perspective, we really liked the idea of restorative health. We began examining existing technology and how we can tailor it to dementia. So we were thinking of creating like VR headsets and AI stuff for people with dementia but realized that we weren’t actually thinking of the user. So we spoke to a representative of people with dementia. She said that people with dementia love nostalgic products that live in their long term memory. So any gadget would have to be retro, really intuitive and easy to use. So like an iPhone, for instance, wouldn’t be good enough for them — it’s too confusing. Too many apps, too much going on.

So we wanted something that was universal and didn't need much training. Like you never needed much training to interact with toys, and games. There was no rule manual to toys, no learning-curve, but people also love them. So my mind went to interactive toys and games, game consoles that felt like toys. So I brought a Tamagotchi and a Gameboy into the studio as references for hardware that is tactile, lo-fi and ultimately useful for people who are cognitively impaired. I let my team play around with the toys, and they loved it so much. It was verification for me. I remembered my sister loved the Tamagotchi, and my teammates loved Tamagotchi when they were young. And me playing with the gameboy, took me to a place where I was a bit more vulnerable and our group bonded over our shared experience.

Nostalgia Ultra, Eloka’s version.

Cynthia: There is a sense of vulnerability, there's a childlikeness to games and even the hardware that games are associated to, and some people may find it to be a bit unserious. And I know you received a bit of push-back here, it’s like “you're going to a prestigious university to make a little Tamagotchi game”. And it's so interesting though, the response that you got from your team where they resonated with it, it connected to their childhood, it brought warmth and play, it brought an element of play into discovery. Even the way it resonated with people outside of your school. People were reaching out to you telling you, “you know, my grandfather had dementia, he would have loved this or he would have wanted something like this.” I think that's because you went back to your past and you took an element that just was wholesome, and you brought that into hardware, and I feel like sometimes hardware is just so cold and sterile and there's something so delightful about a little Tamagotchi or a Gameboy and it's so approachable.

I just think it's brilliant that you you took that game design concept and you brought it into healthcare. And into spaces where it's warmly welcomed, and I think really needed — so just hats off to you. We can talk about this for hours and hours and hours and I think you may still need to dissect a little bit more since this project was so recent, but I'm super proud of you.

Torch, an intelligent companion that prevents people with early-stage dementia from public wandering and helps them to always find their way home. Designed by Eloka and his team for the Royal College of Art.

Alright,

Thats all for our first post folks. I hope this was as illuminating, and insightful for you as it was for me. Many thanks to my love Eloka. Today I learned that whoever can design an intuitive and nostalgic dementia care product can win the 21st century. The dementia care products market is expected to be worth around $43.6 billion by 2032 and as Eloka illustrated, game design thinking is the key to hacking into this profitable and life-saving industry. I also learned that oftentimes the playful way, is the best way. What did you learn? Let me know in the comments ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧₊˚

- Cynthia Bahati Gentry

“Constraint is the cornerstone of creativity” - Eloka Agu

Thanks for reading MINDS AT PLAY! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.