Its really been a double dipper loop the loop rollercoaster two years for the pokedbots project. I thought finally it was about time to give a more detailed overview of the project and me, and how it all connects to ICP.
The pokedbots projects is way more than just an NFT collection. I have been building games and worlds full of characters for two decades now. I’ve worked with many of the biggest entertainment and tech brands in the world on various core projects.
These includes companies such as Apple Microsoft and BBC. Only last year I turned down an opportunity to work on a Furbies relaunch in order to focus on the pokebots
One past core project was Fight my monster where over the course of 4-5 years I helped Dominic Williams and Matt Grogan build a world full of generated characters and we developed sophisticated game strategies and concepts. Many of the concepts we independently developed found their ways into today NFT projects and games.
The popularity of the game is demonstrated by popular online groups dedicated to trying to recreate the game.
I have also worked to some degree in the animation industry, and have been part of a few large animation productions, one of which was with Blender the 3D software.
I was part of a small community of Blender OG’s in the early 2000’s This was a point in time when the software was derided by the mainstream 3D community. I would like to think my art was at least in part helpful to growing the Blender project and in creasing it popularity.
It has always been important me to be at the forefront of tech that is disrupting the norms.
This lead me again to work with a few start up blockchain projects around the mid 2010’s one of which was Dfinity, where I helped brand and market them to an international audience.
So back to the pokedbots . These are really the culmination of all the years of design and projects rolled into one. I saw an opportunity to launch these as a collection while the NFT craze was growing in popularity.
Pokedbots are a world of characters and stories that have followed me around for years in my projects . They have congealed into a single world and vision that we are planning to grow into games and animations. All of the this utilising various aspects of ICP tech and ecosystem.
So after a great start in 2021 we I believe were the highest grossing project on ICP. But we got caught out by a few issues. At first it wasn’t clear what the tax position of the pokedbots was. We knew there would be taxes to pay on sales but it took my accountant almost 1-1/2 years to come to the exact figure. At first the estimate was in the hundreds of thousands and we needed to hold funds just in case. Ultimately that slowed down progress. This was an eye opener for me as to the complexity of blockchain related projects.
It also led to a scenario where I was unable to sell the ICP raised due to tax uncertainty and as prices fell in the meantime devaluing the amount raised in initial sales it could have meant taxes were higher than the amount of ICP held.
This was frustrating as at that time I was getting bombarded with collaboration requests from various game projects in a wide range of blockchain ecosystems.
Finally we had the tax figures a few months ago and paid. The amount was vastly lower than expected which was great news. In addition I could now allocate personal funds to the projects with that tax issue resolved.
With these sale funds and additional personal investment it means we are now well funded to start production on a animation episode and game demo.
For the animation I am teaming up with work colleagues and friend of mine Hollow pixels studio we that have a team of 4 core members plus an array of apprentices whom hollow pixel are training in animation. We will also be hoping hiring animators and artists we know who have worked on high levels projects such as pixar and disney productions.
For the game we are initially building a web based game in Blender and Unity along with idarkstudio. When I created the Gen 2 pokedbots I designed in a lot of extra assets including master blend (3D) files and also pre made looping animations. These help speed up the process of making game ready characters. The way ICP works and the canister system really help here, and we can keep on adding new assets to an NFT holder. So for example if another game wanted to use pokedbots we can create and add the needed asset to the canister and the holder can use in that game. This opens up opportunities for interoperability.
Our plan is an adventure style first person 3D game where you explore vast worlds while at the same time you are hunted by other robots. You will unlock abilities areas and weapons and can play as the gen2 pokedbot you hold ( gen1 to come later ).
For the animation we have developed a pokedbots backstory and and have fleshed out an initial episode and script. the same story will tie in with the game so it will all be part of one world.
In relation to ICP the goal of the pokedbots universe is to attract users and creatives to the network and make entertaining games and animations on the way.
I’d love to see ICP properly embrace the creative communities and give then the tools they need to get an edge in the current marketplaces. Other blockchains and new techs realised quickly its the creatives who will spread the word and help drive adoption.
I fully believe pokedbots has the ability be a multi million user ecosystem within ICP.
So while it may not use all the tech available there are many elements of ICP we use to our advantage.
Along the journey we have built relationships with many outstanding people and organisations and understand the value of those connections in building a brand. Through my design career I have cultivated contacts in the children entertainment industry and animation, then onto connections in the blockchain.
I personally am vested in ICP and it is in my interest for the ecosystem to grow. I have been happy but sometimes a bit guilty to find that I often meet people whom i introduced to ICP through the pokedbots and my art. I can see the power of building good projects that people enjoy and will remember in years to come, as I have already experienced this from past projects.
So In regards to funding we have enough to build at a steady pace, I personally don’t take a wage from pokedbots, everything is put back into the project and reinvested. We don’t think we would go down the SNS route at least not at this point. Having said that additional funds would expedite the project and grow the size of the teams involved.
We are in talks with various national creative funding schemes but personally I would rather keep everything within the ecosystem as I believe that the national funding schemes would maybe want us to be less focused on the blockchain. I am happy to discuss any investment with equity agreements with interested people.
The project is going ahead regardless just to iterate extra funds would be to speed thing up, expand the team and improve finished quality.
In general it would be good to see continued support of projects such as pokedbots own by dfinity and those in the ecosystem even small amounts of activity on social media help keep people engaged in projects. I do feel this is an area that is lacking. We are not asking for shills and constant retweets. But crypto lives and dies by the efforts of the community. Social algorithms are built on engagement.
Thanks for the support everyone
Also special thanks to Dragon, Timo, lightning lad, Adam and jon James for the help so far
to give you the funds you need. In the meantime I will buy more bots.
