#110 - The first web3 game awards

GM and welcome to Decentra Daily.

We're like a West Wing walk and talk – briefing you on the day's biggest web3 stories before your next meeting.

Today,

• Web3s first video game awards

• WTF is the Legend of Cockpunch?

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GAM3 awards ceremony streaming today

Today is the first official web3 game awards!

The GAM3 awards include over 200 games, 16 categories, 30+ judges, plus a million-dollar prize pool for the winners.

Categories span genres and platforms including Best Graphics, Best RPG, Best Mobile, and a People’s Choice Award.

The judges & criteria

Awards will be dished out by a jury of gaming industry veterans from studios & outlets like Avalanche, Polygon, Blockworks, and Fractal.

Judges' opinions will be weighed against votes from the public.

They'll be considering games (with at least a playable demo) for their core loop, graphics, accessibility, replayability, and other elements.

The web3 gaming community also gets its say with the People's Choice Award. Voting closed on Monday, with over 200,000 votes cast.

Who are the Game of the Year finalists?

Five web3 games are competing for this year's top award:

Illuvium

Illuvium is an upcoming NFT RPG + auto-battler, where you play as the sole survivor of a transport vessel, investigating a distress beacon on a planet full of beasts.

Players can try the game for free, then opt into a paid experience by collecting NFTs from paywalled regions.

With nearly 350K Twitter followers and 190K Discord members, Illuvium is gaining serious traction before its launch.

Gods Unchained

Gods Unchained is a free-to-play tokenized trading card game. Players strategically build decks of Gods to outsmart their opponents.

There are PvP & single-player modes, as well as ranked tournaments.

Players start with a welcome set of cards, then play to earn better cards and $GODS tokens to spend in the in-game marketplace.

Gods Unchained launched in 2019 and has amassed over 100K Twitter followers. It's currently only on desktops – but a mobile version is in development.

The Harvest

The Harvest is "a fresh new take on Class-Based Shooters."

Players evolve their combat style, level up their character, and fight in team-based battle royales.

NFT cards unlock new powers and abilities to help players gain advantages.

The Harvest is currently in closed beta.

Superior

Now in early access mode, Superior puts players on the hunt for superheroes and their powers.

It's a co-op shooter developed by a team who've worked on Gears of War, Halo, and Doom. Players begin at a large disadvantage and grind their way to infamy by collecting "Juice" from fallen enemies.

Big Time

Big Time is an MMO RPG that combines fast-paced combat with an adventure through time and space.

Players can earn tokens and NFTs inside the game, but they're cosmetic and don’t give you a gameplay advantage.

Currently, an early access pass is required to play (Windows PCs only). However, it will be available for free after the full launch.

Here are the finalists in the other major categories:

When & where can I watch the awards?

The GAM3 Awards are hosted by Polkastarter Gaming, who make web3 game reviews and news.

The awards will be live-streamed on December 15th at 3 PM UTC on their Twitch channel.

Polkastarter Gaming says to tune in for a password to claim a free NFT and enter a prize draw.

Scroll to the bottom of this email for the full list of nominees and categories.

Tweet of the day

On the web3 wire

• SEC charges "trader" influencers in $100M scam 🚓

• SushiSwap CEO shares their salary-heavy 2023 budget

• DOGAMÍ AR mobile game gets $14M in seed funding round 🐶

What is the Legend of Cockpunch?

Last week, author and podcast host Tim Ferriss launched an NFT project called The Legend of Cockpunch.

Ferriss describes Cockpunch as "emergent long fiction" where story, characters, and art are generated and released over time.

Cockpunch PFPs

The project's first reveal was 5,555 anthropomorphized rooster PFPs with different accessories, outfits, and weapons.

NFT owners get commercial rights to use the characters in their own art and projects.

All proceeds from the NFT collection go to Ferriss' Saisei Foundation, which funds alternative scientific research – including the use of psychedelics.

Cockpunch pod

In a recent episode of his own podcast, Ferriss said he's written the first season of a Cockpunch podcast, exploring a lore-filled fantasy world.

Daily short episodes are already being released on all major podcast platforms.

Based on what we’ve heard, it seems like the “emergent fiction” model may mean using AI to help write and develop the story?

Things are going well!

looking at NFT marketplace activity, the Legend of Cockpunch seems to have gone down well with degens.

After selling out and generating over $2 million, Cockpunch PFPs have made over $3 million on secondary markets and remain among OpenSea's 24hr top 5 collections.

Check out the Legend of Cockpunch collection.

Thanks for reading!

👋

Meme of the day

Here are all the nominees for the GAM3 awards:

GotY

• The Harvest

• Illuvium

• Gods Unchained

• Superior

• Big Time

Best Graphics

• Illuvium

• Star Atlas

• Metalcore

• Big Time

• My Pet Hooligan

Most Anticipated Game

• Illuvium: Overworld

• Shrapnel

• Star Atlas

• Ember Sword

• The Treeverse

Best Adventure Game

• Big Time

• Earth from Another Sun

• My Pet Hooligan

• The Sandbox Game

• Aurory

Best Casual Game

• Blankos Block Party

• Thetan Arena

• My Pet Hooligan

• Axie Infinity Origins

• Legends of Venari

Best RPG

• Big Time

• Illuvium

• Aurory

• SIPHER

• Phantom Galaxies

Best Action Game

• Big Time

• Guild of Guardians

• Illuvium

• Superior

• MetalCore

Best Mobile Game

• Splinterlands

• Thetan Arena

• Guild of Guardians

• Blast Royale

• Skyweaver

Best Shooter Game

• Earth From Another Sun

• EV.IO

• Delysium

• Undead Blocks

• MetalCore

Best Strategy Game

• Gods Unchained

• Cards of Ethernity

• Cross The Ages

• Skyweaver

• The Immortal Game

Best Card game

• Gods Unchained

• Axie Infinity

• Splinterlands

• Skyweaver

• Cards of Ethernity

Best Multiplayer

• MetalCore

• Blankos Block Party

• EV.IO

• Big Time

• My Pet Hooligan

Best eSports Game

• MetalCore

• Planet Mojo

• Gods Unchained

• EV.IO

• Spider Tanks