A young blockchain-based game project called Illuvium has already managed to garner support from major industry supporters – a development that is partly due to the fact that Illuvium co-founders Kieran and Aaron Warwick are the brothers of Kain Warwick, the Co-founder of decentralized financial platform (DeFi) Synthetix.
In a tweet on Friday, Kain announced that “after two years of pressure,” his brothers were unveiling a blockchain-based game to the world:
Very excited to have two of my brothers launch a crypto NFT game @illuviumio after years of pressure. As promised, I just completed the purchase of $ 1M @ chainlink market in Kain.eth through @ 1inchExchange. I have been offline for 2 weeks now and am enjoying the start of 2021! https://t.co/LMb5YkJbtr
– kain.eth (kaiynne) January 2, 2021
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kieran Warwick made it clear that development work has only been underway since September and that the “two years” refers to the time that Kain had got Kieran to resume full-time crypto.
“I left to found a startup in the food industry in 2016. [and] in hindsight it might not be the best call, ”admitted kieran.
Despite the late inclusion, the few publicly available resources already promise a title with innumerable influences.
“The two genres that inspired us the most are collectible RPGs (like Pokemon) and Auto Battlers (like Teamfight Tactics or Dota Underlords). In terms of aesthetics, we’re aiming for a stylized feel that is somewhere between the manga style of RPG and more hyper-realistic games, ”said Kieran.
The gameplay will also feature some unique twists that use an income farming program for the native ILV token, as well as using NFTs in innovative ways that can affect the strategy behind game resource gathering.
“We use a fusion mechanism in which three illuvial NFTs are burned by the user to imprint a more powerful illuvial NFT. This mechanism is common with Auto Battlers, but by using smart contracts to control coinage and firing, we’ve created more security for collectors and gamers. “
As ambitions spread, the Warwick brothers bring an extensive ecosystem to fruition. Although Kieran has only recently re-entered crypto full-time, he is no stranger to concepts like liquidity pooling as he is currently “heavily involved in DeFi in over 50 projects”.
Excited to see the @illuviumio Next Level Metaverse!
Play
NFTs
Build on @IMMUTABLE X
(hyper scalable L2)
Everything @KieranWarwick & Brothers brought you!
If you want to be early, join the Discord and keep it cool
https://t.co/uc8ENQ3SEX https://t.co/1JQW9s18Xm pic.twitter.com/5h1BHImEN5
– CryptoFit ($ NERDz) (@ Crypt0Fit) January 2, 2021
Additionally, some of the biggest names in DeFi and gaming are early supporters. Kieran says “six of the best DeFi founders” invested in Illuvium’s pre-seed round – probably including Kain. Illuvium is also created using a Layer 2 scaling solution from Immutable, the development studio behind the successful NFT card game Gods Unchained.
Kieran hopes to use these connections to create a gaming experience that will empower players.
“One of the most frustrating experiences as a gamer is feeling like a consumer of a game rather than a participant, and although many game studios have improved this over the past few years by giving their communities more control, there is no way of doing that of community responsibility that we will offer in the traditional gaming world. “
To ensure this community ownership, Kieran said Illuvium is run by a DAO that allows players to control gameplay tweaks and balancing. In addition, a portion of the funds from the results of high-stakes “Leviathan” arena battles and all winners will be allocated to a DAO controlled vault and other fees.
While even a game demo is only a few months away, and the liquidity runaway program isn’t slated for March at the earliest, Illuvium’s 15-strong team is determined to deliver a product to a market they believe could eventually become the standard.
“We believe that mainstream gamers will see the opportunity to migrate to permissionless platforms where they can truly own the entire game.”
