The new OP Games logo signaling its pivot from Alto.io which mostly focused on interoperable game assets on the blockchain.

From Alto.io to OPGames

Over three years ago, we founded Alto.io in the hopes of changing the status quo for small and mid scale game developers. It was a time when non-fungible token (NFT) was still a struggling buzzword, a time when idealistic founders and developers such as myself and many others liken this early premise of a metaverse to Ready Player One. I’d like to think it still is, although much has changed since.

Coming in from the web 2.0 game development and publishing sphere meant a couple of things, that we’ve seen how centralized platforms and gatekeepers tilts the balance on game discovery away from smaller game developers, that revenue share tilts heavily towards the platforms more than the creators. We initially tried to address this with Alto.io by building picks and shovels for developers wanting to cross the chasm to web 3.0.

Halfway through, we realized we were too early; that a paradigm shift is needed before slowly dismantling the old ways of doing things to pave way for the new, and even this isn’t a guarantee to success. This isn’t just about slapping in crypto and blockchain to an already ongoing centralized game economy, it requires building from the ground up, creating a model deeply rooted in the principles of web 3.0 and decentralization.

Moving the Needle from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

These challenges hit us hard early on. Not being able to create and prove the traditional game market’s willingness to dabble into web 3.0 was a tough pill to swallow. That left me realizing, not everybody drank the Kool-Aid yet and it will take time. Nonetheless we persisted, I always believed there is promise to our premise, just not in the way I thought it would be. We took a step back, cleared our heads and went back to the core of why we are doing what we do. There was a moment of clarity, we thought, less NFTs as game assets and focus more on crypto tournaments for competitive casual games.

Hard as it was, we shelved Alto.io and pivoted to OP Games, a suite of tools that enable game developers to turn their games into competitive multiplayer tournaments with crypto as a buy in and pay out . We ran with this idea for a year but were also faced with the same issue, while a majority of casual and hypercasual games on the App Store and Play Store are struggling to monetize, it takes time to move the needle. I thought that for developers there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain in this model, but that seems entirely inaccurate given that these developers are struggling and any time given on risks and embarking on unfamiliar journeys is a steep enough price to pay.

Link to GIF: http://gph.is/2b21Hsp

Going Back to our NFT Roots

OP Games have come full circle from NFTs, crypto tournaments and back to NFTs. We are now fully focusing on a very specific subset of games, HTML5 web games to be exact. This is the most underserved segment of the game development space, with no clear pathway to monetization relying mainly on intrusive advertisements for whichever game platform they join. While indie friendly platforms like Steam and Itch.io provide games a level of discovery, gaming is still a hit driven business and the path to success isn’t always in the cards.

The OP NFTs: Turning Games into Investable Assets

“Classic Snake” is one of the pilot NFTs of OP Games. The card was airdropped last May 30 to promote the upcoming launch of the OP NFT collection in Paras.id.

At OP Games, we seek to lower down the barrier to game ownership by enabling developers and the community to build, run and operate games together.

We work with game developers by turning their entire games into NFTs, fractionalizing it to however many, selling it to the community and enabling a DAO for game owners to make proposals, vote for game updates, fund additional development or elect new developers into their games. In this model, we are derisking a huge chunk of the games success dependency from a single developer to the entire community, giving games more viability to succeed.

Exit to the Community

Mockup for the OP Games platform. It invites users to help shape the future of the games OR become a top scorer in the game tournaments.

Through OP Games, small scale creators and game developers now have the option to exit to community and hand over the keys to the people that value these games the most. This enables game developers to work on future interests and projects, while the community runs the games, with developers on the receiving end of royalties.

DAO and game governance

The community will become the central pillar on how games are operated. A fully functional Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that contributes through usage, governance participation, and even investing. Each game is equipped with game treasuries where a percentage of the initial OP NFT pre-sale will be funneled into the treasury along with all the earning of the games on pooled crypto tournaments and any other revenue generating methods. The community can use the treasury to disburse money back to them, fund additional developments in the game or elect a permanent developer to work on the game.

Creating Opportunities

With the rise of collectively-owned games in OP Games, the demand for communities seeking talents like developers and artists increases. This creates a need for game communities to work with developers, artists or marketers with aligned financial incentives to further improve the quality of their existing games. As the game becomes better and the user base becomes larger, the value of these NFTs also appreciates.

For players, this isn’t just an opportunity to discover games and support communities, they earn rewards based on the amount of time they sink into the games and the platform. Implementing the right kinds of incentives is a powerful driving force in increasing user satisfaction and loyalty.

We aim to create more opportunities for people, whether you’re a developer, an NFT investor or a player. You all have a role to play in disrupting the biggest roadblock for independent and small scale creators; centralized gatekeepers and their rules that govern us. We are very fortunate at OP Games to have experienced these problems first hand and to be in a capacity to do something about it and we’d love for you to join us in our journey.

You can follow me on Twitter.

Subscribe to our mailing list: https://www.subscribepage.com/opgames

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Outplay_Games

Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/Z2pFxwzH

Be part of our Telegram group: https://t.me/outplaygames

About OP Games

OP Games enables developers and the community to own, run, and monetize games as a collective. Through OP Games’ suite of tools and SDK, developers can turn entire HTML5 games into fractionalized NFTs offered to the public as investable assets. Founded in 2018 by gaming veterans, OP Games seeks to lower down the barrier to game ownership.

OP Games Then and Now was originally published in OPGames on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Alto.io pivots product line, announces the launch of Outplay Games

Singapore, January 08, 2020 — Blockchain gaming outfit Alto.io announces it’s pivot to Outplay Games. This entails a rebranding of the Alto.io brand to Outplay Games as well as a complete overhaul of the product and services it is developing. This pivot is taking Outplay Games to an entirely different direction from its last year’s offering of NFT centric tool sets.

“Last year we have dabbled into building tools that focuses mostly on NFT’s and interoperable game assets on the blockchain. While we believe that this is going to challenge the status quo of how games are made in the future, this year we want to take a different approach to games and how we can help in crypto’s use cases and adoption via game tournaments and crypto payouts. This led us to pivot to Outplay Games to better serve an existing segment of the gaming market, the competitive casual and hyper casual genre” — Chase Freo, CEO of Outplay Games

The core of Outplay Games’ offering is an SDK and API that developers can easily integrate into their games so that they can host tournaments, allowing players to play against each other PvP style or join various pooled tournaments with a crypto reward component for the winners distributed via smart contracts. It’s currently running on Ethereum but will eventually add a few other layers such as Near Protocol among others. Along with this is a platform that will eventually house all Outplay integrated games.

Outplay Games is kicking off its launch with a closed beta of an HTML5 version of the game World of Mines, a classic throwback PC puzzle game with a world map twist and addictive game play. In partnership with Cogoo Inc. the creator of the game, Outplay Games will eventually be able to bring this classic game with highly competitive tournament experience for everyone to enjoy.

About Outplay Games

Outplay Games is a turnkey solution that lets game developers conveniently add a competitive layer into their games. Enabling them to transform games such as a single player game of skills into a multiplayer tournament challenge participated on by many.

Outplay Games designed a tournament system that not only allow players to play and compete against each other but also facilitate a fair crypto payout process to anyone who is able to outplay their competition.

Website: https://outplay.games/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Outplay_Games

Telegram: https://t.me/outplaygames

Blockchain gaming outfit Alto.io was originally published in OPGames on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Singapore — March 13, 2018 — Stockholm-based game studio, Antler Interactive announces the launch of its latest title, Krystal Kart, an innovative AR multiplayer title for iOS and Android. This physics-based AR racing game sends players drifting through the sci-fi galaxy Krystalverse with stunning stylized graphics along the way.

Players will adventure through a remote area of the galaxy, while racing the competition on fast looping Augmented Reality tracks. Players can look forward to both single player and multiplayer racing modes and collecting alien “krystals” or power-ups along the tracks to beat the competition as they speed towards the finish line.

“Drawing inspiration from childhood memories of remote-controlled cars and games like Mario Kart, we wanted to bring social racing into the future with AR and let fantasy tracks and fun jumps come to life in your living room.” explains CEO, Anna Norrevik, when describing the studio’s first mobile AR title.

The Android version of the game will also launch with blockchain support and Alto.io worked closely with Antler Interactive in building and implementing game assets on the blockchain, making it the first studio in the world to combine AR racing with blockchain assets. Alto issued and deployed a limited amount of Krystal Kart AR Vehicles that are currently available on Opensea.io for purchase.

“Working with Antler Interactive is a great step forward on introducing amazing games to the blockchain. Krystal Kart is perfect in that it accommodate elements and gameplay that’s both familiar and unique while also incorporating blockchain based items that are readily playable in game”, said Chase Freo, CEO at Alto.io.

Krystal Kart is free to play and is now available for download from the App Store and Google Play Store.

Play the Game Here: App Store or Google Play.

Buy Items Here: https://opensea.io/assets/krystalkartarvehicles

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To learn more about Alto please visit: https://alto.io.

Alto.io Partners Up with Antler Interactive to Bring the World’s First AR Racing Game on the… was originally published in OPGames on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.