Stacked is all the lessons we’ve learned at Pixels wrapped into one product and package. As we were building Pixels, the first part was getting the tech stack ready. Then, as we had a live Web3 game, we started figuring out how to make reward systems work. We have the thesis that every Web3 game will run into the same problems, because ownership turns a Web3 game into a play-to-earn game. Building a Web3 game makes you face the hardest problem inside of crypto, because you have to figure out how to make crypto and incentive systems work at scale while doing it in a sustainable way that will make the game last, and that’s what Stacked is.
Stacked is a play-to-earn system where we’re allocating rewards to the right people, at the right time, for the right amount. It allows us to add Web3 and ownership layers to games that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It’s easy to add ownership into a game, but it’s difficult to make it fun and sustainable while not being abused. This is the last AMA before the official Stacked launch, and here’s what to expect from a few different lenses:
If you are just a Pixels player and don’t care about Stacked, your experience won’t change because Stacked is already integrated into the game via the offer wall. You can continue to play Pixels and don’t have to interact with the Stacked app at all if you don’t want to.
We will be giving out more rewards to players who deserve the rewards. This used to be a common issue in the past with bots getting rewards, and the reputation system (which tried to combat this) made the new-user experience very difficult. This is why Stacked is great because we can reward our most loyal and best users through this system.
The standalone Stacked app (which will be released in the next few days) will show rewards you can earn for a bunch of different games. We note good players inside of the ecosystem, so those other games will be able to show you their rewards inside of your Stacked app that are targeted towards you specifically.
Questions from the AMA
The worst thing in the game is low level high $PIXEL, high level low $PIXEL
This is one of the issues that Stacked addresses. The taskboard transition will be a gradual one but we have a plan.
Do we need to create a new account for Stacked or can we link the Pixels account?
You make a Stacked account and then link your Pixels account, since every game has its own individual account system inside of Stacked.
How much rewards will be allocated in Stacked vs current taskboard?
About 20% of rewards are allocated in Stacked, 50% in taskboard, and the rest in Neon Zone, Merchant Ships, etc. Eventually they will all be in the Stacked system.
Also the $PIXEL stake only idea, idk, sounds like sending dominance to unlock getters/investors/team/advisor…would be cool to see how this part plays a role as well
None of the tokenomics have changed. We’ve stuck to them very perfectly. All the token allocations have been on-chain.
I get this part, but I see you trying to chop our reward part, not the whole thing…
We will still reward communities and players in the same way, we are just changing to USDC. Since we have a RORS model that is sustainable, we can actually give out more rewards and scale them in the same way.
Are you going to adjust the payout for creator codes to USDC as well then?
Stacked has some rudimentary creator stuff inside of it. There will be some rewards for creating TikToks and other content.
Luke Stacked rewards should include animal, forestry, and exploration potions, because leveling up these skills is almost impossible otherwise
We will launch way more rewards inside of Stacked for the games you’re currently playing. We can do LiveOps inside of Stacked so things like adding in new rewards is exactly what we’re going to be doing.
Hey Luke! Thanks for the details about Stacked! But we’re really curious what you’re still building in Core Pixels. New events? Mechanics?
The Core Pixels team is still working on Core Pixels. What Stacked has unlocked is that the team before had to be thinking about everything. So much time was stuck on the taskboard and it was so hard to nail down because we had to figure out how to get rewards to the right players. The Core Pixels team is working on endgame features right now like new resources, recipes and things to do for the players that are deep into the game. Then we’ll work on new user experience.
Easter event?
Yes, there will be an Easter event.
You added a USDC tab. When you receive $PIXEL for staking in Core Pixels, will you sell $PIXEL for USDC to pay out rewards?
No, that is the opposite of what we want to do. All of the changes are to eliminate sell pressure on the $PIXEL token. In order to give out USDC rewards, there needs to be USDC or USD inflow, but we want to start testing the system. Soon we will probably offer optional USDC payments.
Rentals inside of Pixels have been a very important part for the player experience. Now, LootRush announced they’re shutting down rentals which is unfortunate. The Pixels team knows how important it is to the community, but if we wanted to build that out it wouldn’t come out any time soon. However, there are a lot of developers in the community, so it’s possible to offer a bounty and put a proposal for someone in the community to build out a rental equivalent.
You think Stacked will be the best way to onboard Web2 players in Web3 not only Pixels?
To onboard Web2 players into Web3, we should give players the option to spend money inside of Pixels and secure the ecosystem through USDC. Stacked turns any game into a Web3 game without having to have games build out a Web3 game.
Hmmm sounds just like your system
Play-to-earn will work because Pixels has proved it now. There are also people starting to get it working in Web2 as well, but those are more paid UA.
What about the pet app? Is still scheduled?
Chubkins is in early access on Android, and soon we will open it up to a new country. Let us know what the next country should be. We will add rewards in Stacked for that country as well.
If RORS is over 2 why not just scale Pixels, why this Stacked side quest
That’s the point of Stacked, because we’re focusing on our first-party games. In order to scale Pixels, we need to scale it with mobile UA, so we need to have Stacked for that. Same thing with Chubkins.
How are you approaching sybil in Web2? You mentioned that Pixels has an anti-sybil system, how will it look in Stacked?
The best anti-sybil is just rewarding the right people from the very beginning. You need very strong reward attribution, ad network technology that can build an understanding of users, prediction to understand what users will do, and demographic data, and that’s what Stacked is doing.
Are you concerned that building Stacked and other apps will take too much time to build and it will be too late?
Stacked is already built and live in Pixels! We will also be officially launching in the next couple of days.