A complete guide for P2E games development

P2E games have become the primary topic in the gaming community after the popularity of blockchain. Moreover, many investors and entrepreneurs are interested in making their play-to-earn games after knowing the potential of making profits from such games. 

But what are P2E games? Why adding blockchain technology to your play-to-earn game can give better results in improving the gaming experience? Lets’ understand in detail. 

What are P2E games?

Play-to-earn games are games in which players earn real rewards. The rewards can be in the form of money, tokens, NFTs, etc. Players can get rewards based on their performance in the game. 

The game allows players to trade their digital assets with other players. P2E game uses blockchain technology to make the games available to distribute their exclusive NFTs and crypto coins among their players. 

Let’s understand how blockchain helps play-to-earn games to create unique rewards and how games distribute among players through blockchain. 

How does blockchain improve the play-to-earn gaming experience?

Since the introduction of blockchain, many games have been released in the market, getting a better response from players worldwide.

Most of the play-to-earn games are mostly modified versions of free-to-play games based on blockchains. Blockchain technology in free-to-play games expands the opportunities to create many exclusive digital assets such as NFTs, crypto coins, etc.   

Moreover, there are many benefits of adding blockchain technology to play-to-earn games, which are given as follows:

• Blockchain offers its decentralized server for hosting games that are inexpensive and more stable than centralized servers. 

• The game can create its rewards based on NFTs. It is easy to make and distribute NFT rewards compared to other digital assets.

• Blockchain helps games distribute rewards efficiently among their players by sending rewards to the address of players’ crypto wallets.

• Earning money by playing games encourages players to spend more time on games which results in better engagement within the game. 

The rewarded players can trade those digital assets with other players in exchange for cash. So, if you want to make a play-to-earn gaming model, then adding blockchain technology to your games will be good for you.  

Understanding the business model of play 2 earn games will help give you a better idea of starting your own game.

The business model of play-to-earn games

Many games come with their exclusive NFTs and crypto coins. Whenever players engage or complete any task within the game, the game offers their crypto coins or NFTs as a reward to the players. 

The games which are free to play use blockchain technology to create their unique NFTs. The games can distribute these NFTs among their users as rewards.  The players join the game through digital platforms that the game supports.   

The players can earn rewards based on completing the targeted achievement by playing play-to-earn games. Moreover, the players can stake NFTs to get more NFTs in return. 

Later the players can sell that digital asset to other players in exchange for money. The game uses smart contracts which execute the reward system on certain conditions for distributing digital assets to its players. 

However, there are many factors that you must consider before making play-to-earn games. 

Important factors for the P2E games

These are some essential factors to help you make a better strategy and plan for your game from its development to its launch. 

1. Marketability

The factor will decide how appealing your game is to attract a large audience. Targeting and checking the demographics of your gaming audience at the time of game development determines the potential to make profits from your game. 

2. Monetization

This measures how likely the users will spend and purchase the products within your game. Making your game more monetizable by offering different digital assets helps to make more money for game owners.  

3. Minting Power

The factor measures how much your game can charge for each issued NFTs from the players. The better the potential of charging NFTs, the more profit the company can generate.  

4. Economic Sustainability

The sustainably determines the earning potential that users can make money from your game. Greater economic sustainability helps you to attract more players to your game.  

5. Perceived Longevity

Longevity determines how long players will stay in your game. Having more longevity of the players on the game will help game owners to maintain a significant user base on their game.

6. Retention

Retention helps calculate how much time a player will spend on the game. Also, retention determines how frequently the players will return to the game. A higher retention rate helps the game owner make their gaming community more extensive and profitable.

You can check the reasons to invest in play-to-earn games, which will give you a better idea of how much returns you can get on your investment.

Why should you invest in play-to-earn games? 

The play-to-earn games market is growing continuously, giving a better business opportunity to entrepreneurs.

Here’s a quick sneak peek into a few stats:

• According to Statista, the global gaming market is expected to reach around $270 billion by 2025.
• Millions of users are moving towards play-to-earn games to make more money.
• Consumer spending in the United States has grown upto 8% in 2021.
• The gaming market has generated around 180.3 billion dollars in 2021. 

These numbers speak volumes about how investing in games can give you better returns and why it is the perfect time to invest in them. 

As the use of blockchain in games on a massive scale is in the beginning stage, it would be best to enter early in the decentralized gaming market because of limited competition. 

Also, you can check how blockchain gives a better way to improve the gaming experience:

1. Better chance of attracting large players

Earning rewards and converting them into money by playing games can be the main aim for many players. Even those not interested in playing games will come to make money by earning rewards such as NFTs and cryptocurrencies.    

2. Required less marketing 

Blockchain games are already on the top searched list on every platform. Many Streamers give special attention to these games by reviewing this kind of game on their channel due to their large popularity. Even almost every gaming community is discussing these games, giving a better opportunity to promote these games with less marketing budget.

3. Creating better profits for game owners

The game owner can introduce their exclusive crypto tokens to attract many crypto investors. Having a significant investment in the exclusive gaming token can create more wealth for game owners, providing them with more availability of funds to use for upgrading their games.  

Now, let’s check the top best play-to-earn games to get some ideas for your game. 

The top gaming platforms covering millions of users globally

Let’s check the details of all these games.

1. Axie Infinity

Axie infinity rewards its players with its official currency known as Smooth Love Potion (SLP) tokens. The SLP tokens have a trading volume of around $2.6 billion.

Founded in	2018
Active users	2.7 million
Native Token	AXS
Founded by	Nguyen Thanh Trung
Blockchain	Ethereum Network

2. Alien worlds

The alien world game is a virtual simulation of Earth’s economy. Trillium(TLS) is the official token of this game. Users can perform different game missions of Alien Worlds to mine TLS tokens. 

The game takes players to 2055, where everything can be tokenized through NFT, allowing players to purchase many tools to improve their mining efficiency. 

Founded in	2020
Active users	700K
Native Token	TLM
Founded by	Sarojini McKenna
Blockchain	Ethereum, WAX, Binance Smart Chain

3. Splinterlands

Splinterlands are trading card games allowing users to play together to earn rewards. The players can collect rewards by completing game missions that come in Splinterlands. The reward consists of NFT-based digital cards that are available to trade with other players to make money.

Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) is the exclusive token of the Splinterlands game, distributed among players as a reward. 

Founded in	2021
Active users	260K
Native Token	DEC (Dark energy crystals)
Founded by	Matthew Rosen
Blockchain	Hive

4. Farmers World

The game is also based on NFT, allowing its players to earn tokens as a reward. The game allows its players to own and cultivate their farms. 

The game takes inspiration from a popular Facebook game known as Farmville. The players can cultivate fish, poultry, and trees along with farms. The game allows players to visit other farms to compete with different farm owners to collect resources. 

Founded in	2021
Active users	150K
Native Token	FWW (Farmers World Wood)
Founded by	G.JIT JAPAN
Blockchain	WAX

5. Star Atlas

The game has its virtual world. The game takes players to 2620, where they can compete and collaborate. Star Atlas consists of different gaming activities such as buying land, constructing cities, trading with other players, etc. The game supports two cryptocurrencies, ATLAS & POLIS. 

Founded in	2021
Active users	N/A
Native Token	ATLAS & POLIS
Founded by	Michael Wagner
Blockchain	Solana

6. The Sandbox

The Sandbox can be considered one of the oldest games on this list. The game was relaunched based on NFT in 2021. The Sandbox consists of a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their created assets in the gaming world. The game also consists of digital lands that can be monetized and sold in its official token, known as SAND. 

Founded in	2012
Active users	300K
Native Token	SAND
Founded by	Arthur Madrid
Blockchain	Ethereum

You can check this video to check the best NFT games.

Let’s check how you can improve your game with the following development practices.

Practices to follow for making engaging P2E games

You can follow these best game-making practices to increase the chances of your game performing well in the market. Moreover, following best game development practices helps you to save unnecessary time and cost on your game development. 

1. Design highly scalable games

Different platforms are available where you can launch your games, such as mobile, desktop, iMacs, gaming consoles, etc. 

Having your game distributed on various platforms will help you get more players in less time. An excellent user base creates a better revenue stream by engaging within your published game. 

It will be better to focus on a few platforms at the start and can later expand your game reachability to different gaming platforms.   

2. Introduce the tokenomics model

Tokenomics allows players to transfer and trade cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other digital assets within the game. It may be hard for game developers to introduce tokenomics within your game. 

Therefore, you may require blockchain developers to integrate the tokenomics model within your game. Also, tokenomics allows players to vote and participate in different activities to help improve the game. 

3. Better selection of blockchain platforms

Choosing the most suitable and reliable blockchain platform is the other best step you can take in your game development. For selecting the best blockchain platform, you can check the features and parameters such as translation speed, transaction fees, sustainability, NFTs support, etc. 

4. Making attractive graphics

Have you noticed that almost all games performing well in the market come with eye-catchy graphics? That’s why having good pictures, such as better visuals of characters, scenes, game UI, etc.

`Instead of purchasing expensive game-making software, you can check top free game development tools to create and publish your play-to-earn games and make greater returns on your investment. 

Best tools for developing play-to-earn games

A large variety of free game-making software can help you save game development costs and invest that fund in graphics, marketing, and other necessary factors. Check out the best tools for making your play-to-earn games. 

1. Construct 3

Using Construct 3 is the best way to avoid coding for your game programming. 

Construct 3 is entirely GUI-based software that comes with a drag and drop interface. The tools have already programmed necessary classes/ functions and have converted them into different logic. 

Moreover, it supports many gaming platforms such as HTML5, Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, etc. Construct 3 provides free tutorials and documentation to help its new game developers. 

The software also comes with its exclusive asset store known as the Game Developer Asset store. The free version offers all the features that come with the paid version but are limited to upto 25 events. Later you can take a personal license that costs $99 per year, removing all the restrictions that come with a free version of Construct 3. 

2. GameMaker Studio 2 

Similar to Construct 3, the GameMaker Studio 2 also comes with a drag-and-drop interface, giving a better relief for developers from programming. Moreover, the platform also supports its official coding language, similar to language C. Enabling programming options provides more power to game developers to modify the game physics and other factors in different ways. 

Its first version was launched in 1992, making it more popular among game developers. Also, it supports many other digital platforms such as Mac, Windows, Linux, HTML 5, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and many other platforms.

3. Unity

Unity has exported many successful games, like Monument Valley, Crossy Road, etc. The platform supports both 2D & 3D game programming. 

Unlike the above-discussed gaming development platforms, Unity 3D doesn’t come with a drag-and-drop programming interface. But it comes with C# scripting language gives more freedom for game developers to create games uniquely. Unity comes with free documentation and free tutorials for learning about programming in Unity 3D.

Also, Unity 3D has its exclusive marketplace that offers digital products in different categories such as characters, scripts, gaming assets, sounds, GUI, etc. Unity 3D supports many game export platforms, such as Mac, HTML 5, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Windows, Linux, etc. 

4. Godot Engine

Godot Engine supports both 2D and 3D game development. The platform contains different gaming elements like sounds, sprites, and scripts. Also, Godot has a collection of varying gaming scenes which game developers can combine to make an overall scene of the games. 

The Godot Engine also supports a drag-and-drop scripting system, giving a fast way to develop games. 

5. Unreal Engine 5

The Unreal Engine 5 supports artificial intelligence, cinematic tools, and post-processing effects. These advanced features will be helpful for you if you plan to make the AAA games on a more significant level. 

The world’s most popular games like PUBG and Fortnite are also developed from this platform. The platform provides free learning resources like tutorial videos and documentation to help developers to create games on the Unreal Engine platform. The platform is better suitable for creating 3D games. 

Moreover, the platfrom has many other advanced features such as:

• Hot reloading
• Live debugging
• Instant asset pipelines & game previews

6. Defold

The platform Defold supports both 2D and 3D game development that comes with its code editor to add custom logic and create different gaming scenes by dropping assets straight into the game.

 

The Defold gives excellent support to publish games on gaming platforms such as Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Linux, Windows, HTML 5, and much more. 

Defold is best optimized for 2D game development. So Defold will be your better choice if you want to create 2D games. 

Enable blockchain technology to your app with Idea Usher

Adding blockchain technology to your play 2 earn games can better distribute rewards among your users through NFTs and cryptocurrency. 

However, adding blockchain technology to your game by yourselves can be a challenging task. That’s why having your game developed or adding blockchain technology to your game with the help of the best software company can give you better results. 

You can contact the Idea user for a free consultation to discuss the plans for your gaming project. Idea Usher is a company that builds websites, apps, and blockchain projects. The company also provides marketing support for their clients so their project can attract more customers.    

FAQ

Let’s quickly discuss the most asked doubts you can face when making your play 2 earn games. 

Q. What are play 2 earn games?

A. The games are based on a rewarding system where players can collect NFTs, crypto coins, and other digital assets by playing these games. 

Q. What is blockchain? 

A. Blockchain is a decentralized technology that comes in the form of a digital ledger that is distributed among its members worldwide. You can read here to know more about blockchain development.