It was a first for me, DiscoWarlock (Disco) is one of the first to mint a full-fledged video game as a collectible NFT. His latest creation Synthcity Streets — a 2D side-scrolling retro style game — is certainly creating some buzz across Hic et Nunc (H=N) where all 4 editions sold out quickly. The lowest price now sits at 75 tez (~$270) for a Standard edition, with Deluxe, Collectors and Legendary editions going for substantially more.
The initial prices for the Standard editions started at 5 tez, Deluxe at 15 tez, Collectors at 25 tez, and the Legendary gold edition for 100 tez. Each edition above Standard came with its own bonus. Deluxe buyers obtained an alternate skin for the main character Felix, Collectors got a bonus level as well as the alternate skin, and Legendary collectors got all of the above plus the opportunity to work with Disco directly to make themselves a boss in an upcoming episode. Disco also has plans to turn one of his biggest collectors into a playable character for users in a future episode.
According to Disco, he was inspired by the 1993 Sega classic Streets of Rage. As an ode to the classic 2D side-scrolling games of my youth, this experience teleported me back to 1990, playing Double Dragon on my Nintendo. And the way the NFTs are presented as different types of handheld gaming devices fits the retro vibe of the game while offering collectors a beautiful way to display their NFT.
“The NFT space has so many stories to tell, why not gamify it?” asks Disco. The story behind Synthcity Streets weaves in the legendary CryptoPunks by reimagining “crypto punks” as a crime syndicate that has taken over Synthcity and forced residents to bend to their will. While the narrative is still evolving, it captures some of the zeitgeist of the metaverse while delivering a heavy dose of nostalgia.
“Since I entered the [NFT] space back in October, I knew I wanted to make a game and really push the limits,” says Disco. “After shifting from ETH to Tezos, I found out that H=N had html uploads and this just blew the doors open for me. Being a game developer, the only limit was the 40mb file size. I knew I wanted to create a 2D game and with Streets of Rage being a big part of my early childhood, I used it as my main source of inspiration.”
Hic et Nunc and the Tezos “clean NFT” movement have created a kind of counterculture within the NFT scene that many artists are embracing. It turns out that their platform is also uniquely suited for html-based content which can offer collectors a new level of virtual experiences. Disco’s first foray into offering a virtual world as an NFT was his tribute to @jjjjjjjjjjohn’s artistic window NFTs, where he gives visitors a window that they can explore and interact with. “I spent about 14 hours putting it together and was blown away by the feedback, then the next day I began creating Synthcity Streets and 3 weeks later, here we are.”
DiscoWarlock is a true gamer at heart, it’s clear that this creation was born out of his passion for game developing, and he has big ambitions for the future. He created this innovative NFT using the WebGL build option in Unity to publish his game as JavaScript.
“When I first started working on Synthcity Streets, I knew I wanted to make more. I sketch a lot of my storyboards and game flow before I go digital, so right now I have about 7 episodes cooked up but this could change, as I really want to be community oriented,” he says. “I plan to keep on innovating and keep developing NFT games, with the hope that one day I am creating the World of Warcraft of the NFT world.”
With just over 2 years of professional game development under his belt, Disco has a bright future ahead of him and his NFTs will be ones to watch out for as he continues the story of Synthcity Streets while delivering other new creations.
