In-Game Items
In-game items such as cards, consumables, collectibles, weapons, clothing, and equipment are vital to a web3 game, fueling its economy. Often, a game's first launch event involves a free mint or primary sale of these items to engage the community. These items can evolve through player crafting activities, with their market value determined by rarity. On Immutable's zkEVM blockchain, in-game items can be represented as ERC-721 or ERC-1155 tokens.
Choosing the right token type for your in-game items - ERC-721 or ERC-1155
ERC-721:
- Ideal for higher-value items.
- Best for unique items.
- Suitable for items where value can be derived from historical ownership (e.g., a sword which sells at a premium due to it being used to win a previous tournament).
ERC-1155:
- Ideal for consumables.
- Best for items gained, traded, or consumed in larger quantities.
- Provides the best trading experience for liquid assets on marketplaces.
- Most gas-efficient for crafting mechanics.
Our philosophy
Not all in-game items need to be on-chain. Here are some key considerations:
- Market Value: If an item has value to players or speculators who may want to trade it on the secondary market.
- Supply Limitations: If an item has a limited supply, allowing it to retain value.
- Player Benefits: If an item is used by players for status or game progression.
- Blockchain Capacity: If the item's creation, updating, and consumption mechanics align with the blockchain's capacity and gas fees (e.g., fuel consumed unit by unit as a player moves around the map in real time would not be suitable as a blockchain asset).
- Web3 Economics: If you want to leverage Web3 economics to generate interest and attract customers to your game.
The benefits of putting your items on-chain include:
- True Asset Ownership: On-chain items are automatically tracked and guaranteed, empowering users with true ownership.
- Enhanced Gameplay Loops: Players can engage in gameplay loops that seek to acquire or create valuable assets, which can be traded on the secondary market.
- Complex Game Economies: Generate revenue through royalty fees, protected by Immutable's operator allowlist.
- Reduced Duplication Risk: On-chain items reduce the chances of duplication and ensure immutability.
- Atomic Transactions: Singular transactions are guaranteed and atomic—if any part fails, the transaction will not proceed.
Relevant Immutable products and features
At Immutable, we've build the following features for your on-chain items (ERC-721 / ERC-1155):
Full Stack Support: Comprehensive support for ERC721 and ERC1155 assets, with preset collections to expedite blockchain integration.
Minting API: Our feature which abstracts away the complexity of minting and allow you to do it in a much more efficient way.
Deploy Contracts via Developer Hub: The easiest way to launch your NFT collection through a clickable journey in the Immutable Developer Hub interface.
Blockchain Data API: Provides transparency on on-chain asset activity to the entire Immutable ecosystem and community.
Global Orderbook: Allows players to transact assets across all Immutable ecosystem marketplaces, regardless of where the listing was created.
Operator Allowlist: Protects your game's assets from vampire marketplace attacks, ensuring your studio receives royalties from secondary market trading.
Metadata Refresh: Offers a simple, cost-effective way to update assets (e.g., gas-free), with flexible options for executing coordinated changes to item descriptions.
Crafting Contracts: Facilitate the transfer, burn, and minting of items atomically, creating addictive gameplay loops and increasing asset value.
Core benefits
Some key benefits of utilising our ERC-721 and ERC-1155 solutions include:
- Gas-Optimized Preset Collections: Both ERC-721 and ERC-1155 contracts support batch transactions, allowing for efficient minting, burning, and transferring with reduced gas fees.
- Royalty Preservation: Using our standard contracts ensures that your royalties are guaranteed over the lifetime of the item's availability for trading.
- Gasless Transactions for Players: Player transfers are designed to offer gas-free or fixed-fee transactions, reducing adoption friction and helping you onboard more customers.
- Advanced Metadata Services: Our metadata refresh services are industry-leading, supporting complex gameplay mechanics that require regular updates to your game's on-chain assets.
- Superior Liquidity: With Immutable's Global Orderbook, your players maximize their ability to buy and sell assets across interconnected marketplaces.
- Integrated Ecosystem: All on-chain assets adhering to ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 standards are indexed by the Blockchain Data APIs, expediting game integration, providing transparency on player activity, and integrating assets with other applications within Immutable's ecosystem.