Vulcan Forged is an NFT game studio that builds play-to-earn (P2E) games inside what’s called the “VulcanVerse.” What’s impressive about Vulcan Forged is how it has grown from a small platform with some digital art into a multi-dApp game studio with an NFT marketplace in a short time. The timing is interesting, as crypto gaming is poised to explode in 2022. Even though the Metaverse still captures the headlines, but gaming will lead the way.
Some notable influencers, believe that 2022 could be the year where blockchain gaming platforms decouple from Bitcoin. This occurrence would be a massive breakthrough because, in the past, the entire crypto market followed Bitcoin’s price. In 2021, however, we saw the crypto gaming platform, Axie Infinity (AXS), untether its price from Bitcoin and continue to rise even though BTC was dropping. That’s quite unusual but possibly a harbinger of things to come in the new year.
Platforms like Vulcan Forged could stand to benefit from this crypto gaming boom as long as they continue to attract more users with games they want to play. Make sure to visit Moralis Academy and take the Blockchain & Bitcoin 101 course to learn more about Bitcoin, or simply read our comprehensive “What is Bitcoin?” and “What is Crypto?” guides.
What Is VulcanVerse?
This article will cover Vulcan Forged and its PYR token. But in doing so, we must also look at the VulcanVerse, Vulcan Forged’s decentralized universe. It is a virtual world comprised of digital lands on the blockchain. Inside the VulcanVerse, players can create adventures, play games, explore virtual frontiers, forage for NFTs, set up quests, or wage war on other Vulcanites.
They can also buy and sell NFTS in the marketplace. The VulcanVerse community has evolved into players and builders that make their own games. Block Babies, GeoCats, and Coddle Pets are just a few, so the community needs a place to exchange items. For example, learn how to create an NFT marketplace in just a few simple steps using Moralis.
Another advantage of blockchain games like those on VulcanVerse is players get to own assets in the form of NFTs. These assets can be things like Vulcanites, Gods, and Land. There are other items available and more on the way as VulcanVerse is developing new assets that users can buy and exchange in the marketplace.
Vulcanites on VulcanVerse
VulcanVerse’s main creatures are Vulcanites. These beasts accompany each player on their journey through the VulcanVerse. Furthermore, each Vulcanite contains a level and an edition. The level denotes its skillset limit. The edition tells us how many of the particular Vulcanites will be available.
So, each Vulcanite is unique and has skills that can grow in power. Players can use their Vulcanites to forage for NFTs, fight other Vulcanites, defend their Land, or conduct spying missions on different plots of Land. There are a set number of Vulcanites at present, and more are in development.
VulcanVerse Gods — Titans and Olympians
The Gods inside VulcanVerse represent Greco-Roman mythology. They act as players’ companions moving with them across the ecosystem. They can also grant players blessings and abilities.
More specifically, Titans and Olympians are dynamic NFTs. “Dynamic” means changing their look and moving to higher levels are possible. Therefore, although Gods start as children at Level 1, they can level up as the player locks more PYR tokens into them.
For players to age their Titans or Olympians, they will have to spend some PYR in fees per upgrade. 50% of these fees will go into reward pools, but more on that later.
More About Titans and Olympians
Owning Titans and Olympians provides player benefits such as:
1. 10-70% discounts on marketplace fees. For example, if a player nurtures their child to God Mode, Level 7, they get a 70% discount.
2. 10-70% LAVA rewards based on gameplay earnings. For example, if a player earns 10 LAVA for winning a game, they would receive 17 LAVA if they had a Level 7 game item attached to their wallet. (More on LAVA below.)
3. Players can also earn 10-70% extra rewards from staking PYR. Let’s say that a player has a plot of Level 7 Land in the VulcanVerse. In addition, they have 1000 PYR staked. So, if they assign a Titan of the same level to their Land, they receive the same reward as if they staked 1700 PYR. However, they can only post one Titan or Olympian to each plot of Land. The exceptions to this rule are Zeus or Cronus.
4. Lastly, players who own a Titan or Olympian at Level 7 get access to Elysium, a heavenly island in the VulcanVerse. While players can’t purchase this Land, they can forage for exclusive NFTs and dig through PYR pits. Notably, it is the only area of the VulcanVerse where a player who doesn’t own Land can enter. The team has touted Elysium as “world-changing,” so it will be interesting to see how things transpire.
VulcanVerse Land
VulcanVerse has plots of Land for players to own, trade, and build on. Each plot of Land gets a unique NFT ID. With this ID, players get access to the Land in-game.
VulcanVerse divides these plots into four quadrants, with each quadrant displaying unique characteristics:
1. Gardens of Arcadia
2. Mountains of Boreas
3. Desert of Notus
4. The Underworld of Hades
These four quadrants meet In the center of the map, which is the location of Vulcan City.
Some excellent news for Landowners is they can modify and build whatever they want on each plot. Moreover, VulcanVerse offers tools to do so. Players can use each parcel to unlock more assets and earn passive income through PYR tokens.
VulcanVerse In-Game Items
Items are a separate category of NFTs. They will be available in-game and will grant players other abilities to help them succeed in the VulcanVerse.
Players can forage for these items and use the marketplace to buy and sell them. One example is the “Binding Spell of Typhon.” Collecting this item and others rewards the player with a Vulcanite or the “Winged Boots of Hermes.” This item also affords the player a speed bonus.
Vulcan Forged and PYR
Vulcan Forged uses PYR as its native ERC20 token. PYR has multiple uses, and players can use it throughout the VulcanVerse for things such as:
1. Staking
2. Gaming
3. Settlements
4. Buying assets in the marketplace
5. P2E benefits
6. Gaming pools
7. DeFi game launchpads
PYR is an interoperable utility token that players can use across different game environments. Those interested in earning the PYR token can sell NFTS, win tournaments, convert LAVA from playing games, and allocate their Land as a portal. PYR airdrops and other rewards will also be available.
For example, a player could earn rewards by winning a game. He could then purchase assets from the VulcanVerse with the PYR token rewards. Notably, 10% of every PYR transaction will go to the reward pools for distribution amongst ecosystem contributors. Hence, increased engagement on the platform will earn users more privileges.
Staking PYR on Vulcan Forged
Users receive privileges such as upgrades and access to exclusive functions when they lock up and stake PYR tokens. For example, each plot of Land in the VulcanVerse has seven levels. Further, users must lock up PYR to access and retain the higher levels. It’s at the higher levels where they will find better in-game benefits and receive greater PYR rewards from the staking pool.
Users who stake PYR receive earnings each month proportional to what they’ve contributed vs. what others have contributed. Note that these distributions will be separate from the LAVA pool rewards.
Vulcan Forged and Game Development Funding
Funding for third-party game developers will come from a liquidity pool with grants paid in PYR. The PYR tokens can also be used as rewards via loyalty points to promote new users.
Vulcan Forged Reward Pools
The Vulcan Foundation will initially fund two PYR reward pools with 10 million tokens. Additionally, it will release these tokens over 24 months into two pools.
1. The LAVA P2E Pool.
2. The Staking Pool.
Besides the Foundation’s funding, there are four other ways the pools will grow by exacting a percentage of fees.
1. 10% of the Vulcan Marketplace transaction fees.
2. 10% of fees for asset sales such as Vulcanites or Berserk cards.
3. 50% of upgrade fees for Land.
4. 10% of the prize pool and tournament fees from the Frenzy game.
Vulcan Forged LAVA and P2E
Vulcan Forged already has a variety of games to choose from and is growing. Albeit, game ecosystems must attract players to be successful. That’s where P2E comes in. It is proving to be a successful way to onboard new players and generate and sustain interest. To sum up, Vulcan Forged rewards its players with LAVA Crystals for playing and engaging with its hosted games.
As mentioned, 10% of the PYR supply will go to the LAVA P2E pool over 24 months. Each month, players will receive a percentage of the PYR supply in the P2E pool. Similarly, the amounts will be relative to the user’s LAVA tokens vs. the total amount of LAVA that all the users have earned.
Vulcan Forged How to Earn LAVA Crystals
Here are some of the ways to earn LAVA:
1. Win matches in a Vulcan Forged game such as Berserk, Block Babies, and others.
2. Engagement in the VulcanVerse measured in time played or distance covered.
3. Trade in the Vulcan Market Place regularly.
4. Upgrade Land, Titans, or Olympians
Users need LAVA to upgrade assets across the ecosystem or assign powers to various cards. Whether a player decides to HODL or spends their LAVA is their choice.
Vulcan Forged and Frenzy
Frenzy is Vulcan Forged’s gaming platform. It’s where users can stage tournaments for their game. Participants pay entry fees in PYR, and the winners will split the prize pool. In addition, the platform will allow games to activate “Frenzy Mode easily.”
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Vulcan Forged on Binance Smart Chain
Vulcan Forged wants its users to enjoy seamless and low-fee transactions for in-game purchases. It also has to contend with blockchain gaming spanning multiple chains with loyal and large communities. That’s why the team enabled PYR on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
By leveraging BSC, the team can expand their user base and grab a share of the GameFi opportunities outside Ethereum and Polygon. So, the Vulcan Forged marketplace will use BSC as an additional network for in-game transactions and NFT settlement fees. Since Vulcan Forged users automatically have a BSC wallet, they won’t have to jump through extra hoops to transact on BSC.
This move also opens up opportunities to collaborate with other projects already integrated on BSC. Such options include VulcanDex integrations and partnerships with other NFT and gaming projects. Most importantly, BSC transactions cost pennies, which contrasts with Ethereum. This price advantage will likely continue until Layer-2 solutions, and ETH 2.0 upgrades take shape.
Links for Vulcan Forged and the VulcanVerse
Now that you know more about this platform, here are some essential links for digging deeper into the VulcanVerse:
1. Purchase NFTs at Vulcan Forged
2. Marketplace
3. VulcanVerse
4. Explore Vulcanites
5. Vulcan Forged Assets Whitepaper
6. PYR Whitepaper
The Vulcan Forged Hack
Unfortunately, when the news broke on December 13th, people learned that hackers took Vulcan Forged for over 4.5 million PYR (approximately $140 million at the time). The attack sent the price of PYR tumbling about 30%.
The attackers broke into the Vulcan ecosystem through Venly, a semi-custodial wallet. They exploited the code on the Venly side, where they accessed the private keys of the affected wallets. Once hackers took control over the wallets, they could drain them of their PYR tokens and, unfortunately, whatever other assets they had.
The Vulcan Forged Treasury returned the PYR tokens and is also working to restore any stolen ETH, MATIC, or other tokens from the affected wallets. Vulcan’s team claims to know one of the hacker’s addresses tied to an exchange with KYC data. If that’s the case, we’ll probably see some bargaining for a bug bounty fee in exchange for the hacker(s) returning the funds. But time will tell.
The Future of Vulcan Forged and PYR
Even though the attack drained 148 wallets, Vulcan Forged has been making good on reimbursing the victims. Moreover, on the positive side, the team was quick to react, and they learned some valuable lessons from the hack. For one thing, CEO Jamie Thomson announced on Twitter (at time of writing) that VulcanForged will have a new wallet system shortly.
The hack set the team back, but many positive steps are in the works. Moving to a decentralized wallet system, building the Binance Smart Chain bridge, attracting users with new games, and providing new features will surely help Vulcan Forged grab a share of the exploding crypto gaming sector.
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Author: MindFrac
