Whitepaper

  1. Project Introduction

    1.1 The first fully on-chain NFT enabling P2E on Minecraft

    The Critterz NFT Project is the first fully on-chain NFT on the Ethereum blockchain to enable P2E on Minecraft. You can stake your Critterz to generate $BLOCKs in-game and use $BLOCKs to purchase Plots in Minecraft. Features of ownership include:

    • Fully on-chain NFTs that live on the Ethereum Blockchain forever.
    • Stake to access an exclusive Minecraft world.
    • Generate $BLOCK tokens by playing Minecraft.
    • Use $BLOCKs to claim Plots of land in Minecraft as ERC721 NFTs.
    • Trade Plots on secondary markets to expand your territory.
    • Rent out unused Critterz to other players to receive a share of their generated $BLOCKs.
  2. Fully on-chain Critterz NFTs

    2.1 4,096 Genesis supply

    Each Critterz NFT that you get is stored fully on-chain. This means that instead of relying on third-party servers like IPFS, your NFTs are stored directly on the Ethereum blockchain. This is important because for as long as the Ethereum network is up, your Critterz will never disappear.

    For each Critterz NFT, you’ll get a 64 by 64 pixel art that wraps around the 3D model of a Minecraft character. This pixel art is rendered as a 20 by 40 pixel art that showcases the frontal view (hat, head, body, pants) of the Critter.

    A 2D rendering for PFPs

    64 by 64 pixel art for 3D characters

    The frontal view is the image rendered on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea and can be used for profile pictures. Alternatively, you can also download the 64 by 64 image to use as your Minecraft character on the Critterz dashboard.

    2.2 Traits and types

    There are six total types of Critterz: Frog, Doge, Cat, Mouse, Ape, and Alien. Each of these Critterz have different placements for facial features, such as eyes or mouth. This means that traits are customized to the individual Critter type.

    Mouse

    Frog

    Doge

    Cat

    Ape

    Alien

    Each Critter also has a high chance of being spawned with outfits. As Critterz are full-body NFTs (as opposed to typical profile pictures that end at shoulder length), outfits include hats, shirts, and pants. There are more than 120 traits — no two Critterz are alike.

  3. Staking

    3.1 Mechanics to unlock

    Critterz NFTs need to be staked to unlock certain unique mechanics. You can access the Critterz dashboard after connecting your wallet to interact with these mechanics. The main mechanisms that staking unlocks are:

    • Access to the Critterz Minecraft world.
    • Generating $BLOCKs using in-game playtime.
    • Renting out unused staked Critterz to other players for a share of their $BLOCK generation.

    These mechanisms are only accessible when Critterz are staked. You will lose access to them if you unstake your Critterz. Luckily, we’ve created auto-staking mechanisms to save on gas fees for staking Critterz. Upon minting, users are given the option to either “Mint” or “Mint & stake”. The “Mint & stake” option will automatically mint and stake the Critterz in one transaction, which helps the users save on gas fees.

    Unique to this project, when users stake their Critterz, the Critterz isn"t just moved to the staking contract. Players who stake their Critterz are also provided with an sCritter (staked Critter) token. The sCritter token is used for many of the mechanics to be discussed in later sections.

    Staked Critterz will be shown holding steak.

  4. $BLOCK (ERC20) Tokens

    4.1 $BLOCK token generation

    $BLOCK tokens are ERC20 tokens that are generated with in-game activity in Minecraft and staked Critterz. To achieve this, we had to build a custom oracle to compute $BLOCKs generated based on playtime and bridge onto the Ethereum blockchain without incurring high gas fees for the player. $BLOCK generation is influenced by two factors: play time and # of staked Critterz.

    $BLOCK generation scales with play time and the number of Critterz staked.

    In this case, while owning multiple staked Critterz generates more $BLOCK tokens per minute played, the multiplier scales as a square root of staked Critterz. This helps level the playing field between players, no matter the number of staked Critterz owned. The equation for $BLOCK generation is:

    Loading Formula...

    $BLOCK generation also scales as a square root of playtime. This is also done for balancing purposes between players to prevent extended game sessions from dominating $BLOCK accumulation. The playtime calculation is reset every 24 hours at 00:00 UTC. This means that for the same playtime, you’ll generate more $BLOCK by spreading out your playtime over multiple days than by concentrating it in one day.

    4.2 $BLOCK claiming

    $BLOCK tokens are claimed on our $BLOCK claiming dashboard. Under the hood, a query is sent to the oracle to get the amount of $BLOCKs claimable along with a signature. This information is then used to claim $BLOCKs from the contract.

  5. The Critterz Minecraft World

    5.1 Joining the world

    Instructions for joining the Critterz Minecraft Server are in the Critterz dashboard. Upon joining the server, players are asked to type /verify in the chat and open the in-game link. The link will ask the player to connect to Metamask, after which their account will be connected.

    Anyone can access the server, but only players with at least one staked (and verified) Critterz can access the main world to start generating $BLOCK with in-game time. All players are required to have a legitimate version of Minecraft 1.18 Java Edition to play.

    5.2 Minecraft Server Gameplay

    The Minecraft server is a survival mode vanilla server on Java Edition 1.18. PvP is enabled but not encouraged. All players have access to a personal enderchest (/ec command) to store their items before accumulating enough $BLOCK for a Plot.

    Upon joining, players are placed in a lobby before they verify their wallets and staked Critterz with the /verify command. When players are verified, they are given the Critterz rank on the server and are instantly teleported to the main survival world.

    The main Spawn for the main survival world. There are a total of 9 spawns, including 8 secondary ones in different corners of the map.

    By default, players can modify (build/destroy) any blocks on Plots of land that aren’t already claimed by another player in the main survival world. This means that you’ll be able to gather resources on the first unclaimed Plot you see.

    As time goes on, more Plots closer to the main spawn will be claimed. Players can also teleport to different secondary spawns to access different parts of the map for unclaimed Plots. As soon as a Plot is claimed, nobody except for the owner of the Plot can modify it. More on Plots in later sections.

    5.3 Alternative ways of joining the Minecraft world

    Players without a staked Critter can still join the main Minecraft world. However, this comes with caveats in $BLOCK generation. The two alternative methods of joining without staked Critterz are:

    • Purchasing a Plot : If you purchased a Plot from a secondary marketplace, you can join the world (how else would you see your Plot?). You’re also able to gather resources and play the game on any unclaimed Plots. However, without a staked Critter, you will not be able to generate $BLOCK tokens. We currently have future plans to add generation of $BLOCK tokens with staked Plots, but this is not yet implemented.
    • Renting a Critter: You can also join the server without your own staked Critter by renting a staked Critter (more on this mechanism in the Renting section) from a secondary marketplace. In this case, you will receive 2/3rds of the $BLOCKs generated, while the remaining 1/3 goes to the owner of the Staked Critter. You will have access to the rented Critter at a minimum of 7 days, after which the owner of the Critterz can revoke your access.
  6. Plots of land (ERC721 tokens)

    6.1 Total Supply

    Plots are 64² blocks of land on the Critterz world. These plots are stored as ERC721 NFTs with fully on-chain provenance and metadata. There is a total supply of 62,500 Plots. For the Genesis Critterz collection, we will restrict the map size to 9,600², meaning that for the Genesis collection, there will only be a supply of 22,500 Plots.

    6.2 Plot cost formula

    In order to level the playing field across players, we employed a continuous function for Plot costs, in contrast to a stepping function typically employed by most NFT projects. The formula is as follows, where n is the number of Plots previously sold:

    Loading Formula...

    Plot costs increases exponentially with a continuous function. The first Plot costs 1,000 $BLOCK.

    The costs refer to Plot costs in $BLOCKs when minted. This does not reflect the Plot costs when purchased on secondary markets.

    6.3 Claiming Plots

    Plot claiming is done with $BLOCKs on the Critterz world map dApp. Players can select any plot of land on the dApp, sign the transaction on MetaMask, and mint the Plot of land using $BLOCKs. Minted Plots can be automatically staked so that they can be built upon. More on this in the next section.

    6.4 Building on Plots

    Plots need to be staked to be built upon. While Plots are staked, players will receive an sPlot (staked Plot) token. Only the owner of the sPlot can modify (build or destroy) any Minecraft blocks on the Plot.

    When a claimed Plot is unstaked, no one can modify the Plot. This is to prevent tampering in secondary listings of Plots, where Plots are unstaked before being listed.

    When Plots are minted with $BLOCK, they can be automatically staked, meaning that players will be able to immediately build on their Plots without needing to pay for additional gas fees for staking later. Plots purchased on secondary markets will need to be staked before building on them.

  7. Renting unused Critterz

    7.1 Mechanics with sCritter tokens (staked Critter)

    Critterz have to be staked to be rented out. When Critterz are staked, players will receive an sCritterz token. By default, the sCritterz tokens are used to generate $BLOCK from Minecraft gameplay. However, when players take breaks from Minecraft, these sCritterz can be listed on a secondary market to be rented out. Some important points to consider about renting:

    • When you stake a Critter NFT, you receive an sCritter (stake Critter) token in your Ethereum wallet.
    • By default, sCritterz are used for Minecraft gameplay (see $BLOCK token Generation), where more sCritterz help generate more $BLOCKs.
    • When an sCritter is rented out, it enters a 7 day staking time lock.
    • During the rental period, you get 1/3rd of the $BLOCKs generated by the renter, but you cannot unstake your Critterz.
    • If the renter sells their sCritterz to another player (sublease), the remaining time lock along with the profit sharing agreement is transferred.
    • When you transfer or sell an sCritter, the sCritter is automatically rented to another player.
    • After the rental expires, you can unstake your Critterz or revoke access from the renter to get your sCritterz back.

    $BLOCK generation with rented out Critterz is 33% of normal staked Critterz. However, $BLOCK is generated with other players' playtime.

  8. Vision

    The project was inspired by other fully on-chain projects such as Anonymice, Ether Orcs, Furballs, and many others. In particular, we were very excited by the idea of in-game currency (ERC-20 tokens) generated from a decentralized source: this enabled a proper play-to-earn environment where the players can actually capture the upside of playing the game, unlike in traditional games, where most upside is only captured by the game developers through microtransactions.

    Building on top of Anonymice, Ether Orcs, and Furballs, we wanted to make a gaming environment that players can fully immerse themselves in. Integrating Minecraft gameplay into the token generation was the first step to creating this experience. The goal is ultimately to create a metaversal experience in Minecraft: being able to live in the in-game universe and economy.

    Plot purchasing and ownership is also central to the play-to-earn model we developed: Critterz was made with the idea that players should own the parcels of land that they play on in multiplayer Minecraft: If players contribute to a world, then the player should have a direct stake for any improvements made to the world.


© 2022 The Critterz Development Team

The Critterz Development Team is in no way affiliated with, endorsed by, or a partner of Minecraft, Mojang, Microsoft, or any other related parties. Full disclaimer.

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