Dom Hofmann, a co-founder of OG video-sharing app Vine, is launching an NFT Project that combines gaming and arcade-style video games. Hofmann is currently promoting it as Supdrive which he describes as an “on-chain fantasy game console.”
Dom Hofmann hopes to recreate his success in Vine to his new NFT Project. Credit: Yahoo
At its peak in 2015, Vine had over 200 Million users. Vine closed down in 2016 but Hofmann released an updated version of it last year called“Byte.” Like its predecessor, it is a social networking short-form video hosting service. The long-term goal of every NFT project is mainstream adoption, something that Hofmann was able to accomplish with Vine, so the space is keeping an eye out for what he has to offer.
Let’s talk about Hofmann’s NFT Project.
Dom Hofmann: From Being Vine’s Co-Founder to Launching NFT Project Supdrive
Hofmann announced his new project on Twitter. He described it as a video game console that plays classic-style games with NFTs acting as a sort of virtual cartridge. He cited Pacman and asteroid as examples. There were a lot of questions because the descriptions didn’t really give away much information. So Hofmann created a Discord chat specifically for the game.
Supdrive is an on-chain fantasy game console. Credit: Twitter (@Supdrive)
Basically, each game is an NFT running on virtual firmware. Given that games will be released as NFTs, there will be limited copies available. The owners of the NFT games will each have their own color scheme, difficulty settings, and other unique features.
To illustrate it better, Hofmann compared the project to Art Blocks, a platform focused on curating programmable generative artworks. The programs will always create the same art for a given seed, but changing the seed changes the look of the art. Then, people buy NFTs for an Art Block project, which will contain a seed, letting them generate that art. In the same vein, Supdrive as an on-chain console, will programmatically run and play unique games.
How about the tech and commercial side?
SupDrive will be community-driven which means those involved with the console and NFTs will develop the games. The console can only support old-school arcade-style games but he plans to upgrade its abilities so it can host more advanced games.
He shared that he already created the first game for the console called Origin. This metagame is inspired by Pokemon. Users split into red, green, and blue teams. The team one is on could influence the game that the user plays – or at least that’ the intent in the future.
Gaming and NFTs
NFT Gaming has proven its resiliency and independence from the volatile crypto market. Despite the marketwide crypto crash in May, NFT gaming projects continued to grow. Play-to-earn game Axie Infinity made history when it became the first NFT game to cross the one billion mark in terms of Sales Volume. Meanwhile, play-to-earn gaming guild Yield Guild Games (YGG) just announced a $4.5 investment from Andreessen Horowitz. The legendary investor previously funded projects like Facebook, Coinbase, GitHub and AirBNB.
According to Accenture Report, the global gaming market already exceeded $300 Billion because more than 2.5 Billion people worldwide play games. As of 2020, layers spent around $4.5 Billion on games. Before the rise of play-to-earn and NFTs, none of that amount went back to the players. So understandably, there’s a mad dash to participate in the new gaming trend.
One thing’s for sure, Hofmann is coming in at a good time. He is moving in fast and plans to release SupDrive by October. You can join the Discord channel for more information.
