Let’s move Nouns into the boutique degen indie game market with the world’s first interactive political cartoon!
Edward J. Gumsterfeld Saves the World (EJGSTW) is an interactive political cartoon [read: puzzle game] that will eventually grow into its own degen metaverse and serve as a perpetual onboarding mechanism for Nouns, reaching beyond web3 into web2.
**Click the triangle for Proof of Concept Vids & Screenshots!**
https://link.storjshare.io/jxrkzksm3d7oyj44uqouuforiysa/edward.j.gumsterfeld%2FGameplay.mov
https://link.storjshare.io/jxunir7gmricoa63ps4v5nnoit2q/edward.j.gumsterfeld%2FIntro.mov
https://link.storjshare.io/jv4psekjiuwrvj355hxb2vm2k7za/edward.j.gumsterfeld%2FTitle.mov
Gameplay & Nouns Community Building ⌐◨-◨ ⌐◨-◨ ⌐◨-◨
EJGSTW is a puzzle game that will incorporate Nounish rewards into gameplay and eventually call on the Nouns community for level design. There will also be Nouns NPC characters who will move the plot forward and Nouns lore built into the game as easter eggs. Nouns businesses on the street (how would you like to walk into the EJGSTW version of nounsounds.wtf, make a beat, and have that beat serve as the new background music for the level?); noggles as power ups — Nouns everywhere!
Nounish rewards? What do you mean?
We’re blending puzzle games with web3 to onboard new users! Remember your favorite Metroidvania game where the item drops just added to your score? Well imagine GnarsDAO or LilNouns NFTs as the item drops in EJGSTW!
Call on the Nouns community for level design? Whatsoever do you mean?
In EJGSTW, each new scenario is based on a current event, hence the tag of “interactive political cartoon.” After we do 5 proof of concept levels to get the community used to the game, the community will decide the scenario for level 6, 7, 8, and so on!
For instance, if the community wants to make Edward a playable character in the SBF trial, that’s the scenario we cook up, so you can save the world!
We also hope to work with @SuperTightWoody to supply our soundtrack as stems for nounsounds.wtf.
Who Are We?
A team of 10 that has built dApps in partnership with Microsoft and Dapper Labs.
Team:
https://tmtlabs.xyz — Smart contracts, blockchain integration
https://staqo.com — Full stack devs
https://twitter.com/mantisunbranded — AV
https://twitter.com/tanujdamani — PM
Timeline:
60 days — completion of 5 introductory levels; beta testing
90 days — web3 integration, nounsounds.wtf integration, website rollout
120, 150, 180, 210… — at least one new level per month, perpetual marketing campaign, seek outside funding to grow into a new Nouns metaverse
I personally have 10+ years of pro experience as a creative; the team as a whole has more than a century of XP and count Riot Games, Activision, Verizon, Discover, Twitch, Amazon and Nike as clients!
So what makes this game special?
- I guarantee a wholly unique, very Nounish, 100% degen play experience you’ve never seen anywhere else!
- I have a passion for hand drawn art. I will never go pixel or AAA for this studio; everything will be hand drawn.
- The interactivity in choosing the scenarios is a new feature that will provide ongoing entertainment for the community. Nouns will be a part of the most important news in crypto, in real time!
- The ability to earn Nouns related NFTs through play provides a perpetual onboarding bridge into the Nouns ecosystem without causing the DAO an ongoing expense.
- I have access to a different audience from anyone else in web3 — underserved colleges in the US — and will begin connecting this audience to the Nouns ecosystem starting with this game.
Marketing
There are several ways to effectively market EJGSTW without undue cost to the DAO. Within the ask, we will perform:
There’s a few ways we plan to market the game including:
-
Social Media Optimization: Although EJGSTW will be steeped in Nouns lore and easter eggs, it is a game that all web3 audiences can enjoy. We plan to optimize social media posts, engage the podcast circuit, and lead Twitter Spaces to consistently bring in new players.
-
App Store Optimization (ASO): We will localize content and perform app store optimizations to bring in players from around the world, even those who don’t know anything about web3.
-
Web page: The website will not only teach people about EJGSTW, but also about the web3 culture surrounding it. The website will include links to download from the app stores as well as links to other Nouns projects like nounsounds that we are building on top of.
-
Our web2 infrastructure: We have unique placement with colleges and industry leading sponsors like Amazon, Twitch, Nike, Verizon, Riot Games, Discover, Microsoft and Comcast through our investment in Cxmmunity, a web2 gaming company. We will use these resources and our connections to 300,000 students at 50+ US colleges to help bridge the gap between web2 and web3 using EJGSTW. This is also a sponsor network we can tap for future funding rounds to grow the game and help NounsDAO manage its risk.
The Ask
9 ETH.
Funds Breakdown:
1.5 ETH — smart contract integration
1.5 ETH — subscription dependencies (game engine, plugins)
2 ETH — App Store Optimization and Social Media Optimization
5 ETH — Create yield farm to perpetually buy GnarsDAO and LilNouns NFTs for item drops in-game
0 ETH — All voice acting, music, art design, game design and game logic is a labor of love — free for Nouns!
Funding will last perpetually, because the yield farm will also cover odds and ends as we produce new levels for the game every month.
Proof of concept is complete (see “Click the triangle for Proof of Concept Vids & Screenshots!” above and click the arrow if you haven’t already). We’re hoping to start integration with Nouns by January 2023.
Now onchain as LilNouns Prop 86!