GangstaBet: A Digital Collectible Project
Project Category: NFT Digital Collectible
GangstaBet:
We propose to build one of the first digital collectibles on the ICON blockchain similar to CryptoPunks, Hashmasks, Polkamon & Chubbies on the Ethereum blockchain, and Project Nebula on the ICON blockchain. Our vision is to create an ever-lasting digital collectible through in-built tokenomics and game mechanics.
GangstaBet is a collection of 5000 unique digital collectibles where people can participate to evolve their characters for eventual permanence on the blockchain. It takes a unique approach to distribute GangstaBetToken ($GBET) to its holders on a daily basis. The supply of the tokens will decrease periodically through a halving, and the distribution will stop after exactly 9 years. $GBET can be used to change the name and skills of the characters. Increasing the skills will level up the character and make them more valuable in the collectible ecosystem.
Our inspiration for the project is ICONBet (the most popular DApp in ICON), Hashmasks (the first digital collectible with name changing token), and Gangster movie films. We combined all of their concepts to create an engaging & participatory digital collective, which can stand out & be an exemplary NFT project in the ICON community.
NFTs & ICON:
There was a huge uptick in the adoption of NFTs in 2020. The market capitalization of NFTs saw a steep increase in 2020 with $338m compared to just $141m in the previous year. The number of wallets that interacted with NFT smart contracts also increased by 97.09% (222,179) compared to 2019 (112,731). The trend has continued into 2021, and this is the right time to create a unique NFT project in ICON.
With low transaction fees, faster block time & a robust ecosystem, we strongly feel that GangstaBet will increase interest in ICON and grow the community, educate people about ICON, and kickstart NFT growth. GangstaBet has the potential to set a precedent in the ICON system and could be the beginning of many projects in the ICON space.
Additionally, with upcoming NFT marketplaces like Craft Network and NFT Bazaar, it is the right time to create a lot of buzz in the NFT space. We are optimistic that GangstaBet can get more eyes on the ICON blockchain.
Storyline:
GangstaBet was inspired by the classic gangster movies from the 90s, entailing a constant battle between gangsters and detectives. Each character tells a unique story about their life as they try to climb to the helm. From a casino worker to a mob boss, or a junior detective to a chief constable, GangstaBet writes their entire journey on the blockchain.
Each character is unique with varying teams, classes and appearances. These are extrinsic properties that will make them valuable based on their rarity. Characters will either become gangsters or detectives. Within each group, there will be a variety of classes with a specific skill. For example, gangsters are assigned a class like The Pokerstar, The Marksman, The Rumrunner, and Detectives are assigned classes like The Commander, The Brains, and The Brute. Their rarity will vary too.
Each class will have five skills, with three skills as core to the type of GangstaBet (Gangster or Detective) and the other two will be determined by the class. For example, The Pokerstar will have the skills of racketeering, shooting, gambling, intelligence and strategy. In addition, every GangstaBet’s appearance will vary greatly. Characters may be female, male, have red hair, a suit, trench coat, drinking a beer or shooting a gun! As well, the background of every character will be different. Some characters may have a background of a specific color, some may have a playing card and others could have a martini! All of these features will vary in rarity.
Unlike other collectibles, buyers have full ownership and control over their GangstaBet’s evolution. The skills of a GangstaBet can be increased by burning $GBET. As you increase your character’s skills, you will move up the ranks within the world of gangsters and detectives, with the ultimate goal of becoming a global mob leader or chief constable. As you move up the ranks as a gangster or detective, it will become increasingly difficult to reach the top of the game. In addition, buyers will be able to change the name of their GangstaBet. The names of every GangstaBet will be unique, which means that no two characters can ever share the same name.
As the supply of $GBET decreases over time, changing the name and skills will become a scarce commodity. This intrinsic rarity is crucial as GangstaBets with higher levels will start becoming more valuable. This will influence how the characters will evolve in 2030.
How will it work?
GangstaBets are created as ICON’s Non-Fungible Token (NFT) standard, IRC-3 (similar to Ethereum’s ERC721). Each character is an animated GIF, and stored in either IPFS or Arweave network. They ensure that the images are permanently stored in the blockchain, and there is no single point of failure to map the images to the metadata. We will make sure that GangstaBet will continue to remain in existence forever without our presence.
All the characters will be generated programmatically but won’t be indexed. During the pre-sale, you will not know which character you will be receiving. As a matter of fact, no one can know or predict the sequence before the pre-sale ends. The sequence is determined by an on-chain algorithm, which is triggered after the pre-sale date or when all the collectibles are purchased. This mechanism ensures that the distribution is completely fair and transparent.
During the genesis of the characters (on-chain), a class is randomly assigned to them based on a probability algorithm. The properties of the character are assigned based on the class. The name will be empty and the skills will be minimal at the start. Only the owner of the GangstaBet will be able to increase its skills. During pre-sale, we will provide enough $GBET to change their name & increase their skills up to around 25%. If the characters are sold after the pre-sale, the available $GBET can increase the skills only up to around 15%.
GangstaBet Token ($GBET):
GangstaBet Token ($GBET) is the native token in GangstaBet. It is based on the IRC-2 standard in ICON (similar to ERC20 in Ethereum). The primary utility of $GBET is to change the name & to increase the skills of your character.
The smart contract (SCORE) distributes 12 $GBET daily to all the holders of GangstaBets. After every three years, the distribution is halved until the supply of $GBET stops completely.
No $GBET will ever be minted except the ones given to the participants during the initial sales and the daily distribution. Hence, GangstaBet won’t have a marketplace to buy additional $GBET. You will have to wait for the smart contract to distribute the tokens in your wallet, or $GBET to be listed in ICON DEX like Balance, IconPool or Unifi. This ensures that the value of token is determined by the market, not controlled by the creators.
Why ICON?
ICON has several advantages over other blockchain which encouraged us to launch GangstaBet. Most importantly, low transaction fees, faster block time & an inclusive community. Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP), which allows multi-chain asset transfer, is something we are extremely excited about.
We spoke with multiple P-Reps, who were quite excited about GangstaBet. This also provided us with confidence to execute this project well in the ICON blockchain.
Deliverables:
We plan to launch the pre-sale of NFTs by the third week of May. In the last two weeks, we will have a massive marketing drive to reach out to members from other blockchain (Ethereum, Enjin & Matic).
The deliverables would be a website explaining about GangstaBet, Tokenomics, ICON & ICX, Gallery, Leaderboard, Marketplace & Wallet. You will be able to claim your $GBET, buy or sell your GangstaBet, use the token to increase the skills and change the name of your character, view your NFTs, see a list of all the minted NFTs and many more.
Project Milestones:
First Milestone (1 month):
- Complete development of SCORE
- Complete design & development of website (Leaderboard, Gallery, Wallet, FAQs etc.)
- Complete graphics & art
Second Milestone (1 month):
- Complete backend services for the web app & store NFT images
- Autogeneration of art
- Integration & testing
- Marketing & outreach
- Pre-sale and full release
Future Enhancements:
After the initial launch, we will focus on implementing teams within GangstaBet. A highly skilled Gangster or Detective can create a team (mob family or police unit). Other characters can join the teams to be a force to reckon with. We have not finalized the mechanics of the teams yet, but we plan to do that after the proposal submission.
Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP) is huge, and we will keep an eye on it’s development to implement a cross-chain asset transfer of GangstaBet to other chains.
We will regularly update the community with new updates through our social channels. In addition, we will also be taking input from the community for possible future projects.
Funding Amount Requested:
We are requesting funding for the initial development, design, artwork and marketing. The funds will be used to hire developers to write the smart contracts, design & development of the website, commission artists for their artwork, marketing the project on various social media channels and other miscellaneous expenses.
12,000 ICX broken down into the following:
3500 ICX - SCORE development for the creation of contracts
1500 ICX - Backend development
2500 ICX - Commission for artists to create body parts (includes generation)
3000 ICX - High fidelity designs & front-end development
1200 ICX - Marketing collaterals and blog posts
300 ICX - Misc expenses like admin, domain etc.
Team:
GangstaBet is a collaborative project between artists & developers from across the globe. The core team has experience building NFT projects in Ethereum blockchain, and we would like to take that to the next level with GangstaBet.
Any feedback from the community is highly appreciate. Thank you!