Written by: Hailstone Labs

Full-chain gaming (FOCG) has emerged as a new frontier in the blockchain gaming space, attracting the attention of researchers, developers, and investors with its compelling value propositions, such as composable modifications and smart contract-driven social contracts. wait. However, the technical implementation of FOCG presents a unique set of challenges that warrant further exploration of its promised benefits.

background

To understand the complexity of FOCG, you must first understand the concepts of game state, game ticks, and tick rates.

game state

• is a snapshot of all relevant information and data that describes the current state of the game at any given moment.

• It includes aspects such as the positions and properties of game objects, player scores, lives, game progress, and other variables that define the current state of the game.

• Game state is often updated and modified over time based on player input or other events.

game scale

• Also known as a frame or update, is a discrete unit of time used to measure game progress.

• Each game tick represents an iteration, or cycle, of the games main loop, during which game logic and physics calculations are performed.

• Each tick typically updates the game state based on current input, handles AI behavior, handles collisions, and performs other necessary calculations to advance the game.

scale rate

• is the frequency at which game ticks occur per second.

• It represents the number of times game logic and rendering are updated and refreshed in a second, usually measured in Hertz (Hz) or Frames Per Second (FPS).

• For example, a tick rate of 60 Hz means that the game logic is updated 60 times per second. A higher tick rate generally results in smoother gameplay and more responsive controls, but it also requires more computing resources.

Web 2.0 games

In Web 2.0 gaming mode, all game components including game state, logic and data are stored off-chain. It is managed locally by centralized servers with powerful computing and networking capabilities to handle real-time gameplay and synchronization.

Over the years, a combination of efficient game logic coding, hardware advancements, and optimization techniques have made the development of high-scale games possible.

Web 2.5 games

Web 2.5 games represent a more decentralized form of gaming by storing in-game assets on-chain. These games typically involve issuing ERC-20 game tokens and tokenizing in-game skins and other assets as NFTs. This solves the problem of asset ownership in traditional games, as players can own and trade these assets entirely on-chain.

However, the operation of game state, game ticks, and tick rates in Web 2.5 games is isomorphic to Web 2.0 games. One of the inherent structural and computational limitations of blockchain is the lack of native game scale. Therefore, computationally intensive components in Web 2.5 games are processed off-chain.

One of the problems in Web 2.0 and 2.5 games is the lack of transparency and censorship resistance. Game logic such as item rarity, drop rates, and true randomness are often not publicly disclosed and cannot be proven to be fair. Players must trust the claims and decisions made by game developers without being able to independently verify them. In addition, a centralized entity (such as a game studio) has the power to modify, review or control the game, and retains the final decision-making authority for the termination of the game, which can be technically enforced at any time or when necessary.

Full chain game

Full-chain gaming involves storing the entire game logic, state, and data on-chain. Blockchain is used as a decentralized game server where players can participate and contribute to a shared game state without trust.

Client-agnostic full-chain games can be built with multiple front-end operators, all interacting with the same game logic. This approach is similar toLiquity’s decentralized front-end, the same game logic can be presented with different aesthetics and user interface elements. Third-party developers can build mods that monetize by creating NFT characters or using ERC-20 that interact with the underlying game logic.

By placing game assets, game state, and loops on a trusted, neutral blockchain, censorship and platform risks are mitigated. This enables on-chain games to scale safely, especially those with high stakes.

However, as mentioned above, the lack of native gaming scale on the blockchain is an important limitation. All blockchains have block confirmation times, which introduces latency issues. Depending on the blockchain, the time it takes for a transaction to be verified and included in a block can range from seconds to minutes. Therefore, early full-chain games were blockchain-based games with asynchronous game elements, such as turn-based trading card games.

For other game types, such as real-time strategy games that run simultaneously with immediate or near-instant feedback, scaling solutions are required. Here are some examples:

• Argus World Engine- This is a sharded Layer 2 blockchain SDK with game shards similar to high-performance game servers, specifically designed to handle in-game calculations. This is achieved by decoupling game execution (game sharding) from smart contract execution (EVM sharding). Their first game sharding implementation, Cardinal, enables higher tick rates, 20 blocks per second, and can be integrated directly with existing game engines such as Unity.

• Curio Research- Built a custom tick chain implementation on top of the OP stack (using Caldera as RaaS). This is a high-throughput ECS-based game engine that can support their upcoming real-time strategy game.

• Dojo- This is a verifiable game engine built on Starknet that can run game sessions off-chain, reducing the need to record each players actions on-chain. Instead, proofs can be generated at specific intervals to verify the correctness of previous actions within that interval, and these proofs are processed off-chain.

Finally, for games with incomplete information, such as games with features such as fog of war, effectively implementing zero-knowledge proofs (such as Dark Forest using zk-SNARKs) is also the key to establishing a complete chain and ensuring fairness.

FOCGs Commitment

Composable Modding

We are currently witnessing a new era in gaming where players expect to be able to personalize, modify and seamlessly integrate their identities into games, which requires a level of customization that can only be achieved through UGC or modding. The popularity of mods in Web 2.0 games like Minecraft and Roblox is an example of this trend.

Roblox’s Modding Ecosystem

Within these games, a new category of players has emerged: modders, who actively contribute to the growing mod library and ecosystem. In Roblox, modders can earn revenue for their content in the form of Robux through Game Pass and/or in-game purchases. The rewards from building and operating a successful mod can rival those from developing an independent game. Uplift Games, an independent studio represented by Adopt Me!, employs about 40 people and generates $60 million in revenue annually.

Roblox Flywheel

This dynamic creates a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop with significant network effects. As modders continue to create new games and content, players become more immersed, and new users are attracted through social networks. As the player base expands, mod incentives and feedback systems encourage more players to become modders. The symbiotic relationship between modders and players, coupled with intuitive development tools, has fueled the rise of unique virtual worlds, experiences, and communities within a single game.

However, mods in traditional games often exist in isolation, lacking a common framework for meaningful interaction. While this may be intentional, new input and contributions from modders often remain confined to isolated virtual worlds. Even when cross-mod interaction does occur, the impact on gameplay is often minimal, such as using the same appearance between different mods (called allowed gear in Roblox).

The potential for composable modding is an important value proposition of FOCG. The upcoming FOCG project has taken various approaches to building out its technology stack, but a common approach is to allow third-party developers to interact directly with game logic via smart contracts, allowing them to:

• Create new mods (with mod-specific token economy)

• Expand the functionality of the game and mods by adding new items, characters, and maps

On-chain composability Modding ecosystem

It is conceivable that if the Mod A community introduces a new resource, it should be directly compatible with the world of Mod B, allowing players there to farm, harvest, and trade that resource.

This motivates modders to consider not just a single mod, but all related mods when designing new features. Composable modding expands the potential for making money and spreading best practices. However, in order to achieve such on-chain composable modding and ensure a consistent gaming experience, modders may need to operate within a limited design space compared to traditional games.

Smart contracts as social contracts

In traditional gaming, players, teams, and guilds rely on informal and unenforceable agreements to interact beyond predetermined game mechanics. There are some limitations to this approach, especially in higher-stakes games where violating the protocol can have significant consequences.

In 2014, there was aBR 5 RB bloody battle” large-scale battle involving thousands of Eve Online players. Before the battle, informal agreements and treaties were made between the alliances to fight together against a common enemy. However, during the battle, one alliance unexpectedly betrayed its allies and reneged on its agreement, resulting in a loss of over $300,000 in game assets.

The treaty explored by Curio Research highlights the huge potential of smart contracts to facilitate complex social interactions between players or teams. by likeTreatiesSuch game-specific smart contracts can formalize agreements between players and enforce trust when predetermined conditions are met.

CurioTreaty

Treaties have many meanings. It could be a NATO-like agreement where, after joining and paying your dues, you are prohibited from attacking other committee members. It could be a national bank that issues tokens backed by USDC, forcing trading partners who sign the agreement to strictly use your national currency the next time they exchange in an in-game AMM. —Kevin Z of Curio.

The customizability and modularity of these in-game smart contracts can extend social dynamics beyond the game and allow direct interaction with other on-chain ecosystems such as DeFi protocols.

Barriers to FOCG

There is no doubt that FOCG has the potential to implement innovative modding models and social interactions on the chain. However, when we look more closely at these commitments, a series of questions emerge.

technical limitations

In addition to the lack of native on-chain game scaling, there are various technical limitations to consider:

• High gas costs and low TPS - bottlenecks on most mainnet chains make it challenging to support synchronous gaming and concurrent gaming sessions/instances.

• Vulnerability of on-chain randomness - Validators can see the results of randomness before it is confirmed on-chain, leaving room for manipulation (VRF/ZKP solution required).

• Machine Cheating - Decentralized gaming entities have limited methods to regulate and enforce anti-cheat measures. Bots can interact with the game just like human players, without any inherent limitations.

• The user interface and user experience are not intuitive for Web 2 gamers - using dApps often requires creating wallets, signing transactions, bridging assets, etc. It’s important to simplify this process (i.e. wallet account abstraction) to maximize the potential for non-crypto-native gamers to get started.

• Security - When FOCG has assets with real value that can interact with DeFi, exploiting vulnerabilities becomes irreversible and may have permanent effects on the entire FOCG ecosystem.

2. The cost of composability

The promise of composable modding introduces certain trade-offs, especially when we consider that on-chain implementation may hinder the factors that made modding desirable and successful in the first place.

for players

Successful Roblox mods like Jailbreak, Arsenal, and Adopt Me! It has amassed a huge following, with a total of over 40 billion visits. Each mod provides unique game mechanics, rules, environments, and in-game assets:

• Jailbreak immerses players in prison breaks and police chases.

• Arsenal provides an FPS experience similar to Call of Duty.

• Adopt me! It revolves around the adoption and care of virtual pets.

From a players perspective, the appeal of these mods lies primarily in their unique gameplay mechanics, storytelling, and thematic elements. Players can compare playing Roblox to logging into Steam, as both offer a diverse range of game types and experiences for players to explore.

The community has tried to make the mod more interactive, for example in Pixelmon Modpack”, you can download a set of pre-configured Minecraft mods. However, these mods are still isolated from other modpacks and run on local servers. However, current player demand for such interactive mods does not appear to be high, and this is reflected in the lack of official frameworks for games in the main modding ecosystem.

For Modders

Physics and game balance

In a permissionless modding ecosystem, achieving composability requires careful consideration of game physics and game balance, which are critical to ensuring a fair and enjoyable gaming experience.

In traditional games, modders are free to modify game physics according to their desired game mechanics, because the mods they create dont necessarily need to interact with other mods. For example, there are some basic physics principles in the game world of Roblox, but each mod has the flexibility to define and implement its own physics rules. Jailbreak has specific physics rules related to vehicle handling and collisions, while Adopt Me! There are unique physics systems related to pet movement. Its because of this flexibility that Roblox can attract and accommodate modders with expertise in various genres, such as FPS, horror, and casual games.

For mods to be truly composable, game physics need to be consistent across all mods. As new items, economies, and systems are added to the game without permission, there is an additional inflexibility that comes with thinking about game balance. For example, FOCG requires precise calculations and framework design to prevent new characters or strategies from becoming too powerful. Additionally, updating new inputs across the entire technology stack, including the front-end and associated contracts, requires complex coordination.

One can imagine that fully composable modules would create confusion in this regard and limit new inputs to mere aesthetic changes, rather than allowing inputs that affect the outcome of the game. Such uniformity may hinder modder diversity and lead to a homogeneous modding ecosystem.

A permissioned modding ecosystem could alleviate some of these issues, but this would be inconsistent with what FOCG should insist onautonomous worldcontradict the basic principles.

Type-specific game logic and infrastructure

Different types of games require different refresh rates, making it impossible to build new mods for types of games that rely on higher refresh rates than the FOCG infrastructure can currently support.

As a result, most upcoming FOCGs will focus on initially building the infrastructure for a specific game to meet its scale needs before trying to make it more general.

There is a clear pattern among these teams - almost all of them are focused on building infrastructure to support strategy games (such as Dark Forest, Treaties, Primodium, etc.). On the one hand, policy types are relatively easy to implement and can fully benefit from fully on-chain features through instances like Treaties. On the other hand, certain types of technology stacks may limit the diversity of players and modders, thereby reducing the full potential of composable modding.

Should the game be fully on-chain?

In an ideal scenario, FOCGs value proposition, such as composable modding, would be extremely valuable to both players and modders, and traditional game studios could benefit from incorporating these elements into their off-chain or hybrid systems. without being bound by design space limitations.

For example, in-game assets can be incarnated as NFTs and combined with smart contracts to implement executable social contracts. Meanwhile, the remaining components can run off-chain, including a modding ecosystem redesigned with appropriate frameworks to ensure composability.

Reasons for FOCG

While this scenario is certainly possible, Im keeping an open mind that FOCG may surpass these hybrid games in certain areas. I believe that the most competitive cases for FOCG are high-risk games driven by player groups, who require not only in-game assets and credentials, but also the entire game logic to be put on the chain.

To illustrate this point, take the closing of Marvel Heroes. It is a free online action role-playing game featuring characters from the Marvel Universe. In November 2017, the game suddenly announced its closure, triggering a wave of requests for refunds. However, due to a clever legal technicality, consumers find themselves with neither clear rights to compensation nor access to purchased in-game assets.

You agree that Gazillion and any of its affiliates, licensors, agents or employees shall have no liability to you or any third party, whether due to any modification, addition, suspension or discontinuation of use of the System, or the termination of any license. Gazillion reserves the right, at its discretion, to delete or purge any of your Content when it exceeds a predetermined time limit and/or quantity, or when the system or any component thereof requires maintenance or upgrades. @GIBiz

Simply putting assets on-chain does not completely solve the problem of malicious exits from game studios, as game state and progress will still be lost, making these assets useless within the game. Furthermore, in this case, the studio is under no obligation to open source the game. FOCG can solve this problem.

Provable fairness can be related to in-game mechanics and outcomes. Imagine a group of players participating in a battle against a common enemy. The one with the highest damage output will have a chance to receive a high-value item drop. Or imagine a 4X real-time strategy game where spawn locations and resource proximity are random.

In these scenarios, FOCG can guarantee that the outcome or randomness of the battle is provably fair. This trustless environment not only benefits players, but can also be extended to new forms of “players,” including speculators who bet on game outcomes through smart contracts. Ensuring unmanipulated game outcomes and permanence (as game state and logic can be forked) will allow high-stakes gaming ecosystems to truly scale without any platform risk.

I believe there are other elements that need to be further explored and reconciled. Im expecting to see the following:

• Further explore true randomness that cannot be tampered with by miners, oracle operators, or other players. Any possibility of early trading or observing results before they are confirmed on-chain needs to be mitigated.

• The utility of on-chain randomness. If not, off-chain randomness solutions need to be accelerated and scaled.

• Architectural optimizations to better support concurrent game sessions/instances without sacrificing composability.

• Game mechanics and social dynamics can interact directly with adjacent on-chain ecosystems. High-risk FOCG internal or derived economic systems will greatly benefit from composability with DeFi functionality.

• Better align player and modder incentives. As the lines between developers and players become increasingly blurred, new business models may emerge, similar to the widespread use of free-to-play models in mobile games.

• Decentralized game balance governance structure to accommodate permissionless modding.

Im full of hope that games built entirely on-chain will generate new primitives, enabling a new paradigm of gaming that takes advantage of all the advantages blockchain offers, not just some.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Erik Lie, Richard Yuen, Jonathan Yuen, Adrian Chow, and Harry Lam for their help. Special thanks to my brother Nathan, who is a Roblox enthusiast and answered all my questions about the game.

References

https://blog.chain.link/blockchain-gaming/

https://blog.zkga.me/announcing-darkforest

https://book.dojoengine.org/index.html

https://blog.argus.gg/world-engine/

https://blog.curio.gg/introducing-treaty/

https://blog.curio.gg/how-we-built-this-treaty-technical-overview/

https://www.paradigm.xyz/2023/08/onchain-games

https://daposto.medium.com/game-networking-2-time-tick-clock-synchronisation-9a0e76101fe5

https://daposto.medium.com/game-networking-3-rtt-ping-latency-lag-679b73b274ae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TEtOpwO0LY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7V830zndoA

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gazillion-entertainment-has-officially-shut-down

[Disclaimer] There are risks in the market, so investment needs to be cautious. This article does not constitute investment advice and users should consider whether any opinions, views or conclusions contained in this article are appropriate for their particular circumstances. Invest accordingly and do so at your own risk.