Introduction

What is not Incarnation?

Incarnation is not a play-to-earn game, and we're not looking to create the next meticulously packaged Ponzi scheme. In Incarnation, you won't find complex token economies or seemingly enticing reward mechanisms, so you can save your time and energy from deciphering earning models. Our goal is to return to the essence of gaming, where playing is for entertainment and creativity.

What is Incarnation?

Incarnation is the first community-built fully onchain trading card game in the Web3 space. Unlike traditional Web3 games that focus on earning, asset ownership, and economic models, we're exploring the true spirit of Web3: decentralization.

Incarnation is a first attempt at developing and operating a game in a decentralized manner. Our understanding of decentralization is permissionless participation, which is not new in the gaming industry and we call it MODs. MOD communities have greatly enriched the original content of games, with some even evolving into entirely new gaming experiences.

Take Minecraft, for example. The Minecraft MOD community has created countless MODs, introducing new game mechanics, dimensions, and quests. These MODs have extended the game's lifespan, introduced innovation and engaging content, and contributed to Minecraft's enduring popularity.

Another example is The Elder Scrolls series, particularly The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Skyrim MOD community has created a vast array of MODs, improving graphics, introducing new quests, and even completely reshaping the game's mechanics. Some MODs have become so popular and comprehensive that they essentially create a new game within Skyrim, such as the Enderal MOD.

These examples demonstrate that this transformation is not just about content updates; it's a redefinition of the game's ecosystem, making players the main creators, contributors, and decision-makers in the game's development and operation. In this process, changes in production relations drive continuous improvements in production, making the game's possibilities even more expansive. Therefore, we view decentralization as a force that drives innovation and development, and Incarnation was born under this philosophy, aiming to create a game world full of infinite possibilities for players.

We are committed to building an ecosystem that transcends the game itself, where players become creators, contributors, and decision-makers. We believe that this new gaming experience will bring us and our players unprecedented excitement and challenges. The road ahead is full of unknowns, but we will embark on this adventure together. Join us, and let's rewrite the history of gaming.

Why did we choose to develop a trading card game?

First and foremost, we are long-time fans of trading card games (TCGs), having started with physical card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! since childhood. We still own some rare Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards today. Additionally, we are avid players of digital trading card games such as Magic, Hearthstone, Gwent, and Legends of Runeterra. We believe that the diverse gameplay and social aspects of trading card games have contributed to their enduring popularity. Card games also involve strategic thinking, collecting, trading, and competition, making them a perfect match for integration with blockchain technology. Our team members have been deeply involved in this field for over 5 years, giving us a clear understanding of the current state and potential of this game genre.

What innovations have we made?

As long-time players of card games, we are aware of the issues that traditional card games face. For example, traditional game developers often introduce new cards into the game to generate profits, and these new cards are often more powerful than existing ones to attract players to purchase them. This creates a serious problem as the introduction of new cards can disrupt the balance of the existing game environment. In response, designers often adjust or even remove old cards, which can be a significant blow to players who have grown attached to them. Furthermore, the increasing number of cards can be a daunting challenge for new players entering the game.

To address these long-standing pain points in the gaming industry, we plan to implement the following solutions:

Decentralized Card Creation

We will empower every player to create new cards based on their understanding of the game. Each new card is a fair asset issuance, representing the player's understanding of the game and their influence within the community. This approach allows players to express their creativity and contribute to the game's ecosystem while also benefiting from their efforts.

Modular Card System

To facilitate player creativity, we have modularized the design of each card from the start. The card's art, stats, and mechanics are separate modules. This allows players with different skills to collaborate on creating a card. For example, artistically inclined players can create the card's artwork, strategy-minded players can design the card's mechanics and stats, and players with programming skills can help write smart contracts to implement the card.

Card Pool and Self-Balancing

Of course, if every player-designed card were to enter the game, it would be disastrous. Imagine a powerful card that many players would need, disrupting the normal gaming experience and requiring a fair and reasonable gaming environment. To address this, we will introduce the concept of card pools, which act as a whitelist for cards. We will maintain several official card pools, such as tournament card pools, ranked card pools, and testing card pools. These card pools will have a screening and entry process, and every so often, we will assess the actual performance of cards based on statistics and player votes, implementing a last-place elimination system to control the number of cards in the official card pools. Additionally, players can create their own card pools, facilitating player-organized tournaments and other activities.

Return of Liquidity

For a card game, the vast majority of revenue comes from card sales. Often, developers make enough money during the sales phase to lose motivation for further development, or if the game doesn't meet player expectations, it can lead to a sharp drop in the price of game assets. Unlike all other card games, we will not take this portion of the revenue, but instead design a new sales model to protect player interests and return liquidity to players.

Share of Revenue

Players will decide for themselves how to allocate the revenue from selling their cards. The player community is no longer just a tool for developers to make money, but rather they will enjoy all the benefits of the game's development together. What we are doing is changing the way the gaming industry has always operated, changing the production relations, and allowing players to be not just consumers of the game, but also creators and owners.

Why do we need fully onchain game?

To enable everyone to participate in game development, we need an open, permissionless platform to run the entire game. This requires all game logic to be executed onchain, allowing cards implemented by different people to be freely combined, and even different games to share cards.

In addition, fully onchain game provides us with an open, permissionless economic system. Traditional games and web3 games with only assets on-chain have economic systems designed by game developers, and players must follow these rules and find the path to maximize their benefits within them. In contrast, fully onchain games open up the entrances to all other protocols and systems in the web3 world, such as the combination of games and DeFi.

In the core technology section, we will provide detailed information on the blockchain technology we use.

Finally, we would like to thank Paradigm for their research, which has inspired us a lot.