Sui, the newly launched layer-1 blockchain network, has positioned itself as one of the best alternatives for web3 game developers, despite being one of the newest entrants in the industry so far.
The Newly Launched Sui Mainnet is an Eye-Catching Alternative for Game Developers
As additional games and decentralized apps (dApps) go online, Sui’s capacity to process transactions in parallel and grow horizontally by adding more nodes to meet demand is part of what makes it special. Both of these capabilities are intended to keep Sui’s transaction costs relatively low. According to Mysten Labs, the company that developed Sui, dynamically updated NFTs and an “object-based” model may also be enticing to game developers.
On the other hand, Sui differs from some of the more well-known Web3 gaming networks in that it is not Ethereum-compatible via the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Nevertheless, according to Mysten, the network’s inherent gaming appeal will enable it to attract mainstream gamers.
Sui Prioritizes the Game
Even though the mainnet has only been operational for a few days, Mysten Labs‘ Head of Gaming Partnerships, Anthony Palma, stated in an interview that over 40 games are now being developed on Sui. In fact, Mysten Labs posted on its Twitter account, “Get ready to play on @SuiNetwork,” a video was shared with the caption.
Our mission is to go after not ‘blockchain games’ or ‘crypto games. But to go after great games built by great game developers that want to leverage Web3 to enhance their player experience, and provide more engagement and agency.
Anthony Palma
As players level up items like shields, for instance, Sui’s on-chain assets can change dynamically in real-time, in Palma’s opinion, making it easier and more seamless for game developers to grow in-game asset NFTs over time.
Palma’s Explanations on the Development of Gaming Assets
The metadata, or the information that specifies an NFT’s special characteristics, can be automatically updated to reflect rival player kills and achievements obtained with a certain item. This feature enables players to automatically write their histories with each item as they engage in combat.
If somebody sees there’s a sword with 10,000 kills, versus the same sword with 100 kills, the 10,000-kill sword is just gonna inherently carry more value.
But it also allows you to do things like upgrading the NFT based on its metadata. You could do something like have a sword go from ‘gold’ to ‘legendary’ to ‘mythic,’ if you have a system like that.
Palma
On Sui, developers can create dynamic things without having to burn and reissue existing items to reflect the updated data, as they might on other blockchain networks. Unless developers make a point of manually updating an item’s prior data to the new one, histories of burned and re-minted tokens on other chains are often lost.
If you wanted to do this on another chain, you would either be doing a ton of syncing between your central database—where this info usually exists—and the on-chain transaction history. Or you would be burning the NFTs, and re-minting new ones to go from ‘gold’ to ‘mythic.’
Sui’s dynamic model allows you to keep all of that provenance, which should drive the value of these items over time—both for players and for the ecosystem. So it’s just a really cool new feature that you can bake into your games that weren’t really possible on-chain before.
Palma
Games to be Launched in Sui
The company behind Sui, Mysten Labs, has been collaborating closely with game developers. In this direction, Palma said the company won’t be taking a hands-off approach. The “Walking Dead” game and Final Stardust from Orange Comet, Project Eluune from Arrivant, Run Legends from Talofa Games, as well as the Overwatch-inspired Bushi and the metaverse game Worlds Beyond, will all be released on Sui the course of the upcoming month.
