Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2023-12-20

After a special Wizmas song concocted by Magus Wazir and a brief introduction from Elf, Dotta, Bearsnake, and Jitcy, the team gets the show rolling with special guest Charle3s of the Nifty Island team.

Charl3s Joins & Speaks About Nifty Island

Elf first apologizes for missing a space that Charl3s invited him to last Sunday. He says he'll go to any other Space. Charl3s says he's about this Space right now.

Then he lays to rest rumors that Wizards aren't involved in Nifty Island. Charl3s says:

"Let me say in no uncertain terms...There is no community that is better positioned to take advantage of Nifty Island than Forgotten Runes. None."

He commends the 3D library and says they plan to have Quests at launch with Wizards taking part in the first one. Bear asks to rewind the sands of time and asks when the team first started talking to Nifty Island. Charl3s looks back through Discord and finds messages from Feb. 14, 2022 establishing the group. He says there may have been an older chat, but if there was, it's lost now.

Charl3s' Early Days In NFTs

Charl3s gives a bit of his own backstory and recalls a thought from his early days in NFTs.

"Wow, this is the distillation of what's really cool about crypto — deep online communities, new form of digital retail...and I think [it] will make the Old Internet look boring one day."

Charl3s says that he was impressed with a lot of different projects, but says that owning a CryptoPunk for the first time was amazing and inspired he and his partner Zach to create an open game world. He jokes: "Turns out it took a while."

Building In the Bear & Play-to-Airdrop

Elf commends the Nifty Island team for their diligence with the project. Dotta notes there are still teams who are talking about creating open world metaverses and then dropping off. Elf says Nifty Island has exceeded everyone's expectations and he's so glad to be a part of it. Charl3s says Nifty Island still has a lot to prove.

He says Nifty Island flew under the radar, quietly building in the bear market even when there was more attraction to newer things. He points out that Forgotten Runes took notice in that time and expresses his appreciation.

Play-to-Airdrop

Elf asks Charl3s about "play-to-airdrop." He says he thinks 10k PFPs are an enduring primitive, but he believes DeFi is a better model for public goods in crypto. Charl3s says Nifty Island isn't trying to "issue their own community." He says they want to be where other communities can play in the way they might leverage Discord, X, OpenSea, Blur. Charl3s explains $ISLAND and says that players of Nifty Island earn points toward the token. Charl3s says that partner projects will receive weighted rewards in the process toward the $ISLAND drop, with Forgotten Runes getting "the royal treatment."

Forgotten Souls & Legendary Palms

At Bear's request, Charl3s also confirms that Forgotten Souls will be available to play in Nifty Islands as well. Charl3s also announces that the Nifty Island team will be giving away Legendary Palm NFTs to the Forgotten Runes community. These are rare items that have never been sold and have only been earned through participation. Bearsnake commends the Nifty Island team for sticking it out through the bear market, noting that he can empathize with the hardships a project can face in the down times. He says he's happy to see Nifty Island win.

Surfing the Wave & the Nifty Island Game Loop

Charl3s says:

"There's a wave we can all surf here. If you like 3D art, if you're thinking about how can you add to the roster of assets that Forgotten Runes will be able to leverage in-game — we can token gate everything — music, weapons, avatars...let's just run wild with it."

Bear asks about the leverage of user-generated content and the approach of building Nifty Island from a user perspective. Charl3s describes the ease of creating an island as a user, noting it's free and no-code. Then, you can deploy custom games — 3 initial with more to come. Charl3s says customs games in Nifty Island will eventually be created by third parties as well.

Charl3s says that users can build concurrently with friends, and that there is an open prize system where anyone can post a prize for other people. Charl3s says the thing that makes Nifty Island fun is that it's an open game that can be layered onto. At first, they have a FPS game, an Among Us-like game called Spy Hunt, and obstacle races. The stakes of the gameplay loop is increased with on-chain incentives.

In a response to a question about social features of Nifty Island, Charl3s says that there will be voice and text chat as well as emotes, which can be token-gated. He also mentions a filter feature, giving an example of filtering user Islands for Forgotten Runes content.

The Gaming Cycle of 2024

Elf asks if Charl3s is "hopeful and optimistic for 'The Gaming Cycle of 2024'." He says he's optimistic for a few people, but he thinks it will be a rocky road.

"They're all pursuing different theses and they can't all be right."

Elf expresses his excitement for Forgotten Runes to enter the metaverse. Bear asks why Nifty Island let the Cool Cat spike the Wizard in their trailer. Charl3s said it was a gut feeling and it had to happen. He notes interesting speculation that happens because of the trailer. Charl3s also says model importing will happen seamlessly for Wizard holders through token gating. There will be an option to use Delegate Cash.

Charl3s speaks briefly about the team at Nifty and his position there, and the conversation winds down as he steps offstage.

Wizmas Lore Competition For Warrior

Then, Sharkchild approaches the stage to remind the Cult of the ongoing lore and art competition by the House of Wizards DAO. Elf says that he wants to give a bit of Warrior alpha to inspire submissions to the House of Wizards DAO lore competition.

"Warriors in 2024 are going to have a moment, lets just put it that way."

Dotta adds, "Ayyye." Elf reminds the community about the ongoing Wizmas Burn and notes that the items from the burn will be very important in the 2024 Warrior event. Dotta reminds the community that the total supply for these items will become fixed once the event ends.

Cult Questions

The Team's Wishlists

Elf then segues into Cult Questions, beginning with the team's Wizmas wishlists. Elf says he wanted a Krampus Horn. Dotta says he asked for vintage Magic cards and ammo. Bear says he asked for a flamethrower. Jitcy says he's just asked for art. Madotsuki says that he doesn't want anything in particular for Wizmas, and mentions his birthday is also on Christmas day. Sharkchild says that he would like The Void of Absolute Nothingness for Wizmas.

Runes Creatures In the Forgotten Runiverse

Next, Madotsuki asks what creature from the Runes TCG everyone would like to see in the Forgotten Runiverse MMO. Elf says the Fey Bear. Madotsuki says he would like to see the Polar Puff. Dotta says he likes the Chronomeer.

Expanding the Runiverse Map

Elf answers another question about whether or not the Runiverse Map will expand. He says both the Forgotten Runiverse game map and the current charted land of the Runiverse will expand. He says he thinks he knows of a good way to do this in 2024.

Pizza Toppings

Then, the team answer a question about pineapple as a topping on pizza, and Entropyeq joins and tells about a recent "Roll-For-Pizza" night he had with friends where they rolled dice for different pizza toppings.

Matching Pajamas, WizBot, & Contributions From A Friend

Community member Sharon asks if the team believes in the whole family wearing matching pajamas for Xmas. Dotta says Mrs Dotta gets the family matching PJs on Christmas Eve. Elf says he doesn't do this. Bear says he also doesn't, but contemplates doing so this year.

The team then speaks momentarily about Magus Wazir's Dream Master WizBot.

Then, a community member "asks for a friend" how they can contribute if they make video content. Elf encourages them to make short animations from the Book of Lore.

Runes TCG Tournament

Madotsuki then gives a shoutout from Giveahoot, who asked him to remind the Cult about the Runes TCG tournament, which has Golden Quantum Gifts as prizes.

Cult Content

Following this, the team reviews the 48th week of the Cult Content Chronicle — artwork from the past week within the Forgotten Runes community, compiled by the illustrious Tania del Rio.