Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2023-11-15

The team channels in from the Quantum Downs, and Elf says that this has been one of his favorite weeks in the Runiverse, in reference to the Forgotten Runiverse "Eve of Memory" MMO event. Dotta says, "I've never been more excited about Forgotten Runes and where we're going."

Dotta says he's seen people "come out of the woodwork who don't need to say nice things" who say the game is fun. He says that he thinks there's a certain X factor to it. Bearsnake says there's room for improvement, but notes his excitement with the pre-alpha demo.

Dotta shouts out the Bisonic team and their dedication to the game during the event, stating he's very proud of that team. Elf agrees. He says, "Bisonic has just really blown me away."

Elf notes a conversation with Tanilo of Bisonic about anticipated features in the Forgotten Runiverse game. He notes his excitement for the full-build. Elf also says he's looking forward to getting land and building his "little house".

The team talk about where they would want to build their houses: Elf and Madotsuki agree close to the Quantum Shadow. Bear will be "perched at Dream Master Lake". Dotta wants to be near the beginner areas to encourage them.

Bill Gains asks Dotta how he hasn't hit Lvl 15 in the Runiverse game yet. Dotta asks if Elf is Lvl 15, and he says he is. Dotta says he's Lvl 14 and he thinks that's "pretty good".

Madotsuki then addresses why the game event has to end. He says the team is happy that people want to keep playing, but they're pulling in all their resources to make it happen. He says there are Bisonic artists that have been helping moderate Discord this week, for example.

Madotsuki says the Forgotten Runiverse game has to wind down so the team can continue focusing on the full-build. Dotta then voices a suggestion from Magus Wazir that players should take a group picture in the game before the end of the event.

CheddaaBob asks the team what their favorite Wizard skins were in the Eve of Memory event. Elf says, of course, the Goat Wizards, but says he felt like he saw a celebrity when he saw the Headless Wizard in-game. Mado says he really liked the Gold Skeleton.

Feckless then asks about gameplay metrics. Madotsuki says that he isn't sure if the team's metrics go as deep as answering his specific questions, but they do plan to release some numbers at the end of the event. "It kind of blew our expectations internally."

Bearsnake agrees with Madotsuki, stating the team was shocked at how well the Forgotten Runiverse demo performed. Madotsuki and Dotta note that the numbers actually increased over the week.

Dotta says some of the metrics they can share are numbers that are on-chain. He shares a dashboard in the Secret Tower and points out ~133 ETH of Mana had been sold at that time (now 192 ETH)

Dotta says he feels like the performance of Mana sales points to an idea that there is a revenue model for NFT projects outside of collection inflation. He says the market for the game is massive, and the numbers on Mana are promising.

Bearsnake says that the Forgotten Runiverse game is a "Web3 game clothed in Web2." He says the great thing about Bisonic is they have a decade of experience making and publishing games. He notes his excitement at the thought of running traditional marketing campaigns for it.

Bear also notes the whispers of functional mobile play for the Forgotten Runiverse MMO. "When we look at this little test case and layer in these other elements, it just gets so exciting."

Dotta says his kids even see the appeal of the Forgotten Runiverse game. "My kids love whatever we do, but they're not necessarily into a game that bores them, regardless...and so it's been a really promising signal that kids can play this game and it's still fun."

Then, Dotta answers a question about an airdrop for Land in the MMO. "We haven't announced any plans for any kind of free mint. It's up in the air, the degree to which that will or won't happen. Your safest bet is to not expect it."

Madotsuki notes that Seals of Tenure for Land in the game aren't tradable: "We want to make sure that when you have Land...it's close enough to a period where you have something for it...It's something you're getting because you know what you can do with it."

Dotta says that the Land sales for the Forgotten Runiverse won't happen all at once, stating that they plan to have enough to sell over the next 5-10 years. "We want to be careful about the rate at which we release them."

Madotsuki also speaks about moderating the game for bots and needing to ban a few accounts during the week. He says it's given them an idea about where vulnerabilities to bots might be in the full build and has been very helpful.

The team is asked if there was any player behavior in the Forgotten Runiverse game that surprised them. Elf says he underestimated how much the community was into gaming, full stop. He says he also underestimated how much he would like the game himself.

Bearsnake says he was mostly surprised about the upward trend in daily usage over the course of the week. He says he's tried to curate a Timeline that isn't just a bubble of Wizards, and he didn't think the game event was going to be received as well as it was.

Dotta notes that he believes Forgotten Runes is part of the current meta. He mentions Yuga co-founder Wylie Aronow's statement that Forgotten Runes is his favorite non-Yuga project. He also points to Beeple's work featuring Wylie and "The Grey Pilgrim" Wizard.

Dotta says, "I think we've all felt that the last 6 months to a year have been a bit cold...You start to forget what it feels like to have the mood really warm. Even when it's cold outside, still, you can find that there's a warm fireplace with Forgotten Runes."

Madotsuki says he was surprised at the amount of players who were outside of crypto, or crypto-adjacent. Dotta says he was also surprised by how many non-Wizards who were walking around. He was also surprised that any time of day he logged on — there was a Wizard playing.

Community member Flu notes that an invite system with cosmetics that aren't crypto-related could be helpful. Madotsuki says this is right on the money, and the team has had discussions about invite incentives, but it didn't align with the scope of the Eve of Memory project.

Madotsuki also confirms that they intend to have global and party chats along with full-party concurrent spawning. He says social mechanics will be worked in, but the Eve of Memory event focused on combat, crafting, and core mechanics.

Lorepunk approaches the stage to speak about the game, and Elf notes a comment about the game feeling like a "real Web3 game". He says this is a common comment he's seen throughout the week and says that's very exciting.

Flu asks Dotta if Words.Art Points will ever be translated to Mana in the Runiverse. Dotta responds, "Never." When asked about the utility for Points, he responds, "TBD." He says he was approached externally about making a token for Points. He said yes, but it didn't happen.

Bearsnake talks briefly about the Forgotten Runes Comic, noting that Issue #2 is currently in pre-sale. He says there will be Forgotten Runiverse game codes included with issue #2 as well as with Issue #1.

Bear also says that there has been some communication that needs clarity about the release of Forgotten Runes Comic Issue #1 on Nov. 22. He says the date may be pushed to Dec. 6 and notes the comic book industry is a mess.

Dotta says the team was interested in the idea of comics due to their history of being a seed for new IPs. He says that the Forgotten Runiverse game code on the comic earns a cosmetic that is a rocket from the comic book and notes this is a microcosm of the entire project.

Cult Content Chronicle

To end the show, the team covers the 43rd week of Tania del Rio's Cult Content Chronicle.