Independent game developers face an almost insurmountable hurdle in their quest for success. Without a marketing budget, many have to give away their work for free. Their only hope is to recoup some of the development cost through in-game advertisements or micro-transactions — both of which are off putting to many potential players.

Blockchain development team, BlockBastards, are hoping to change this with a new decentralized proof-of-play ecosystem called Qudo.

Drag and drop Unity integration

Qudo offers a blockchain-based alternative revenue stream which can easily be implemented into any game built using the Unity platform. Following our alpha-test of Blox, the first game to use the system, Cointelegraph spoke to Qudo Managing Director, João Abrantes, about the benefits for game developers.

Initially, developers must stake a minimum amount of QUDO to the network to have “skin in the game.”

This figure will vary, but currently stands at 150 QUDO (projected to have a value of around $15). Abrantes says that the value will never be so high that it creates a barrier to entry.

Developers can stake higher amounts, but the staking reward system is non-linear so there is no great benefit to a major developer placing a huge stake.

Qudo has then made it as simple as possible for developers to implement blockchain rewards into Unity games. 

“Games can be connected to Qudo in a matter of minutes. Literally 15 to 20 minutes. It’s virtually drag and drop ... Once implemented, the system offers an additional mechanism to incentivize players, who are rewarded by the network for paying attention to the game, not adverts.”

In addition to this Proof-of-Gameplay mechanism, developers can also reward players with tokens for in-game achievements, which can then be spent with the developer on in-game purchases.

Levelling the playing field for small developers

Every ten minutes the network produces a block reward of 1,000 QUDO. Everyone who has played in this period will report activity, and 90% of the block reward will be distributed between active games and active players, with 10% reserved for founding partners.

All games that have been played will earn a reward based on their staked amount. 10% of this will go to the developer and 90% will be split between the active players of this game during this period.

This rewards gamers for trying out new games and those from smaller developers that have less players. Players can also spend rewards earned in other Qudo enabled games on in-game purchases.

"Qudo brings interoperability to game credits, where players are rewarded for their time and performance while playing any game and then spend these earnings across all games as well. With Qudo, we want to eliminate silos and give smaller games a fair chance for success"

Qudo will also list games in a democratic way, taking merit into consideration, meaning smaller games will not be obfuscated by games with a large advertising budget.

However, developers will be able to use their QUDO rewards to purchase affiliated services listed in the Qudo marketplace, which will include advertising services such as becoming a featured game.

The potential return for developers integrating Qudo into their Unity games won’t be known for certain until the platform goes live later this year. But with such a low barrier to entry, along with the additional player incentives, it could bring blockchain gaming into the mainstream.