Welcome to the ninth edition of Web3 Game Review, where I share my unbiased analysis on Web3 games, from a retail investor / gamer's perspective.

Our template will be as follows:
📝 Overview
👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 Founding Team
🤝 Advisors and Partners
📈 Tokenomics
🛣 Roadmap
🐂 Why I'm bullish

Disclaimer: For educational purposes only. Nothing in this article is financial advise. Invest at your own risk!

Overview

Gameplay

All your favorite games together in one AFAR Ecosystem. That's the best way to describe A Far Away Realm, a fun-filled metaverse set in a galaxy where heroes go against each other in a competitive and galactic tournament. It is a combination of Roblox's social experience, Fall Guys' racing stages, and Clash of Clans' never-ending resource collection and raiding. These are all mirrored in AFAR's Social Hub, PvP Game, and Mining Game.

The Social Hub is where all social activities and spaces are hosted. Players can interact with their friends, meet new people, and express themselves by showing off their cosmetics. They can even decorate their own private space and use it as a hangout spot to chat with friends, or trade and gift in-game items. This is also the entry and exit point for players in the PvP Game, an exhilarating platform-shooting game where players race to the finish line while collecting points in order to win.

The AFAR experience wouldn't be complete without its Mining and Spaceship Game. The Mining Game is the primary way to earn Eggs, the primary delivery mechanism of Cosmetic NFTs to the players. Players manage their own Mining Camp in either Resource Land or AFAR Land. The main difference between the two land types is that the latter is operated by LAVA LABS, while the former is owned by the players and has different properties which influence the resource levels and attacks. Silos store the resources that are harvested, which can be used to level up the Camp Hall to have better stats, increase resource production, and build better buildings and stronger defense towers.

In the Spaceship Game, players upgrade and maintain their own ship to facilitate the transport of Eggs and resources to the Marketplace. This synergizes perfectly with the Mining Game, giving players a richer gaming experience since the mini-games are inter-connected with each other.

Eggs

Aside from being the primary delivery mechanism of Cosmetic NFTs, Eggs are also a vessel of rewards that can may contain a combination of Cosmetics (NFT and Mining Camps), Mining Game Resources, XP, and $TOKEN. The Eggs can either be Large or Small - the Large Eggs are tradable NFTs which can be left unopened indefinitely, while the Small Eggs can be opened instantly. The Large Eggs require an incubator to be opened, but the incubation process can be speed up by using $TOKEN.

Trading Posts and Marketplace

The Marketplace and Trading Post are both NFTs which can be operated by 3rd parties with promotional and branding opportunities. These NFTs can be rented for a certain period of time. Players can buy and sell different items and resources in the marketplace like in-game cosmetics, Eggs, Spaceships, and more. Trading Posts are smaller than the Marketplace, and relies on Spaceship operators to maintain their stocks and inventory.

Founding Team

Lava Labs

Lava Labs is a London-based gaming studio founded in 2019 by Kaya Tilev, alongside veterans from Riot, EA, and Dice. They raised over $10 million for their flagship game AFAR, and they aim to be the Pixar of Web3 as they focus on making their game skill-based and fun.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/playafar/

Kaya Tilev, CEO

Kaya is an alumni of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He has been involved in venture capital investments and portfolio management since 2006. He built his foundations at BNB Paripas and First New York Securities before becoming the North America East Coast Leader for Microsoft Startups in 2015. He is currently one of the partners at Sparrow Funds, an investment management firm in England.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founder-ceo-entertainment-lava-labs/

Ed Morley, CTO

Ed has been a game developer since 1996. His key projects include FIM Motocross, SpecOps Omega Squad, and Soldier of Fortune to name a few. He was also the chief architect of the Games Warehouse game engine, while assuming the Lead Game Developer role from 2005-2012. Ed is the former CTO of Lockwood Publishing Ltd., and currently the Director for Unabated Games.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-morley/

Thoughts on the Team

CEO Kaya can definitely lead the Lava Labs team given his more than a decade of experience in investing in different early-stage companies. He has what it takes to share his vision clearly with the team, since he knows the struggles that startups go through. These are all manifested in how well they were able to fulfill their plans in their roadmap. In terms of development, the team can surely execute, with the leadership of CTO Ed Morley, who has been in the game development industry since 1996.

Advisors and Partners

Lava Labs is backed by Dialectic and big players in the web3 gaming space like Animoca Brands, DeFiance Capital, Dapper Labs, Merit Circle, Razer, and more. Individual investors also include Nick Chong, Gabby Dizon, and Santiago R Santos. Alli Ottarsson (ex-Riot) and Trip Hawkins (EA founder), are the advisors of the company.

Tokenomics

The $TOKEN will have a total supply of 1,000,000,000, vested over five years. The Investors, Team, Founder, and Market Makers have the largest % share of 39.5%, but only 5% of the total supply will be allocated to the public. Both the Investors and In-Game Rewards receive 20% of their shares unlocked instantly, and the rest are vested linearly over 3 years. The Lava Labs team's 25% share has a 1 year lock and a 5 year linear unlock.

Token Utility

The $TOKEN will be used both as a governance token and an in-game currency to purchase cosmetic items, Season pass, upgrades, unopened eggs, and for the governance of the AFAR Social Hub.

Roadmap

✅ Q1 2022: LitePaper and RAFA Genesis NFT Collection
✅ Q2 2022: Mining Game Alpha, TOKEN and Land Pre-Sale
✅ Q3 2022: Mining Game Beta, Staking Program, and AFAR Social Hub Alpha
✅ Q4 2022: Main Game Alpha
⬜ 2023: Spaceship Game Alpha

Why I'm Bullish

All my favorite games together in one metaverse. Roblox's social experience = AFAR's Social Hub; Fall Guy's racing stages = AFAR's PvP obstacle racing course; Clash of Clans’ resource collection and raiding = AFAR’s mining game. AFAR lived up to what they promised of delivering a fun-first playing experience, as they have incorporated the core gameplays of the best and most successful games all together, which resulted to an enhanced and richer gameplay. What’s more impressive is that each mini-game is integrated well with one another. For instance, aside from being the place where most social events are held, the Social Hub is also the PvP game's entry and exit point, and it is also where players could dock their spaceships. The resources harvested from the mining game are transported and facilitated in the spaceship game. The connection of each of the mini-games to one another circle back to each other, indicating a well-thought and creativity-filled lore.

Rentable Marketplace and Trading Posts. I love the feature where 3rd parties can rent the Marketplace for a certain period of time. This opens a lot of opportunities for both indie companies and AAA big ones. Lots of opportunities, awesome way to build a strong and active community, and fun way to collaborate and meet new people while playing the game.

Innovative approach to Land NFTs. AFAR’s Land Sale is unlike others, they have integrated a true to life lore: the Planet contains a finite amount of Land NFTs, that players use to participate in the AFAR: Mining Game. Gameplay is split between two primary activities: Land ownership and Mining Camp operation. There are two types of land ownership: Resource Land, a tradable ERC-721 NFT owned by players, and AFAR Land owned by LAVA LABS. Resource Landowners decide which Mining Camp operators can mine their Land, benefiting from a share of the economic value extracted by the miners. Resource Landowners should promote their Land to Mining Camp operators to gain economic benefits from the mining activity.

Incentives for active players. The Social Hub is where most social gatherings and activities are hosted. Players will feel that they are integrated in the core economy since their efforts of simply showing up and being active is rewarded through participation badges. For instance, players receive a reward for logging in every day. On top of all these, players get a chance to meet influencers and celebrities, and attend their special concerts and access to new Season Pass parties.

To know more about A Far Away Realm, you can reach out to them via the following links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/playafar
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/playafar
Website: https://playafar.com/
Whitepaper: https://playafar.com/litepaper/Welcome.html

For partnerships and collaborations, please reach out to me via any of the following channels:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/0xconglomerate
Discord: https://discordapp.com/users/998408827756093490

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