The Rise of Composable Worlds

December 12th, 2023

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Author: FaultProofBen

Gm!

There’s an exciting new design trend in the onchain gaming and AW space:

Composable Worlds.

A term coined by Baz of Tonk (a protocol for creating in-game secrets) in his piece “What we're learning from extending Downstream with composable gameplay and secrets [Part 1],” composable worlds are blockchain-based primitives upon which developers can build games, art, and other experiences.

In other words, composable worlds are not just individual games, but onchain sandboxes that (could) house many of them similar to offchain titles like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite.

(Minus the centralized authority and plus the benefits of being fully onchain, of course)

Confession: I actually like Minecraft and Fortnite. But composable worlds are cooler.

I think composable worlds are one of the most interesting, exciting, and powerful niches within this fast-growing space.

Today, you’ll see why this is the case as we’ll dive into:

The affordances composable worlds provide to developers
In-production examples of them
The implications of their creation

By the end, you’ll be as composable world pilled as I am.

Now…let’s get to it!

NOTE: This article expands and builds upon on many of the concepts outlined in Baz’s piece.

It’s a great read; I’d highly recommend you check it out here.

Affordances of Composable Worlds

Before diving into the projects building them, let’s take a moment to understand the affordances composable worlds provide to developers.

As they live entirely on a blockchain, composable worlds inherit all of the attributes of standalone onchain games like transparency, persistence, hardness, and (of course) composability.

However, by acting as a shared base layer, composable worlds provide additional benefits, including:

Standardization

Similar to (or in tandem with) engines like MUD and Dojo, developers building on top of a composable world are doing so an existing set of standards.

This streamlines the development process, as they won’t need to architect underlying infrastructure themselves.

Supercharged Composability and Interoperability

As previously mentioned, all onchain games can leverage composability.

However, games that reside within composable worlds can do so to a greater degree, as they can interoperate with the other creations built within it.

Network Effects

Projects within composable world’s can benefit from strong network effects, as they tap into its existing users, developers, and infrastructure.

Incentive Alignment

The inhabitants of a composable world have naturally aligned incentives, as they all reap the rewards of its growth.

Autonomy

Because their logic lives on onchain, projects built in a composable world have reduced platform risk, as (at maturity) they will not be beholden to the whims of a centralized authority.

Composable Worlds in Prod

Now that we understand the on-paper affordances of composable worlds, let’s look at how they fare in practice.

To do so, we’ll explore three of them: Downstream, Briq, and PixelLAW.

Downstream 🦫

The TLDR:

Downstream is an onchain MMO built by Playmint.

Developed using a custom engine, Downstream is set in Hexwood, a 3D universe filled with (surprise, surprise) hexagons.

Hexwood is ruled by an AGI known as MORTON, who aims to develop his domain by using woodland creatures known as units.

You’ll become one of these unit when you play Downstream, where you’ll be able to explore, battle, build, complete quests, and more.

Downstream has placed a heavy emphasis on composability.

For instance, players can design and deploy structures in Hexwood through an in-game UI. This is code-free – Meaning that anyone can do so with ease.

Downstream is still in development, though players can sign up for their waitlist via email.

Examples of Composability:

Downstream’s composability extends not just to creating user-generated structures, but entire games and experiences.

A prime example of this is Tonk Attack, a game built in Downstream by the aforementioned Tonk team.

Tonk Attack is similar to an onchain version of Among Us.

In it, players will aim to overthrow MORTON by forming an alliance (known as the Tonk Alliance) to corrupt the AGI’s training data.

However, MORTON is no pushover.

They’ll attempt to counter this coup by brainwashing one player’s unit, causing them to go rogue and look to kill members of the Alliance.

Like Among Us, players will have to identify and defeat this brainwashed unit.

Tonk Attack is set to begin playtesting soon.

Despite limited public footage, the game’s GitHub provides clues as to how it will leverage Downstream’s composability.

A glimpse of what I'm guessing is the rogue Tonk.

For instance, players can access the game by entering a structure within Hexwood known as the Botnet Tower and then crafting a “Tonk Item.”

I’m excited to try out Tonk Attack, and think it's a very intriguing use of Downstream’s composability.

Briq 🧱

The TDLR:

Briq is a Starknet-based onchain construction protocol that (as of last week) is built in Dojo.

In Briq, users can create objects, games, or experiences within a 3D voxel world using blocks known as (you guessed it) briqs.

Anyone can access Briq and begin creating without a wallet.

However, users can mint their design as an NFT, with the cost-do so based on the number of briqs used.

Briq is often compared to “onchain legos,” and for good reason.

This is because, aside from its simple UX, each design can be assembled, disassembled, and re-assembled. Furthermore, creators can add instruction manuals that show users how to put designs together after they buy them.

All in all, this architecture enables Briq to be highly composable, customizable, and interoperable.

Examples of Composability:

Briq has begun to power an assortment of different applications.

For instance, the protocol has been used to create PFP collections like Ducks Everywhere, a set of 265 different ducks.

It’s been used for other art projects as well, such as to create portraits and host a design competition for the Realms community.

There are also several games built using a combination of Briq and Unity, including ones in which you traverse through a recreation of London, fly in a spaceship, and race cars.

While these games are simplistic, they demonstrate Briq’s capabilities and potential to be a design primitive for all sorts of assets, games, and experiences.

PixelLAW 🟦

The TLDR:

PixelLAW is a primitive built in Dojo on Starknet.

Conceived during the ETHGlobal Paris Hackathon in July 2023, PixelLAW consists of a shared grid of pixels.

Each pixel in the grid has coordinates, and six properties (app, color, owner, text, alert, and timestamp).

PixelLAW is highly programmable, as developers can tweak said properties in all sorts of ways to create novel games and experiences.

Furthermore, given that they exist in the same, shared grid, these games can interoperate with one another.

Examples of Composability:

There have already been several games developed within PixelLAW.

This includes Paint, a game where players can color in pixels, Snake, where players attempt to complete a maze, and Rock Paper Scissors, an onchain version of the meatspace game.

However, the most interesting creation I’ve seen so far is TicTacToe.

Developed last month during the ETHGlobal Istanbul hackathon, TicTacToe is a PixeLAW’d version of the namesake game that utilizes a machine learning (ML) agent to allow players to play against, what’s in essence, an onchain CPU.

A screenshot from the TicTacToe demo during the hackathon.

The team that built PixelLAW (which includes its co-founder JK), won the $3000 first-place prize from Starknet during the event.

I think TicTacToe is incredibly cool, and illustrates that PixelLAW can serve as a sandbox for experimentation and creation with not just onchain games, but all sorts of emerging technologies.

The New Worlds Are Rising

As you can see, composable worlds have a ton of potential, providing builders with affordances like standardization, heightened composability, network effects, autonomy, and more.

Furthermore, these benefits are being put to use today with games, art, PFPs, and more being built in worlds like Downstream, Briq, and PixelLAW.

We’re just getting started, as we’ll likely see many novel experiences be created, and inter-project relationships form, as these worlds develop and grow over the coming years.

All in all, I’m incredibly excited to track the progress of composable worlds.

To (kind of) of quote Tony Montana: