Author: FaultProofBen

Gm!

October 31, 2023, was a historic day.

It’s not because it was Halloween or the 15th anniversary of Satoshi’s Bitcoin whitepaper.

(Okay, that second one is pretty important.)

Instead, this day will live on in the annals of crypto history because it was the one in which Drawtech, the first-ever mobile onchain game, was released.

Drawtech is a crypto-economic drawing game built in MUD as a Progressive Web App (PWA) by Small Brain Games.

Inspired by Reddit’s r/place, in Drawtech, players compete against each other to color in tiles on a global grid (known as a canvas) and earn ETH rewards for doing so.

Despite launching less than 72 hours ago, Drawtech has taken the community by storm, with over 500 players spending well north of $30,000 within the game.

However, Drawtech’s release is not just significant due to this meteoric rise.

But also because of the immense implications it has for the entire space.

Today, we’ll see why this is the case by diving into all things Drawtech, including:

• It’s history and playtests

• The game’s design under the hood

• It’s gameplay mechanics, UX, and my thoughts on both

• Why I think this is a watershed moment for onchain games

Because Drawtech launched on Base, I’ll also be releasing this piece on it.

So, this will be our second ever mint on Base!!

Now…let’s put on our digital smock and get to it!

(Sorry, but you know me. I HAVE to include a cheesy pun in the intro. 😝)

The Origins Of Drawtech

As I said in my recent piece on Small Brain Games, you have a better chance of being given the nuclear codes than getting any details about some of their upcoming releases.

In that vein, there was no public information released about Drawtech specifically before its launch.

However, there were some hints in the weeks prior.

The first came on September 26, when Small Brain Games released their “onchain-PWA-starter,” an open-source framework for building mobile games using MUD, a PWA, and an embedded Privy wallet (more on this later).

Then, on October 5, Drawtech was teased via the following xeet.

A few weeks later, on October 25, Small Brain held a private playtest for the game.

I had the privilege of participating in this, along with ~10-15 others.

The event lasted 5 days, with players testing and providing feedback on Drawtech’s gameplay, onboarding, and performance.

Some of the more memorable creations to come out of it were a cat, an egg, and a wen (created by yours truly).

Overall, I had a lot of fun with the playtest, however I encountered some issues.

For starters, there were some slow load times. I also felt that during the event, the canvas itself was too small relative to the size of my screen, and that the game could use an undo button.

There were several instances in which I fat-fingered designs, and had to start entirely from scratch with no recourse.

Thankfully, these changes have since been addressed!

Funnily enough, while playtesting, I had no clue when the game would actually release.

So I was caught off guard when it launched on Halloween night!

Behind The Canvas

Now that we have some background on Drawtech, let’s take a look at the game’s underlying architecture.

Like all mainnet Small Brain Games released to date, Drawtech is built in MUD, and its contracts are deployed on Base.

Drawtech is a mobile game, but sidesteps the restrictions and rent-seeking of centralized app stores through its design as a Progressive Web App (PWA).

Pioneered by FriendTech, PWA’s enable gamers to play Drawtech in the same way that would in a “normal” app.

However, instead of downloading the game from the App Store, players can onboard by:

1. Heading over to draw.tech in their web browser

2. Clicking the “Share” button

3. Selecting “Add to Home Screen”

And that’s it!

Furthermore, players need not download an external wallet, as, also like FriendTech, the game uses Privy to provide an embedded, non-custodial wallet.

This enables users to sign up via email, Discord, or Apple ID (Though you can still connect a secondary mobile wallet if you want).

A final notable feature of Drawtech’s design is its client (A fancy term for front-end).

Small Brain Games takes a not-so-small 6.23% fee on every Drawtech transaction made through its “unofficial,” open-source front end.

Reading between the team comms tea leaves, this choice appears to be not just about generating revenue but encouraging client diversity by incentivizing developers to undercut them.

As some of you may know, one of the coolest things about onchain games is that similar to a DeFi protocol, they can be played through any GUI.

Given this financial push, perhaps in the future, gamers will be able to experience Drawtech through several different unique lenses.

The Game Itself

Okay, we went through Drawtech’s history and design.

Now we can get to the fun part…the game itself!!

Below, I’ll describe and give my usual helping of takes on Drawtech’s gameplay, onboarding and UX.

Gameplay

At its core, Drawtech is a pretty simple game.

To play, you color in tiles on a global, infinitely expanding canvas while paying ETH for each one you use.

This cost varies on a per-tile basis, and is determined by a VRGDA (Variable Rate Gradual Dutch Auction).

At a high level, this mechanism adjusts the price of tiles based on their usage, raising the cost for one when demand to use it high, and vice versa.

If you’re a Small Brain Games vet, you’ll notice that these mechanics are very similar to those of Words3.

Anyways, when you color in tiles, you essentially “take possession” of them.

Then, when tiles are under your grasp, you’ll earn a pro-rata share of the total ETH spent by players based on the number you control.

Let’s go through a smol example to see how this all works.

Suppose you control 1% of the tiles on the canvas.

Now, imagine a player spends $100 on tiles to create some sort of drawing.

(For simplicities sake, we’ll assume that they do not color over any of yours).

Given that you own 1% of the tiles, you’d earn $1 in rewards.

So, this means the underlying objective of Drawtech is to maximize ETH rewards, or control the greatest number of tiles for as long as possible.

This is where the PVP aspect of the game comes in, as aside from the very beginning, the only way to gain possession of tiles is to draw over those controlled by other players.

I think these gameplay mechanics are quite innovative, and why I’ve had a lot of fun with Drawtech.

There’s something inherently satisfying about drawing on the canvas, a feeling that’s supercharged by having the ability to earn ETH from doing so.

As a degen, this financial component heightens the intensity and (literal) stakes of the game.

It also provides you with a huge dopamine hit when you see (or get a push notification) that you’ve earned rewards and moved up the in-game leaderboard.

On the other hand, it can spur a fit of rage when you get notified that someone drew over you.

I’ve also enjoyed the strategy aspects of the game.

Despite the seemingly simple premise, there are numerous tactics that you can take to maximize rewards.

For instance, you can try to make actual drawings, do a “spray and pray” in attempting to secure small groups of tiles in different regions of the canvas, and (much) more.

My personal strategy in the first hours of the of the game was to draw smiles, as I figured players would be less inclined to color over a design that paid homage to the Drawtech logo.

Despite being a big fan of Drawtech’s core gameplay, I do have some gripes.

For starters, I think the VRGDA pricing is way too aggressive.

Although the game did see hundreds of players within just a few hours, prices got too high too fast; the average cost per tile reached over $17 in under 12 hours.

I think this has priced a lot of players out of the game. Furthermore, despite being one of them myself, it gives too much of an outsized advantage to those who were early and able to start playing shortly after launch.

While the canvas expands over time (it’s gone from an initial size of 35x35 to 36x36) tweaking the VRGDA could go a long way to improve the accessibility and longevity of the game.

I also think doing so would help with pacing.

I had the most fun in the first hours after launch when players were frantically fighting over cheap tiles. I think doing an “anti-Jay Powell” in tweaking the VRGDA to keep prices “lower for longer” could help prolong this chaotic period.

Onboarding and UX

Drawtech has a very smooth onboarding process.

Similar to FriendTech, the PWA design makes adding and getting started with the game a breeze.

While you still have to fund your Privy wallet, as someone who doesn’t use crypto on mobile, it was nice not having to download and deal with the hassle of setting up a new one.

However, UX is a bit of a different story, as I have encountered some issues.

Although not to the same degree as the playtest, load times can still be a bit long.

In addition, I’ve experienced some lag, particularly during the aforementioned early stage of the game when there were numerous players trying to simultaneously draw over one another.

In these moments, I had to try to confirm my transactions over and over before they finally went through.

A Watershed Moment for Onchain Games

All in all, I think Drawtech has a ton of potential, with fun and innovative gameplay.

However, the game is not yet a finished product, with performance issues to iron out.

Furthermore, I also think tweaking the VRGDA could lengthen the game and make it more accessible.

I don’t know if Drawtech will become a timeless smash hit. But I’ve had a lot of fun with it, and I think the traction its seen so far certainly cannot be ignored.

Regardless of future success, its release undoubtedly represents a watershed moment for onchain games.

Mobile is the largest gaming platform in the world by users and revenue.

By leveraging Drawtech’s trifecta of MUD, PWA, and Privy, onchain games can now penetrate this market and bring the space to a wider audience of players.

Furthermore, it allows developers to create new types of games that weren’t previously possible or a good fit for browsers.

This should lead to a lot of fun experiences for us onchain gamers and also help to attract new ones.

So yes, this past Halloween was a historic one, as it was the day in which onchain games opened the mobile floodgates.

I’m excited to see the tidal wave that comes next.

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