Gala Games is a blockchain project about gaming with the target of building the biggest gaming ecosystem in cryptocurrency. It is not a single game on the blockchain but an ecosystem of multiple games with many kinds on many platforms like PC, Mac, Browser, etc.
Strength of Gala Games
- Gala Games is decentralized: Users can trade in-game items in the type NFT on Gala Store - their NFT Marketplace. In-game items are built according to the standards of Ethereum, so they belong to users instead of Gala Games. Thus, even if users are banned from the game, they still own their items. Moreover, these items can be used in other games of Gala Games, provided that the companies accept those to be integrated into their games.
- Gala Games is friendly and equitable to all supporters of the project
They have some essential principles:
Fun First: The games in Gala are very easy to play. No matter if you are an expert or a newbie in blockchain, you can still play their games.
Owned by players: Users own what they get in the games.
Community Rules: Gala Games don’t only create a normal blockchain money-making game but also focus on the quality of each game. They listen to users' feedback with the target of building their community.
Powered by people: Gala Games depends on its nodes. It is supported by users such that anyone can join and contribute to the Gala.
Gala Games has no VC (venture capital) funding or ICO (Initial Coin Offering) since they think an ICO can give investors an unfair advantage. So instead, only people supporting the network, playing and sharing the games in the network, can earn GALA tokens. That allows the public to decide the token's price rather than a centralized team. They can also get initial funds from founders and make money by selling games' NFT.
- Gala Games is an ecosystem of multiple games
Gala Games has a variety of games on many platforms, and it keeps adding new games over time. By that, people can join Gala Games easily and play many games without getting bored. It is a good project which allows users to focus on the quality and enjoy the games rather than playing only for profit:
TownStar is the first game to appear in Gala Games, which is similar to the famous farming game “Farmville” on Facebook. Farmville was created by Michael McCarthy, who is one of Gala Games’ founders. This game requires users to manage and use materials to create goods and compete with each other for making NFT. Actually, TownStar has its own TOWN token, which is earned by playing the game and can be used to purchase TownStar NFT from the Gala Store.
Echoes of Empire is a strategy game where players must compete for scarce resources scattered throughout the universe. This game is similar to the globally famous game StarCraft.
Mirandus is a role-playing game similar to Runescape. Players will participate in a big world ruled by five kings. They have to fight back against monsters in many different places and build their lands to create items.
Spider Tank is a PvP game such that every player will fight each other on a variety of maps with different terrain by many types of weapons.
Legacy is similar to the famous game “Sim City”
Fortified is a town-defense game. Players have to compete with each other to build the best tower defense strategies and earn rewards.
Weaknesses of Gala Games
a) Gala Games doesn’t release its whitepaper, documentation, and roadmap to users: The information mostly comes from their support page, but it is not clear. Thus, their investors find it difficult to follow the projects.
b) People can use Gala software to become a founder node: Gala Games can revoke your right to run a node if you violate the terms and conditions of the license contract. That is the way Gala detects players cheating in their games and bans them. However, it makes this protocol less decentralized.
Opportunities for Gala Games
a) Gala Games will soon run a sidechain Gala’s chain (known as Project GYRI) to create a truly decentralized ecosystem. Everything on Gala Games now is handled by a separate set of Gala nodes. These nodes will also power the Gala’s chain when it comes to existence in the future. Currently, the GALA token can be used for paying the founder node license and trading NFT on Gala Store. It will also be used to pay transaction fees when they launch Gala’s chain. In addition, they intend to use a new type of node called the Game-Specific Node. People running this type of node can govern and earn profit only from the game they derived.
b) Gala Games also collaborates with Flare Network, which is a smart contract sidechain for XRP. It will be possible to mint the GALA token on Flare Network, and Flare will add support for the GALA token when it completes its Ethereum bridge.
c) Founder’s Nodes are the backbone of the Gala Games Ecosystem. Everyone who operates a Founder’s Node by running the Gala software is contributing to the growth of this decentralized gaming network. By running a Founder’s Node, you are working to give players real ownership of their assets and content. However, to become a founder node, you have to pay about 355,420 token Gala for the founder’s node license(at the time of this writing). In exchange, you can earn Gala along with NFTs from Gala games as their rewards. There are a maximum of 50,000 Founder nodes to secure the network. Founder nodes also govern the Gala Games ecosystem primarily through voting on which new game should be added to it. Founder nodes must remain online for at least 6h per day to earn rewards, and obviously, the longer they stay online, the more rewards they earn. This is still a big opportunity because the reward a Founder’s Node can get is much higher than the price of the founder's license in the long run.
Conclusion
The popularity of blockchain technology has greatly influenced the gaming world. In recent years, many GameFi and Metaverse projects have been launched, but Gala Games is one of a few ecosystems which could stand the test of time. Gala still has far more to go in the future so that it can be considered a potential project in the GameFi world.
References
[1] GALA Games: NEXT BEST Gaming Token?? Deep Dive, Coin Bureau, accessed 14th April 2022.
[2] Gala Games Support, app.gala.games, accessed 14th April, 2022.