Axie Infinity Launches Builders Program

Axie Infinity, a popular play-to-earn non-fungible token (NFT) game, launched the newest feature of the game, Axie Infinity Builders Program. The initiative is an “important step” in Sky Mavis, the developer of the game, mission to “build Axie alongside the community.”

“We’re excited to announce the launch of the Axie Infinity Builders Program!  Through this initial experiment, we want to provide resources, promotion, support, and tools for community developers to continue building compelling, valuable gaming experiences on top of Axie,” the developers wrote.

Sky Mavis pointed out that the goal of builders program is to further strengthen the community’s ability to create gaming experiences and tools, while managing risk to their community members, and their gaming network at-large.

According to the developers, community co-creation is a “guiding north star” of the Axie Infinity ecosystem. They also noted that it will be a “fundamental driver of scaled-value generation over time.”

In fact, between 2018 and 2019 the community already participated in the community co-creation which made Axie Infinity’s early mini-games such as Flappy Axie and Axie Sushi possible. However, these mini-games were discontinued when Ronin was released.

The launch also opened the doors for the application for the program. The application form is accessible here.

The evaluation criteria which will decide who to allow into this program will be based on the following factors: culture, goals, and mindset alignment with Sky Mavis. The developers will also evaluate their project on how fun and engaging their experience could be for the community as well as engineering assessment around feasibility of the project and technical talent on the team. The potential positive impact to the Axie Infinity community and economy is also a factor. Sky Mavis will also look into the team’s commitment to the project, like what resources and time the team is looking to invest into it. Lastly, trust in the developers to not abuse their exclusive access privileges.

“We will be reviewing applications on an on-going basis and selecting new teams to enter the program over time. Due to this being a new and experimental program, we will not be accepting many teams to start. If you are not chosen initially you may still be chosen in the future,” the developers wrote.

The chosen teams that are set to be part of the program will receive a minimum $5k grant in Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) to go towards their project, with a total of 5,000 AXS (~$400k) in grants available for this program. The team will also get guidance from Sky Mavis engineering team, and game design and product team as well as exclusive access to integrations such as Ronin SSO, Ronin Network testnet, and Ronin Wallet. The chosen team’s project will also receive promotion to the community by Sky Mavis itself.

Moreover, monetization of the projects is also allowed and encouraged. However, teams must follow requirements such as the payment by players should be done in Smooth Love Potion (SLP) or AXS. At least 10% of all of their revenue must be burned (SLP) or go into the community treasury (AXS). 

Also, the Sky Mavis team will help with advising on monetization models, some example model ideas include:

• Entry fee funded prizes
  • Within PvP experiences, players can pay for entry fees in SLP / AXS   that go into a pool, winners take a majority of the pool
• Leaderboard winners
  • Players pay SLP / AXS into a pool to do a “Ranked” run of the game and try to get their best score, at the end of each day the players with the best scores will win part of the pool
• New Tokens / NFTs
  • Players pay with SLP / AXS for new Tokens / NFTs that can be obtained in the game. 

Along with the announcement, Sky mavis also presented example projects which applying developers may use as a project model. The sample project ideas are; Axie Tamagotchi, Axie Bomberman, Axie Tower Defense, Axie Racing, Axie Chess, Axie Platformer and re-creating Neopets games with Axie assets.

Sky Mavis also mentioned that a new channel “Builders-Program” in the Axie Infinity Discord will be created for people who are looking for more help on their project. 

“For example, if you’re a Developer but you need help from an Artist on a project, you can post about the project there, explain what you need, and see who in the community may want to collaborate with you,” they added.

However, Sky Mavis stressed that the Builders Program is an experimental program that could change at any time. They also noted that they have the right to revoke access and privileges from the Builders program based on violations of the Axie Terms of Service, Community Code of Conduct, and any other forms of abuse that may negatively affect the Axie Infinity ecosystem. 

Further, the developers said that builders should also encourage players of their games to either use their own Axies through Ronin wallet verification of ownership OR allow players to use the likeness of Axies the builder has permission to use.

Consequently, the developers emphasized that this program is specifically for new Development projects, and there will be separate programs for content creators and community engagement initiatives. 

“We are building the Axie universe together. Whether you’re a content creator, community developer, guild leader, Axie collector, Arena battler, or breeder — each and every one of you is an important missionary on a quest to build a new type of game. This is one of many new programs we will introduce in 2022 to encourage collective building of the Axie universe,” Sky Mavis added.

This article is published on BitPinas: Axie Infinity Launches Builders Program