First of all, we would like to thank DAMO Token for organizing this AMA for Atocha Protocol. It is important that community awareness about Atocha needs to be heightened as we are getting near to Mainnet Launch and IDO.
This is a compilation of the questions being asked and answered by our Head of Marketing, Mr. Kim during the AMA. We think that these questions are gems that enable the community to understand more about who we are, where we are heading and why join Atocha Protocol.
Q1: Why did Atocha Protocol choose a puzzle game, a niche in the game industry to develop?
This is a question we get the most from the investors as well as from the community. First of all, a puzzle game is something that the team loves to indulge in. Zad, our co-founder is also a member of treasure hunting communities in the UK and he has influenced us a lot with his adventurous spirit. Of course, personally, I am a chess guy and love sudoku as well.
As you can see, each of us has our own preferred puzzle game to play. Each is unique and has its own characteristic. Therefore, a puzzle game is much more of a simple yet scalable game model which can cater to a fun and short session or a complex and long journey. Besides, we are aspired to create a global puzzle game hub with even the best puzzles like Cicada 3301, Sherlock Holmes, and Davinchi Code can be on our protocol. In short, it is niche but versatile.
Q2: Atocha Protocol has P2E and Create to Earn mechanism in place, how sustainable it is?
Similar to any other business, we talk about sustainability as we don’t want to build just for the sake of hype. Gamefi has a lot of hype and we want to create something solid and down to earth. That is why we have three mechanisms in place. Play to Earn is where players successfully solve the puzzle and win the prize (technically not that similar to the MMORG kind of P2E model where there’s a “fixed formula” where you can earn). Create to Earn is whereas a creator, you can create and contribute to the ecosystem then earn. This in turn empowers the creator economy which for us is a good social impact. Another mechanism that has not been mentioned is the sponsor mechanism. This is the missing piece that can create a closed-loop of the economy for the Atocha Protocol. The sponsor will put up a budget to fund the puzzle’s prize pool or even commission the creators to customize the puzzle game for their business entities. Hence, sustainability comes from the capability of the creator group to be always competitive and creative which can generate attraction to the sponsors to divert more revenue into the ecosystem, which then is distributed to creators and players.
Q3: What’s the business model of the Atocha Protocol to ensure long-term sustainability?
Our main business model is to build a strong decentralized creator team that can cater to the needs of sponsors where different genres of puzzle games can be created for the community. There’s literally no limit to such demand. Then, the business model is followed by a transactional fee or taxation fee in the form of gas fee that will be distributed to the Treasury and Validators. The third business model will be the Royalty fee which will be developed through the enabling of NFT features.
Q4: What is the unique selling point for Atocha Protocol to stand out in the GameFi space?
Most Gamefi are in-house built and not open source projects. On the other hand, Atocha Protocol is actually an open-source platform for puzzle game builders to get on board to build. Of course, our team will also focus on several puzzle game projects to build as it is important for us to prove the functionality to the other builders. From the game developer’s point of view, one can easily integrate with the protocol without any extra cost to hire blockchain developers. From a gamer’s point of view, the protocol ensures transparency and fairness in a decentralized manner. From a community point of view, all of the token holders will get to benefit from the growth of the ecosystem when everyone is helping each other to grow by not only just playing the game but promoting or building.
Q5: How does Atocha Protocol plan to scale from its current state to become a globally recognized GameFi?
First of all, we want to be realistic and know that this is not an easy route. The key inflection point for us is to have at least 1 puzzle game that has 100,000 DAU (daily active users) and maintain an optimal level of retention.
With that, it will become a live showcase of what the protocol can offer. Hence, our main focus now is to collaborate with multiple creators to build puzzle games that in time can realize the metrics of a successful game.
With that single success model (or multiple until we success), this will be our scaling model to scale up.
Q6: Who are your existing competitors in the space and how do you strategize to stand out?
Gaming space is definitely a huge market with lots of competitors. The largest competitor to us is no doubt Steam. As the largest ecosystem in the gaming space, they have all the resources and reputation. We also take Kahoot as one of our competitors which falls under the quiz puzzle segment. Our strategy is to have a similar function that Kahoot offers but is community-owned. Meaning to say, the puzzle games’ assets created by the community will be wholly owned by the creators. As a protocol, we are here to facilitate and earn a piece through different fee charges that are in comparison to what the competitors are taking from the creators.
Q7: How do end-users benefit from Atocha Protocol?
There are three types of end users for Atocha Protocol. Players will gain a fun gaming experience and prizes to earn. Creators will get earnings from their creation and also commissions from customized puzzle game jobs. Sponsors will be able to promote their brand or business through the puzzle game they sponsored. This is the golden triangle that we are building with Atocha.
Q8: How Atocha Protocol is going to make a difference in the realm of puzzle games?
Our main difference with the existing puzzle game is that the creator can own and be flexible on how they want to monetize their puzzle game. This will allow more independent game developers to have better access to the large NFT market that is growing and to tap into the community that the ecosystem can offer. However, if you are independent and building on Web2, most of the work has to be done by the team.
Q9: Why should we choose Atocha Protocol to create puzzle games than any other platform?
5 reasons to do so:
The ownership of the puzzle game you created is immutable, which means you can save a lot of costs by registering for any trademark or copyright in different countries that you launch. (of course, you can do so when you take off too)
Capability to sell, rent, create a different business model for your puzzle game that’s transparent
Able to tap into a ready market which is the NFT market (or even the whole crypto industry)
Able to tap into the existing community of Atocha Protocol, Octopus Network, and Near Protocol ecosystem
Able to receive grants, resources sharing, and technical support from the protocol team and the whole ecosystem
Q10: What’s the WHY for the Atocha Protocol core team to continue building?
The WHY is simple. We believe that Puzzle Gameplays an important role not only in providing FUN and CHALLENGE to the people. It is also a tool that inspires your curiosity, which means the drives people to always be out there to explore, brave to take up the challenge, and embrace change. In short, puzzle games can change and improve people’s lives, a noble mission for us to continue on this path.
Q11: What is the focus of your project right now? To attract new investors? Increase token value? Or New collaborations and partnerships?
The focus of the project right now is to build a strong puzzle creator team. The core asset for Atocha Protocol has always been Puzzle Game itself. We firmly believe that puzzle games will act as the anchor of attraction and community engagement when it achieves fun, challenging, and addictive (not in a bad way).
Q12: I would like to know, is Atocha Protocol completely transparent and fair about all the ATOCHA Puzzles games? Will you use a special mechanism like Chainlink VRF?
Yes, we will be totally transparent with our puzzle game mechanism. Every puzzle created will be recorded on the blockchain and stored on Arweave. You can even refer to the block number where each of the puzzles is created and track the author and sum of prize locked for the puzzle game.
Testnet is available for you to take a look: https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=wss%3A%2F%2Fgateway.testnet.octopus.network%2Fatocha%2Fyevqd2d4jhm0dqakaj4hkbyjjfg6ukbu#/explorer/query/0 (which will need you to access through Polkadot JS wallet).
Q13: Hello Atocha Team, Can you tell me about your listing plans? Especially the ones involving major exchanges, CEX and DEX? and Are you going to do IDO this month?
Our main focus here is to build while the listing is definitely a must. In the initial stage, our plan is to be listed on DEX, namely NearPad and Ref Finance. As for CEX, we are in the talk with them since months ago and we will reveal more when the details are more affirmed.
As for IDO, YES. We will be having our IDO starting on 30 April 2022. You can read up more here: https://medium.com/@atochaprotocol/atocha-protocol-path-towards-ido-d1693345f682
Q14: Currently, there is too much polish in the games, No ownership of in-game assets, and a lack of opportunities to contribute to the games & win. What solutions do provide to these problems? Compared to other games, what are your most prominent & important advancements?
We emphasize ownership of the puzzle game, namely the IPs that you created. Every piece of the puzzle game is also part of your creation, which should belong to you. Though our protocol does not have NFT standards as of the current version, we are working on the upgrade with NFT standards integrated into the next version. So with Atocha, the most important advancement is the ownership and infrastructure flexibility for the creators.
Q15: Most NFTs games currently suffer a low player base due to expensive initial cost for a new player to take part on the game. How does is attract a large group of players? Can you talk some of its features that make it different from others?
Our focus is not NFT but puzzle games. In other words, NFT is a tool that enables the puzzle game to be more flexible and versatile. In addition, most of the entry-level puzzle game is free of charge (just need a minimal ATO coin to activate your wallet and interact with the protocol). Nevertheless, we have plans to attract a larger group of players through exclusive puzzle game access with NFT purchases. This will be revealed more as we are working behind the scene to prepare the materials for that!
Q16: Marketing is a central element of every project so that everyone knows the potential that a project can bring. What is your strategy to attract new users and Investors to AtochaProtocol and keep them long-term?
This is actually a good general question and I am picking this to reemphasize on our strategy.
We are focusing on recruiting a strong puzzle creator team, namely puzzle designers, game developers, graphic designers, music composer, etc. Of course, all of it will occur in stages as we need time to establish the foundation.
As for investors, it is not our main concern as we do have ample runway for us to build and we do not intend to be depending on fund raising to keep the project afloat.
Q17: Smart contracts are prone to failure, and many projects fall victim to it, costing user funds and discrediting projects. How reliable and secure are your smart contracts? Did you test it with either party?
A generic question but worth answering. Our code are audited by Octopus Network team who are very capable in vetting through Substrate projects. They are trained by Parity and well verse in this space. So I do not see the need of getting another party to audit the code again unless we launch smart contract through the EVM pallet that we will develop in the future version upgrade.
Q18: Do the token holders have the right to participate in the governance of the project? What kind of decisions can they vote on about the project?
For token holders, you do have a voting right in the governance DAO that will be formed in a later stage as the community becomes matured and stabalized in its core.
In the meantime, we will first launch our AstroDAO on Near that will govern the funding to support the community when it comes to puzzle game creation, sponsor, bounty program and some other programs that will be announced through our Near Guild (https://gov.near.org/t/introduction-atocha-game-guild/17738)
Q19: Almost 80% investors have just focused on price of token in short term instead of understanding the real value of the project. Can you tell us on motivations and benefits for investors to hold your token in long term?
Our mantra will be always focusing on BUILDING and not the price. Even though price fluctuate due to the speculators, but we want to reassure the community that we are here for the long term, building the infrastructure for the community.
Of course, there will be benefit for you to hold ATO coin, especially when you are an active participant as well (either you are a player or a creator). You will be benefiting through a system call Atocha Points mechanism whereby as you solve and create puzzle, you will earn Points. The points can be redeemed into ATO which is tradable. In other words, as an active participant, you get rewarded.
Q20: What strategy will you implement to bring non-crypto-natives into your ecosystem? How do you keep a balance between developing the technology and also improving the value of your token?
This is a good question as it involved non-crypto users where the goal is aligned with the establishment of Atocha Game Guild as we work closely with Near Foundation.
We want to have easy to play front end, just like any other Web2 HTML5 sort of game that people can play. However, if they want to claim their prize, they will need to go through some simple tutorial to get themselves set up with Near Wallet and able to trade or withdraw their prize. This will subsequently increase the adoption of the Near Protocol (or any other chain).
As for the value of our token, it is closely correlated with how good our puzzle games are. In short, the better the puzzle game is, the more sponsor fund in ATO will be locked as prize in the ecosystem, the higher the demand for ATO and hence the value appreciates.
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/AtochaProtocol
Telegram: https://t.me/atochacommunity
Discord: https://discord.gg/QnMtSu7qT5
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atocha/
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