Illuvium’s Kieran Warwick on How Blockchain Games Can Go AAA

Blockchain games are known collectibles and in-game items that sell for thousands of dollars as NFTs.

As of yet, they haven’t been known for well-crafted 3D graphics or immersive gameplay. Illuvium is an upcoming title that just might change this and redefine what blockchain games can be. We sat down with the game’s co-founder Kieran Warwick to learn more.

What is Illuvium in your own words?

Illuvium is the first blockchain-based AAA gaming title offering high-fidelity graphics and addictive gameplay.

Players will be immersed in a well-articulated, gorgeous open-world RPG where they traverse a vast and varied landscape, battling and capturing deity-like monsters called Illuvials, which can be sold on an exchange.

Illuvium is entirely decentralized and governed by a council elected by the players, and 100% of in-game profits go back to players and stakeholders.

It will be a beautiful, fun, and competitive game — one that is worthy of gamers and is also inspiring as a crypto dapp, token, and DAO.

How large is the Illuvium ecosystem?

We currently have 25,000 members in our Discord and over 5,000 token holders. We are growing every day.

Once our influencer partnerships commence and people hear from their trusted viral personalities what about Illuvium positions it as a phenomenon-in-the-making, we know that audience will grow.

People have been waiting for a game like this. They just needed to hear that a DeFi project knows what they’re craving, that we are creating it for them, and to a large extent—with them.

What role does Von Neumann play in overseeing the aesthetics and development of Illuvium?

Von Neumann, our anonymous art director, is exactly who you might picture. A highly creative, maybe a touch eccentric, hermetic genius. He’s a talented visionary who has infused Illuvium with its entire visual identity.

He made the call that we should have holographic NFTs that are also iconic, whom we connect with in an emotional bond.

He also guided the AAA look and feel of the game so that players would immediately see the high production value, and hopefully find it pleasurable and addictive to immerse in.

As a seasoned artist and designer who has played for the big boys for over a decade, we are fortunate that he’s now at Illuvium helping us enter the gaming arena with the level of sophistication that we have as a new dapp project.

How does the Illuvium token enhance game play? Can you explain how it works?

Two tokens drive the action and, quite literally, the gameplay in the Illuvium universe and economy. $sILV is a Synthetic ILV token and can be used as in-game currency for things like enhancements, skins, and emotes. It can be earned by staking $ILV in the protocol.

The $ILV token is used for governance, meaning anyone holding the token can vote on proposals that improve the game.

This includes new characters and regions, expansions, tournaments, and pretty much anything you can think of that improves the overall experience.

What is exciting about this project is that the players are key stakeholders, and they have this incredible opportunity to shape and guide the direction of the game so that it remains enjoyable for them.

How will the Bitcoin.com Exchange listing help the ILV token?

Giving access to all Bitcoin.com users significantly increases the $ILV token exposure, which will increase trading volume. High trading volume enhances how attractive $ILV will be to new investors, especially ones who may not be up for the gaming element, but want to see $ILV in their portfolios.

Can Illuvium players use Tether or any other cryptocurrency to pay in the game?

$ETH is the main in-game currency along with $sILV. Tether can’t be used at this time.

Will Illuvials become as popular as Cryptokitties? Can you say that they are more advanced?

Cryptokitties, along with many of our other colleagues in this space, use procedural art — meaning computer-generated in a batch sense. This is an extremely efficient way to create thousands of NFTs with minute differences.

When a bunch of creations start to look and feel very similar, it doesn’t quite forge that psychological connection between an owner and a character.

We mentally stop seeing them as individual characters, and just an option in a line-up of clones. Some people desire them regardless because they feel an affinity to the look of the NFT and get what it is meant to represent.

And that’s fantastic because they are attractive and appealing.

What we have striven to create at Illuvium are characters that are unique, and don’t look like they are stock characters in an assortment of duplications.

Each and every character in Illuvium is touched by a minimum of 10 world-class artists who have worked on titles like Transformers, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Godzilla, Star Wars and so much more.

Their expertise in crafting fully-realized beings on-screen is what makes Illuvium’s NFTs so unique.

Then you add their actual utility and function to the picture, and you see that they are the ultimate well-rounded and dynamic asset that doesn’t just sit in a wallet but lives in an actual universe where it can develop, grow, and evolve.

What steps are you taking to promote Illuvium and the Illuvials?

We have signed three partnerships with popular gaming Youtubers with an audience of 10 million or more. We want to get the word out, and are connecting with influencers we have an affinity with.

Our goal is to authentically reach audiences we think would genuinely love this game and want to know about it.

We have partnered with top crypto communities like Chainlink, Sushiswap and Synthetix to create exclusive NFT giveaways.

Like our influencer partnerships, we want to align ourselves with DeFi projects that share our ideals and would be interested in seeing how crypto’s philosophies are being applied to a gaming project like this, being built from the ground up, with our level of transparency.

Tell us about your team and their background?

Our team is made up of over 70 people, with talent from AAA studios around the world.

Me and my brother Aaron were lucky to put together an amazing group of artists and developers who are led by Von Neumann and our CTO Basil Gorin, a world-class engineer with experience in mission critical projects and blockchain applications.

We also have an incredible game producer, Nate Wells, who’s known for his work with Bioshock, The Last of Us, and Rise of the Tomb Raider.

How will the NFT industry evolve in the coming months, years?

All signs indicate that the NFT industry will explode in the next few years. Once gamers become more aware of Play-to-Earn and how beneficial decentralized games are to their players, it will only be a matter of time before large studios start building in the space.

That influx is bound to occur. We look forward to working hard at being a good example of a conscious DAO innovating in crypto and DeFi, and setting the best practice standards.

This space will thrive and expand with blue-skies possibilities, and we believe Illuvium can do a huge service to that growth by leading the way.