Sota

People have tagged us hundreds of times on viral game posts, asking us to launch them on Loadout. The window to turn that attention into a launch is short, and the worst thing we can do with it is spam a builder who's having the best week of their life. So I've designed a new type of launch. Community members nominate a game, and people can start pledging SOL before the developer even knows we exist. Pledges follow a curve, so the earlier you get in, the better your price. You can withdraw any time before the dev accepts. No token exists until the developer verifies it's their game and agrees to launch, and if they'd rather not, they close it and everyone gets refunded. The incentives line up. Whoever nominates the game gets a finder's fee if it launches. The developer sees exactly what they can claim before they decide anything. Pledgers get their allocation before public trading opens, so launch day snipers are behind them for once. And traders have a reason to find games early and drag their friends in, because every pledge after yours comes in at a higher price. The community builds demand while the game goes viral. By the time we talk to the dev, an audience and money are already sitting there, waiting for one click. It also works for studios we’ve already spoken to that haven’t committed to launching yet. They can put the game up, watch demand build in real time, and decide based on real numbers instead of a pitch from us. We're building it fast so we can start testing this week.

When I first started Illuvium, my goal was simple: make sure everyone in the space had heard about us before launch. We partnered with influencers and protocols. I did 250+ AMAs, brought in major investors, and built relationships with the press. More all-nighters than I can count. These days, you call that bagworking. We were also one of the first to what became one of crypto's hottest categories. 18 months ago, after seeing Pump, I had that feeling again. I believed launchpads would become the next major category, so I started building Loadout, with curated inventory. I’m still building Illuvium, and 5% of Loadout is going to the Illuvium community. But it genuinely feels like 2020 again. I’m personally reaching out to the top 1,000 traders in the space to show them what we’re building, hear their feedback, and give them a reason to pay attention to our TGE. Remember, we’re launching through a bonding curve. Illuvium launched at a $400m FDV through a Dutch auction. I cannot predict the future. But something deep inside me says this type of fair launch, combined with the new social trading tools, might be a little crazy. On the 12th we'll see.

Discussed a Loadout launch for two games with over 100k wishlists this week. Without a doubt, normies are starting to notice crypto again.

Illuvium Overworld: My Honest Review I hadn’t played Overworld in two months. I expected a lot of progress, and I was not disappointed. I want to be careful saying that because I’m obviously biased, and we have fucked this up before. The original Overworld was beautiful, but the world felt empty. There was no real danger, no meaningful progression and not enough reason to keep playing. We also charged players a fee every time they entered a region. That was probably the single worst decision we made with Overworld. Insane in hindsight. Before we shut it down, around 2,000 people still played every month because they enjoyed hunting for Illuvials. That number has always stuck with me. If 2,000 people kept playing a version we knew wasn’t good enough, what happens when we give them a massive world filled with combat, loot, quests, dungeons and constant progression? That’s why this playtest got me so excited. The world feels fucking huge now. We’ve added another region and changed movement. It finally has that MMO feeling where you head out into the world and have no idea what you’re going to find. The capture loop is also much better. You fight Illuvials directly in the world, beat them down and then attempt to capture them. If you fail, they go ape shit. It’s simple, and it makes sense. The old system pulled you into a separate Autobattler instance every time you wanted to capture something. Dungeons are probably the biggest addition for me. They give you repeatable content, harder challenges and a reason to keep improving your team. This is the important part. Combat gives you loot. Loot improves your Ranger. Your Ranger helps you take on harder content. You capture and bond with Illuvials, build stronger teams and then push deeper into dungeons for better rewards. Every system feeds into another system. That loop is what was missing from the original Overworld. It’s also what keeps players engaged beyond the first few weeks after launch. The economy only works if people keep playing. More time spent in the world means more capturing, crafting, progression and trading. It gives everything we’ve built around Illuvium a reason to exist. We finally have a game loop that can support it. There are still problems. The UI/UX is by far the worst part of the game. It affects crafting, levelling, bonding and almost every major progression system. It needs to be a massive focus before release. We also need to do a much better job of delivering the story and hooking players immediately. Combat and questing need more polish. Loot feels great when it drops, but by level 17 I expected to have found more, and I want items to eventually have more stats that meaningfully change your build. Bonding also needs more development. The system itself is good, but it needs more feeling. We want players to become attached to specific Illuvials they have spent months building. The good news is the game now feels feature complete. Two months ago, I wasn’t sure we were there. After this playtest, I am. The remaining work is mostly about making the existing systems feel better, clearer and more polished. That is a very different position from trying to figure out whether there is even a game people will want to play. It’s weird describing an action RPG as chill, but that’s how it feels. You just want to keep on keeping on. Explore another area. Find better loot. Level another skill. Capture another Illuvial. Improve your team. Run another dungeon. Then suddenly you’ve been playing for hours. I haven’t properly tested group play yet. Next I’m jumping in with a friend who is a WoW player. I’m keen to hear his feedback. The progress over the past two months has been staggering. For the first time in a long time, I can clearly see how Overworld brings players back, keeps them playing and gives the entire Illuvium ecosystem momentum again. I genuinely cannot wait to open the gates. And I really can’t wait to drop the Obelisk Rising trailer. We’re so fucking back.

Big week for Illuvium: the MMO playtest is underway (my honest assessment comes tomorrow). Runway extension update. And some other nice things. A lot of hard work grinding over the past 18 months. Can't wait to ship some of these products!

I hear Robinhood needs a launchpad 🥶