decrypt.co
Production company Gadget-Bot has been developing the “Kaidro” sci-fi universe for over a decade—and now the co-founders are bringing their visual storytelling experience from webcomics and social video into Web3 with a PC role-playing game (RPG) on Ethereum scaling network Immutable slated to launch this year.
"Kaidro" is set in a post-apocalyptic world wherein a mech-wielding faction battles against powerful magic users. The game will combine player-versus-player, player-versus-environment, and broader questing mechanics, in which three teams of three players each must achieve various objectives on maps while fighting off enemy teams.
In an interview, “Kaidro” creators and Gadget-Bot co-founders Peggy Chung and Robert Simons told Decrypt about the game—and why they chose to leverage NFTs for it after working on AAA games like Call of Duty and Apex Legends, as well as blockbuster films like "Jurassic World" and "Ender’s Game."
Simons and Chung see Web3 as the natural next step for their large community. And the duo are more than just creative producers and visual storytellers—they’re also TikTok stars, with over 1.3 million combined followers across three channels.
They’ve previously used Kickstarter to fund development on “Kaidro,” and have raised thousands to release a series of physical graphic novels based off the original Webtoons comics, which have garnered over 1.6 million views with a 9.6-star rating.
3 days left on the Kaidro Kickstarter. Get in early access of the game and book 3 now! #kaidro https://t.co/CkYNq9xYor pic.twitter.com/z11ADuhT5V
— Kaidro (@kaidrochronicle) April 6, 2023
“When we were growing this fanbase, we were creating this huge world. When we saw Web3, we saw it as this way of giving ownership to that fanbase and letting them be a part of it,” Simons told Decrypt. “We saw things like NFTs and things like that as a way for people to actually own a portion of the 'Kaidro' world and forever own it.”
“We don’t want to be limited with how we can expand that world,” Chung added on Gadget-Bot’s strategy for the Kaidro game, sharing that the interactive world will expand beyond main character Ava from the comics series. An animated series created in collaboration with Tim Hedrick ("Avatar: The Last Airbender") is also in the works.
Cloned NFTs and battle passes
In the Kaidro game—which will first launch on PC and eventually come to mobile—each NFT will give its owner a playable character from a specific clan, and players could end up guiding a mech, a spirit guardian, or a pilot. Each NFT will offer storylines unique to that character, and players will also be able to unlock items specific to that character.
Kaidro NFT holders will be able to do something largely unheard of in Web3, as well: cloning.
“We wanted to give the marketplace to the NFT holders,” Simons said. “They’re able to clone their NFTs up to a certain amount, and sell those back to players who may not necessarily be that interested right off the bat in NFTs, but they might like the skins. This allows for players to buy those skins and help rank up points for those said NFT holders.”
The game will also offer a free-to-play experience for players looking to try out Kaidro before purchasing an NFT. And like most PVP games, Kaidro will have “seasons” of content, meaning that any given year is broken up into themed durations that focus on different stories.
In Kaidro, one faction will “win” at the end of each season—and that will influence the course of the next one. Kaidro will also offer seasonal, soulbound (non-transferable) battle passes as NFTs for players looking to get extra loot and other rewards.
All that said, developing the Kaidro game hasn’t been without its challenges.
“We’ve rebuilt the game multiple times at this point,” Simons said, citing a desire to zero in on fun above all for players.
It's still unclear whether Kaidro will launch on Immutable X or the recently-announced Immutable zkEVM network, but the game will live within the Immutable gaming ecosystem.
Why did Kaidro’s team ultimately pick Immutable? In Simons’ view, Immutable has a clear focus on gaming and allows the team to be “as Web2-friendly as possible” while also offering Web3 integrations for those who want them.
“The connections they have built with GameStop, all these different environments they’re really tapping into really feels like they’re trying to become game-centric over a lot of the other systems that we’re seeing out there,” Simons said.