Pokemon on web3 steroids is probably one of the best ways to describe Genopets, the first move-to-earn (M2E) game, which has made waves in the blockchain and fitness scene.
The game has set the standard for the growing niche that blends gaming, fitness, DeFi, and even non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Through the gamification of workout processes, Genopets incentivizes users to complete their fitness routines since their pets will also level up with them, on top of accruing monetary rewards.
Does it sound too good to be true? Right off the bat, we’ll tell you that although it is free for all (you get free NFTs at the start), it has some elements of play-to-win, but to a lesser extent. Those who are willing to spend will be able to level up faster and earn more rewards. But if you’re goal is to simply stay active and have fun while you’re at it, Genopets could serve you well even if you don’t purchase anything.
Whether it will rise to become a blockbuster app or end up being another over-hyped P2E project that amounts to nothing remains to be seen. Let’s take a deep dive and see whether this game is a good fit for you.
What is Genopets?
Genopets is a Pokemon-inspired move-to-earn NFT mobile game running on the Solana blockchain. The game carefully blends fun and workout incentives to deliver an exciting user experience, which is in stark contrast to typical exercise tracking apps that merely focus on boring health metrics that may not make sense to everybody.
Genopets aims to be a gamechanger by adding elements of combat, power, and pet nurturing right inside a move-to-earn game. If you’re familiar with Tamagotchi and Pokemon, you’ll feel at home with Genopets’ theme, mechanics, gameplay, and environment.
Moreover, exercises are one of the main power sources of Genopets, which can potentially motivate players to increase their physical activities. And just like our nostalgic pocket monsters, Genopets characters can also evolve, battle, and, as a bonus, earn cryptocurrencies.
Indeed, Genopets is not merely another cookie-cutter walk-to-earn app but a game about fostering bonds with digital pets, apart from being a healthy lifestyle advocate.
Key Components
If you want to play Genopets, there are a few components that play an essential role in this gaming-fitness platform. And they come as either SPL tokens (Solana-based) or Solana NFTs. Note that if you wish to buy an NFT, you will need a web3 wallet that supports Solana, such as Phantom, and buy them on marketplaces like Magic Eden or OpenSea.
Also, it might be helpful to read our Solana guide if you’re a beginner.
Genopets
Genopets will be your very own “spirit animal” NFT, having cybernetic and interchangeable body parts, making them highly customizable characters. Players can get their Genopets for free, which would start as an infant in the game. From there, they must nurture and upgrade their pets, which can undergo 77 levels and 12 stages of evolution. And, of course, achieving these feats won’t be a piece of cake.
Players must continuously strive to bring more XP (experience) to their Genopets by joining in PvP (player vs. player) and PvE (player vs. environment) battles. But just in case you’re not in the mood to battle, you can still garner XP for your Genopets by taking a walk or jogging outside your house.
Doing either of the above activities in your daily to-do list will develop your Genopet, continuously making it stronger. In other words, as your body develops through physical activities, your digital pet’s growth follows as well.
Augment
Augment is an NFT accessory you can use for your Genopets to enhance their physique and performance. These accessories take advantage of Genopets’ interchangeable body parts, allowing you to show off your customized pets to fellow players.
But one important reminder here: while free players can get their augment through battles and help their Genopets power up, they are forbidden to trade or sell these accessories. The only way to do that is to purchase a permanent home for Genopets called a “Habitat.”
Habitat
Habitat serves as the permanent home of Genopets, and while the game is free to play, players may have difficulty maintaining their pets without purchasing this asset. This 3D vivarium home is critical to Genopets’ stats as it produces premium Augments and unrefined crystals that can enhance the overall status of these cybernetic pets.
While the vivarium helps maintain the Genopets, the Habitat itself must be maintained as well, as pesky nanobots will definitely attack when players neglect it.
Genopets offer two types of Habitats: The ‘Genesis’ and ‘Regular’ habitats.
The Genesis Habitat offers all types of crystals and 10 KI tokens (Genopet’s utility token). Furthermore, it has different appearances and a limited supply. Meanwhile, the ‘Regular Habitat’ can only produce one type of crystal and has an unlimited supply.
Note: You can purchase up to three Habitats per wallet account.
Genotype Crystal
The unrefined crystals produced by a Habitat are not valuable yet and must be brought to the platform’s ‘Laboratory’ to refine and turn them into ‘Genotype Crystal’ NFTs.
Refined crystals are the building blocks of the Genopet characters, which make these gems a critical asset in the game. Moreover, Genotype Crystals can create new Habitats and change the elemental type of a Genopet. As you can see, even if Genopets is a free-to-play game, one needs to invest and purchase in-game assets to tap into its full benefits.
Terraform Seeds
Since you have the power to create new Habitats out of crystals, you can build a host of Habitats that can continuously churn out new crystals every day.
You can also terraform (breed or mint) more Habitats by combining these important assets: ‘Terraform Seeds,’ ‘Gene Crystal;’ KI Tokens, and ‘GENE Tokens.’
KI Token
KI is the game’s utility token, which players can earn through specific game activities. Players can also use KI tokens to terraform new Habitat (as mentioned before) and accelerate in-game performance. The more Habitats you maintain, the more $KI you produce per day.
GENE Token
$GENE serves as the governance and staking token of the Genopets ecosystem. You can earn it by winning seasonal games, as well as staking. Once acquired, you can use them to craft rare items, terraform and upgrade your Habitat, and participate in the platform’s decision-making.
How to Play Genopets
- Head on to Play Store or App Store (via TestFlight) and download Genopets.
- Enter your email address
- Register and create an account.
- Confirm the registration on your email
- Confirm the transaction on Genopets’ official Discord channel.
- Connect your Phantom wallet.
Players will initially receive a free baby Genopet after registration. From there, they now have the responsibility to grow and nurture not only their pets but also their other assets as well.
How Does Genopets Work?
To better understand how Genopets work, let’s first have a recap of its major components:
- Genopets
- Augment
- Habitat
- Genopet Crystal
- Terraform Seeds
- KI token
- GENE token
As you can see, Genopets isn’t just a linear move-to-earn game that solely depends on physical activities. It has a sustainable and active in-game economy, with multiple earning mediums, in which exercise is just one aspect of generating crypto rewards.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
Energy
Genopets are mainly powered by the “Energy” generated by the players’ physical activities. In other words, the more players exercise, the stronger their pets become.
As mentioned earlier, players can get their Genopets for free and will start as infant creatures in the game. These pets can gain more Energy, XP, and overall development as long as players continuously engage in physical activities, or join in PvP and PvE battles.
Pay-to-Win Elements
Unfortunately, your Genopets can’t reach their full potential by merely engaging in the activities mentioned above. At some point in the game, players will need to invest to gain momentum and leverage its full perks. In other words, they need to transition into paying players to have best experience.
This is where ‘Habitat’ comes in. This is the first item that players must purchase to level up in the game. Why? Because Habitat produces two important assets called augment and unrefined crystals, which can open players to Genopets’ earning opportunities.
By producing augments, players can finally have their first items that can be traded and sold in the marketplace. Furthermore, by purchasing a Habitat, they can now sell and trade the augments they’ve gained from past battles.
As for the unrefined crystals, they can level up players’ Genopets once they are refined in a Laboratory. Through these upgrades, a Genopet’s performance is boosted, which would aid in climbing the 77 levels and 12 stages of its evolution.
But since there is a limit of only three Habitat purchases per wallet, players cannot buy this item repeatedly to expand their assets and develop their Genopets further. This appears to be a limitation to avoid imbalance from players with a lot more resources to buy too many Habitats at once.
Increasing the Number of Habitats
To solve the dilemma mentioned above, players can use Refined Crystals and Terraform Seeds to generate new Habitats. Through this mechanism, players can perpetually expand their Habitat NFTs and continuously increase their crystal production.
But while this may sound exciting, players also have to deal with the rising difficulty of maintaining their Habitats, as nanobots can infest these vivariums and disrupt their crystal production.
How to Earn Tokens
Habitats’ expansion and development can further accelerate through Genopets’ two currencies called KI and GENE tokens. KI can terraform habitats, while GENE can both terraform and upgrade vivariums.
Moreover, Habitats can also serve as machines to produce more KI tokens, which players can reinvest into Habitats for continuous growth. Both KI and GENE can be earned by winning from in-game challenges. Their only difference is that GENE can also be acquired through staking.
These two tokens are critical aspects of the Genopets’ ecosystem as they help power Habitats, which keeps the game’s economy active and healthy.
Interdependence
By taking a closer look, every aspect of the Genopets’ ecosystem was designed to be interdependent with each other. Not one can thrive without the help of others. And this design has been arguably effective in creating continuous demand inside the platform, keeping the game’s economy moving and making it sustainable in the long run.
What Makes Genopets Great?
Free to Play
Perhaps one of the most commendable features of the M2E game is the fact that it is free, which is a stark contrast to most applications of its genre. Yes, there are limitations on what free players can do and achieve, but allowing gamers to try its ecosystem for free is more than enough to give them new opportunities and get a feel of what the game is all about before spending.
First Move-to-Earn Platform
As the first web3 mobile game to introduce the concept of ‘move-to-earn’, Genopets has a ‘first-mover’ advantage to set the standards for this growing arena.
Its rich universe, healthy lifestyle advocacy, and income mechanisms bring so much potential for this game to grow even further, which might pose a challenge for future M2E games that aren’t as gamified.
Conclusion
Genopets, with all its magnificent environment, dazzling creatures, and fitness features to top it all off, can be considered one of the few premium web3 mobile games. At the very least, it has proven to be a phenomenal experiment that blends M2E and GameFi to create fun-filled and healthy experiences. Will it make you rich? Most likely not.
And perhaps it has some pay-to-win elements still, which may skew the game to benefit those with deep pockets, but there are certain restrictions implemented to help maintain a fairer gaming economy. We advise anyone considering Genopets to get into it only for the right reasons; either to do something new and cool or to incentivize yourself to keep an active lifestyle.
We highly recommend against buying for speculation. A lot of people have been burned enough.
You might also want to check out our guide to the M2E.
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