HV-MTL Quarterly Review Can Yuga Games be the Lifeline for APE?

Author: @hyx88448868, @gryphsisacademy

TL;DR

Yuga Labs has launched a game called HV-MTL Forge, which combines pet breeding and social competition elements to enhance user participation in the NFT gaming market.
In the first season of the game, there was a decrease in player enthusiasm and a decrease in APE consumption. In this season, a total of about 241,765 APE tokens were consumed, equivalent to $520,000.
The second season introduces new elements and adjusts the reward mechanism. However, these changes do not seem to significantly increase the amount of APE recharges.
If the amount of APE recharges remains the same as in the first season, it is expected that the total recharged APE tokens will reach about 1,440,000 in six seasons. This accounts for only about 0.27% of the total circulating supply and will not have a significant impact on the overall circulation, especially when the recharged tokens may be sold.
Although the price of APE tokens continues to decline, it does not currently appear to be a favorable investment. However, Yuga Labs’ high standards are reflected in the quality of the game, demonstrating the potential for future improvements and success.

Introduction

HV-MTL Forge is a game launched by Yuga Labs, which is a creative, social, and competitive production game between pet breeding and casual worlds for HV-MTL NFT holders. As a Web3 company focused on NFTs, Yuga Labs is expanding its influence in the NFT gaming market by including HV-MTL Forge as part of its product line. Breeding games and social competitive games have always been popular among players. With the launch of HV-MTL Forge, Yuga Labs may hope to attract more users to participate and drive the development of the game through creative, social interaction, and competitive elements between NFT holders. This strategy may help improve Yuga Labs’ position in the NFT gaming market and increase user participation in its community.

The main fun and task of the game is to create a forge and make your HV happy and efficient (HV is the “pet” you need to cultivate in the game). You need to build and decorate your forge to win community votes and get the most votes for your HV and forge. The more forge votes you get, the greater the rewards.

The game is divided into 6 seasons, each lasting 3 weeks. The first season has ended and the second season has begun. The game content is not extensive. According to Yuga’s strategic layout in the metaverse, we look forward to better delivery in the upcoming seasons. Below, we will analyze the game and discuss the management situation of the first season. Finally, we will provide a game guide.

HV-MTL Game Season 1 Operation and Season 2 Updates

In order to track the game, we have created a dashboard to evaluate the operation of the game based on data from NFT minting, holding, trading, and APE recharge in the game. We will analyze the operation of Season 1 based on the data from the dashboard. Then, we will summarize the updates for Season 2.

NFT-related

Minting situation:

Regarding the minting of HV-MTL NFT, the total quantity is 30,000, of which 28,056 have been minted and 1,955 remain unminted.

HV-MTL is a LianGuaiss Card for entering this game. Its minting process is to burn SewerLianGuaiss and mint HV-MTL NFT based on the ranking of Dookey Dash. Dookey Dash is a casual game launched by Yuga before HV-MTL and is an important part of Yuga’s game ecosystem.

Any SewerLianGuaiss with a rank can mint HV at any time. As mentioned in the official announcement by Bored Apes, there are 789 cards with Rank=0 that cannot mint HV.

At this time, we can also calculate that 23,752 (burned Sewer LianGuaiss) + 3,515 (unminted Sewer LianGuaiss) + 789 (Rank=0) = 28,056, which corresponds to the number of minted HV.

NFT Holding Situation:

From the table, it can be seen that the total number of holding addresses is 9,752, and there are 6,222 addresses that hold only 1 NFT. The address with the most holdings is Yuga’s multi-signature wallet address, which holds 4,295 NFTs (from unminted and Rank=0 Sewer LianGuaiss). In addition to Yuga, the address with the most holdings holds 383 cards, of which the top 100 holders account for 33.28% of the total NFTs. The concentration of chips is not too high, and only 12 out of the top 100 holders have recharged.

NFT Transaction Data:

In the overall trend, the floor price shows a gradual decline. The trading volume tends to increase significantly when there are major announcements or within the first few days of game launch, but it is not optimistic during the rest of the time.

APE Consumption in the Game

The number of daily recharge addresses and the total amount of daily recharge increased significantly in the first few days before the game launch, and then showed a continuous decline. The number of daily recharge addresses reached its peak on the 3rd day, with 531 addresses. The daily recharge amount reached its peak on the 2nd day, with 24,436 APE.

We can see that the enthusiasm of players reached its peak when the game just launched, but then gradually declined. From this, we can also see that the game mechanics and gameplay of the current season are not attractive enough to players, or many players are not yet accustomed to Yuga’s long-term development gameplay.

Among the top 100 recharge players, the first place player recharged 8,893 APE, equivalent to about $20,000. The second place player recharged 6,235 APE, and the third place player recharged 4,537 APE. It can be seen from the table that the top players have a strong willingness to spend, and the game’s ability to generate revenue is quite good.

Major Updates in S2:

1. The theme of S2 is called “Wet Hot Forge Summer“, adding new tiles and decorations. You can turn your forge into a summer beach. The image below is the promotional image for the second season.

2. Adjustments have been made to the ranking determination and AMP levels. Please refer to the image above for the specific data on the relationship between ranking and AMP levels. Legendary remains at 133, while the other levels have changed. The mechanism is more favorable for players who join the game later.

3. Added rights for BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC holders. In the later stages of S2, you can receive corresponding decorations for free.

4. The gameplay and voting mechanisms remain unchanged.

APE Investment Decision Analysis

From an investment perspective, the total supply of APE tokens is 1,000,000,000, with a circulation of 368,593,750. Currently, the largest source of APE inflation comes from the release of staking reward tokens, which will account for 10% of the total supply, or 100,000,000 APE, within the first year. Therefore, APE still has a significant inflation rate at present.

In the previous game by Yuga, Dookey Dash, in the image below, we can see that the APE deposited by users was eventually sent to Coinbase by Yuga, indicating the possibility of market selling.

Although there hasn’t been any action of transferring APE funds from the HV-MTL game’s receiving wallet, we can already infer that these deposited APE tokens will likely be sold on the secondary market by the project team.

From the previous text, we can also see that there are not many updates in Season 2, and the core content is just a change in theme style, which does not promote the recharge of APE. Therefore, we assume that the recharge amount of the first season is maintained for each season, which is about 240,000 APE. Then, at the end of the game, the total recharge of the 6 seasons players is about 1,440,000 APE. In terms of time, 6 seasons is equivalent to 4 months. By the beginning of November 2023 when the entire season ends, according to the Token Unlock data, the total circulating supply of APE is about 560 million, and the recharge APE at this time accounts for only about 0.27% of the total circulating supply, which has no significant impact on the overall circulation, not to mention the possibility of selling these recharge tokens.

Since the sale of Otherside land, the token price has continued to fall. The market expects Yuga’s layout in the game to consume the selling pressure generated by staking. In the historical event chart of APE tokens, we can see that except for a short period of hype after the release of Dookey Dash trailer, the price of APE tokens has been continuously falling during the period when Dookey Dash game was officially launched. HV-MTL cannot meet market expectations for consuming the staking selling pressure, whether it is during the preheating phase or after the official launch. Although the game has a certain quality, it has little impact on the demand for APE. The recharged APE tokens also have no burn action and are more likely to become selling pressure on the market. Therefore, we believe that APE is still not a good investment target at present, and we still need to wait for Yuga to give APE greater empowerment.

Summary and Outlook

The results of HV-MTL Season 1 are not optimistic, mainly due to external market dynamics, especially the current NFT environment. The limited application of $APE in the game may also cause difficulties in attracting and retaining players. From the floor price and trading data in the Dune board, we can see that the incentives provided to early participants are not attractive enough to stimulate large-scale adoption. Enhancing the application of $APE in the game may help increase its value, improve market visibility, and create more excitement for the game. Despite the challenges the game faces, its high quality, reflected in the game materials and fine details, demonstrates Yuga Labs’ high standards.

Looking ahead, we look forward to Yuga Labs expanding the application of $APE in the game and improving the game mechanics to attract more users. Considering Yuga’s superior operational capability and the potential for game improvement, HV-MTL remains a promising project. Therefore, we will closely monitor the progress of this fascinating game.

Appendix

Game breakdown section

First, let’s break down the game. The game breakdown will be done from the perspectives of game objectives, game resources, and gameplay. Let’s take a look together.

Game objectives:

The main objective and task of the game are to acquire AMP and unlock the next evolution of your HV. AMP is the reward you get for taking care of your HV and getting votes. Each player participating in the game will receive an AMP at the end of each season, and you must have at least 3 AMPs to unlock the next evolution of your HV.

(Left: your initial HV, evolved through three AMPs)

AMP has five rare levels: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. The rarity you receive depends on your ranking on the leaderboard at the end of the season, which is determined by the votes you receive on each daily leaderboard. The following are the AMP levels you can obtain based on your ranking in Season 1 and Seasons 2-6.

(Note: AMPs will initially be attached to your HV’s off-chain data, not your wallet. When you decide to evolve your HV, the AMPs will go on-chain and be burned.)

In summary, daily voting determines the daily leaderboard, and the ranking on the daily leaderboard determines the points and ranking on the season leaderboard.

Game resources:

The core resources in the game are Energy and Gears. In the image below, the top left corner is the energy indicator, and the top right corner is the gear indicator.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of the game includes the construction and upgrading of tiles and decorations, the activation/upgrading/use/repair of portals, and the emotional management and energy of HV.

1. Buy HV-MTL NFT in the NFT market. HV-MTL NFT collection is composed of HVs from 30 different professions. Your HV will allow you to play this game and participate in future games related to Forge. When you enter the game, the basic appearance of your forge depends on the rarity/profession of your HV. In addition, the game will start with a special reward package, and each HV profession has a unique starting reward package, which provides additional advantages in the early stages. So, it is important to choose your HV NFT from the beginning, to determine which starting reward package you need, and most importantly, the type of base style you want for your forge. Of course, HVs of different rarities/professions will have different prices in the secondary market. The rarer the HV, the more generous the starting reward package and the higher the price. Choose according to your needs.

2. After purchasing the NFT, click this link https://hv-mtl.com to enter the official website of the game, connect the wallet that holds the NFT for signing, and start the game.

3. After entering the game, you will first see your forging space (the appearance of the forging space of each different profession’s HV is different, here is only an example of the author’s) and a forge with an “X”. The forge is the tool for generating tiles and decorations. Click the red button next to the “PUSH” label, and the forge will work and generate a random tile or decoration. Each forging on the forge is free, if you don’t like the item forged this time, you can click “PUSH” again for the next forging. Tiles can be placed anywhere in your forging space, the first thing you need to do is to connect your forge to your portal (the dark green object at the top of the picture) with tiles and activate your portal.

4. It was mentioned above that each forging is free, which means it does not consume energy, but placing these forged tiles or decorations requires energy. Each HV is equipped with initial energy in the starting reward pack, which you can use to complete the initial tile placement and portal connection. Once the portal is connected, the basic construction of your forge is completed, and now you can start decorating and optimizing your forge to gain votes from the community. This is the basic gameplay and progress of the game, now let’s talk about the gameplay mechanics in detail.

Strategy:

1. Energy acquisition mechanism: The tiles and decorations you build will consume energy, which is also the core mechanism of the game – the voting mechanism. For detailed information on energy acquisition and consumption, please refer to the separate section, here is a brief explanation. The most common way to obtain energy is through HV generated on the tiles you build, similar to a cultivation game, where you can even obtain energy while idle or when the game is closed.

2. The maximum energy you can obtain depends on the level of your portal, and the average level of your tiles determines the level your portal can be upgraded to. If you have 10 tiles, you must upgrade all these 10 tiles to level 2 or above for your portal to be able to reach level 2. So, besides connecting the portal and decorating your forge to make it more aesthetic, do not place unnecessary tiles.

3. Winning through community voting, acquiring AMP, and meeting the upgrading requirements for your HV are necessary conditions. Voting requires energy, and obtaining more votes is the ultimate goal of this game. The core of obtaining more votes lies in the aesthetics of your forge and your level of activity in the game community. You can share the link to your forge on social media and actively integrate into the community, while decorating your forge to make it more aesthetically pleasing to gain recognition from other players and win more votes for yourself.

About voting, there are a few points to note:: 1. You can only vote after opening the first portal. 2. The energy cost will increase with each vote, so be cautious in your decision-making. 3. Each HV can vote once a day, and only HV holders can vote. 4. When you vote, you can also receive a small reward. 5. HVs of different rarity will receive a different number of votes, with higher rarity receiving more votes.

Gameplay summary

The voting mechanism is the core of this game, so let’s talk in detail about community voting. For this game, what determines your number of votes is your level of community participation and activity, followed by the attractiveness of your forge. To receive more votes, currently players in the community are basically trading votes, so as mentioned earlier, it becomes important to have high rarity HVs and a large number of votes in your hands. In addition, you can also create interesting content about this game to attract the attention of other players in the community, in order to promote yourself. In the following sections, we will also summarize several interesting community events from the first season. At the same time, while actively participating in the community, you also need to ensure the attractiveness of your forge, otherwise you may be voted down, as this is the basis for receiving votes from others.

However, in order to achieve vote trading and an attractive forge, we have to talk about the energy mechanism again. The energy consumed by voting and upgrading your floor tiles keeps increasing, and the more you progress in the game, the more energy you will consume. If you play the game in a more casual way, you only need to pay attention to your maximum energy acquisition limit (i.e. the level of the portal). After leaving the game idle, your HV will also generate energy by moving on the floor tiles. If you want to pursue a high ranking on the leaderboard, you can recharge in a situation where there is a demand, accelerating all the energy acquisition methods mentioned earlier in the game breakdown.

The voting mechanism provides players with a way to express their opinions, and allows them to communicate, discuss, and share strategies with other players in the community through social media. At the same time, by participating in voting together, the social connections between players are strengthened, forming an active gaming community where every player can feel their own importance and influence in the game. Therefore, the voting mechanism is not only a decision-making tool within the game, but also an important driving force for promoting social interaction and player participation.

Recap of the first season’s HV-MTL community events:

1. Boxing match between @apecoiner and a cow

2. Original animation made for HV by @RidazLP

Disclaimer: This report is an original work completed by @hyx88448868, a student at @GryphsisAcademy, under the guidance of @CryptoScott_ETH. The author is solely responsible for all content, which does not necessarily reflect the views of Gryphsis Academy or the organization that commissioned the report. Editorial content and decisions are not influenced by readers. Please be aware that the author may own cryptocurrencies mentioned in this report. This document is for informational purposes only and should not be used as a basis for investment decisions. It is highly recommended that you conduct your own research and consult with an independent financial, tax, or legal advisor before making any investment decisions. Please remember that past performance of any asset is not indicative of future returns.

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