Discover the next generation of Ton games from Safepal Ton Fest

Author: Shijiu Jun

Introduction

Recently, Telegram (TG) and the Ton network have frequently become hot topics. On August 28, due to a surge in trading volume of $DOGS, the Ton network experienced congestion, leading to an overload of the garbage collection function, causing many validation nodes to temporarily lose consensus. To restore normal network operation, validation nodes needed to restart around noon.

So, what applications are available on the Ton network? Who is its user base? Let's explore together.

1. The Current State of the Ton Ecosystem

The Ton ecosystem relies on TG's 1 billion users. After six months of rapid development, the number of active wallets on the Ton chain has reached 14 million, but the penetration rate is only 1.4%.

In contrast, the penetration rate of WeChat Pay was about 80% in 2023. From this perspective, the Ton ecosystem has a huge potential user market.

The Ton official set a goal in a recent meeting: to attract 500 million users into Web3 within the next four years.

When it comes to the Ton ecosystem, the most eye-catching aspect is Ton games. Similar to the once-popular Axie Infinity, a game that has recently been widely discussed on Ton is Catizen.

With the launch of Dogs, the focus quickly shifted. During the recent KWB event, people discussed who the next phenomenal game would be and what story it would bring.

Developers who have had more contact with the Ton Foundation will know that the Ton Foundation has not provided support for projects for a long time.

In addition to changes in supply and demand, simple Clicker Games have occupied a large amount of user time, and users are feeling fatigued with such clicker games.

Currently, the commercialization of Clicker Games has only two paths:

• Listing
• Redirecting traffic to other projects

However, there are very few projects that can be listed, and users may participate in many games but ultimately gain nothing.

Mutual traffic redirection will only lead users to a bunch of uninteresting and task-heavy Clicker Games.

Over time, bad money drives out good, and users will gradually lose interest in TG games and trust in the TG ecosystem. When activity decreases, developers will also leave.

These Clicker Games, due to their simple objectives, often do not require a "chain" and can complete game logic through centralized methods, yet consume Ton's resources without serving Ton.

In the face of such a situation, how will the Ton officials guide it?

In traditional internet, "people, goods, and venues" is an important concept, and the Ton officials have realized this, promoting ecosystem development through various developer activities.

• People: Refers to users. In the Ton ecosystem, users are the core. Just like the evolution of the WeChat ecosystem from "Jump Jump" to "Sheep Got Sheep," and then to "Find the Great Thousand," users need to be cultivated and educated through quality games and applications. The Ton officials are working hard to attract more users into their ecosystem and provide them with interesting and valuable experiences.
• Goods: Refers to content and services. In the Ton ecosystem, games and applications are the "goods." These contents need to be attractive and innovative to meet user needs. The Ton officials encourage developers to create outstanding games and applications to enrich ecosystem content and incentivize innovation through various activities and support programs.
• Venues: Refers to platforms and environments. The Ton network itself is a "venue," providing a decentralized platform for users and developers. The Ton officials can collaborate with potential partners that can help break the circle, such as Web3 native companies and traditional game companies, to enrich ecosystem content. Through these collaborations, Ton can not only provide developers with broader resources and support but also attract more users to participate, promoting the prosperity of the entire ecosystem.

Thus, the author started looking from the "venue" and saw that many traditional wallet giants held Ton Campaign events, such as Bitget Ton Carnival, OKX CryptoPedia, Safepal Ton Fest, etc.

This time, I will analyze the games listed in the recently started Safepal Ton Fest event.

2. Crazy LIKE Game: Ton Heroes

A common saying among domestic developers is: "Move the games from WeChat Mini Programs over."

In the project list, I found a "crazy" type of game that emphasizes one word: "satisfaction."

Players no longer need to continuously defeat minions to level up, nor do they need to struggle in the game's dungeons to obtain equipment.

In the game, treasure chests are right in front of you, containing equipment, experience, and gold coins, which you can open at will.

The types of weapons players can obtain include:

Weapon rarity is divided into 9 major categories, as shown in the following image:

After seeing this, did everyone immediately think of a very popular project from back in the day: Loot.

The narrative of Loot describing on-chain universal assets has been accepted by many, but since it only solved the production side of the issue without providing highly playable applications, it lost its usability.

Ton Heroes, however, has grounded both the production and use of items.

Users continuously open chests to obtain higher quality and better advanced attribute equipment. When opening treasure chests, players need to make decisions between advanced attributes and basic attributes, trying to enhance their heroes' combat power in battles.

Players can obtain additional resources and treasure chests through PVE battles, while also challenging other players in PVP to earn battle rewards and higher rankings.

"Crazily" themed games have an online duration of up to 60 minutes, with an active ARPU of 9.8, a payment rate of 7.7%, and a paid ARPU reaching 126.

This already validated category becomes a cash cow once the user base grows, combined with the narrative of Loot and the use scenarios of universal game assets, this game has tremendous potential.

At the same time, I found Ton Heroes on the official recommendations of TonKeeper and OKX, highlighting the team's background and strength.

Before publication, this game appeared at the top of the latest recommendations in Telegram's official AppsCenter.

3. Multi-Platform Social Collecting Game: NokNok

The above-mentioned Ton Heroes represents the "goods" in the "people, goods, and venues," while the representative of "people" belongs to this MEME game with fans and social elements.

NokNok establishes a fan economy from the perspective of "people."

Players can hit hot figures like Trump, Musk, and Harris, giving each character a "ranking" based on the number of times they have been hit.

Hammer NFT

Players can earn hammer coins through actions in the game. Additionally, they can obtain various hammer skins through treasure chests daily.

According to official social media news, they will soon launch an NFT system, allowing players to mint the hammer skins they collect into NFTs.

I found this point similar to the popular Banana on Steam.

Although there are similar Banana projects on TG, they are not developed by the same manufacturer, and the data cannot be interconnected. However, NokNok has released its game on PC on Steam, making it the first multi-platform Ton game.

This is also an important reason for my initial analysis of it.

Multi-Platform Mining

Unlike most existing clicker games, NokNok emphasizes "light gameplay," allowing players to earn income through idle play.

Reward System

Similar to Banana, NokNok officials have also launched activities to reward players for obtaining limited skins. Players can receive rewards directly from the officials after opening limited hammers, anchoring the value of the items.

In the task list, I saw two familiar logos: one is Binance, and Safepal is one of the earliest projects incubated by Binance, so collaborating with Safepal must have some connection with Binance.

The core of Dogs breaking the circle is to bring TG users to CEX, so has NokNok's narrative on multiple platforms already attracted Binance's attention?

The other task is IOSG, which, as an investment and research institution focused on blockchain technology, is an indispensable presence in the Web3 field.

Although I couldn't find relevant information from public channels, this part is left for everyone to explore and study.

In this issue, we will first analyze these two games. Based on everyone's needs (you can submit your desired targets for me to research in the background), we can further analyze some Ton games with new gameplay and narratives.