How to Convert Web 2 Games to Web 3
DEVELOPERS
July 1, 2022
Gaming has become one of the fastest growing sectors of the Web3 world. On NEAR alone, there are nearly 100 projects building gaming titles in the ecosystem. But harnessing the unique properties of blockchain can be a challenge. Which is why an ecosystem project, in collaboration with the NEAR Foundation has created a handy tutorial for anyone considering converting their games to Web3.

If you’ve ever tried to find a simple answer to the question of “How do I start converting my mobile game to NEAR blockchain?”, then this Web2 to Web3 tutorial is for you.

The tutorial was created by Sigma Software Group, a consultancy group with Swedish and Ukrainian roots, as a result of its own work converting a free to play large-scale mobile AR game called Black Snow, which makes players the heroes of an epic sci-fi movie at their physical or virtual locations.

Through this conversion, Black Snow is utilising NFTs to radically reimagine the gaming experience for players. So the team have decided to share its knowledge with other gaming companies looking to explore similar conversions.
Essentially, there is no way of just “converting” your game to use a blockchain, although NEAR strives to make the transition and onboarding to web3 ecosystem as natural and hassle free as possible. Thus, even the very first step to add NFTs into a mobile game presents a multi-faceted challenge that includes game mechanics, architecture, engineering, and live ops. 

A step-by-step guide
The tutorial begins with explanations of the very core concepts, which you’ll need to understand before starting the move to web3. It highlights both the benefits and constraints of moving to blockchain.

Then, you’ll find a sequence of practical steps along with code examples to guide you through converting a regular mobile game to a game with NFTs in the NEAR ecosystem.

These steps cover the technical aspects of how to choose libraries, frameworks and which third-party solutions can be used to implement the blockchain architecture. 

The tutorial describes how NFTs are used to represent ownership of an asset in web3 world, how to implement them technically, and on which moment you need to stay focused during this process. Further, it covers aspects on NFT usage and minting as well as NFT marketplace integration. 

The tutorial also provides a number of tips and tricks, which are not that obvious for any newcomer to blockchain, concerning security, scalability, availability, and costs of a web3 application.