This one is quite big , Punks seem to be all the rage and I have had the pleasure of chatting to one half of the team who created and works on RomanPunks and there now bringing there project to WAX blockchain so read on and find out what there plan is for there project on WAX is .
Hey
Yo
How's things ?
not too shabby, keeping busy over here in the 'mint' factory
Awh what you get up to today ?
not much fren, just drawing, writing, blogging, minting! chatting, networking, etc. 😁
How did you discover NFTs ?
back in January in my crypto research....found out about wax .
So your into crypto currency's ?
I dabble a little - more interested in the application of the crypto for NFTs and dapps than straight up HODLing a bit of staking on Cardano and Algo HODL btc and Eth . But mostly NFTs
And where you making NFTs already when you found out about WAX ?
Yes we have a collection on OpenSea that we started on April 1 7.9 ETH volume traded I knew about WAX first, but we launched our project on OpenSea initially.....now have expanded to WAX.
How come you have decided to come to wax with your project ?
The heart and soul of our project is characters, story and gameplay, so the collectible card system on WAX lends itself nicely to our vision. But there are also other practical reasons:
Transaction fees - low/nonexistent gas fees to allow for more frequent trading and ability to price our items less and offer frequent airdrops so that we can reach a wider audience
Community - most of the like minded projects and people we have encountered are focused on WAX so it’s an opportunity for us to expand our network
Trading mechanics - blends, packs and drops facilitate the evolution of RomanPunks from a basic avatar project to one with greater utility - these mechanics allow us to build gameplay in the form of treasure hunts and collection building ; adding use to the project without having to hire a costly developer to build a game at this stage.
Where did you come up with your project ?
The idea was conceptualized years ago as a retro-futuristic cyberpunk derivative project. Similar to how Steam Punk is the Victorian world with futuristic/sci-fi elements and Diesel Punk is the same concept but with the 1940s/50s technology, 'Roman Punk' follows similarly - a Roman alternate history with sci fi elements inspired by the cyberpunk aesthetic and 1980s pop culture.
We originally were planning a 'Crypto Gladiators' project where we would do only arena gladiators, but we decided to expand it to a wider alternative-history pan-Roman Empire world after being inspired by the success of the Cryptopunks project. The emergence of so many 'alt punks' projects in March inspired us to launch 'RomanPunks' on Ethereum as part of the 'Unofficial Punks' collective.
As a result, we've been steadily building the art and character design for 1,000 'pieces' that are in their 1:1 original 'avatar' form on Ethereum, and exist as expanded 'Trading Cards' on WAX.
Will the project on WAX be different to your ETH ?
Yes, but the two are connected. The ETH project is the 'mothership', so to speak - where the 1:1 original avatar NFTs will be collected and reserved for upcoming projects that utilize Ethereum blockchain technology.
On the other hand, our WAX project is 'trading cards' that expand and build the identities, stories and stats of the characters.
By using blockchain bridging technologies, owners of a RomanPunk NFT on the Ethereum blockchain (OpenSea) will be able to redeem the #001 mint of the WAX trading card for that same character for free.
Will the wax project have blending in it ?
Yes, we have plans for different types of blending that will happen.
Collectors will blend a 'fighter' NFT with the matching 'weapon' NFT to create a gladiator that can be used in future arena gameplay.
Furthermore, collectors will be able to 'breed' NFTs to create a more rare and potentially lower mint number 'offspring' .
A 'treasure hunt' style game system is being planned where users will have to read clues to guess which 2 NFTs get combined.
Ah so there will a game how long will we have to wait and have you decided what kind of format ?
The project road map and timeline is still under development, since we are only currently a team of 2. As for the format of the game, it will be an arena style turn based fighting game using a dice roll system.
Oh so kind of like a dungeon and dragons as such roll based ?
Yes, it is inspired by that model, although the mechanics are not finalized yet. The fighters will have "ATTACK", "DEFENSE" and "SPEED" as the attributes that affect the gameplay, and there will be the ability for users to create teams.
Furthermore, in the interim there are community-based games in our Discord server:
a live discord-bot based version of the arena gladiator fights described above, which is currently being held https://romanpunks.medium.com/the-summer-of-gladiators-6f6782cf60d5
an RPG system where players are awarded free RomanPunk WAX NFTs for completing quests .
a casino where players can redeem winnings for RomanPunk WAX NFTs
Ah so there could be raid like party's ?
Currently it is envisioned to be PVP for now, but as we expand our network and grow our team, we will be able to further develop and refine the concept based off feedback from our community, collectors and collaborators.
Can we have a link for people who want to join ?
The link for the discord is https://discord.gg/yrfWZ9Ka
everything is explained there in detail .
Brilliant how many NFTs have made on WAX so far ?
Only 25! But we were only just whitelisted yesterday. We have 441 items on OpenSea as well.
Wow 441 on Opensea that's amazing so when will you dropping a new NFT in wax.
We are minting them regularly - about 10 a day . We are reserving the first 10 mints of each piece . Doing a lot of giveaways and airdrops to our Discord community. As well as on the "Agora_LTD" and the NFT Lounge" Discords . Drop will happen soon - we will reserve more so we can create packs later too.
ALSO
Some #2 mint pieces are being sold for PIXEL token - which is the token created by the Pixel Labs / Paulie the Penguin project
So you are trying to get your NFTs out there I know the creator of Pixel Labs he is a gent and so is the owner of NFT Lounge how has the community reacted to you joining wax blockchain ?
We have had a HUGE reaction in the last few days- dozens of new Twitter and Discord users came out of the woodwork, and our existing userbase has reacted very positively.. we've helped more than 20 people set up their new WAX accounts.
We even got a Twitter follow by Gary Vee right after we released our article announcing the WAX Blockchain project.
That's brilliant to here . Are you collecting many wax collection yourself or are you still finding your feet in wax ?
We are so busy creating that we barely have much time to focus on collecting; however, we do hold quite a few pieces from other community projects we support including SillyPsyBen, Pixel Labs, Graffiti Kings and Neon Space. And we have been collecting and staking on RPlanet and Green Rabbit. We only just started getting into Tales of the Crypto and WAX Arena.
We are always looking for more projects to collaborate with.
That was my next question have you collabed yet or have you any lined up ?
We have collaborated with Pixel Labs to list our #2 mint pieces for PIXEL token; however, no other formal collaborations have been announced yet. Fortunately we are members of some really cool communities with other creators who are open to collaborating.
On our ETH collection, we have collaborated with BitShields, EtherFishing, CryptoAuthors, LegacyPunks and CryptoBroskis to name a few.
Can tell us any of the artist you would love to work with ?
We hope to collaborate with other great projects on WAX such as Graffiti Kings - we have a set of 'Vandal' RomanPunks who would be a great fit for the GK style. Also, we would love to collaborate with Tales of the Crypto - we have a series of Zombie RomanPunks that would be a great collab potential there. Basically we are open to any collab with well organized projects that have great artwork. Fortunately our 'Roman Empire' theme allows a lot of flexibility with respect to what we can do.
Of course its great to have such a flexible project . What is your favorite you have made ?
Great question. There are so many good ones it's hard to pick.
How about Octavian Augustus? He was the first Roman Emperor - his famous line is "I found Roman a city of bricks and left it a city of marble." ....so our RomanPunk spin on that is 'city of skyscrapers' - to highlight the retro-futuristic aspect of the project.
Arcadius Fox is another character who is already popular. A lot of RomanPunk civilians are parties hounds - and they love a good rave. Arcadius is no exception.....the famous line about "Money can't buy happiness but it can buy tickets to Ibiza" has been modified as you can see.
Love them . How long did they take to create ?
There is a lot that goes into creating the NFT.
Card templates - they took about a day to do, but they can now be reused
Avatar pic - they are drawn on Pixaki app on Ipad pro with a 48x48 pixel canvas - templates get recycled and elements get reused, but they take about 1 hour to do.
Names - the names take a lot of research and thought - to make sure that it echoes the personality and background of the character
Descriptions - probably the most thought goes into these - takes about half a day to come up with a good description - we cross reference history books, movie scripts, poems, memes and the top of our head to come up with quirky, clever and slightly ambiguous blurbs that are relevant to the RomanPunk universe.
Wow there is a lot of work to be done to get a NFT ready . Is this a team or a one man show ?
It's a two person show . My partner Cleopunktra creates the visuals and I develop the stories. I also manage the Discord server and lead the marketing activities.
Fortunately we have a great contingent of collectors from our ETH project who help out to spread the word, too. We look forward to inviting more people from the WAX community to our Empire!
Is this a full time job ?
Pretty much. I also have other work projects outside the NFT/crypto space, but I am self-employed with my own online learning consulting business; luckily I have been able to focus my efforts on the RomanPunks project. My partner is a full-time Illustration student at one of the top institutes in the country, so when she's not working on RomanPunks, she's painting, drawing and designing for other art-related projects.
Are you and your partner friends in really life ?
Yes we are cohabitating, so that makes things easy. We have a home office where we can strategize 24/7 together.
Oh brilliant . Tell us something random about yourself ?
I spent a year traveling on a motorcycle across North and South America.
Awh wow so jealous . What do you do to relax when your not creating NFTs ?
I am a cycling addict....road biking and mountain biking - it's my meditation + exercise + connection with nature all in one. I also like obscure films from the 70s, 80s and 90s and playing the guitar....although my work projects have consumed my life so I barely have much time for the latter anymore.
Oh really what's your favorite obscure movie ?
I like how dark and gritty the films from the 70s and 80s were. Sorcerer (1977) with Roy Scheider (directed by William Friedkin who made The Exorcist) is one of my recent favorites.
I must look it up . You have 2 NFT project on different blockchains what is the one lesson you have learnt ?
The main lesson is to not rush into anything because with blockchain, the mistakes are irreversible! So I always triple check before minting anything new. I also learned how to use Twitter and Discord, since I never used them before starting with NFTs.
Any chance of a drop or competition for the readers ?
Yes, definitely! We can donate 5 NFTs. Do you have any suggestions for how to administrate the giveaways do your readers? We are open to whatever is easiest
I normally do a giveaway on the article people can comment and leave there wax or can do a twitter comp .
Sure get people to comment on your article then select 5 at random and I'll air drop them an NFT .
Are you guys on Twitter ?
https://twitter.com/RomanPunksNFT?s=20
Can we have a link to where we can buy your NFTs ?
All of our links are available here: https://linktr.ee/romanpunks
Here is our Atomic Hub: https://wax.atomichub.io/explorer/collection/romanpunksio
Here is our Open Sea: https://opensea.io/collection/romanpunks
And before we finish up is there anything else you would like to add or say to the readers ?
I don't have much to say other than we put our life passion into this project and we are here for the long term! It's been my life ambition to be able to do a sci-fi worldbuilding project of this magnitude. We're really excited about the potential to develop and license intellectual property through the blockchain!
Right I have a big thank you for taking your time to chat to me today .
Right guys drop your WAX wallet below to win a NFT from this great project also don't forget check out there discord and you might be able to mine a free NFT check out the link below explaining
Punks are all the rage right now .. so true ! Hoping to get one
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