I have been chasing this one for a while but each time one of us has been busy but we finally got to sit this week and chat about his project and himself I have to say this project is bringing to things from my past pixel graphics and wrestling I grew in the 90s and I think every kid remembers wrestling either it be Hulk Hogan or the The Undertaker or even Bret Hart they all hold a lil bit of a memory for me so for me this is a really fun project .
Hey how's things ?
Things are good! Really good. Busy, but good-busy. You?
Day off so its been a busy day for me interacting the crypto world ?
Love to hear it.
Ah just been spit balling ideas and helping a new artist reach 150 followers to get his project whitelisted !
I saw your post about having a page to help artists get whitelisted, I dig that idea!
Thanks so lets talk about you and how you find your way to NFTs ?
Sure - that's primarily thanks to my friend Bryan Brinkman. We go way back to when we were both studying animation in college and interning together. He's been involved in the space for a while now, and has basically been suggesting I jump in ever since he started.
It took me a long time to wrap my head around what any of it meant; and I struggled thinking of what I could create that'd make sense for the space; but a few months ago it all really started to click.
And now I can't get enough hah. I imagine that's a common experience for folks that discover this incredible world.
I think people are still learning but the great think is the community is there to help . Was wax blockchain always your first option for creating ?
WAX wasn't my first pick, but honestly I wasn't sure even what my options were. I had gone down a rabbit hole of exploring Eth projects, and was thinking I'd end up having to try to get on SuperRare or NiftyGateway or something; but I knew I wanted to do pack drops and couldn't make sense of how that'd be possible. I hit up Bryan for the millionth time and asked him how I could do that, and he pointed me to AtomicHub and WAX; and from the WAX discord I found NeftyBlocks. I've since fallen in love with the WAX blockchain and it feels like the perfect home for me and my current project, 8Bit Slammers.
And did you have a project in mind ?
Yup! The project is what pushed me to really start looking into the space. I wanted to know what I was doing first, and let that inform the choices I made along the way.
So tell us more about your project ?
It's a combination of everything I love. 8Bit Slammers is a universe of digital wrestling collectibles, animated frame-by-frame in pixel art, using officially licensed pro wrestlers. Each Series Drop consists of two phases; the first being a collection of looping avatars that are 1-of-1s, featuring one wrestler in a unique set of attire from their career. The second phase pulls the most popular wrestlers from the previous phase, and pits them against each other in an animated wrestling match, which is broken up into segments of varying rarity and dropped via Packs.
The part I'm most excited about, is that the match has a few branching narrative options, so the collectors can assemble their own version of the matchup however they'd like to see it. Do you prefer the chain-wrestling sequence? Maybe you'd rather see them battle it out with chops and punches! Maybe you'll ping pong between both of those! And of course, ultimately only one wrestler can win each match, so who will you choose to win yours, and how? It's all up to the collector.
I'm also implementing blends, to allow further customization for the collector. You'll be able to customize things like the wrestler's ring entrances, signs in the crowd; even things like weapons eventually!
Oh wow that sound like some really exciting stuff so basically it will be create your wrestling match near enough sounds exciting ?
Exactly! And the long-term plan is to create enough of these, that people can put together their own wrestling events essentially, with multiple matches .
So it will be like a game near enough ?
Close to it! More like a choose-your-own-adventure. There's only 1-of-1 for many of the ending options, so for fans of the project, if they want to see how the whole match can play out, there will be value for the collectors who are able to get every piece they need to present a match in its entirety as they'll be the only way for the community to see it all in sequence. I'm still trying to figure out that metaverse/gallery to display these as intended, but that's all coming for sure.
When did you drop your first NFT ?
Technically, on September 2nd. I released 99 promo NFTs as a giveaway to hype up the Series One Roster Drop, which was my first round of paid NFTs. Those went live on September 9th, but the very first ones I made were the promos.
What did the first NFT look like ?
How did the community react ?
I wanted to show off the overall aesthetic of the project, but use this placeholder mystery mascot. The community seemed to love it. 23 of them of have already been bought up on the secondary market, so I imagine that's a good sign!
I'm personally really proud of, and inspired by, the nuances that are possible by moving single pixels; like the drag on this character's toes, or the hint of fingers. It seems like, in general, people have really responded to how smooth the animation is, and the weight it has.
How many NFTs have you dropped since ?
There was the 99 promos, and then the 9 1-of-1s, so 108 total.
Awh when the next drop ?
I was aiming for the last week of October, but I think it's going to be the first week of November. I'll likely have the art all done before the month is up, but I'm going to be releasing 250 packs, with 6 NFTs in each; so I want to make sure I take enough time to double-check that all the packs/contracts/etc are all set up properly, with enough RAM allotted. All the boring parts of making these wonderful things. With 1500 NFTs being minted, (technically 1750 including the pack asset itself) there's a lot to make sure I get right.
Any sneaks peaks ?
Sure - I'll share this image I teased on social...
I'm going to be releasing some short Making-Of videos soon on my IG and Twitter. I've been recording the progress so far, time-lapse style, and will be talking through the process a bit!
What has been your favorite NFT to create so far ?
Probably this one...
https://wax.atomichub.io/explorer/asset/1099564430243
It's the first loop I made of Black Taurus, and I had a ton of fun playing with his nose ring.
He looks class how long did he take to create ?
About an hour to lock in the look of - and then 2-3 hours to animate.
What programs you use for creating ?
I'm doing all of the pixel art in Aseprite. I think for the match animations, I'll also be bringing these into After Effects, and doing all the camera-panning in there. I'm working with the whole wrestling ring in-frame while I animate, but the final NFT assets from the packs will be square compositions, pretty tight on the wrestling action.
Ah so where would you like your project to lead to ?
I'm really hoping to help turn more and more wrestlers and wrestling fans onto NFTs; and likewise am hoping to turn some NFT collectors into newfound wrestling fans. Beyond that, I'm looking forward to working with more top wrestlers, and really love making these, so honestly that's enough for me. Long-term, it'd be great to watch a community develop around the project, and see what everyone creates with all these puzzle pieces I'm making.
I'm actively looking for dev help, to bring the "wrestling events" part of the project to life. I'm dying to watch all of that develop, and get so excited thinking about collectors being able to host virtual wrestling events, showing off their collections and unique matchups. That's the real destination for all of this, and I won't stop marching in that direction.
(a little update I have just sent a dev his details this morning )
So who would be your dream wrestler to add ?
(That's a great question, no one has asked me that yet)
Hmmmmm.... I'm going to go with my gut and the first wrestler that came to mind was Randy Savage. Animating his iconic Elbow Drop, and pulling from all of his various attires from his career, it'd be a blast and an honor.
Good choice I would say undertaker with Paul bearer !!!
Oooh! Great pick. That reminds me; and a bit of news for you - I do plan on adding Managers/Valets in upcoming drops, and they'll be able to be used retroactively, in all prior drops!
Oh nice so I am guessing your a big wrestling fan I am guessing this has been for years have you ever been to it live ?
HUGE fan; at least since I was two years old (I'm 35 now). I've been going to events since I was a kid. I grew up near Boston, so WWE came to town a lot and I was fortunate to go a few times as a kid; in addition to going to local/indie shows. Since then, I've gone to events all around the country, including Wrestlemania; and even spent over a year training and doing some wrestling myself. I also spent a few years shooting video for, and helping produce live events for some independent promotions in the Chicago area; mainly Freelance Wrestling.
That's cool man what you like to do to unwind ?
I'll usually reach for my guitar, I love songwriting and playing music; but I'll often want to end up making a project around the music, planning an album, etc. I love doing all that stuff, but when I truly want to unwind and turn my brain off for a bit I'll play Pokémon Go or Pokémon Unite; or do some fingerboarding.
What's the biggest lesson you learnt doing your project ?
Beyond the technical side of all-things NFTs/blockchain/crypto, I wouldn't say I've learned any lessons exactly; but one thing that's been really incredible to witness is how welcoming and supportive the community can be for new creators, like myself.
Like most things in life, you get what you put into something, so I'm just seeing further evidence of that with my time in NFTs so far.
Tell us something random about ?
I ran a shortly-lived Cheese Club in High School.
Really ha ha that is best one I have had .
Honest, I swear! It ended because we needed a teacher to chaperone the meetings, and the only one who would was our Art teacher; but she was also running her Art Club, and she couldn't manage doing both clubs once things picked up.
That's a shame .
Cheese club, animation festivals, wrestling events, or music concerts, my brain has always been wired for community.
What does your family think of your project ?
My wife is super supportive, and after months of me rambling about NFTs and seeing my passion for it, the light switch went off and she totally "gets" it now. She's gotten super interested in crypto and really excited about what I'm building. Watching back what I've been working on, she honestly said she thinks I'm making these animations too good, so that's always a great sign.
Wow that's a good complaint . Where do you like to interact with the community
I like using Twitter to connect with the NFT community at large; but I also have a discord for the project. We've only got 17 of us in there at the moment, and its pretty quiet for now; but I imagine once the Pack Drop goes live, things should shake up quite a bit.
https://twitter.com/8BitSlammers?s=20
Where can we buy your NFTs ?
Here's where the Pack Drop will be happening .
https://neftyblocks.com/c/eightbitslam (but its empty at the moment)
You can just head to www.8bitslammers.com, or poke around the secondary market on AtomicHub in the meantime!
https://wax.atomichub.io/market?collection_name=eightbitslam
Any chance for a competition or a drop for the readers ?
Sure! If the readers would like to draw up some fanart featuring at least two of the wrestlers/attires featured in our Series One roster (so that'd be Black Taurus, Solar and/or Psychosis), by November 1st, I'll pick my favorite and gift them a free pack when our Packs Drop! Let's have them tag both @crackers832 and @8BitSlammers on Twitter, and use the hashtag #Meet8BitSlammers
Brilliant I love that idea . Before we finish up is there anything you would like to add or say to the readers
For parting words, I'd just like to thank anyone that has read this far and given any time to me and the project. There is SO much out there; video games, film, tv, nature, friends, family, etc. and for anyone to spend any of their time with this is something I genuinely value and greatly appreciate. I assure you I'll do everything I can to make it worth it!
And thank YOU for chatting with me, working with my crazy work schedule and for all you do in spreading the word about artists and projects in the space!
I am here to get the artists words out so I do try always work around the artists and its always a pleasure listening to the artists story .
So for some join in and enter his drawing competition to win a pack of his brand new packs coming early next month and as always please show the artist some love by joining his Discord or give him a follow on Twitter .
rgqf.wam