J-Corp | Battle of Gods

Episode 8

Happy Friday Elrond Fam

Finally, an interview! I am sure you are tired of hearing just my thoughts on projects, so we are excited to bring you today an awesome interview with Supo, the scriptwriter and community manager for J-Corp | Battle of Gods.

Before we jump in, I want to mention two things. One, I was introduced to Supo through someone I know in a NFT Slack group I am in. This group has big time players (not me) in the ETH NFT world, but this person messaged me when he found out about our newsletter, and told me I should check out this project he was involved in that had started on ETH and moved to Elrond. I mention this because I feel like we are right on the cusp of a big migration of ETH users coming over to see what Elrond NFTs are all about (*Don’t worry, I am working on that Slack group to make the jump). The second thing I want to mention is that Jonny and I do not own any J-Corp NFTs at this time. I say this for a few reasons. We want to be transparent with you. We also do not want to limit our guests to only projects we currently are invested in or come across as trying to pump our bags. This does not mean we don’t believe in this project. The purpose of this newsletter is to help us and you learn more about projects for your path to *DYOR*, and for projects to get a chance to talk to you deeper than they might be able to through Twitter or Discord. Ok, shut up Randy, here is Supo.

Can you tell us a little bit about the three of you that make up the team? What are your backgrounds?

“We are 3 friends (Akaine, Zradj, Supo) passionate about blockchain and entrepreneurship. We have complementary profiles, and the idea of launching this NFT project was evident because it corresponded exactly to what we wished to do for a long time together. We love Japanese culture and that's why we decided to take this artistic direction. We have a technical (dev), business analyst and commercial background in the field of finance. It is through this background that we met within the same company.”

Why did you choose Elrond Network for your project? Were you originally on ETH and switched over?

“We had initially set up the project on the ETH blockchain because it was a blockchain on which we had the technical knowledge to set up the mint base as well as for the game development. The ETH network complicated the launch of the project, especially because of the high fees that sometimes reach problematic price levels in certain time windows. Launching a game on this blockchain imposed technical constraints on us because the smallest transaction would be far too costly for our users. As blockchain enthusiasts we had been following the Elrond project for a long time and the arrival of Estd in November was an important announcement for us because all the issues related to ETH no longer existed on Elrond. The decision was then to launch a migration towards Elrond and to train ourselves to this new technology for our developments.”

Great news for us that you made the switch! How did you come up with idea for this project?

“After deciding to work together on a NFT project, we brainstormed what we like that can be translated into a concrete collection. The main goal was to not only create a NFT collection, but to bring this collection to life through a real use. That's when the Japanese culture became obvious to us. We could mix the digital and the real through 2 items: A game and a Manga. We then exchanged on the references we had from this manga universe (Tokyo ghoul, death note, bleach...) and gave life to our first character little by little. This is how we created our first ghoul which became our template and starting point to define the collection as a whole.”

Ok, so if someone new came across your project today how would you describe it to them and how could they start?

“For all the newcomers, this project is not just a PFP project or a reward project. The DNA of J-Corp Battle of gods is to mix the digital and the real through NFT collections, a video game and a manga. These three elements are intimately linked and allow to obtain a coherence in all the universe of the project. We don't want to be another project to launch a sale as a fundraiser and promise content 1 year later. We have also invested personally in some projects, and we know that it creates frustration to keep your NFT without any use for so long. That's why we want to deliver Rise of Factions with the next sale to give a concrete use to our NFT and to continue to make this game evolve regularly to always bring the maximum satisfaction to the community. The best way to join the project is first to join the discord and exchange with the different members, eventually join a faction on discord to belong to a group and feel the RP side that Rise of Factions will generate. Then get a hero during the next public sale or on the secondary market on Dead.rare or Trust.market if this person never had the opportunity to participate in the next public sale.”

I love that and totally agree waiting on the development of a game can be frustrating. Can you tell us then about Rise of Factions?

“Rise of Factions is a strategy game of conquest of territories that is played in teams (Factions). Each faction must work together and use their heroes wisely to attack or defend the different districts of the city of Reiwa. This game will promote teamwork and communication within the factions to create a real team spirit and cohesion. At the end of each round, the different districts of the city are under the control of the factions and rewards will be given for each controlled area. Other features are also planned at launch and in the weeks to come, but we'll let you discover little by little additional elements concerning Rise of Factions.”

That’s cool. Let’s get into the future game. What does that look like?

“Concerning the Play-To-Earn games, we first have the Rise of Factions which takes place before the recruitment of our heroes and villains in the J-Corp guild. Next will be a 1 vs 1 PVP turn-based card game that will take place in the realm of the gods to reproduce the epic battles that take place there. The NFT will receive additional data according to their trait to play the attacks of the NFT of his deck with the most strategy and skill to defeat his opponent.”

Will you eventually play in-game with your avatar?

“Yes of course, it is the essence of the game, your NFT will be at the center of the game and we will propose content around it.”

Are there certain traits of the NFT you hold that are advantageous for playing? Is rarity meaningful?

“There is no direct advantage to certain traits in the game, but we will use the rarity score to determine the "power value" of each hero (so the rarest traits could give you a higher rarity score). This value will be balanced to avoid too much advantage especially concerning the legendary heroes, but they are still the most powerful heroes though.”

Are you still minting the Heroes or are the 10,000 sold out?

“The mint is divided into 2 phases. The first phase includes the mint of 2000 "early adopters" who will benefit from advantages concerning the continuation of the project such as an Airdrop of the native token $JCORP as well as access to the whitelist of the next Villains collection. This first phase was successful and the mint is now on hiatus. The second phase will be a public sale of the rest of the collection. It will take place at the same time as the release of Rise of Factions to allow people to play Rise of Factions right after they mint their heroes. This sale and the release of the game are planned for Q1 2022 and the exact date will be shared soon through an official communication.”

Can someone who missed the first 2000 sales, but bought on the secondary market before the next sale, be eligible for the $JCORP drop and whitelist?

“The due date is passed, so unfortunately no. The snapshot has been already taken, but new Airdrops and WL are not excluded for the future, and we won't stop there. We have other rewards planned for people who will hold heroes after the public sale.”

Tell us about the future $JCORP token?

“The $JCORP Token will be an integral part of the economy in the J-CORP eco-system. Indeed it will be included in the game reward system, but beyond the rewards it will have a particular interest in the game through the implementation of a marketplace to get bonuses in-game and outside the game. We already have use cases for the token, but currently we are focused on the upcoming sale and development of the game. We will then define the roadmap for the implementation of the token and the use cases to share all this information with the community.”

Can you tell us about the Villain collection you mentioned?

“For this new one we will collaborate with another artist that we want to include in the team to have different artistic influences. This collection will respect the manga universe, but will be different from the previous collection because we want to create real villains with the demonic aura they give off. There will be no similarity with the previous collection to create something really new and give the possibility to our players to own heroes and villains really different.”

I may show our readers my ignorance, but can you explain to us what manga is?

“The J-Corp project has an artistic direction and a story. It will be possible to take part directly in this story through the game and its different chapters. But the manga will go further to describe the adventure of some characters of the J-Corp and the fight they will have to lead. Here is the pitch explaining what the J-Corp is and what awaits you as heroes and villains in the future:

https://www.jcorpbattleofgods.com/#story

The game, the Faction, manga all sound amazing, but are there any benefits for just holding the NFT without participating in the game outside of price appreciation?

“Yes for those who do not wish to play or cannot play during a vacation period, features will be implemented through the VitalNetworkDAO to allow hodlers to receive benefits (through staking for example). Recently the hodlers were able to get an airdrop of $Vital and more interesting features will be coming soon. Don't forget to follow the news of VitalNetworkDAO!”

Project sounds awesome, two last questions for you. What other NFT project on Elrond are you most bullish on or intrigued about?

“I'm going to name one project outside of the DAO in order to remain objective. It is the Aquaverse project because this aquaculture is very interesting and is in coherence with the Elrond blockchain whose objective is to avoid further degrading our planet. But also because they put a lot of energy and resources in research and development for the game that accompanies the project. I am curious to discover the innovations they will bring in this field on Elrond.”

Lastly, outside of Elrond and $EGLD, is there anything else in the crypto space you really like?

“ETH because it is thanks to this blockchain that the use of smart contracts has been democratized. That the first innovative dapps arrived, the Defi, the Nft... Many developers are present on ETH, and we keep an eye on it to discover next use cases.”

Thank you Supo for your time with us!

I said at the top we aren’t holders yet….that may change. As always, NFA, but hope this helped you learn about a cool project. Go check them out at @JCorpBattle and their discord https://t.co/rMJock3pTR.

-Randy