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u/MONSTERMINE01

r/CryptoTechnology r/playtoearngames r/BlockchainStartups r/Crypto_Airdrops
We think Play-to-Earn failed because earning became the game. So we’re trying the opposite.
▲ 1 r/Crypto_Airdrops

We think Play-to-Earn failed because earning became the game. So we’re trying the opposite.

I know what some of you are probably thinking: “Great, another Web3 game.”

Fair enough. Crypto gaming has given people plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Unsustainable rewards, tokens driven mainly by speculation, and games that sometimes felt more like DeFi dashboards with graphics on top.

When we started building MonsterMine, we kept coming back to one simple question: what if blockchain was actually useful, but wasn’t the reason people wanted to play?

MonsterMine is a creature collecting and management game we’re building on Solana. You collect creatures called MonsterMine, each with its own rarity, stats and potential, and use them across different parts of the game.

One of the main systems is the Mine. You build and optimize your underground setup, assign your creatures to different roles and decide how to use them. A MonsterMine that’s working in your Mine can’t simultaneously be out exploring or fighting, so there’s an actual strategic choice behind what you do with your collection.

You can level them up, specialize them, equip them and gradually build a team around the creatures you own.

There is also an in-game currency called GEM, and this is probably the part that will interest people here the most.

We don’t sell GEM.

You can’t just open a store and buy a pile of it from us. GEM is produced through gameplay by MonsterMine working inside the Mine.

We’re trying to build the economy around giving players reasons to actually use and recycle GEM inside the game, rather than launching a token and relying on an endless stream of new buyers to keep the system alive.

The blockchain side is also intentionally kept in the background. Creatures, equipment, skins and other important assets can belong to the player on-chain, but our goal is that someone shouldn’t need to understand wallets, gas fees or DeFi just to enjoy MonsterMine.

Basically: game first, ownership second, speculation nowhere near the core gameplay loop.

We’re still in development, and I’d rather be open about that than pretend there’s a finished AAA game launching next week.

That said, there are already things you can try. We have playable arcade mini-games, an early Mine management demo, and a pre-launch experience where the progress you make now can contribute to the creatures you’ll eventually bring into the full game.

We’re also currently giving a first companion to the first 1,000 registered players, so if you’re curious, you can take a look without having to invest anything.

👉 https://www.monstermine.io

I’m the founder, so obviously I’m biased. I’d rather say that upfront than pretend I somehow “discovered” the project and decided to share it here.

What I’m actually interested in is hearing from people who’ve watched the whole crypto gaming cycle play out.

What would a Web3 game like MonsterMine have to prove before you’d believe its economy could actually work long-term?

And if you think there’s an obvious flaw in what we’re building, say it. Those comments are usually a lot more useful than people just telling us it looks cool.

u/MONSTERMINE01 — 3 days ago
▲ 3 r/CryptoTechnology

Can on-chain game asset ownership be separated from speculation in practice?

I am part of the team building a mobile monster-collection game called MonsterMine. I am not announcing a token or linking the project here. I am interested in the technical and product-design problem.

We are exploring blockchain for two specific functions: transferable ownership of monsters and equipment, and an in-game currency connected to a mine-management loop. In the current design, players earn currency through gameplay, spend it to unlock or improve rooms, and the spent currency returns to the reward pool instead of simply leaving the system. Wallet withdrawals are planned, but they are not live.

The concern is that the moment assets are transferable and value can leave the game, player behaviour can change. Monsters stop being seen as game pieces and start being priced as investments. That is exactly what we want to avoid. The game should still be worth playing if the reward layer disappeared. Blockchain should support ownership, not become the main reason to play.

But I am not sure product positioning alone can solve this. A permissionless market can create speculation even if the developer never promises returns. Some possible safeguards seem to be keeping financial values out of the main game UI, separating non-transferable progression from transferable assets, making wallets optional until a player actually needs one, and designing resource sinks around gameplay rather than yield.

My questions are:

  1. Have you seen an on-chain game architecture that successfully preserved useful ownership without letting speculation dominate player behaviour?

  2. Is it more credible to keep the gameplay currency off-chain and put only selected ownership events on-chain?

  3. Which design choices reduce speculation in practice, rather than just changing the marketing language around it?

I would be especially interested in concrete technical patterns or postmortems rather than token-price discussion.

AI disclosure: ChatGPT helped me turn my rough notes into clear English and correct my mistakes ;)

reddit.com
u/MONSTERMINE01 — 8 days ago
▲ 4 r/playtoearngames+1 crossposts

We rebuilt our play-to-earn model around a real game loop — looking for honest startup feedback

Full disclosure: I'm part of the team building MonsterMine.

About three years ago, this was just an idea. Since then we've worked through the design, the economy and a lot of development challenges with a small team and limited resources. The website is now live, a small early community is starting to form, and the game is still in development.

MonsterMine is a mobile monster-collection and mine-management game for people who enjoy collecting, progression and strategy — even if they know nothing about blockchain.

The core loop is game-first: players collect and evolve monsters, assign them to elemental rooms in a shelter-style mine, manage upgrades and boosts, and later use those monsters in strategic battles. The blockchain layer is meant to support ownership, trading and the reward system, not replace the game itself.

We also reworked the play-to-earn model. The in-game currency, GEM, is created through the mining loop. When players spend GEM to unlock new rooms, it returns to the reward pool, creating internal demand and a closed loop instead of rewards with nowhere to go. Wallet withdrawals are planned, but they are not live today.

We're still early and don't have big traction numbers to dress this up with. What we need most now is honest product feedback:

- Does the game-first positioning feel credible, or does it still sound too crypto-first?

- Which part would you validate first: the collection loop, mine management or the economy?

- What proof would a non-crypto player need before giving this a chance?

You can see the current direction at https://www.monstermine.io

I'm happy to answer questions about the choices we've made so far.

u/MONSTERMINE01 — 3 days ago
▲ 2 r/playtoearngames

Can play-to-earn work if the economy is built around a real game loop instead of becoming the whole game?

Hi everyone. We’re developing a mobile game called MonsterMine, and over the last three years we’ve tried to rethink the play-to-earn model from the ground up. We’re not sharing a link here; we genuinely want opinions from people who know these games.

What bothered us about many older P2E models was that earning often became the entire experience. The gameplay felt secondary, inflation became difficult to control, and players were sometimes treated more like investors than players.

Our answer is closer to “play and earn,” built around several connected game systems:

• Players collect and evolve creatures called MonsterMine. Their appearance and statistics can change through levels, equipment and other progression systems.

• The main economy begins inside a mine-management mode inspired by shelter-building games. Players assign creatures to rooms matching their elements, expand the mine, improve its layout and use temporary boosts. A creature’s statistics and the way the mine is managed affect its mining rate.

• The in-game currency, GEM, is designed to be created through this gameplay mining system. Unlocking and improving rooms costs GEM, and those spent tokens return to the reward pool so they can circulate through the game again instead of simply disappearing from the economy.

• Other planned modes use the same creatures and resources differently. One is a strategic multi-floor battle mode where players defend floors, challenge other players and risk part of the GEM they previously earned. Another area focuses more on caring for creatures and improving their statistics.

Creature and equipment ownership uses blockchain, and wallet withdrawals are planned, but our priority is that the game loop makes sense before the financial layer does. The blockchain side also needs to remain understandable for people who are not already crypto experts.

We’re still in development, so honest criticism would be useful:

  1. Does returning spent GEM to the reward pool sound healthier than the usual endless-emission model, or does it still feel too complicated?

  2. Which part sounds most like an actual game to you, and which part still sounds too financial?

  3. What would stop you from trying this kind of game: the NFT entry point, the economy, or simply needing to see stronger gameplay first?

We’re posting from the official project account and are directly involved in developing the game.

reddit.com
u/MONSTERMINE01 — 9 days ago