Nearly one year ago, we had the pleasure of interviewing Riccardo Sibani, Chief Product Officer (CPO) of My Neighbor Alice. It’s exciting to see how the project has progressed according to plan, with significant milestones being achieved and new features being introduced.
My Neighbor Alice, a multiplayer builder game fully on-chain that offers a vibrant virtual world, has been gaining attention for its innovative approach to blockchain gaming. In an exclusive interview with BlockchainReporter, Riccardo Sibani, the Chief Product Officer (CPO) at My Neighbor Alice, shared his insights on the game’s progress, upcoming features, and the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing the gaming industry.
Q.1) To start, please introduce yourself and share your role as My Neighbor Alice’s Chief Product Officer (CPO).
Hello, I’m Riccardo Sibani, CPO of My Neighbor Alice. I discovered my deep passion for IT and programming languages when I was 19. As time passed, I encountered blockchain technologies and their incredible potential, and once again, I felt that same intense love. Today, I am fortunate enough to pursue my passion daily by developing decentralized systems and orchestrating them from both a software and economic standpoint.
And as far as my role as the CPO at My Neighbor Alice is concerned, I’m focused on the product of My Neighbor Alice. I make sure that it will be the fully decentralized project product we want to build. Other than the game, we’re producing a lot of other things. Also, the industry lacks tools; therefore, we provide many useful tools for our games and those of other developers. We are actively developing standards with partner projects to make this project a reality. And we’re on a good path!
Q.2) This is good to hear, especially during the bear market, because those working during the bear market take their gains during the bull. Also, Alpha Season 3 of My Neighbor Alice is open to the public. What led to the decision to make it accessible to all players? How can players participate?
Yes, to relate to what you said, we have significantly increased the team size over the past year. Now is the time to build. We produce a lot and show our community the new technological advancements we make and the growth we make in the game every season.
Exactly, Season 3 will be re-opened on August 29. This season, we created a feature for renting. We allow everybody to rent for free. The new feature allow anyone to enter our universe, experience Alice’s progress, and build a community. My Neighbor Alice, as the name says, is about neighbors, meaning: it’s all about community,and collaboration. We want people to gather, have fun by playing and test out the early phases of the game (as the game is not in a beta phase yet). That’s the best thing.
For example, you can chat with each other, help each other to grow plants, travel, and water other people’s plants. Mainly this season is introducing an important feature for the game: crafting! Neighbors can craft items and have all the necessary information regarding the different Tier Levels! In this new season, we implemented the renting-for-free feature, crafting, our first in-game Brand Collaboration with the wonderful ELLE Café, opened a new region. We are testing out several technical things during this season which is great for our next steps!
Q.3) Introducing $ALICE bridging on Chromia Appnet is a significant milestone. How does this feature work, and its implications for the game?
My Neighbor Alice is built on Chromia, which is the blockchain we use, and the blockchain is compatible with EVM, so Ethereum, BNB, etc. We use Chromia because it lets us have all the logic decentralized. So all the logic is on-chain. This is why we’re doing it, and that’s why we can make it.
We continue to search for another blockchain that supports this use case. That is a true statement. You can bring your $ALICE from the EVM to Chromia regarding these bridging techniques. This is a brand-new feature that has been in development for a while. The functionality was developed in partnership with Chromia as part of the advancement we provide to the blockchain community; still, any other game or project can eventually use it.
It will be possible to have any token on Chromia. The reason Chromia, the Originals, and all the protocols have been developed over time is that you can change the metadata of your NFTs, which is something that is not possible in other chains. For an example, if you have CryptoKitties, you cannot change their values. You just have to mint new NFTs. In our case, you can update the NFT information, for example, like a Tamagotchi, where the stats change dynamically. It’s all on-chain.
Q.4) Just to continue to $ALICE, crafting exclusive items using $ALICE is an exciting addition to the game. Can you share more details about how players can stake $ALICE and what benefits they can expect?
Yes, with $ALICE, you can purchase NFTs. The way that we make NFTs is that they’re highly customizable, thanks to the technology that we’re using. For example, you can create an ELLE couch or an ELLE t-shirt with different colors, materials, and logos on the t-shirt!
You can personalize anything, and every NFT is genuinely unique. The technology is called Originals. Chromia Originals was built to have seven key attributes: Ownability, Exchangeability, Composability, Mutability, Programmability, and Portability.
Every item becomes original and unique: you have a unique ID on your NFTs because your item has unique properties that are not possible to replicate.
Regarding the token, you need $ALICE to crop these items and retain them. One simplification we made for these seasons is that every item crafted without $ALICE on the Chromia chain will not persist in the database at the end of the season, with the exception of rewards.
You can deposit Alice tokens from the BNB chain to the Chromia chain via the play.myneighboralice.com/alpha-access page, and at the moment, it works on BNB.
Q.5) In Alpha Season 3, players can share land plots and collaborate on tasks with friends. How does this new feature improve the gameplay experience?
As quickly explained, we offered a free trial for our alphas season so anyone can rent a plot for free! However, the attribution will be made randomly, and you may share a plot. For the renting system for land owners, they can invite their friends and rent their plots for free only for the alphas. Your friends can then collaborate with you in farming. You can take care of each other’s plants by singing to the plants. This works like fertilizing. The feature of singing to the plants can be done only by a neighbor, not by the owner. This is the idea of My Neighbor Alice: we want to reward collaboration. That means that one person that collaborates should have a better yield than one that plays alone, which really goes in the direction of collaboration.
My Neighbor Alice is about collaboration and a community that is good with each other. This collaboration is possible because we use blockchain, which provides an environment managed by smart rules.. People have a trustworthy atmosphere thanks to blockchain.
Therefore, it is difficult for people to act badly in a setting managed by smart contracts. We leverage blockchain technology to build a more secure, collaborative, and safe environment for players.
Q.6) The partnership with ELLE for the first in-game branded experience sounds intriguing. Please give us a glimpse of what players can expect from this collaboration.
We are proud of our partnership with Lagardère Groupe and the ELLE Brand. Weplan to incorporate the ELLE universe, philosophy, logo, and way of life into the My Neighbor Alice open world in one of ELLE’s stories where the earth was artificially built.
Players learn the story and philosophy behind ELLE’s brand. We are assisting ELLE for tasks like water purifying or guiding characters etc. This interaction increases ELLE’s visibility and offers fantastic branding chances, strengthening the company’s reputation.
You can see a reference article from Lagardère Advertising here.
The technology we utilize in collaboration with ELLE enables players to select and personalize items they want, all according to the creative direction of ELLE. This means players can fully immerse themselves in a uniquely personalized experience, accentuating the distinctiveness between My Neighbor Alice and ELLE. Again we are proud of our first significant brand partnership in-game as we’re still in Alphas.
Q.7) Chromia offers several advantages for players, such as free transactions and decentralized game logic. Can you elaborate on how these benefits contribute to the overall gaming experience?
Thanks to Chromia, the game is full on-chain: All the progression, items, and quests you have done are registered on-chain with regular chains. It would be nearly impossible to accomplish this because, in short, you would have to pay gas expenses for anything you might want to do.
This works because the fees are transferred from us to the software provider. And eventually, we have our revenue models, which we can use to pay the fees on behalf of the players: It encourages us to operate efficiently.
As a result, there is no longer any effort for the player to complete transactions, pay for gas, verify that the gas price is reasonable, and so forth. The player now only needs to send the transaction, and it will be completed. The players’ activities are greatly simplified as a result. This means that you can play the game without realizing that a blockchain underlies it.
Even though we strive to be one of the most decentralized projects on the market, the way we’re now operating makes us more of a frictionless project. When you initially enter, you will need a wallet or use the newly implemented Venly solution, which allows you to connect via Google, Apple, or your social media!
Q.8) Could you also share more information about the providers supporting the Alpha Season 3 Appnet, including ChromaWay, Snowbridge, Dwellir, and Sunube?
With My Neighbor Alice, we have a very high bar, and we want to bring the development of the space forward. We’re the first application on Chromia to run under this premise. And this is an important milestone for Chromia because it brings everything closer to the mainnet. Again, if we want to improve, we must take many small steps in the right direction.
This also gives legitimacy to our project. Because now we have multiple providers. We are on a distributed network. We are on the blockchain. We have software that is proving that it can scale.
And that’s what we are doing. In this Alpha Season 3, we call it. So it’s not the final product. But if we look at the project six months ago or one year ago, the project has made significant progress.
Q.9) At the end of Alpha Season 3, reward items and crafted items using $ALICE will be migrated to Season 4. What can players expect in terms of data and item permanence? And can you please explain the economics of the game?
Every item that is a reward will be kept and distributed. Every item that is made with an $ALICE will be kept. Actually, we will have special perks for whoever creates an item with an $ALICE.
In terms of game economics, it is important that when you create the item with $ALICE, 50% of the amount is collateralized. So it goes, it stays within the NFT, and people will be able to in the future if they want to claim it back. More information regarding the mechanics of collaterals will be shared real soon!
Q.10) Would you like to share anything about your team? For instance, how big is your team, and what is the primary focus of your team right now?
Currently, we boast a team of over 60 members, and we’re an international and multicultural team that is incredibly awesome . This includes a substantial blockchain and extensive game development teams for “My Neighbor Alice.” With additional members from Chromia, we have more than 250 team members. What sets us apart is our commitment to building our tech. We’re not merely repurposing and rebranding someone else’s tools; we’re innovating and crafting our tools from scratch.
Our primary challenge is creating a decentralized layer where users can define their logic. This initiative is deeply tied to the on-chain concept. Essentially, we’re striving to provide a platform where every user can tailor their experience within their domain.
We want to simplify this process. Instead of asking users to delve into the technicalities of coding, we’re designing a user-friendly interface. Users can create quests, items, and communities with simple clicks, eliminating the need for coding. We aim to democratize the gaming experience, ensuring everyone can establish their game rules.
There’s no need for complex coding—just a straightforward clicking process. While there might be slightly less customization than platforms like Roblox, our approach offers simplicity, making it more accessible to everyone. We want to provide a foundational layer that makes creating applications straightforward instead of needing specific software for bespoke applications.
Q.11) Finally, is there anything else you would like to add or share with the My Neighbor Alice community and our readers as we look forward to experiencing Alpha Season 3?
We understand that our goal, our mission is very ambitious to deliver a fully decentralized product and that it takes time. But at the same time, we’re extremely humbled by the support we receive. And then I wish they can enjoy season three, season four, and the live gamesoon
One point I want to make clear is that we have developed a lot of different technologies. We are the pioneers in this field. And it goes without saying that fresh challenges constantly arise. We are considering the criticism, passing it along to our team, and attempting to make adjustments in those areas. Although we hope to have the live game, alpha usually comes with hurdles. Many people have this expectation of Web3, where they desire a finished game even during the early seasons. However, the term “alpha” indicates that we are looking for community feedback. We hope that the market as a whole takes advantage of that and that we may advance to the Beta version.
As the calendar ushers in September, the cryptocurrency and blockchain community anticipates one of the most significant events of the year – Token2049, which is set to take place on the 13th and 14th of September. I am honored to announce my representation of My Neighbor Alice at this exclusive event.
Interview Summary
Overall, our interview with Riccardo Sibani highlighted the game’s innovative approach and the potential of blockchain in gaming. My Neighbor Alice fosters community and collaboration with a focus on player interaction. Sibani emphasized the importance of community and collaboration, highlighting how My Neighbor Alice encourages players to interact, help each other, and engage in activities together.
The game’s Alpha Season 3, which is open to the public, allows players to experience the progress and growth of the game. At the same time, the introduction of $ALICE bridging on Chromia Appnet expands the possibilities for decentralized gaming. With a dedicated team, My Neighbor Alice is shaping the future of blockchain gaming.
Further announcements from My Neighbor Alice will be accessible through the official social media channels listed below:
Discord: https://discord.gg/myneighboralice
Telegram: https://t.me/MyNeighborAlice
Telegram Announcement: https://t.me/AliceAnnouncements
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyNeighborAlice
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-neighbor-alice/
