JumpNet and Lost Relics

The current status

Originally this article was going to have the full details for the JumpNet integration that I completed.

However, as I was finalizing the integration and testing the create and send process, I realised that continuing down this road would just create a whole lot of confusion and even more work for me, as I deal with support requests surrounding this confusion.

Mainnet items would still be locked up due to high gas, and now there would be new items traded on JumpNet. Communicating this difference would require constant explanations, and as we’ve already seen, people would continue to be confused as to why transfers out of the game are disabled.

Bounties would ask for both items, but players might only be able to access the JumpNet items because the other requirements were on Mainnet and too costly to obtain, making bounties nearly impossible to complete for most players.

This would also involve visiting 2 separate marketplaces in order to find all the items you need, buying them, and sending them into the game with 2 separate transactions; it would be a mess.

A step back

I then spent many hours rethinking the ecosystem, trying to peel it back to the basics, and trying to re-envision the blockchain integration.

I could go ahead and recreate all the items on JumpNet, but there’s just so many downsides there, and at the end of the day, would I need to do all of that again, once Efinity arrives? (I’ve put a section below entitled `Why not recreate all items on JumpNet` if you’re curious.)

There’s little technical information or direction from Enjin around how this will work (they may not know themselves).

There’s a lot of technical unknowns with the future, so it’s really difficult to make solid decisions now.

I need to take into account this lack of information when making my decision, otherwise it has the potential to adversely impact the game in the future.

The core feature

Mixing in JumpNet items, along with Mainnet ones, only seems to create more problems than it solves.

What is the main feature that everyone wants?
It’s simply to buy and sell their items, and as conveniently as possible.

Therefore, I’ve decided that until the dust settles, I’ll create my own solution that works seamlessly, but in a virtual way.

There had been some discussions about a similar system in the Telegram channel a while ago, but I was always wary about going down this route too soon, as JumpNet was quickly approaching.

Now that it’s arrived, it’s still missing some features (that are promised in the future, but lack any technical information to plan for) and instead, I’m left assembling pieces together that make the end product look like a shack, rather than a well made house.

A temporary solution with incredible benefits

For about a year now, the in-game Royal Emporium has been allowing players to trade their virtual items through a blind order book.

I had to create this system when I first created Virtual items, because originally, all of my items were blockchain items and were meant to be traded on public markets, so I had no built-in trading system to support this.

This system has worked incredibly well, and while some players struggle to understand how it works initially, it’s actually really simple and one of its positives is that it stops the constant undercutting that you see in the public blockchain marketplaces.

This temporary solution will make use of the Royal Emporium’s core system, but a new building will be constructed within the game to house this new marketplace.

Items available at this marketplace will only consist of Blockchain items.

So all of your existing mainnet items that are held in your online account, will suddenly be tradable within the game. This means all the old items minted on mainnet, as well as all the new unminted items, will be fully tradable, together, in the same marketplace.

Since this marketplace is completely virtual, the entire trade system is gas free. Each trade will only subtract a small trade fee from the sellers' profits, but beyond that, transfers will be instant and gas free.

Instant, gas free trades

By utilizing the same trade system that powers the Royal Emporium, players will be able to trade their items with less complexity and greater speed than ever before.

You will no longer need to send your items to your wallet, before you can list them on a public marketplace.

There’s no need to send items you bought off the marketplace, back to the game, just so you can turn them in for Bounties.

All operations will take place in-game, in a virtual environment.

How does the Blockchain fit in?

Since there’s still a lot of uncertainty with where JumpNet will go and where we’ll end up with Efinity, this temporary solution will allow Lost Relics to lift above the construction work and continue in a seamless fashion until the construction work below is more complete.

For the past year, players have been trading virtual items at the Royal Emporium, using the Gold Coins they earn within the game.

This temporary solution will allow players to perform similar trades, but with the Blockchain items that are in their game accounts. (Existing Mainnet items in player wallets will need to be sent to the game to make them available for these trades, similar to what happens when you turn in items for Bounties).

You’re free to keep your mainnet items in your wallet, or continue trading them on EnjinX, but you won’t benefit from the instant and gasless in-game trades.

To accommodate the transfer of value, a new in-game token will be created, which will be pegged 1:1 to JENJ (Enjin’s JumpNet representation of ENJ).

Players will swap their JENJ for this new in-game token, to allow them to trade their blockchain items at the in-game marketplace.

This in-game token can then be swapped for JENJ, which is sent to the player’s wallet upon request.

This new in-game token will be used instead of Gold Coins and only when trading on this blockchain-only marketplace. The new token won’t be used for anything else, and Gold Coins won’t be used for trading Blockchain items.

This ensures fixed value with the outside blockchain ecosystem.

What about the future?

This temporary solution will unlock the trading of limited blockchain items within the game for the foreseeable future, without gas restrictions.

As the future unfolds and new opportunities present themselves, I’ll be able to make further choices and decisions, ensuring that the value of items is maintained, and ultimately leave players feeling less friction and confusion.

Why not recreate all items on JumpNet?

While this is a possibility, it has a lot of repercussions and downsides.

I also have a lot of items already created on mainnet, so it’s not as simple for me as it is for other projects.

1. It would mean item duplication and confusion. The existing items on mainnet would need to have their metadata modified to show that they’re no longer true items. For many months we’ll see people complaining their items are worthless, no longer display correctly, or cries of scams.
2. All of the ENJ that is locked up in the items on mainnet would remain there. I would need to spend even more ENJ in order to recreate the items on JumpNet. Suddenly my investment in the Enjin ecosystem is doubled with possibly no chance to recover the items (and their backing) on mainnet. (I could possibly create the JumpNet items with less ENJ backing than their mainnet counterparts and adjust the Transfer fees to reduce this cost burden)
3. Existing marketplace listings of your items, would suddenly be worthless. Some people have spent a lot of gas in the current climate to list those items, and now suddenly that is wasted as no one will buy them, now that they’re marked as ‘not true items’.
4. All trade history would be reset because the items are moved to JumpNet.
5. I could offer a swap option, where you must send your items to the game before it can be swapped for a JumpNet item, but again this means duplication, additional expenses to create the duplicates, and there’s no guarantee all the items would be turned in. I’d also be spending my development effort making this system work (My system doesn’t support duplicates) when Enjin would be delivering the asset bridge anyway.

When will this happen?

I’m aiming to go live with the changes over the next patch or two.

The next patch will have new content and items and if I make it in time, will also include this new system. If not, it’ll be the patch thereafter.

I’m anticipating it’ll all be live within about a month from this article, assuming there are no hurdles to overcome.

All of the groundwork is in place, I just need to make some additional changes now that I’m going in this slightly different direction.

Release Notes