Block Babies
Block Babies is a blockchain based digital collectible card game (CCG) featuring battling toddlers known as 'lead babies' and a supporting cast of team babies and a selection of items. When Block Babies was launched in early 2020, it was not yet a Vulcan Forged game as Vulcan Forged in its current form did not exist at that point. Block Babies did however make use of the VeriArti NFT marketplace, the precursor to the Vulcan Forged marketplace which is soon to become Agora.
Origins & Concept
Block Babies was launched in early 2020 with the tag-line Decentralized Infant Chaos. Registration for the first 100 users opened on 5th March 2020 at 12pm GMT with the first 500 babies and items, Wave 1, being minted on 1st April 2020. The original roadmap was as follows:
- March 5th 12pm GMT — Registration for 100 users only, first-come, first-serve. Priority will be given to VeriArti members and VeChain Official Node holders
- April 1st — Wave 1 500 babies and items will be minted and available to the first registered users. If there are items left over, those on stand-by will get access to the final Wave 1 items
- April 15th — Early Bird members will be able to engage in the Block Baby world
- May 1st — Wave 2 500 babies and items will be minted and Block Babies will be open to the public!
Originally each lead baby, team baby and item was minted as an NFT (since then, trainee babies and items have been created for players without NFTs to use) with the emphasis on both collecting and gaming. In total, 10,000 different babies and items were scheduled to be released in 10 different waves.
The first wave, available only to the first 100 users registered involved a total of 500 babies and items. In the case of all 500 not being adopted, stand-by users and then a public sale were readied.
Baby Types
Block Babies are divided into two camps, Lead babies and Team babies. Lead babies can battle and gain experience. Team babies cannot gain experience or battle directly, but they support the lead baby in battles.
Lead Babies
Lead babies are able to gain experience through battles and questing. Each lead baby has 10 attributes, as follows:
- Adorability
- Persuasion
- Patience
- Sleep Skills
- Appetite
- Playfulness
- Obedience
- Kindness
- Intelligence
- Dexterity
Your lead babies' experience points increase through either winning battles or going on quests.
Team Babies
Team babies provide a skill or an increase on an attribute for a specific round, or all rounds. Team babies are divided into three categories:
- Force — Will aim to fight the battle on a specific attribute
- Defence — Will aim to hinder or stop a rival’s attack through a various skill
- Attack — Will aim to help your ability to attack through raising an attribute or with a various skill.
Items
The third type of Block Babies NFT is the item (non-NFT trainee items have also been added to the game in 2022). Some items are rare and more powerful, others are common and less effective. There are two types of items:
Environment — Can be used outside of battles to affect your lead baby (increase stamina quicker, increase experience and other skills)
Battle — Can be used inside your battles in order to help provide an edge.
Quests
Quests can be taken only when your lead baby has enough stamina. Without any environment items aiding a lead baby’s stamina recovery, a lead baby’s stamina recharges in 1 hour. For each completed quest, 1 XP is rewarded to the player, shown in My Forge.
Initially, quests resulted in one of the following:
- Increase in a certain attribute
- Increase in experience points
- Decrease in a certain attribute
- Decrease in experience points.
Unlike baby battles, items and team babies cannot be used in quests. Unless your lead baby has a certain power, these quests are usually based on chance as to what you may discover and earn and so quests are taken at the player's risk.