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Joao Almeida, a Portuguese software engineer, has created a game named ‘Poketoshi’ on the likes of Nintendo’s Pokémon game. More importantly, from the perspective of a cryptocurrency investor, the game uses Bitcoin Lightning Network in a novel way.
The Lightning Network was created to resolve the scalability problem of Bitcoin network.
As the game is telecast live via Twitch, anyone with an access to internet and own a few hundred Satoshis can join the interactive game and make the next move. The game is played through online chat. For initiating a move, a player must transfer 10 Satoshis every time.
The satoshi payments are processed through OpenNode on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. This enables players to interact with the game.
Time to see where are all these Pokemon fans at! I’m releasing Poketoshi!
A ‘Twitch plays’ like game, using @lightning network microtransactions.⚡️Visit – https://t.co/uZ2wUNq9Vl
It’s also using @OpenNodeCo as underlaying tech to process all the payments 💪— João Almeida (@joaodealmeida94) June 16, 2018
At the time of writing this article, the value of 10 Satoshis is $0.00062. With a mere $6.20, a player can make as many as 10,000 moves, which is quite a lot. A virtual controller is provided to play the game. So, a player need not connect a real game controller.
Even though, the players do not have a seamless experience while making moves, still, it opens up a window of opportunities for game developers. Instead of getting a single bullet payment for developing a game, this system enables developers to tap a continuous source of income.
