Beginner’s Guide to Splinterlands & Splintershards (SPS) Token

Welcome to Splinterlands — where a Pokémon-style card game meets World of Warcraft-like characters.

A top-50 dApp on Dappradar, Splinterlands offers players a unique experience that goes beyond traditional gaming. With its blend of strategy, collectibility, and true digital ownership, Splinterlands stands out in the GameFi space.

Its token, Splintershards (SPS), presents a versatile in-game utility to support the game’s economics.

This article provides a comprehensive understanding of Splinterlands, its mechanics, and the intricacies of the SPS token.

What is Splinterlands?

Splinterlands is a digital, collectible card game built on blockchain, specifically using the HIVE blockchain. The game however, also supports other blockchains like WAX, BSC, and STEEM via blockchain bridges.

Splinterlands, originally known as "Steem Monsters," was first launched on the STEEM blockchain. However, due to various factors, including changes and controversies surrounding the STEEM blockchain, the game later migrated to the HIVE blockchain.

In early 2020, there was a disagreement among the STEEM community members and the new leadership that emerged after STEEMit Inc., the company behind STEEM, was acquired. This disagreement led to a split, resulting in the creation of the HIVE blockchain, which is a fork of STEEM. HIVE was designed to reflect the original values and governance model that the STEEM community favored.

Following this split, many developers and users, including the team behind Splinterlands, decided to move their operations to HIVE.

In Splinterlands, cards can be traded on online marketplaces, providing players with the opportunity to earn real money through ranked plays and tournaments. All that’s needed is an account on a crypto wallet like MetaMask, Wombat, Venly and players are all set to get started!

The game is available on mobile and desktop.

Splinterlands Leads!

A report by Dappradar on the state of blockchain gaming in the third quarter of 2023 highlights Splinterlands as one of the top 5 games by quarterly average unique active wallets.

How Does Splinterlands Work?

The game uses blockchain to provide players with true ownership of their digital cards. Once you buy a card, it's yours to keep, trade, or sell, just like a physical trading card.

Players can get these cards either by purchasing them on NFT marketplaces or by earning them through gameplay. These cards are represented as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), making each one unique.

The game has four rarity types:

1. Common
2. Rare
3. Epic
4. Legendary

Each rarity has a different level and circulation capital.

Common

Common cards are the most frequently found cards in Splinterlands. They are the backbone of many decks and are essential for players, especially those who are just starting out. Despite being labeled as 'common', these cards can be incredibly useful and form the foundation of many successful strategies in the game. Their abundance also makes them more accessible and affordable for players.

Rare

Rare cards are a step up in terms of uniqueness and often have better abilities or stats than common cards. They are less frequently encountered when opening card packs, making them a bit more special. These cards start to introduce more complex strategies and can significantly enhance a player's deck.

Epic

Epic cards are even more infrequent and powerful, with unique abilities and higher stats. They offer advanced gameplay strategies and can be game-changers in battles. Due to their rarity, they are more sought after and can be more expensive to acquire. Having epic cards in your deck can significantly increase your chances of winning, especially in high-stakes matches.

Legendary

Legendary cards are the rarest and most powerful cards in Splinterlands. They boast exceptional abilities and stats, and owning them is a mark of prestige. These cards can dramatically shift the tide of a game and are highly coveted by players. Due to their rarity, they can be quite expensive and are often the prized possessions in a player's collection.

How to play Splinterlands

To give a beginners’ an insightful standpoint as to how to play the game, we need to understand how the cards work, how we begin the battle and what the prepping strategy for Splinterlands looks like.

• Stats/Features of Characters: Compare Mana Cost, forms of Attack (like Melee, Ranged, Magic), Speed, Armor, and Health.
• The Elements or Primal forces in the games are: Fire, Earth, Water, Life, Death, Dragon, and Neutral (mercenaries).
• The game has over 64 unique abilities that allow players to turn the course of battle and invite thrill and twists in the game.
• Splinterlands has over 500 cards in a library of cards that provides various combinations for the players.

There are two types of cards; Summoners and Monsters.

Summoners are the magic users who harness one of six primal forces- Fire, Earth, Water, Life, Death, Dragon, and Neutral- to summon monsters. On the other hand, a Monster is a person or creature that is called upon by a Summoner to participate in a battle and do the actual fighting.

Using magic, a Summoner calls upon the various races, habitats, and creatures that live within the same Element. Thus, a Summoner of the Earth Element can call forth monsters that inhabit the mountains and forests.

Here’s a breakdown of the card:

1. “Mana Cost” is a quotient measuring power in the game, thus, the more powerful the card, the higher the Mana Cost. How a player creates a team depends on what the Mana costs.
2. “Stats” is a number that implies physical power, speed, toughness, and health of the character.
3. “Element/Rarity” reflects the Element and the color indicates Rarity (Common, Rare, Epic, or Legendary).
4. The card also shows the “Name” of the character.
5. “Level” is again a quotient depicting the power of the card. Gaining levels helps in increasing the Stats or unlock abilities.
6. “Experience” is a quotient that is earned by combining duplicate cards.
7. “Abilities” represent special skills or powers that are used during combat.

If a player wants to review how a character’s Stats will change as it levels up, they can go over to ‘Your Collection’. Click on the character, then select the second tab named

“Stats” which, in turn, will showcase a chart representing all the Stat increases and the Ability unlocks for each level.

Stats also include three kinds of attack; Melee Attack, Ranged Attack and Magic Attack. Other stats include Speed, Armor and Health.

When it comes to the ‘setting’ of the game, the battlefield looks like this:

Walk into the Battlefield of Splinterlands

Upon entering the battlefield, a Splinterlands player can opt for either a Ranked or Practice battle. Each battle offers a unique experience. Once a player is matched with an opponent, a popup appears on the screen, explaining the combat rules for that specific battle.

Further, here are some steps for creating your own team:

Step 1: Select a Summoner

Firstly, select a Summoner wisely as the Summoner you choose decides which Monsters you can use. The ‘team building screen’ demonstrates all the Summoners in your Collection.

Step 2: Select a Monster

After the aforementioned step, the Monsters from the Summoner’s element will be made available for selection. However, note that players can also choose any Neutral monsters, (monsters that do not abide by any allegiance).

When a player selects a Summoner, they already spend a few Mana. Players must watch out for the Mana counter as it indicates how a player is pacing towards the limit.

Positioning

As Splinterlands’ battle begins, the first Monster on the list is positioned in the front row. Melee and Magic attackers can hit from the front row, however Ranged attackers need to be distant from their enemy.

Thus, when the Monster in the front row (tank position) dies, the next Monster glides up towards the top spot. This process goes on until there are no Monsters left. However, you can move a Monster into another slot by dragging it.

Having guided you through the intricacies of Splinterlands, one might wonder why warriors engage in battle without a conventional notion of 'winning.' Here, the in-game currency, the gold of Splinterlands known as Splintershards, plays a pivotal role. Read on, to learn more..

A peek into Splintershards Token (SPS)

Splintershards (SPS) is a novel crypto governance token which will be featured in the Splinterlands game. This inception would make the game more exciting and also empower the players with more decision-making abilities. SPS will also pump up the control over the product for the player-base, asset owners, and other stakeholders.

The Splinterlore presents a backdrop of how the coin came into being in the form of an impeccable story. According to the lore, the progression of SPS token will be updated and improved over time as progress is made and more information becomes available.

Tokenomics of Splintershards (SPS)

Tokenomics is the distribution of tokens that is decided upon for a long-term vision of the game as the token prices are prone to fluctuations with ever-changing market trends. But with a well-established tokenomics in place, investors can leverage their investments and help the community sustain for a longer time.

As per the tokenomics, the maximum total supply of SPS tokens will remain 3,000,000,000 and is allocated as follows:

Airdrop consists of 13.33% of the total token supply with 400,000,000 and will be issued over 12 months.

The game’s Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) has been allocated 10% of the supply with 300,000,000 tokens will be issued over 65 months. This fund will be used for Providing Liquidity, Staking, Paying for Services, Funding Third-Party Development, and Investing.

Private Sale consists of 6.66% of the total token supply with 200,000,000 and will be unlocked over 10 months.

Team will be allocated 9% of the total token supply with 270,000,000 and will be unlocked over 65 months.

Partners/Advisors will have 1% of the total token supply with 30,000,000 and will be unlocked over 24 months.

Play to Earn will be allocated 30% of the total token supply with 900,000,000 and will be unlocked over 65 months.

Staking/LP/Oracle Rewards will be allocated 30% of the total token supply with 900,000,000 and will be unlocked over 65 months.

How to buy SPS token

Buying SPS via most popular cryptocurrencies like ETH or USDT is not straightforward. To buy Splintershards via a decentralized exchange, users typically have to bridge their tokens to Binance, or use a wrapped token like (WETH) to make the purchase.

Below is a list of markets available for Splintershards (SPS), courtesy of CoinMarketCap.

The easier way to buy SPS is via Transak because you can use a payment method like Apple Pay, Google Pay, or credit/debit card, which you are already familiar with.

How to buy SPS on Transak

Transak allows you to buy Splinteshards from over 160 countries and 60+ local payment methods.

1. Select your fiat currency and type in the amount you’d like to spend.
2. Select a payment method and see the equivalent amount of SPS you will get.
3. Type in or paste your Splintershards-supported wallet address.
4. Login with email & verify your details.
5. Complete the payment using leading payment methods such as Credit Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Bank Transfer and more to instantly get crypto in your wallet.

Conclusion

Splinterlands is a vivid ecosystem blending strategy, collectability, and true digital ownership.

More importantly, Splinterlands presents a world with its own lore and cultural depth. This aspect of storytelling and world-building is essential in creating an immersive experience that can attract and retain players beyond the game's strategic and economic aspects.

Interoperability is likely a crucial point of success for the game in the long run. The developers are already working on it as evident by the game’s support for bridges of popular chains like WAX and BSC.

The game also has a captivating incentive mechanism through SPintershards (SPS). Users can stake their SPS tokens to earn additional rewards. Certain mechanisms, like token burning in specific scenarios (e.g., purchasing in-game items), help in reducing the overall supply, potentially increasing the value of the token over time.

For more information, visit https://transak.com/ or follow us on https://twitter.com/Transak.