The NFT market has been rough the last couple of months. Projects across the board are down bad, and some are disappearing altogether. This is a great opportunity for long-lasting projects with great teams to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

This recurring series will highlight NFT projects still building during the bear market, recap all that they have done thus far, and forecast what’s to come from them in the future based on the information they have provided publically.

Today’s spotlight is on My Pet Hooligan (MPH).

Article Outline

• Background

  • What is My Pet Hooligan?

  • What has MPH accomplished?

• Future Catalysts

  • Ecosystem Tokens

  • Companion Mint

  • Game Development & Other Future Plans

• Closing Remarks

Background

1/ What is My Pet Hooligan?

My Pet Hooligan is a blockchain gaming NFT created by AMGI Studios that minted in December 2021. MPH has 8888 supply, is currently at a 1 ETH floor price, and has done 16k ETH volume in sales on the secondary market. The Genesis collection of “Hooli’s” are 3D characters built specifically for the “Rabbit Hole,” a blockchain game currently in alpha phase of development and accessible to holders.

MPH was created by AMGI Studios, an animation and gaming studio composed of ex-employees from Pixar, Apple, Netflix, ILM, and Epic Games. AMGI hopes to onboard new users into Web3 by utilizing the MPH brand through community building and IP integration. MPH has partnered with the likes of Delphi Digital and Yield Guild Games, in addition to the longstanding relationships AMGI has with Epic Games, Unreal, and Netflix.

2/ What Has MPH Accomplished?

Early on, it was pretty obvious the MPH team was innovative with how they planned to do things in Web3. During peak grind meta, rather than rewarding message counts and social media simping, they created a discord currency called “KGOLD” that you could earn every few hours and gamble with to earn more. There were also KGOLD raffles. It was later revealed that 10k KGOLD could be redeemed for a whitelist spot for the Genesis Hooli mint, providing minters three Hoolis. From there, the team got to work on their main utility, the Rabbit Hole game, all while marketing the use of their animation studio’s tools, as well as some humor.

The next step for the team was building the community post-mint. Once again, the team did something different and made holders choose a faction and compete against other factions in different events. The faction with the most points earned rewards like cosmetic accessories, exclusive merchandise, and special giveaways. Another form of utility built out post-launch was the adaptation of content creator tools like AMGI’s “[Hooligram](https://Hooligram Demo)” application, along with Immi, which allows MPH holders the ability to utilize their NFT character in a real-time animation application mainly used for content creation. These apps enable users to animate and control their Hooli through real-time motion capture of facial expressions and on-command animation technology. To continue to update the community on progress, the team created a podcast called Hooli Radio, and conducted weekly livestreams showcasing their progress on building out the Rabbit Hole and other areas.

In June, the MPH team released the alpha version of the Rabbit Hole for holders to test and provide feedback. The game itself is still a work-in-progress, being in the alpha phase, but the foundation is set as a fun third-person shooter and has many more features to come. There will be many more game modes, as well as an earning mechanism that is being finalized as the game development makes progress, but for now, AMGI is using the community as game testers to iron out all the bugs. Currently, MPH has released Alpha version 1.1 of the Rabbit hole which gives holders new weapons to use environments to explore. Future builds will introduce the earning component, Epic Games Online services, their core game loop, and more.

Future Catalysts

With so much already built out, MPH has more catalysts in the pipeline, including their ecosystem tokens, a companion mint, and further development on the Rabbit Hole.

1/ Ecosystem Tokens

Currently, the Alpha version of the Rabbit Hole does not have an earning mechanism for players. The MPH team recognizes the importance of their ecosystem tokens and is taking their time in getting the tokenomics right to avoid the P2E death cycle we often see from other P2E projects. Their main ecosystem token is the $KARROT token. The graphic below explains how holders can earn $KARROT:

Use cases for $KARROT will include the ability to access exclusive experiences, collect items and perks in the game’s marketplace, minting of future NFT drops, along with others yet to be announced. $KARROT will have a fixed supply of 1,000,000,000.

The following graphic explains the distribution method of the $KARROT token:

*This distribution model is subject to change in order to keep the game economy balanced*

Staking emissions for holders can be seen through this graphic:

More details regarding the distribution of the $KARROT token can be found here.

Currently, staking is live for MPH holders, and staked Hoolis are generating S-Karrots, or synthetic Karrots. These are placeholder tokens that will be converted into $KARROT when the token goes live. The token launch is scheduled for Q4, but the team has stated they are taking their time to get the game economy perfect before launching their token.

2/ Companion Mint

On 10/27, MPH will be minting their companions, the Zuckbots. There will be 13,888 Genesis Zuckbots, which will be Hooli companions. In the game, they will serve like Aku Aku in Crash Bandicoot as in-game assets that will be companions to Hoolis. Zuckbots will provide holders access to the Rabbit Hole, and will have their own, standalone, mobile game mode which will be a cross of Tamagotchi and Battle Bots. The team has also been cryptic regarding some kind of reward for holding OG Zuckbots as seen in the graphic below.

MPH holders will get a free claim for each Hooli they hold. MPH holders will also be eligible for one additional mint for 0.05 ETH. Zucklist Spots will also be available to certain partners, and their mint price for interested parties outside the MPH community will be 0.1 ETH. View the graphic below for more information regarding the Zuckbot mint.

3/ Game Development and Other Future Plans

The most important utility for MPH holders is the development of the Rabbit Hole game experience. Currently the game is in Alpha V 1.1, which really only allows users to run around various environments and use certain weapons. Alpha V 2.0 will expand upon V 1.1 with introducing game modes, social engagement, and improving upon some of the combat already established in V 1.1. Further down the line, as the game develops, the Rabbit Hole will get a wider release with their Season 1 launch, which will introduce their earning mechanisms as well as a free-to-play model for those not interested in the Web3 element. This is an important part of MPH’s plans, as it could be a way to onboard new users into the Web3 ecosystem down the line.

In addition to building out their gaming experience, MPH has many future catalysts. In their Orange Paper, they have hinted at some kind of limited serum release called M-K20, or $KARROT Juice. M-K20 will be created using $KARROT, and there will only be 888 available for release. There will also be another collection to expand the MPH ecosystem closer to the public launch of the Rabbit Hole called the Others. The Others will be a 12k collection, of which 8888 (the size of the Genesis Hooli collection) will be mintable only via S-Karrots. This will effectively be a free mint for Genesis Hooli holders. This collection is also going to be deflationary, as holders will have the option to burn their NFT to reclaim the S-Karrots used for minting. This is an interesting way to provide a refund mechanism provided the Others collection does not do well on secondary, or is not as useful to holders as originally perceived.

With the Season One launch of the Rabbit Hole comes a whole host of new utilities for holders, including the launch of the In-Game Marketplace. This should be a huge source of revenue for MPH, as well as a token sink for the $KARROT token. Nowadays, most highly profitable games make a majority of their revenue through in-game purchases, and this is a model MPH hopes to replicate. Now, rather than making unlimited supply skins like Web2 games that are not resellable, MPH will have their marketplace completely on-chain and give users the ability to purchase in-game cosmetics and upgrades in exchange for $KARROT tokens. These $KARROT tokens will be added to the Hooli treasury. Items purchased in the marketplace will be resellable, and MPH will look to include items from their partners and brands in a limited capacity as well.

The MPH Roadmap also hints at holders being able to own in-game real estate, which would be paid for with $KARROT. Owners of said real estate will be able to earn royalties from services provided, paid in $KARROT. There are also plans for a land sale within the broader MPH metaverse, however the details are very scarce and this seems quite a ways away. In addition to the gaming arm of MPH, animation stands at the forefront as well. As seen on the AMGI YouTube page, shorts are already a fabric of AMGI’s marketing and branding with the MPH IP. Their roadmap also hints at an ongoing series of shorts to air on the platform. AMGI also has plans to create a full animated Web3 film, and considering their connections with Netflix and Pixar, this seems to be one of the few teams able to actually make this a reality.

Closing Remarks

As you can see from the data above, MPH has already accomplished quite a bit in just under a year’s time since their launch. AMGI and the rest of the MPH team have continued their progress throughout the bear market and are positioning themselves to be one of the top blockchain gaming projects in the industry. As a holder, I have played the alpha version of the game, and it has been the most fun blockchain game I have played thus far. The gameplay itself reminds me of a mix of GTA and Crash Bandicoot, and I personally am very excited for the actual game loop and earning mechanisms to be brought into the fold.

My concerns for the project are that, despite the marketing campaigns, the project does not have the same kind of attention as larger cap projects, and as we know, attention is the most important form of currency in Web3. Another concern lies with the $KARROT token and companion releases. Releasing a token and a companion project have historically been negative catalysts for most projects.

However, the MPH team has taken their time with both the tokenomics, and the importance of the companions. Most companion projects do not have any form of utility or any use case within the genesis project’s ecosystem. The Zuckbot release has its own utility apart from the Genesis Hooli’s and fits into the broader ecosystem within the Rabbit Hole.

MPH and AMGI have established themselves as a team that executes on their plans, while innovating along the way. While at its core MPH is billed as a P2E game, it’s not just a gaming project. The possibilities of content creation with their Hooligram and Immi tools are truly endless and their experience within the animation and content creation worlds give them an edge over most teams. If they continue to execute on their future plans, MPH could establish itself as one of the best blockchain gaming projects on the market.

Disclosure: I hold one Genesis Hooli

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