Openfort and Merit Circle (Beam Ecosystem): Building Gaming Ecosystem

The partnership between Merit Circle's Beam and Openfort has been a game-changer in the blockchain gaming ecosystem. This collaboration has enabled Beam to leverage Openfort's state-of-the-art wallet-as-a-service solution, enhancing the gaming experience for users while ensuring a secure and efficient infrastructure.

This article delves into the features that Beam is utilizing from Openfort and explores how other gaming ecosystems, gaming aggregators, and gaming wallets can benefit from similar collaborations.

Components for Beam Ecosystem

Smart Accounts

What it is: By incorporating smart contract wallets, or 'account abstraction' (following ERC4337), you can offer your users a more interactive and richer gaming experience.

Why it's important for games: Beam utilizes smart contracts from Openfort, which provide you with the tools to offer your users greater flexibility and security with their accounts. This means, developers will be able to choose across a gull range of wallet configurations like Token Bound Accounts (ERC6551), Social Recovery Accounts, and more.

Multi-Chain Account Support

What it is: Beam has integrated Openfort's multi-chain account support, allowing users to manage multiple blockchain accounts seamlessly.

Why it's important for games: In a gaming ecosystem where different games may operate on different blockchains, multi-chain support is crucial. It allows the ecosystem to expand into new blockchain as they see fit, while mantaining the same support and experience.

Gas Sponsorship and Policy Rules

What it is: Openfort's gas sponsorship feature has been adopted by Beam to subsidize transaction costs for the users.

Why it's important for games: Having to have tokens to pay for transactions can be a barrier to entry for many gamers. By granularly sponsoring these fees, Beam makes it more accessible for users to engage in transactions, such as buying in-game items or transferring assets across accounts/,marketplaces. All by using the native token $Beam.

Invisible Blockchain Interactions

What it is: This feature eliminates the need for constant pop-ups during blockchain interactions, offering a smoother gaming experience.

Why it's important for games: Constant pop-ups can be disruptive and annoying, especially in fast-paced games. This feature enhances user engagement and keeps gamers focused on the gameplay rather than administrative tasks. By creating temporary keys the gaming ecosystem has the authorization to interact on behalf of the users for a limited set of variables.

What future features will Openfort support?

1. Release of the Beam companion app. Allowing players features like transferring assets, buying / listing on Beam marketplace through the app and asset swaps. The app will also include Vaults, which will be a self-custodial account for users to interact with their assets.

2. Onramp/Offramp for games. Allowing game devs to incorporate FIAT payments to their game, either to aquire more game tokens or in-game assets.

3. Onchain subscriptions. Allowing game devs to create subscriptions for their products and other paying mechanisms.

Building your Web3 Gaming Stack

The numerous conversations we've had with industry insiders indicate a strong appetite among game studios and gaming projects to go beyond merely designing a game. They are looking for scalable solutions that can serve as a foundation for their ambitions.

Openfort is designed to work as a base layer for projects that aim to build their own wallet stack while retaining full control.

Here are different scenarios where our infrastructure shines:

For Gaming Studios

- Reliability in Transactions: In the blockchain gaming world, transactions are the lifeblood of revenue for game developers. Opting for a server-side approach allows for optimized transactions that are guaranteed to reach on-chain. This is crucial because transactions are the primary way game developers make money in the blockchain space.

- Ease of Integration: Not every game studio has the bandwidth to become blockchain experts. That's why Openfort's API endpoints are a godsend. They allow game studios to integrate blockchain functionalities without the steep learning curve, letting them focus on what they do best: creating amazing games.

For Gaming Ecosystems and Aggregators

- Network Effects: Gaming ecosystems present an incredible opportunity to align games and players towards a successful, engaged, and fun community. Onboarding games into a robust platform equipped with all the necessary infrastructure elements simplifies life for game developers and adds liquidity to the games.

- Unified Development Experience: Owning the tech stack around wallets, marketplaces, and more creates a unified development experience. This is invaluable in an industry where fragmentation can be a significant hurdle.

For Gaming Wallets

- Direct Relationship with Gamers: Owning a wallet means owning the direct relationship with gamers. It allows you to unify the on-chain life of players, including their NFTs and tokens, as well as their actions like buying, swapping, and renting, all under a single user interface.

- Customization: Front-end wallets can be designed for specific verticals, unlocking new customer behaviors and providing a more tailored experience. This is particularly useful in a rapidly evolving industry where one-size-fits-all solutions often fall short.

By leveraging Openfort's robust and versatile infrastructure, you're not just adopting a tool; you're adopting a strategic partner committed to your project's long-term success.

Whether you're a game studio, an ecosystem, or a wallet, Openfort provides the building blocks for a scalable, secure, and seamless gaming experience.