Gala Games recently announced a new blockchain to power the entire Gala ecosystem. What this means for players and what possibilities arise from Listen-To-Earn and Watch-To-Earn is what this article is about.

Most blockchains are, at their core, little more than decentralized databases for tracking financial transactions. A “distributed ledger” is exactly what it sounds like — just a long list of who holds what at any given time. While this is great for finance, it falls far short of what is needed for gaming. Gala’s chain is the first blockchain developed by game developers specifically for the requirements faced in-game, but it also lends itself beautifully to ideas like Listen-to-Earn, Watch-to-Earn and more.

With the recent launch of Gala Music and announcement of our intentions to greatly expand the Gala Ecosystem into the Gala World, the stakes are higher than ever for the development of our proprietary blockchain. We have built something that will power the vast Gala World.

Gala’s chain will increase efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and lower both cost and time of transactions in our Ecosystem. It will allow new functions and new opportunities for the Gala World to scale. It will enhance security for our players and make it easier for developers to interact with our Ecosystem’s assets. Basically, this blockchain is a giant leap toward our mission of empowerment through ownership.

Challenging: Building a Blockchain 

…is no simple task. The incredibly talented team of blockchain engineers at Gala Games is now in the final stretches of preparations for the community-wide test program. Our intention is not to simply drag our community along with us, but to thoroughly inform you and demonstrate everything to you along the way.

We cannot yet announce an exact time frame or roadmap for the migration. Through articles and announcements, we will convey to you everything you need to know and more in hopes that you’ll not only be prepared for the migration, but as excited as we are for the future of the Gala World.

This blockchain was built for the Gala Ecosystem. It was designed to leave behind the most unnecessary and inconvenient aspects of Ethereum while embracing the quintessential foundations upon which the player empowering vision of Gala Games is built.

What is Decentralization?

Decentralization is a spectrum. Many blockchains are not as decentralized as they may claim or seem, due to the fact that majority control tends to lie in the hands of a relatively small number of wallets. While we are creating the largest network of decentralized gamers in the world with our Node Ecosystem, a certain measure of centralization is necessary to ensure that we are building the perfect blockchain for the task. Throughout this article series we intend on detailing our plan with as much specificity as possible in order to relay how centralization and control are not always a bad thing, but rather a building block with which our decentralized network can be built.

Moving Toward Decentralization

As time goes on, we will also show how the framework we are building on allows things to become decentralized over time, instead of expecting everything to be 100% defined at launch. We are building many things, and we will need that flexibility to grow and deliver on our promises.

Trust and Permission – Why They Are Important

Many evangelists of the space flaunt the idea of trustless systems as one of the most important pieces of blockchain technology. While trustless systems that cannot be exploited are often the ideological goal, the fact remains that proof-of-work and proof-of-stake blockchains (as well as individual smart contracts) are still exploitable and always subject to human error.

The trouble with a trustless system is that the system must still be trusted. That means that if someone discovers a loophole or error in the core protocol or the smart contracts, the trustless design of the protocol can actually prevent mitigating action from being taken. Basically, the trustless system can remove the ability for anyone to stop those bad actors who inevitably come along and discover exploits and weaknesses.

Gala’s chain will begin its existence as a permissioned blockchain, meaning that the game developers and platform curators of Gala Games will agree on any changes to the blockchain. As the various functions of Gala’s chain are refined and proven in action, they will be gradually delegated to Node operators, coinciding with the increased workload expectations outlined in the Gala Games Nodemap.

We do not want our community to place their trust in a system that rewards exploitation and devious action. We dislike as much as you the unpredictability and volatility of gas prices, the mysterious waiting periods and the lack of support resources. These are some of the greatest reasons for us to find a better way than Ethereum as quickly as possible.

Pragmatich Approach: Blockchain — Games First

At Gala Games, we have never wavered in our games first, blockchain second stance. Instead of being dogmatic and ideological about the importance of blockchain, we are taking a pragmatic approach to blockchain development. The most important things we seek are greater control for our players, true ownership for our players, and empowerment for our players.

We aim to create an endless supply of life-changing gaming experiences powered by Gala’s chain. We have learned from developers and blockchains that came before us, keeping what serves our players and leaving behind what does not.

Rewards For NFT Owners: Blockchain — Music Reimagined

Many blockchain functions can also be used to build a new decentralized world of music, like we are with Gala Music. Gala’s Chain will allow Node operators to provide resources to the decentralized network in exchange for rewards. It will empower NFT owners to get rewards by pairing their track with a Player Node in the new listen-to-earn economy.

What’s Coming Up ?

We’re very close to releasing Project GYRI, in the form of a community-wide playtest for a new game. This Town Star themed game has been created entirely to prove the efficacy of Gala’s blockchain (final name TBA). We think you’re going to love it.

When testing Project GYRI, you’ll be playing to earn a temporary new token called TEST that will exist on the Project GYRI test net. It will have no real value and it will not be transferable.

We are fully confident in every aspect of the upcoming migration to Gala’s chain, but there is still some valuable information we can gather from a community playtest that you’ll hopefully find both enjoyable and educational. Look for more info coming very soon, as well as the release of Project GYRI in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for all your support!