On February 5th, our second AMA of the year took place, featuring Renaud El Ghozi, Head of Product & Gaming, and Alexis Laporte, Tech Advisor. Relive this AMA through our text transcription.
Two guests joined us for this second AMA: Renaud El Ghozi, Head of Product & Gaming, and Alexis Laporte, Tech Advisor. Together, we discussed gaming, product development, races, and the project/game vision.
If you'd like to listen to the replay of the AMA, it is available here (in french).
Transcription of the February 5th, 2024 AMA
Jérémy Coste:
Welcome, everyone, to our second AMA of the year. I'd like to remind you that the previous week's AMA, well, a few days ago, is available for replay on X Spaces. We've also transcribed it on the blog, so if you prefer to read the AMA, you can do that as well. Today, we welcome Renaud, Head of Product Gaming, and Alexis, our tech specialist. They will introduce themselves in a moment. This AMA has been eagerly anticipated by the community, as we've seen on Discord. We'll discuss what we've achieved so far, talk about the game, the races, strategies, new features, and of course, the roadmap. We'll then move on to the questions the community has asked on Discord. And of course, at the end, we'll open the floor to the audience if there are any further questions. Without further ado, Renaud, could you please introduce yourself, tell us who you are, a bit about your background, and what you do at Stables?
Renaud El Ghozi:
With great pleasure, Jérémy, and first of all, hello everyone. We're super excited, at least I am super excited to be here with you all, super excited about this AMA. The goal is definitely to do this more regularly. So here we are, presenting ourselves before you. My name is Renaud El Ghozi. I'm Head of Product and Gaming at Stable. I have around fifteen years of experience in the... in the digital realm, mainly B2C, with a focus on building what we call community platforms, so how people interact with each other. I joined Stables in June, and to quickly tell you what I've done and contributed to since my arrival, the first step since my arrival has really been to productize the first race, to turn it into a product. And now we're at the second step, which is why it's great that we're having an AMA to discuss it. So, hello, very happy to be here and looking forward to exchanging with you.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you, Renaud. Alexis, you're not unfamiliar to those who have been following us from the beginning. You've already participated, I believe, in a few AMAs. Can you still tell us a bit more about your role at Stables?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, of course, hello everyone. It's been almost two years now that I've been involved in the project. I met Constantin. And Clémence, almost two years ago when the project was coming out of the PMU's plans, and so I intervened on several technical and product aspects, from the choice of blockchain to NFTs, to the relationship with the entire Ypic ecosystem, to understand a little bit the... the possibilities, the ins and outs. And in the end... We collectively decided to go for a fantasy game that is... that is being built. And I'm here to support the team as always as... as an advisor on tech and product dimensions. And very excited to do another AMA with you. It's been a while since we've done one.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you both. So, before we talk about the future, let's take a look back to discuss what has happened in recent months. Renaud, could you please review the progress that has been made and give us an update on what you and your team have been working on?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, as I mentioned, the primary goal over the past few months was really to enable the productization of the inaugural race. There had been a first race, which was great, but the question was how we could replicate that and offer a certain diversity of races while creating these races with minimal internal difficulties. If we look back at what the teams have actually done, there was a first focus on the typology of races. We created seasons, such as the Autumn Season, and currently, we're in the Winter Season. We tested and implemented races with different price pools, variable prize distributions, etc. We also introduced races where we created the possibility of invitation-only races, what we called the grand finale. And for the winter season, the top 100 horses are eligible for a race with a 25,000 S-Point Price Pool distributed by Stable. The second thing we focused on was to offer gameplay that allows players to build expertise and progress in the game. So, we developed three terrains with their effects, new strategies, horseshoes, food, and gave the possibility to see competitors, edit strategies, level up horses. We implemented matchmaking to balance races. Additionally, we worked on improving the race rendering, whether it's the sound or the effects of the terrains. And then, around this expertise building and to better understand and track performance, we launched a number of dashboards, a year retrospective, a data analysis table by horses, and of course, season leaderboards and rankings to access the grand season finale. So, for us, this initial period was essential to lay the groundwork for the game. Obviously, everything is not perfect, but at a minimum, now we can operate our races simply and thus dedicate our energy, the team's energy, to the next important topics. We'll come back to this, but it will be, on one hand, the enjoyment of the game, its understanding, and its interest. And then, our ability to welcome new players. And if you want some data, we've had 37 races so far. There have been over 12 million S-Points redistributed. There have been more than 128,000 registered horses. And we've had some incredible horses in terms of performance. I'm thinking of Coria, I Am Quick, Marine d'Or, who have participated in all races and managed to multiply their investment by 2.5. For example, El Maestro, who registered for 36 races and bet 3,900 S-Points and won 9,175. So, there have really been horses and players behind, of course, who have managed to build expertise through their strategic choices, their choice of races. So, that's super exciting for the future.
Jérémy Coste:
Awesome, thank you. So, we've talked about the past. Let's now focus a bit more on the future and what awaits players in the coming weeks and months. We updated the Litepaper last Friday, highlighting five dimensions of Stables. So, the game-competition aspect, the social aspect, the link to reality, the spectacle, and the financial dimension. And we'll spend a bit more time on these five aspects, as the focus of the coming months will be on them. Renaud, can you take some time to detail each of these points, please?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, with pleasure. Indeed, we have identified five major dimensions for Stable. Each has a different level of maturity, but all five seem extremely important to us and are axes on which we want to develop the game. Of course, the first dimension is the game. What's behind the game? There's gameplay that, for the moment, is oriented towards strategic management and competition. The second aspect you mentioned is indeed the social aspect. And if we're here now in an AMA, it's because there's a community behind it that gathers on Discord, that expresses itself. So, it's extremely important. And we want to develop this through player profiles, guides, etc. In fact, our goal is to allow everyone to find their role in what we call the Equiverse and to foster interactions among players. And not only competitive interactions but also collaborative interactions. The third dimension is the link to reality. So obviously, all our NFTs are associated with real horses. When they win in real life, the owner of the virtual double of the NFT wins S-Points. We feel that this is a first step that may be somewhat inadequate. So, we want to find mechanics to develop this fantasy part of the game, whether it's integrating weather or providing even more open access to horse racing events for players. The fourth dimension we talked about is the spectacle. The spectacle of races, the aesthetic and immersive dimension of the Equiverse. In fact, our challenge is to ensure that each race creates an emotion. An emotion for the player and probably at some point for the audience as well. And the last point, which is an absolutely crucial point, is the financial dimension. So, let's be clear about this, Stables is not a gambling game. But the NFTs have value. The game is based on a currency, S-Points, which we want to make liquid. We want the original NFT holders, what we call Prime, to also derive value from the increase in the number of players, whether through what we've called hybridization mechanics. We'll come back to this. And fundamentally, what we call competitive gaming also translates into this notion of investment, return on investment. And our challenge is also to allow the somewhat investor profile to express themselves. So, these are five dimensions that are all important, developed at different levels, on which we will invest in different ways, but which allow us to define what we are in a fairly synthetic and at the same time precise way.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you, I think that's very clear on the basis on which we want to build. We'll tackle the main topic now and look concretely at what's coming in the next weeks and months. Can you tell us more about what Stable players can expect in the next three to six months?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, absolutely. So, as I mentioned a bit earlier, the number one challenge is to be able to generate, create races, and have a certain diversity of races and strategic choices. The focus for the next three to six months will be multifaceted. The first, the most important, is really the evolution of gameplay. Essentially, we've identified four major pain points or four major topics that we'll address through concrete actions. The first topic is, I want to understand why I ended up in a certain position and then how to win. So what we've started to do is implement a better explanation of strategies. We also want to implement a better explanation of game parameters, the effects of terrain, the effects of distance, and that's almost done. And then, we can sense that won't be enough, so we want to work on a better explanation of results. Essentially, how we can compare the different horses participating in an echo and their strategic choices to build expertise and, ultimately, have a better chance of winning. The second perspective, or at least the topic that matters to us, is the frictions in the experience. And clearly, there are some. There are frictions during race registration and when viewing the results. And there are even more frictions for players who have invested the most with us, what we call the big stables. The registration process is quite laborious, and we can't deny it. So the topic we've started to specify, to define, is how to allow for multiple horse registrations at once with the possibility to edit strategies in bulk and mass registration and viewing of results. So that's really important for us. And the second topic is around the small pain points, the little frictions we have in the UX, typically when displaying horses on the registration page, the number of horses registered, etc. These are small elements, and we know they bother you; you've been talking about them for a while. So, we want to tackle those too. Thank you. The third is the reason to continue playing. Why do I keep playing, in fact? We believe that the notion of a season is extremely important, the notion of a final race with a prize pool per stable is crucial as a motivational element. But we felt that in the autumn season, we tested some things and there were elements to improve, especially regarding the duration and diversity of races. So, we launched a new season that allows us to test two things. First, a faster pace to reach the final and also more free races. And the second element we'll talk about is the Diamond races. But I think we'll focus on that because it's too important a topic, on which we've put too much energy and which is so close to our hearts that we'll discuss it separately. But there you go, we introduced that in the new Winter Season, and it's something that's fantastic. And the last element is this feeling that it's always the same, it's a bit repetitive. And there, in three months, what we want, three, four months, is really to work on renewing the gameplay, more strategy. And we really want to reward the ability to adapt. I don't know if in the community, you see games like TFT where there's really a strong renewal. Well, there you go, it's something. We want to renew regularly around the season, strategic choices, and different terrains to bring more diversity, pleasure, and surprises into the game.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you very much. You briefly touched on the subject of the famous Diamond races. The community has seen them, noted them in the calendar of the Winter Season, and it sparked quite a reaction. Could you detail what they're about and perhaps talk about the mechanics behind these famous Diamond races?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, with great pleasure. Well, first, the Diamond races, what you need to understand is that it's a topic we've been working on really hard in recent months. We've been working behind the scenes to make it happen, and we're almost there. We're in the process of finalizing everything with the regulatory authorities. We have one final go to retrieve, so we're really under pressure. We would have loved to say it's validated, it's stamped today, but honestly, it's looking good at 95%, it should work out. What are the Diamond races? This season... During the Winter season, you'll have access to three Diamond races. In each Diamond race, there are 20 echos, and the winner of each echo will receive 50 Tezos. I'll repeat, in each Diamond race, and there are 3 this season, there are 20 echos, and the winner of each echo will receive 50 Tezos. So, you're aware of the first one, the others will be surprises. And we're super excited. It's really a big change, a big focus of the team in recent months. It's a huge step forward for us, and we hope you'll like the concept. We've held this AMA, among other things, to announce it to you. We're at 95% of reaching our goal, so we believe in it. And the best way to show us that we were right to go in this direction is to sign up for the races and show us that you're committed, that it makes you happy, and that it resonates with you and that you want to be in one of these 20 echos for a chance to win these 50 Tezos.
Jérémy Coste:
But I hope people... will appreciate these rewards, these 50 Tezos that will certainly come from these races. We understand that one of the key points in the success of the game is being able to welcome new players. And precisely, Renaud, what are we going to do to welcome these new players?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, I didn't necessarily talk much about it at the beginning of the AMA, but we really have a challenge around how to welcome new players. Actually, what you need to understand is that the game will be a success for everyone if we manage to welcome new players and if new players come. So fundamentally, we need you, we need you, the community, to grow the number of players. And we need you, but we're not just going to ask you kindly; we want to implement concrete mechanics to incentivize you, to make you want to help us grow the community. If I get a bit more specific, the first topic, similarly, in the next three to six months, but even the next three months, will be to revitalize the secondary market. And how do we want to revitalize the secondary market? We want to help a new player find and choose their horse. So concretely, it's about revising the onboarding flow in the game by showcasing horses for sale on the secondary market, offering public horse profiles, and allowing for better comparison of horses on the secondary market, typically by sharing certain game metadata. So that's the first step, revitalizing the secondary market. The second step is to allow players to discover the game for free. So, it's about creating free options with very clear, very different limits, or at least with very clear limits compared to the prime NFT, and whose conversion into NFT would benefit current owners. And so, within this framework, we're considering the notion of hybridization in the various options. But it's crucial to note that there are these two steps, revitalizing the secondary market, allowing players to discover the game for free, and we're currently finalizing the arrival of free horses and their hybrid conversion mechanics, and that's really one of our objectives for the next two, three months. So, there's a real issue there. And so, if I focus a bit, in the next 3-4 months, we have how to improve the gaming experience, the gameplay, notably with the introduction of Diamond races and a better registration fluidity, gaming pleasure. And the second big topic is welcoming new players by revitalizing the secondary market and then implementing a mechanism for converting free horses into NFTs that... gives an incentive to current owners. And once we've done that, and depending on the state of the market, the community, your feedback, potentially we'll launch new primes, but that will only be when the time is right. We're ultimately decoupling the two topics. So, to summarize... We've worked quite a bit, even a lot, to be able to operate the game under the right conditions. First step, our two challenges, satisfying you and welcoming new players. And as soon as we get the go-ahead from the authorities, we'll launch the Diamond races, 20 echos or the first prize of 50 Tezos, three times in the Winter Season. So, if you want us to keep that, if it excites you, etc., sign up for the races. It's really the best way to show us that we've met your expectations. In any case, it's an exciting topic for you and your horses.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you Renaud, we feel your excitement about these Diamond races. Thank you also for the summary. Obviously, we'll update the Litepaper regarding all of this. We'll provide more details on each of the features we're going to release. All this detail, we'll find it in the Litepaper a little later. We'll move on to the questions from the community that have been asked on Discord. First, there have been quite a few, so we've noted them. And secondly, we'll move on to open questions. If you want to start raising your hand already, you can. But we still have quite a few questions to go through. I'll start right away with some questions about the game. We have a question for you, Renaud, which... asks if the game will evolve into a more complete form, implying visually more attractive? It's true that some have seen, we mention the equiverse, which is not unlike the term metaverse. We talk about the fact that the immediate focus is not to develop a 3D. What do we think about this? Is the vision shared on our side? what is the ultimate goal in terms of visual attractiveness of the game.
Renaud El Ghozi:
Great question. I read Discord, like the whole team, we all read it every morning, it's our little routine. So we've definitely heard this topic of 3D rendering, race rendering, etc. I'll be very frank and honest with you, for now, we don't plan to work on 3D. And in fact, I'll explain to you why, and we probably haven't done this explanation work. Apart from the effort it requires, the reality is that we prefer to deploy our energy, work on the gaming experience itself. That is to say, we think that having beautiful 3D races, but races where we're bored, where we have nothing to do, and which don't change, won't make anyone happy. It's a positioning, it's a choice, and it's the direction we're taking. And so, what we want to do is rather provide more analytical understanding of the races, more friction, but not necessarily through the rendering of the race itself. And so, that's why we actually have a symbolic view of the race. So it won't be 3D rendering this year. First, we want to work on the thrill of the race, and we also want to work on the diversity of strategic choices, terrains, etc. First. Concretely, what does that mean? It means that we want to display the position of the horse relative to its competitors in real-time and the time difference between horses. And then, we want to share more data about the race and why horses change position. That, however, we consider to be a real issue that we haven't tackled well, and on which, in race rendering, we'll have to rework.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you Renaud. Will there be races organized by specialty? Perhaps trot races, gallop races?
Renaud El Ghozi:
I would love that. Similarly, what everyone needs to understand is that we're in an environment of limited resources. If I had a full budget, of course, we would have 3D races of staples, trots, gallops, and it would be incredible. Already, we're trying to focus on the standard races that we run. And as you know, as you can see, we already have a lot to do before specializing the races. So no, not for now.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you. A few questions for you, Alexis. I approve you, you disappeared, you came back. A question for you, Alexis, someone from the community noted that we mentioned hybrid races in the Live Paper, what is the connection between these hybrid races and reality, when will we be able to play virtual races?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, indeed, the project originally was very, very closely tied to reality, since the first NFTs we released are twins of real horses. From the beginning, we envisaged making races that were sort of replays, races from reality. However, we initially went for completely virtual races because there are much fewer constraints. We don't control the schedule of real races. They take place during the day in France. So today, we haven't planned in the coming months to introduce mechanics for hybrid races; they are still virtual races. However, what we're looking at is perhaps using it as a form of strategy, to link to reality to add a bit more fantasy game elements to our races. But we don't feel that it's a need really pushed by the players, so we haven't prioritized it. But it's obviously part of the project for the future, either to develop these hybrid races or to add notions of linkage to reality, such as the results of real races, for example, or simply the weather as a strategy or as a race parameter. But that will come after the next two or three months, where our roadmap is already quite full, with everything Renault announced that will be released.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you. And I'll continue with a question for you related to the game and NFTs, regarding the value of NFTs, with a very valid remark about the fact that the value of NFTs currently seems to be more based on the number of Elaborate. We see that many horses are reaching higher levels. In principle, higher-level horses should generate more interest, but interest is still influenced by matchmaking, which tends to flatten out these levels. Have we considered having races by level with perhaps different costs or larger rewards for higher-level horses?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, so the principle of the game is not that the most advanced horses win against low-level horses. Otherwise, it prevents new players from joining the project. It's not because a horse is level 10 that it will win more easily. However, what levels allow is to develop gameplay. For example, today, we can slightly specialize our horse in attributes like speed, endurance, blur, mental. Other gameplay elements are planned that will be linked to level progression. Now, having said that, we understand that because we have a stronger horse, we want to be able to win bigger rewards. At the moment, this is not possible, as it's the players who come together in a race and put S-Points at stake. So we could very well imagine level 1 horses participating in races with very high stakes because they want to, and then level 10 horses, who don't want to spend many S-Points, participating in smaller races. So what we plan to do is to oversupply certain races with S-Points. We already do this with the leaderboard. The leaderboard, the principle that at the end of the season, we hold special races for the leaderboard winners, allows us to reward the best horses and therefore the highest levels. And finally, I can't announce the details, but regarding the Diamond races, we also intend to create a system that... gives higher-level horses more chances, simply to encourage a starting player to level up their horse to increase their chances and to favor those who have been playing for a long time, of course. So, the principle of the game will not change. Horses race against each other with a matchmaking system that levels them out. So, playing a lot doesn't make winning easier. However, we have two new gameplay options opening up. And we have the Stables project which, through mechanics alongside races, will oversupply rewards, whether in S-Points or crypto or otherwise.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you Alexis. We'll go back to you, Renaud. Let's talk about this algorithm. It's the algorithm everyone's talking about. Are we planning to modify this algorithm? And where's the impact of food, mood, horseshoes? Can you clarify that a bit for us?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, for the next season. But we hear the feedback from the community about the algorithm, and we feel that it's not necessarily 100% optimal at the moment. The difficulty we have with the algorithm issue is that there's reality and perception. And so, it's not necessarily easy to translate the feedback into reality, especially because structurally, basically, in our races, we have 70% of players who won't win. And so, structurally, 70% of people could be dissatisfied and attribute their dissatisfaction to the algorithm. The second thing is that fundamentally, the more people master the strategic choices based on terrain and their horses, the more the algorithm will be a random algorithm. That is to say, if everyone makes the same choices and has the same horses, it will be the randomness that determines the winners. And unfortunately, on this point, we can't do much. The solution, or at least the way we try to address the issue, is twofold. It first involves better explanation. This is what we've done by explaining strategic choices better. This is what we want to do by better explaining the impact of terrain and distance on race results. And this is what we want to do by highlighting more data. We've started doing this; you already have horse data, but what we want to do is to highlight the data in Neko and be able to compare strategic choices between horses. So that's what we've started doing on the explanation front. The second thing will be more to energize and renew strategic choices and the different types of terrain so that experts, and fundamentally, there are more and more of those who master strategic choices, renew both their gaming pleasure and the sense of the algorithm in this context to avoid it being on a random distribution of positions. However, very clearly, I think we've been a bit late in fixing some frustrating things for you. So, my apologies on that, and we'll try to be more attentive to your feedback on this point.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you. A question that's super interesting, we've been caught red-handed by the patrol who says, why were the fees for the 400 S-Point races in the Autumn Season 15% and not 10% like for the other races?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, that's a great question, and kudos to the people who identified that. During the previous season, the autumn season, we tested many things. We introduced the notion of sequences, we introduced races with different entry fees, or at least starting stakes, different distribution models, from 3 to 5 redistributions, fees for Stables of 10% or 15%. So, sequences, free races, etc. Invitation-only races. So, we tried many things to form convictions, and these convictions are reflected in the Winter season. As you can see, in the Winter season, we no longer have those 400 S-Point races. With 15% fees on the races, we don't have them anymore. We did three in the autumn season and then put them aside. However, we kept the mechanism within these races that we really liked. It's a larger redistribution of winnings to more players. That is, we go from 5 winners in S-Points, from 30% to 8% roughly. So, it was mainly a testing subject. We'll continue to test, to be very honest. The idea is not to get stuck in a single model but to be able to experiment, see how it acts, see how you sign up, how players sign up, what they win, whether it motivates more, whether it motivates less, how it's perceived, etc. So, there you go.
Jérémy Coste:
Very clear answer, thank you. Let's switch to another topic, the shop. People are talking about it a lot, they would like to know... What is it about? What's going to happen? So Renaud, when will the shop open? And more importantly, what functionalities will be available initially?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, the shop is a big topic. Well, I'll be equally concrete. The first step of the shop, which should be released in the next 15 days, is to give players the ability to buy S-Points automatically through the shop for items. In reality, it's too important a functionality for us not to take the time to do it properly. And the reality is that our priority, right now, is to focus on making sure that our game, as it stands, is enjoyable, satisfying, allows the building of expertise, has real rewards, etc. So, we're not ready, I don't think we're ready, we're not mature, and it would be pointless to create a shop for items where I can equip my horse, etc., even though... Again, I would love to. It's my dream, it's written, we've written it in all our game projections. We know we want to do that, but there you go. And the second point is that despite my desire... Even though items come later in the gameplay, we also want to verify that when we do it, it fits into the project coherently. If it doesn't, we'll transform it into something else. And I hear you, Prime buyers, with the items in your packs, we haven't forgotten about you. We have it, we have it in mind, we're keeping it. But really, the priority is let's make a game that's fun to play. And then, we'll add additional layers. There's no point in putting sauce on the cake if the cake isn't delicious. So our focus is on making a delicious cake, that is, improving the gameplay of the game on an existing basis and adding more value to the NFT. Maybe we'll have the opportunity to discuss this further.
Jérémy Coste:
You were just talking about this shop and these S-Point purchases. Do we already know if the purchase will be restricted or not? The community member asking this question wonders if they can just buy $500,000 in Tezos and then get all the associated S-Points?
Renaud El Ghozi:
That's a good question. Yes, it will be restricted. The idea is that the shop will initially offer all account holders with a wallet the ability to buy... packs of S-Points in Tezos. If I take a broader view of the question, and of course, we'll monitor unwanted behaviors, etc. But if we take a broader view of the question, I have the impression that it concerns the S-Points, actually. and notably the S-Point as a token. Basically, as Constantin told you last week for those who were there, and if not, I'll repeat it, but there's regulation that takes time to converge. Okay? We don't have a digital minister for now, there's a law that has been discussed, it's not live yet, there are implementing decrees that will come, etc. So fundamentally, we participated, Constantin participated in writing and at least consulting regarding the writing of this law. Fundamentally, we want to stay both within a legal framework, obviously, and then we want to be sure before committing. There's so much to do that we think there's no point in building something just to hit a wall in three months. The second point is that we want a token with a fixed selling price. So, on one hand, buying 500,000 S-Points won't serve any purpose. But more importantly, we're not aiming to create a token whose value fluctuates over time. We want to create a liquid currency that exchanges between players, yes, but not a speculative item. And that's super important. It was written from the start in the light paper. And it's a conviction that for a Web3 project, a game... crypto, MFT that works well, we need to find the right balance of speculation and clearly, the token is not a space where we want there to be speculation. I hope that answers your question, and I took the liberty of expanding on it a little further.
Jérémy Coste:
Yes, I think that perfectly answers that question. And otherwise, feel free to raise your hand. Later, we'll answer other questions. Let's maybe quickly go back to future functionalities. If some people joined in along the way. Still to you, Renaud, can you give us... maybe a rundown of the improvements that are planned, maybe give us the 5 next game evolutions that will come. Could you do that, please?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, so in the short term, it's what I've already told you about. There's a more detailed explanation of the effects of the strats we've done, the race parameters we're going to implement, the ability to quickly register multiple horses and reduce frictions, trying to tackle the little points that are a bit frustrating. And then a clearer visualization of competitors' choices at the end of the race and the consequences of those choices to build what we call expertise, that is, how do I win in this case. The second element is the launch of the Winter Season, which is faster. The grand finale with a 25K S-Point prize, more free races, and especially the launch of Diamond races. So, I'll repeat because I'm very excited and I think it's a super important project. Three races in the season. 20 echoes within these races drawn randomly, and the winner of these echoes, each winner of these echoes, will win 50 Tezos. I'll take the opportunity to say, we're testing this. We're waiting for validation and we're keeping our fingers crossed, and frankly, 95% so we're going to get there from regulatory bodies. Obviously, the amounts' terms may change in the next season, and we'll communicate about that. The goal is that we... same as for the 400 S-Point races, but it's that we're testing this, seeing how it reacts. Sign up for the races to show us that we're right and that we should insist. And then, the rationale concerning the amounts is that there's a legal framework that's not yet 100% defined, but we sense that it's going in that direction. It's dependent on the revenue generated by Stables in the previous season. So, the more players there are, the more we can vary these amounts, and we're trying to build a virtuous loop. So, that's really in the short term. In the short term, it's here, now, this week, next week, and the week after. In the medium term, again I repeat, but we want to welcome new players. That's really how we can show that the game is healthy, promising, interesting, and that you... as an NFT Prime owner, you made the right choice. So, we fundamentally need you. So, we're currently working on free horses, transformable into NFTs. During this transition, it values Prime owners. We're finalizing the mechanics. But there you go, the idea is that there's a positive redistribution of something for Prime owners. But first, we revitalize the secondary market. Secondly, next season new strategies, just to keep having fun. I think we've all pretty much exhausted our three choices x 3 of strategy. And then, that's a bit more medium-term. We haven't necessarily talked about it, but we think that as there will be more and more horses, it would be interesting to introduce more specificities within the horses. We're particularly thinking about the notion of genetic ability. So, that's more like six months. An example of genetic ability is, for example, the arrow capacity where your horse has a 10% speed bonus in the first 200 meters of a race or sandy, if the race is sandy, you get three extra points of endurance or mentalist, you can see the abilities of your opponents. So really, reinforcing this ability, this strategy topic at the horse level, and reinforcing the value and differentiation of the different NFTs so that everyone can... find their value. And all of this, packaged with a strong communication and explanation effort so that new players understand the game and so that you, the community, are aware of what's coming and are positively involved in the story. So, I hope that answers your question Jérémy.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you, thank you. More generally, regarding the project, what marketing actions are planned in the coming months? I'll respond to that, one of the focuses will be on welcoming new players, so marketing actions will go in that direction. We're currently considering this topic, especially around the redesign of the user flow on the website, in the game, and on Discord. So marketing actions need to be aligned with these developments. We'll come back to this specific topic when everything is in place, but the major focus will be on welcoming new players. Another question, I'll also respond to. Are we implementing a DAO? Well, we're doing it to some extent, to a small extent, with community votes to choose race parameters. For all development, feature, and technical development aspects, we use the feedback page, if you're not familiar with it, feedback.playstables.io, and also the feedback we receive on Discord. So we use that to guide our developments. As for implementing a complete DAO to choose the next feature, we're not there yet, but it's something we're considering for certain features. Next question, I'll still respond. In 2023, Stables shared 10% of its revenue with horse owners. It's a question, so yes, Stables shared 10% of its revenue from NFT sales with horse owners. Will this still be the case? Yes, it's a licensing agreement we have for several years, so we'll continue to share these 10% of revenue from NFT sales. Back to you, Renaud. The token, even though, Constantin, we've talked about it extensively, can you give us a bit of context on the token and the game?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes, because we know it's a big expectation. We know that. So, I'll repeat what I've already said in the previous question and try to clarify a little. For us, the goal is to make S-Points into tokens. On this point, I think we're all aligned. However, we must respect a regulatory framework. And the problem is that this regulatory framework takes time to be completely defined. Three months ago, we had started developments precisely to implement this token, which we stopped. We had started working on smart contracts, etc. Now, we see that we no longer have a digital minister, the law is not yet enacted, and the EU is also working on the subject. So, there's a certain environment of uncertainty. And then, we'll have to wait for the implementing decrees. So, it's pointless, right now, to implement the token just to go back and modify everything in a few months. However, the good news is that we have Constantin who is in the discussions, who is in contact, and who is fundamentally our best ally, our spearhead on this subject. And so, that's super positive. Second element on the token, to clarify, we don't want it to be a speculative item, okay? Yes, we want something liquid for exchange between players, but we don't want it to be a speculative item. And so, I feel a bit like a carpet seller, but so, we launched the Diamond races. I don't know if you're aware of the Diamond races, but these are three races of the Winter. The winner will get 20 tezos echoes, the fate will win 50 tezos. No, but yeah, regarding the token, let's be very clear, as soon as we have more news, we'll communicate with you. If we're not talking about it, it's because it's unclear and it wouldn't serve any purpose other than adding to the confusion.
Jérémy Coste:
Yes, that's exactly it. As long as we don't have more information, we communicate what we have. Let's change the subject, let's talk a bit about Mint, Drop, Blockchain. with a question for me, is there a new mint planned? So, the priority is to revitalize the secondary market, that's clear, and to welcome more players. If we were to do other mints, the format would probably not be the same as Drop 1. I think we'll talk about that a little later. It would be on a somewhat more marketplace format with maybe a rolling sale. It's a topic we'll address a little later with the welcoming of new players. Renaud, will we ever have visibility on horses directly on marketplaces for the general public who are not on Discord?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes.
Renaud El Ghozi:
I'm telling you, we're going to welcome new players. Two levers, to revitalize the secondary market. We certainly want to share some metadata, well, not everything, but some information. And when we see the Discord bot, it gives an idea of the horses on the secondary market, obviously. It seems essential to us. It wasn't the focus, I can say it again. The focus was productized. Now, we're able to operate, so let's go.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you. Will there be any benefits, let's say we organize a next drop, a next mint in a few times, will there be any benefits for the NFTs from the first mint?
Renaud El Ghozi:
There's always an advantage to being the first. And so, obviously, we want to value our first supporters. those who took risks, those who are with us, those who continue to be with us. We want to value them. However, for now, we're not considering a drop 2. So, in truth, the question doesn't really arise. However, the mechanics of converting free horses into NFTs value Prime owners. And so, it's already something we want to leverage to value our first supporters and the owners of NFTs to date of the commune.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you. Let's switch to another topic, the topic of NFTs directly. It's true that if we look at the floor price, it's lower than the sale price at the time. How do we plan to address the lack of valuation of our collection before launching another mint? Are there mechanisms in place that are... that are being considered for this?
Renaud El Ghozi:
First, we want to focus on the enjoyment of the game and the value that an NFT brings. On this last point, we have several elements. First, the contribution of S-Points linked to real races, which is very important and is part of the notion of a Fantasy Game. Leveling up to unlock improvements, skills, and abilities that I mentioned to you. This logic of hybridization, in any case, this link between free horses and NFTs in which the game is created. The prime horse would have a value and deriving a benefit from it. And obviously, the races from Germany. Really, our challenge is to revitalize the secondary market above all other drops. It wouldn't make sense to do a drop now, really, not for you, not for us, not for anyone. So, we're not going to do it. And there you go, we're focusing, we're following the plan and if we manage to... There's no reason why it wouldn't go well.
Jérémy Coste:
Exactly Alexis, can someone ask, we had, if we look at the Litepaper, I think we mentioned that there was a next drop planned. Can you tell us more about what has stalled the project in issuing New NFTs?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, indeed, we saw the year 2023 as almost two identical drops that we were chaining. Arriving in the fall of 2023, the team weighed the pros and cons a bit. A drop, you have to know that it's a very important risk for a project, since if it fails, it's a fairly negative marker. We weren't really afraid of failing it, but we thought that focusing the entire team on this drop just to welcome twice as many players wasn't worth taking that risk for the result. We preferred to focus on the fundamentals of the game. So, admittedly, we didn't communicate a lot about it, but with a step of not yet again. However, we find ourselves today with again the three... the three aspects of the player community to develop, a way to play for free. that has to come. New NFTs that won't be Primes, those are the famous hybrids. That's work we're doing, finalized to be released in the next three months these two game modes. Primes will then come with obviously new drops. We see that there are new horses that have arrived on the market since we made them NFTs. We're also looking internationally, we've had discussions with other horse owner instances in Europe and elsewhere in the world. So we'll see which ones we'll NFTize at that time, but it will come after the other access modes, after the revitalization of the secondary, so rather around June than in the coming weeks. after the joint. There you go.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you, Alexis. Another question, I'll take this one. How many holders are there today, and how many are active? There are 1760 holders, I checked just before the AMA. So, if we look at a race, if we look at each race individually, we have roughly between 3000 and 3500 horses registered for each race. However, if we look over a longer period, let's say a month for example, not everyone registers their horses for all races. So, in terms of monthly unique horses registered, we're more around 4000-4500 horses. So, there's a difference if we obviously look at one race and if we look over a slightly longer period. But overall, there are 4,400-4,500 horses playing. Let's switch to the topic of S-Points. Renaud, will it be possible to buy NFTs with S-Points someday? Yes, apparently, yes.
Alexis Laporte:
That's it.
Jérémy Coste:
Clear, precise. So, what is the use of S-Points besides spending them in the game? We were told that we could sell them and make money.
Renaud El Ghozi:
I'll repeat, the goal is indeed to turn them into a token, so something liquid that is transferable between players. And I've already talked about the regulatory framework, so I won't loop back on that. However, about making money, or at least making it a speculative item, that's not our intention. We think it's not very healthy. And when we look at other projects... In crypto that make their token a speculative item, we're even convinced that it's not the right direction, that it's not at least the direction we want to take.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you. We have one last question before taking questions from the audience. You can already raise your hand if you have... if you have questions to ask us directly. One last question for you, Alexis. Do we plan to be transparent about the number of S-Points issued so far and thus the current supply given the tokenization if I may ask? It's true that everything is roughly calculable if we look at the number of players currently, but it's true that the purchases of S-Points, people are not aware of. Can we... provide information on this?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, we can be very transparent about it. The number of S-Points distributed was almost calculable since it was via the sale of packs. Then afterwards, the horses that earn S-Points in-game. I saw a question asked, we don't only have 10% of the horses that run and generate points, we have a lot more, almost half rather, even if it decreases over time, obviously, as some stop running. I even believe it's still two-thirds today that run regularly. So it was more than 10 million S-Points, a good portion of which were put into play in the races. So that's the principle of the token, that it circulates a lot. When it becomes a token, everything will obviously be readable on the chain. What is important to clarify though is that for the moment, we don't plan to give it a limited supply for this token, since it's I think what creates. systematically in projects a notion of speculation and significant volatility. what we will try to do with the token, however, and we had already identified ways to do it, we had designed the solution, we had even started development, but we are waiting for Jeunum to be finalized and reprioritized in the roadmap. It is the secondary market of this token, so when you, players, want to resell your token, it is obviously possible and favored within the platform rather than Stables emitting its own token infinitely again. But this means that for the moment, we are not in a scenario where we would say there are X hundreds of millions or billions of fixed tokens, as most projects do. We don't see that it only generates problems. So it would rather be an infinite or liquid supply, but regulated so that the secondary, so that players can also resell their S-Point within the community.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you Alexis. I think we're reaching the end of the questions that have been asked on Discord. If anyone in the audience has questions, now is the time. Feel free, either in the comments or by raising your hand, that would be even better. Don't hesitate. So, will there be other investors who will provide liquidity? I don't know if we can answer that here. Just for the questions, we are more focused on product and gaming questions, so questions related to races, games directly, features. We have people who can give you those answers. For others, we'll take questions separately and then come back to you on project-related questions and fundraising. I believe I see some raised hands, right? Yes, I see a raised hand. Approved. So, KKRose12. You might have your microphone muted by default. You might want to unmute it so you can... be heard. Can someone hear them speak or not, I've given Kakaros12 the floor, if you want. No. Well, I'll give the floor to someone else. Saurar Legion. You're... You have the microphone. Saurard12 who left, I'll give the microphone to Dave Smith. Dave Smith, you're on mute. Yes, that's fine.
Community Member:
[...] that I'm not sure about, but well, that's not my question. If you can provide us with proof of that figure. If I go back to my question now, it's... I think it's a question that everyone is asking, given the speed of the team's developments. I would like to know how the technical team is organized and how they organize themselves to release features? Because in a year, I haven't seen any major additional features.
Alexis Laporte:
Regarding the horses, we have all the data. We had made forecasts, since there is a mathematical model that calculates how much we give for each race. On the curve where we are, a year after... the fact that these horses have made their first race. We know that there are always between 50% and 2 thirds that run. We will come back to you on Discord with numerical elements, if you wish, since it's true that from your point of view, depending on the horses you've had, we know that during the drop, there was... A situation where the horses were allocated to players according to the order in which they were observed in the race. So sometimes you can come across a batch of horses that don't run much. It's unfortunate, we explained where the problem came from, it was a mistake. from our side. However, overall, the horses still run regularly, it will decrease, obviously, some stop their career. We are not at all at 10%, we are closer to the figure I give, and we will come back to you with more precise elements. As for the structuring of the technical team, I'll pass the floor back to Renaud. But there you go, we delivered and we continue to deliver, obviously.
Renaud El Ghozi:
We feel like we've worked quite a bit though. In terms of people, people in the team, we have roughly three devs. it depends on the moments, a game designer, a designer, a data PM. We have Alexis, myself, and when we have specific needs, particularly on, for example, very specific Web3 expertise, we call on external partners. um So, I hope that answers your question. How are we structured?
Community Member:
it's abstract because... I'm not sure what you work on, when we see the time it took to disable the default music of the races, when apparently it could be done in a day. When the community expresses its priority on the form massively, and you have worked in parallel on the analysis tool that I personally do not use. Maybe you should consult with the community to define development priorities, shouldn't you? What do you think?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Well, we listen to Discord. The thing is, Discord is not necessarily representative of all players. Regarding the sound, indeed, we probably took some time before modifying that. We try to prioritize topics based on what is important for the community, but also what is important for Stable, what is achievable. Sometimes, probably, we miss the mark in terms of prioritization. What I hear, and this is what I tried to express at the beginning of this AMA, is that there are friction points that we haven't listened to well. And on that, I can't deny the community's feeling and what happens in Discord. The sound is a good example. Indeed, we took too long. Mass registration, we're working on it. It's not so obvious to do it well or at least try to do it correctly in our environment with our resources. Frictions at the time of registration, the number of horses, etc. Same, we have it. indeed, we may have dedicated a little too much energy on how we productize our races, how we manage to remove this weight. Because the reality is that each race was designed manually. That's what we need to project, that there was no product at all. So we prioritized this part rather than the rest. And now, we're trying to rebalance by integrating more small elements or elements that are brought up by the community in what we have to do. But the reality is, when you build... A product, a lot of energy is dedicated to laying the foundations. It's like building a house, you have to lay the foundations before you can build. And sometimes, we forget a bit that a door is important, a window, you need shutters. And we really build the structure before dealing with the details. So I hear your point, we'll try to be better on that. That's what I said at the beginning of the AMA. And I think that at the next AMA, we can take stock. I'm counting on you to raise your hand and tell us if we've heard a little better or if we need to continue to improve on this.
Community Member:
Ok. Personally, the big things I see from my side are this famous mass form. We've been waiting for it for a year. We also expected more explanations on the attributes. Well, it's starting to be done in the strategies where it's a little better explained. There's still the effect of Elaborate where it's still quite unclear, we don't really know what it brings. For me, it's mainly the mass form that I'm waiting for, after that, I'll let the community speak on the rest.
Renaud El Ghozi:
Ok, duly noted, mass form, explanations that are starting to be made, and Elaborate, which is a bit unclear, but you still have it in sight. So, we have... you should check live, but from what I remember, we have 50% of the population with more than 3 horses. So, that means 50% have less than 3 horses. And so, indeed, there is a balance to be found between... 50% is huge. Is it good enough? Yeah, it's both huge, and at the same time, it's half. So, I'll find the numbers live, because I might not be 100% sure, and I'll send them on Discord if you're on Discord.
Community Member:
Ok, I won't monopolize the conversation, thank you.
Renaud El Ghozi:
No, no, no, but those are very good feedback, and thank you for sharing. Thanks. We found that out the next day,
Community Member:
between the invitation and the call, there's still a day where the state will come back.
Jérémy Coste:
I don't know if it's just me, I think he got disconnected in terms of sound, I caught every other word.
Community Member:
The historical reason why I signed up for Stables was because it was supported by the PMU, and there was a strong discourse very much emphasized about the connection with the real experience, so invitations to racecourses, experiences, visits, etc. So it's not on the agenda yet, but I hope that in the future, we will get closer to that.
Jérémy Coste:
We have a topic, indeed, about... links with access to racecourses and links with the real. We're discussing it, it's coming, it's a bit long, we're working with a lot of people on it, it's not solely up to us, but we're trying, it's been since August, a transparent weight, that we're trying to have things related to racecourses. We'll get there and we'll keep you updated on that.
Community Member:
Thank you, I'll let my comrades speak. Thank you.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you, thank you to you. I'll give the floor back to Kakarose12. If you've fixed your microphone, I saw that you said it should be good now. You should be able to speak, go ahead. It's you. Yeah, great.
Community Member:
Thank you for creating this space for discussion, someone feels like I've been discussed a bit on Discord several times, finishing my point of view, like quite a few others. I'm a little worried, since we were expecting a lot there, what will be rushed on the roadmap, what will be done. And there, what you present as making a lure to give an incentive to play, where, at least personally, I don't have one having a stable of 30 horses. And I enjoyed it a lot at the beginning, and doing the strata was cool. And actually, there's only a way to get something and come up with positive stats and all that. But for me, that impact is gradually decreasing. That is to say, the bonuses, they are flat. Moreover, the horses, they have statistics. At least, the choice of food will impact. So, I imagine that if you review these elements, it will be able to bring. Same, the elaborates, I have the impression that the impact is less, sometimes even unfavorable. And my average position, inevitably, there was some team match also, so my average position is getting worse and worse, but I can't even draw a trend in the sense of... or not very good, because on short races, I have horses with a lot of speed, and that's why we talked about the algorithm and we can talk about the algorithm, is that in the end, balanced horses will do pretty well everywhere, but horses with a lot of endurance or horses with a lot of speed won't necessarily do well on their respective terrain, so it was a bit of this idea that we talked about a lot on Discord and that others talked about, of polarizing the algorithm. I saw that there was maybe a little door for next season, we were thinking about changing it, but... Anyway, I don't really find myself there in terms of doing stats, etc. And there, I'm thinking, what will push me to play? And so, if the incentive here is to tell me that there are Diamond races. Doing a quick calculation, if there are three races per season, there, I'm at the FES, so you tell me, I do something else too on the side, but three races per season, so 12 races a year with 20 echoes. So, that means it costs you money, indeed, while there may be other things that can create incentive that don't necessarily cost you money. So there, it's 12,000 hours distributed. So, I'm thinking that per race, roughly, doing a calculation, we have a one in fifteen chance of being in a Diamond race, times one in ten of being first. Let's say, if we start with an average position. without necessarily being able to beat the randomness. So that means we have a one in ten chance per year by participating in all the races. So a one in ten chance per year of having, let's say, I have 10 horses running, that means, it wouldn't be like that the stats, but let's say roughly, that means if I run 10 horses all year round, I'll get 50 bucks. For me, it's not something that will motivate me, because the S-Point gain, even if it's a stable coin, will be bigger. So, I think you were talking about items that were... the icing on the cake. From my point of view, and I've gone on a bit long after, I'll stop there, it's more of a remark, a question, but for me, items should be more part of the game's DNA and the cake itself and not the sauce because it's something that really motivates people and rather than having a reward that may come once a year and may not be up to par, there are little rewards that won't necessarily cost you anything and that would be cool. For me, I'm thinking, if there's a race every three, I drop an item, even if it has a very low impact. Then, there's a market revolving around items, buying, selling, etc. Well, that makes people play, you know. And I think that's where you'll get the most people, because it's the crypto community that can move fairly quickly, or the player community, like the addiction loops on the damn mobile games. For me, it's a bit like that. If there isn't that, there, with what you're proposing, I don't see how you'll catch up with the players, and therefore how you'll keep new players. After the initial phase, where it's cool, where we progress quickly, there's a plateau where... It was a bit of a general remark, rather than a question. There are plenty of topics, but I won't monopolize the conversation. And maybe this won't be the place for it.
Renaud El Ghozi:
I'll take the liberty to respond. First of all, thank you both for the constructive feedback and the information you're sharing. The first point I noted concerns Nalgo. And in fact, what I understand, and what we've read, are kind of inconsistencies between expected, projected behaviors, especially horse specialization, and observed results. Yes, the door is open for the next season. We need to improve that. And we tended a bit too much to... to average the results of the algorithm, whereas in fact, we should indeed polarize and let the specialties express themselves. So on that, 100% agreed. We need to find the time, the means, etc. to do it, but 100% agreed. And I hear that it directly affects the enjoyment of the game. The second element is about the items. Indeed, I said, there's an English cake with a vanilla sauce on top. It's interesting, I think it's a very good point. I'm not saying that it means we'll do it in the next three months, because we have a lot of things to do. However, I think it's an interesting perspective that holds merit. So we'll probably take a step back, rethink what it would mean. At the same time, I don't want us to drop an item every three races and there to be huge frustration because the impact in the adgo is not strong enough, etc. There's a notion of balancing. The more elements we add, the finer the balancing must be, and we must conceive it coherently. Already, as you noted quite well, our algorithm may not be coherent enough. Adding items right now would probably, at least from my perspective, be a mistake. But I think your perspective is very valid and very interesting. I've noted it down on my paper, and it will probably force us to reconsider perhaps our position on the subject and in any case how we prioritize in the future. Both as an element of gameplay enjoyment, that's what I hear, and also as an element of dynamism between players, which I also heard. So thank you for the feedback, it's super interesting.
Community Member:
And I don't know if I can still speak or if the microphone cut off. Thank you for the feedback on that. I wanted to address the issue of the balance not being good because if the algorithm is modified, and indeed items are released with stats, it could be complicated. But as you said, it could also involve releasing items with different levels of rarity. That's what I was writing about on Discord, but consider this: the people who participated in the Prime, they get a drop of an item with significant rarity, and then there are items with low levels of rarity that we drop in races, which can then be merged, costing S-points, thus allowing the burning of S-points or the use of another in-game currency, a second exchangeable currency, there are plenty of games. Yes,
Renaud El Ghozi:
Yes. Let me interrupt you because what you're saying, of course, we have in mind. And of course, we really want to do that. And personally, I dream of having systems with different levels of rarity. I dream of merging them. I dream of having a forge. I dream of putting them on my horse. I dream of putting gems to specialize them according to different races. I dream of them dropping randomly and at the same time, being able to make a forecast. And similarly, a secondary currency, of course. And at the same time, what you're saying makes me extremely happy because I see that we share the same desire. And at the same time, as Head of Product, it frustrates me because I'm not currently able to deliver that. It doesn't mean I don't want to. It just means that the constraints of life and business mean that we're not able to do it right now. But of course. And I think that Sylvain, our game designer who's listening to this, is even more excited and frustrated and also frustrated for not being able to make it available now, so be reassured that we dream of the same thing, and really, however, we have a reality which is that building it and doing it well takes time, takes energy, and we have to choose in all subjects and we try to do it little by little.
Community Member:
I completely understand, and it's legitimate, but what I wanted to finish on is that It could be like other things, just items that are droppable but not equippable, that don't have stats yet. Really, just releasing 10% of the final functionality doesn't require making choices that are really committing and will require less development. But it will still allow us to say, OK, it's happening, there's the first stone, we're going to focus on the first stone and we're going to find ways to play with it or to adapt to it. Not releasing the entire feature but just saying okay, look, it will look like this, we've laid a foundation, and it would keep some people because for me, the features that you prioritize, as a player anyway, and I'll let others give their feedback later, but for me, it's because what will keep me engaged, whereas just a little pebble to say, Hey, there's something dropping and it has no stats, and I know that in a year, I'll be able to equip it, I would think that... There you go, anyway, I'll stop there, I'll let someone else speak.
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, thank you very much for what you just said. We talked about it this morning, to give a little more visibility on what was planned, items for example. Today the incentive to race is still to level up your horse. High levels are favored, not in matchmaking but in everything else that comes with it. For items, you may be right, we will reevaluate this point as a product team. I just wanted to come back to a point about balancing the algorithm, in a way the polarization that we talk about, you still have to realize that we are in a game where, if everyone plays very well, the game becomes random. So in fact, what we're going to try to organize, and that remains our main focus on gameplay, is that from the next season, we renew the experience. For example, we can rotate strategies, we can introduce novelties on the player's choice side, but the goal will still be that at the beginning, the novelties are not mastered by everyone and that it's the players who are fastest to understand this new mechanic who win the season in a way, so that in the end, everyone has generally understood. Because if from the beginning the way to play well is very clear, in fact, on the contrary, it creates randomness in the game. But our main focus is really that the gameplay, even casual, maybe on casual, there will only be one strategic choice because it's too complicated to offer four or five. But it's to focus on organizing the race initially. But we're also thinking about everything else and we'll implement it in the months to come. That's a certainty. Thank you very much anyway for your feedback.
Community Member:
Thank you.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you. Who raised their hand? Saurare Legion, I'll give you the floor again. Is your microphone... working this time? Okay, I think it's gone again. I'll give the floor. to no one. Everyone lowered their hand when I said... Oh wait, yes, it's okay. Yes, Bédav. Yes, we can hear you.
Community Member:
Exactly, yeah, exactly. I used, I'm suspended on my Twitter account, the other one, so that's why I'm using my wife's account, if you don't mind. Hello everyone. Here I am, I just wanted to know how it's going. I'm pleasantly surprised to hear Mr. Renaud speak. Frankly, I don't understand why I haven't heard from him before or why we haven't organized this AMA before. Because if I had heard that, maybe I would have understood, I might have been more tolerant, let's say, let's admit it. And when I hear Renaud speak... I hear him wanting to do the right thing, but he tells me he's financially limited. What does that mean? What are the figures, a little bit? Maybe not necessarily specifying. But how much are we talking about here? How much would you need? to carry out the project as, let's say, sold. because right now, you note algorithm problems, you prioritize your future interventions on... according to what you've chosen. And when I look at the Discord community and why I left the project, it's not at all the same as yours. So, are you ready to reconsider? Are you really ready to... to do things to make it work. I feel like you've turned things upside down. You're trying to boost the secondary market when you've driven away Most of the players who were passionate at the beginning, I feel like we want to work backwards. Today, there's a mea culpa, certainly, but all this money invested is lost for the original first players. You say you've made mistakes, you acknowledge them now, but what do we gain from it? What do we gain from these frustrated players? for errors that you admit. How is it going to happen?
Renaud El Ghozi:
So, let me interrupt. First of all, thank you for your feedback and kind words.
Community Member:
No, no, it's sincere,
Renaud El Ghozi:
Regarding your question about the means, firstly, this is not the place to discuss it.
Community Member:
I tried to talk about it at the previous AMA, but there was no speaker. But we had to move on quickly.
Renaud El Ghozi:
I wanted to... But the reality is that we remain... a small structure and even if we were a big structure, we have to prioritize. There are certain elements that we could have done better, especially in listening to the community. I think that's why this AMA is happening now. It's because we realize that there are elements that have been raised, which are valuable and on which we probably haven't put enough emphasis. On the other hand, the Discord represents a certain number of players, but not all players. And we also know that the people who speak up are the most vocal, but that the majority is rather silent and that we have to find the right balance between giving space to the most vocal people and at the same time having the perspective to say what does the majority who don't speak up think. So, it's a difficult exercise. End. perfectible. I think that answers it. What I would love is for us to improve the game enough so that you and the players who may have left the project want to come back. Anyway, that's my mission. That's really the mission. So, we're going to make an effort to do that. That doesn't mean responding to every request. really, we're not going to respond to every request, but it means at least being able to listen and say that we have heard. And that's the effort we're making and we will continue to make.
Community Member:
Okay. And based on the comments or the speaking that has been done, we have heard very well on which point you will emphasize. And I don't know if it matches or not. In fact, I would like other people to speak up and know if this is really what the community wants.
Renaud El Ghozi:
So, I can tell you my perception.
Community Member:
How are you going to do to shear it? If we want to focus, we would like to focus on 3D to have a minimum of visual representation that would perhaps represent your words concerning the algorithm, let's say. Because if we don't have a concrete visual, I see a lot of people saying how do I go from first to 500 meters and suddenly tenth, I don't understand. And now that I've heard you talk, Renaud, let's be clear. about your frankness, your way of approaching things, admitting mistakes that... I'm thinking, damn, but it's a mistake not to have let this guy speak before. I'm saying it as I think it because I'm the first one to speak up. Excuse me for my behavior. But there you go, how am I going to believe it without proof?
Renaud El Ghozi:
Regarding your question about how to believe just by word of mouth... On that, you just have to believe and then see the actions. On your question about how we can gauge the community, I see a message in BDab971's Discord that says "Renault, awesome, 50 XTZ." So, it's a way to gauge and gather feedback. I also hear the person who intervened earlier saying, "Yes, these races are interesting, but I would like you to revitalize the pleasure of playing all races, especially through items." So, this means that the community is not 100% homogeneous either. And that's normal. And that's very good. And for your last point, and to come back to how to gather feedback from the community, it's to organize AMAs and let everyone speak. And I think that's the way to go. So, there you go, we're listening. Maybe I hope there are other people after you who will speak up to express whether it interests them, whether it addresses their concerns or not, and then it's up to us to gather that. Our job, on the gaming product side, is to start from feedback that is often very concrete, which is an idea of functionality. For example, we want a 3D rendering to try to understand the problem behind it. And if I really take this example, I feel that the problem is ultimately understanding how it happens that my horse changes position. And there are other ways to answer this, typically by putting the time differences between horses. If I knew that the horse just behind me is one second behind, I would be less surprised when it passes in front of me. So you see, I'm taking this very concrete example to show that there are often, in any case, several ways to respond to the same need, the same desire, and that the primary human instinct is to provide a solution, to say, "No, but we need to do something 3D," when sometimes there are other ways to respond. To come back to what you presented, I'm really eager for other people, here in the chat, to raise their hand and tell us whether it resonates with them, whether it doesn't resonate, what expectations they had, what we responded to, and what we may have responded to less effectively.
Community Member:
Okay, because so far, that's it. Unfortunately, it has created the opposite effect and we're going to focus on something that... We'll have to recover what we lost first of all. You see, when we say we want to revitalize the secondary market with... Okay, but if we lose engagement along the way because... The community doesn't have what it desires, we're just spinning our wheels, you see what I mean, we're just going in circles. We're losing players just as much as we'd like to gain them. We arrive on a Discord where discontent is felt, regardless of the reasons. And I'm the first to extrapolate certain terms, even I'm not totally acting in good faith, I admit it, I say it. You have to know how to read me and you'll understand very well when I say it. But there you go, if we lose players faster than we gain them, there's something wrong. So, try to solve a problem. but behind it, it's not what the community wants. I sincerely hope that this will be taken into consideration. And at that moment, I really think that yes, the project will be able to evolve in the direction that you, you want, we, we want, because we share the pie. everyone does, whether it's horse specialists, those who are just there to speculate, that's what a community is,
Renaud El Ghozi:
according to me, of course, okay well listen, we have heard well in any case I have heard well and I think the community has heard well so great and then I imagine we meet again at the next AMA
Community Member:
with great pleasure for me.
Renaud El Ghozi:
Thank you, have a good day.
Jérémy Coste:
We're reaching the end. I think there was just maybe one last question that I saw in writing, which is about rarities. It's true that it's an interesting question. We didn't ask it before, but several people are asking it. We have rarities in the bodies, in the colors of certain aspects. Are we planning to do something about that? Are we planning to leverage the attributes of the NFTs? Excuse me, I missed the question. I just posted the question about the attributes of NFTs, some bodies are rarer than others, some have colors, effects, it's true that it's a question that comes up quite regularly in the community, are we planning to leverage the attributes of NFTs other than the Elaborate ones?
Alexis Laporte:
Yes, you're right. Today, there's no difference between having a rare design and not rare. The idea is not to move towards horses that are necessarily better in races. There are already the Elaborate ones that give that... That dimension, we talked about it earlier about genetic concepts that we're working on to introduce new features, give specializations to horses. It might be related to materials, it's something we're studying. Today, we rather have the idea of maybe making them run together by rarity, for example, with rewards that would be for the rarest designs, like Iridescent Triangle, I believe. It doesn't concern everyone, so naturally, we always ask ourselves the question of prioritizing developments in the game. that serve everyone. And so naturally, by definition, the rarest ones only concern a small part of the players. But we will make efforts to make this rarity... sought after and valued on the secondary market, since it is, as a reminder, one of the priorities in the coming weeks, to revitalize the secondary market. And rarity is part of that equation. So, we will see what we can put in place. as mechanics of creation that don't mobilize the team too much to reward those who have the rarest designs. We have plenty of ideas that could be implemented quickly.
Jérémy Coste:
Thank you Alexis. I see Daffito raising his hand, I'll give you the floor, I saw you arrive on the Discord a few days ago, if you want to ask some questions. No, he's gone. If it's okay.
Community Member:
Hello, I'm Daphito, and for once, I'm new, I arrived three days ago. For now, I haven't taken the plunge yet, because... Because I don't know, because I don't have visibility on the game, that is to say, indeed, if you introduce your game with free horses for a period, maybe we'll be able to project ourselves a little better into it. So I arrived foolishly, I saw a video on YouTube, it interested me, I saw other races, I saw other competitors to you, and I said to myself, hey, it's French, and I prefer to stay French, I may be chauvinistic, but there you go. I find it difficult to project myself into a flat race, that is to say, by seeing a cursor turn and just seeing logos move. For now, it has restrained me much more than putting some money into the game. Maybe it's me who... Maybe it's me who hasn't... I don't know. But for me, it's a strong deterrent. To see 2D, it holds me back. I know it's not your priority, but I'll wait for the 3D to be implemented for me to really enjoy it. For me, I have to see something running.
Renaud El Ghozi:
okay so quick question so far you haven't bought any NFTs on the secondary market yet no I looked I looked but naturally if my gaming experience doesn't follow I'm not going to put money of course Well no, but of course, it's rational. I'm not going to ask that, that would be stupid. Obviously, indeed, to come back to the point, I'm much reassured. Yes, that's the ambition for the next three months, to allow discovery. I think the rendering... I think the rendering is important, but what's even more important is to see the consequences of these choices. And what I want is when there are free horses, you try and you come back to me and you tell us Is this 3D rendering important or not important? And also, what matters to me is what do we put behind it? Is what we want to understand what happens in the race? Is what we want to feel what the horse experiences? Is what we want to be in the position of a spectator and ultimately have the key moments of the race? There are plenty of ways to translate that. For now, our approach is to say the most important thing, and always in this logic of... of prioritizing, selecting what is fundamental in the gaming experience. So the most important, the most fundamental, is to make choices and see how these choices affect the race results and how the choices of its competitors affect the race results and how the types of terrain and distance affect the race results, etc. That's what we want to emphasize. So very good feedback on the 3D rendering and can't wait for you to try it with a free horse and tell us whether it was important, it remains important for me or no, I discovered another pleasure and then from there it's important and interesting to have this kind of feedback.
Community Member:
Yeah, no, but I would say, if I'm here, it's because fundamentally, even if there are things that come up on Discord, etc., I'm a grown-up, I can make the distinction. If I'm here, it's because I'm completely interested. But for now, I tell you, I'm hesitating. So for me, I'm a streamer on TikTok and in the current state of the game, I wouldn't stream on TikTok because I wouldn't have anything to say. You see what I mean? If I don't have a visual, even for me, it's... It's important, I think, even for a new player. When you arrive, indeed, you look at the horses, they're beautiful, it's well done, it's clean. I find it clean. It's not all negative. But it's true that it would help a little more. We arrive, we take a horse and we try. That would be pretty cool. Indeed. And then, we can say, I'm going to buy something. I'm going to buy a horse.
Alexis Laporte:
It's great that you're a TikTok streamer. I hope it... It's going well and I wanted to tell you that we already have a few of them. I don't have the names in mind, I think Kiredor Stream. Well then, I agree with you, there's no 3D yet today, but I find that it streams quite well anyway, there's emotion. I rage when I watch my races, I have some horses, I couldn't win a diamond race by the way. because I'm part of the team. But I rage and I have emotion when my horse goes from first to sixth sometimes. So, it creates content that can be streamed. After, it also depends on your audience and what you usually stream.
Community Member:
no, but it's more like, it's not for advertising or anything, but you see what I mean. Anyway, I'm waiting, I'll try it and with great pleasure, I'll come see you at the next AMA. It's a first for me and I just wanted to tell you that. That's it, so I hung on, but maybe not everyone hangs on like me to say, well, we'll wait a little longer, well there you go. Thank you for listening to me, in any case, super nice.
Renaud El Ghozi:
Thank you for coming.
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you. Has it been an hour and a half? I think we've reached the end of this AMA, what do you say? We'll wrap up with these nice words. Go ahead, Renaud, do you have anything to add? I'll give you the last word.
Renaud El Ghozi:
Thank you, with great pleasure. Thank you all for participating. Thank you for the way you formulated your feedback, the interest you showed in what we said. This is not the last one. very clearly and we understood well and we will renew the experience. Trust us too, we will try to create the best game. We have the same interests so we are going in the same direction. I'm coming back with my Diamond races I don't know if you're aware but sign up it's going to be amazing and then see you next time thank you for your trust we continue and we are together to make Stables a beautiful project see you soon
Jérémy Coste:
Great, thank you Renaud, thank you Alexis. The replay will be available right after, and then we'll also put a transcript directly on the blog. Thank you all, see you on the Discord if you want to continue discussing. See you soon everyone.
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