𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚝: Is city states playable yet?
 𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚝: Been looking at it for a while and it looks nice
 citystates: There is a public dev-build to showcase the progress, it's not in a real playable state though.
 citystates: We are going to run in the next SCF to secure funding the development.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Can't wait. Want to speak a little bit about the game? I'm sure folks here will end up loving this. Is this a game to generate and earn XLM or is this a game to buy HEX? The community really needs ways to earn xlm to keep the DEX maintained.
 citystates: Love to :) HEX is the in-game currency
 citystates: comparable to Gold or Gems you know in other games.
 citystates: The difference being that you can trade HEX back into XLM or other crypto currencies.
 citystates: All the resources in the game are traded against HEX, so if you produce/sell more resources than you buy, you can make a profit in HEX while playing which you then can convert to XLM.
 citystates: There will be a custom SDEX interface in the game that all players will use to trade resources.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: That's big.
 citystates: If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Yes! Of course. Just giving room for answers.
 citystates: It pretty much is big - or at least has the potential to become big. Since Stellar is so cheap to maintain accounts and operate on, our target audience are all gamers not like games on ethereum.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Now, what are your plans on making sure that HEX has liquidity and also gains value over time? As you know, DEX spreads here are notoriously in need of liquidity. How do you plan on keeping the order books healthy in the early stages?
 citystates: On ethereum the players need ETH already, they usually need metamask installed and they need to pay for transactions. We can publish on iOS, Android, Steam and offer direct downloads and browser based crossplatform support.
 citystates: When we sell HEX to players via IAPs, the revenue is used to bolster the price of HEX. This mens that we use a part of the revenue to set buy back orders to balance the economy.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Partnering with Steam could be a huge deal for the Stellar community. That would give Steam access to part of our DEX and also XLM. Are you suggesting a Steam App may feature a "withdraw to XLM" wallet?
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: That's good news about buybacks.
 citystates: No sorry, we will only use Steam to distribute our game. They don't have plans to support crypto withdrawals afaik .
 citystates: However also Steam users will be able to withdraw via the game itself.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: That would be huge. Will your mobile games feature this?
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Yes, that's what I meant. :)
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Using the game to withdraw to your wallet.
 citystates: Yes, that definitely will be possible!
 citystates: All versions of the game on the different platforms are the same except for UI and graphical tweaks.
 citystates: For example on small mobile screens some buttons may be different to be easier to distinguish.
 citystates: No matter what platform, all players share the same world and global market.
 citystates: It's crossplatform compatible, so you can play on desktop at home, then continue playing on your cellphone or tablet when you leave the house.
 citystates: That comes pretty handy especially when trading resources on the SDEX.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: As long as I can bring my HEX or XLM to my stellarport wallet from the game, that's what I'd be looking for. The cross platform continuity is another huge deal. That looks great. Now that we've talked a bit about payment rails, would you like to talk about the game itself? Imagine we just opened the app. What's next? :)
 citystates: You can send HEX and/or XLM to any other account on Stellar (ofc including stellarport :) )
 citystates: The game itself starts out like most empire builders.
 citystates: You build the first buildings to gather basic resources like wood, food, stone etc
 citystates: Using the resources, you can build more buildings, upgrade existing ones and grow your city by inviting new citizens.
 citystates: The next step is to enhance base resources, wood -> charcoal, mine iron ore -> smelt to iron bars etc
 citystates: Enhanced resources can be worked into goods/items in more advanced buildings. These include tools, weapons and armor for your military units.
 citystates: For military, you need specific buildings again to train units. These can then be equiped with weapons and armor. Each item has different stats that can change the base-stats of a units (Speed, Defense, Attack etc)
 citystates: For example you could train a ranged unit and then equip it with heavy armor - which doesn't really make sense since it would slow the unit down - but it's possible.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: I played a lot of RuneScape in my past. I'm getting some similar vibes! That's a great thing. Especially keeping the customization options open to other classes.
 citystates: Military units can be used to raid other players, set as defense against other players raids and etc
 citystates: But you always need to look out for your production and consume of resources.
 citystates: Citizens need food and wood, buildings need material for maintenance, military units need food, repair of equipment and gold.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: This game seems to stress the skills required to build an empire. Do you think the education and strategy may lend a hand to those building the DEX with a similar mindset?
 citystates: There will be direct player interaction through diplomacy and if diplomacy fails this can lead to wars.
 citystates: Oh, I don't think the game will have any impact on dex developers directly.
 citystates: But I already heard rumors that there will be an increased focus on games developed on stellar in general.
 citystates: So in case that happens, we alredy helped improve the Stellar infrastructure and use cases :)
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: I think the keyword there is directly. ;)
 citystates: ^^
 citystates: We also want to pioneer by tokenizing the game itself btw.
 citystates: So maybe in half a year, you will be able to buy a share of the game here on stellarport :)
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Games on Stellar is an important feature. Right now it feels like we're investing in domain names over functioning products. Which is understandable in these early years. Creating a game that teaches diplomacy in a worldwide exchange is a key factor in spreading education to larger audiences. Especially non native English speakers who are admittedly at a cryptographic disadvantage.
 citystates: Oh definitely on the same page as you. I think the biggest advantage of CityStates is that we don't need the user to own crypto upfront.
 citystates: Anybody can start playing the game, then over time they get introduced to stellar and crypto.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: I like that idea. And thank you so much for sitting with me for an interview. I really appreciate your time because I've been looking at this game all year. I'm sure those in the know are eagerly awaiting your product.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: That's an important and smart bridge my friend.
 citystates: Thanks a lot, appreciate it!
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Will your game feature daily goals, challenges, and achievements to earn additional HEX?
 citystates: Probably. However I can't promise anything at this stage as we need to see and balance the games economy first.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: That's completely fair. There's definitely an economy for creating daily goals based on DEX activity. ;)
 citystates: If there are way more HEX withdrawals than buys of IAPs we need to reduce output. If it's the opposite, we can run more specials or just let the price for resources go up - which in turn results in higher earnings for players.
 citystates: There are also a lot of other ways to earn HEX using offerwalls, like installing an app, following someone on twitter etc
 citystates: Referring new players could be a way too
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: The XLM economy is definitely challenging. We have an existing issue in which market buys and sells overpower placing support walls. I hope we can work on that as time continues. Those networking suggestions all sound good to me
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Yes, check out the XLB page for details on their parking and earning programs :)
 citystates: Gladly we are not limited to the Stellar community alone but instead can help grow it.
 citystates: I see plenty of possibilities for cross-project interactions in the future.
 citystates: We already had one other project ask to get a 'powered by' spot on the SDEX interface in city states.
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: I'm really looking forward to your involvement with Stellar and our DEX. Overall, what your project is bringing to the crypto community as a whole appears to be a step above most others.
 citystates: It's good to hear this! Thanks for your support :)
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Do you have Telegram? I'd like to have a quick chat :)
 citystates: would discord work for you too?
 citystates: or keybase?
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: I have Keybase. :)
 citystates: You can add citystatesdamian there :)
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: And thank you so much again for your time here today. An interview with City States has actually been a wish of mine for a long time. I'm glad you came here and I look forward to continuing development. Do you have anything else you'd like to speak about the game?
 citystates: Uh, I'm so deep in, I never know where to start... If you have specific questions, that'll be easier to answer :)
 citystates: However, I have to leave for ~1 hour - the missus wants to watch the last episode of Stranger Things now ;)
 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢: Enjoy! You're always welcome here in the TrollBox. Thanks for stopping by! Where can we find the best places for updates?
 citystates: reddit and twitter