"I am xAlice" - dApp staking application

[pnizo]

Intro
Dear Astar community, it is a pleasure to be here. I’m Hiroyasu Wakatsuki (AKA pnizo), project manager at Lead Edge Consulting co., ltd.
We have been working in the NFT field since 2021 and have done multiple NFT business include, NFT SaaS focused on mass adoption and our own marketplace.
Lead Edge is leading “I am xAlice (not Alice)”, a community co-creation project to launch a new animated IP.
We would like to propose to list xAlice project on the dApp Staking.

Project Overview
“I am xAlice" is a project to create a new animated IP based on the theme of “virtual worlds” and “AI”. As a first step, we are selling the NFT collection. We have formed a partnership with Yomiuri TV Enterprises, a Web2 prestigious anime production company, and MEGAMI, one of the top anime NFT projects, and will continue to collaborate with various companies/projects to release content loved around the world.

Our Mission:
Our mission is to deliver value from all objects by leveraging digital technologies. We approach objects that are usually overlooked for their value with creative ideas and turn them into businesses.

Team members:
Artist: Chon* (She has 166,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), has created illustrations for the “絵師100人展” and “HoloLive”, and her first original art book “Polaris*” was released in July)

BizDev: Masahiro Nakayashiki (Lead Edge, Director of “TOMIE by Junji Ito NFT collection”)
BizDev: Ken-ichi Niimi as miin(Lead Edge, Evangelist for NFT Information)
Project Manager: Hiroyasu Wakatsuki a.k.a. pnizo (Lead Edge, NFT Development, Community Manager)

Advisor: Taizo Hashizume a.k.a. Fao (Ariwori Inc. / MEGAMI project, Advisor)

Past Performance & Milestones:

Our goal is to have 20,000 Twitter followers and 15,000 Discord members prior to our NFT collection launch. We are planning to release 8 teaser videos to achieve the milestone.

We’re also getting full support from the famous “MEGAMI” team, the experts in ETH anime NFTs. In addition, we’re working with “Yomiuri TV Enterprise” who have the experience and the knowledge of video making and merchandise business. Our final goal is to create an anime and broadcast on the televisions.

Future roadmap:

We’re launching the NFT collection in October 2023. Followed by some events, AMAs, and some exposure on media platforms and projects. We’ll encourage and collect fan-made stories, comics, and art from our community. Our goal is to make an animation using the revenue of the NFT collections and merchandise, and dApps Staking rewards, and air it on TV.

dApp Staking Reward Usage Breakdown:

Animation production cost pool (50%)

• Managing Assets with dApp Staking

Contents creation (30%)

• Prize money for secondary creative contests
  • Illustration contest
  • Manga contest
  • Lore contest
• Voice drama creation

Personnel costs for community management staff (20%)

• Community Manager
• Modelator
• Collabo Manager

Appendix:

Here are the basic links to our product and communities:

Website: https://xalice.ai
Docs:
Deck/slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lpGNVO4HblDk5U4EWsQFHL54w05AvMLD--6pGDJsns8/edit?usp=sharing

Discord: I am xAlice

Twitter: https://x.com/xalice_NFT

Telegram:

[pitcoin777]

Thanks for proposing.

and air it on TV.

Could you please explain more your goals as projects? Are you guys planning to launch an anime on TV? How does it happen? How are you guys planning to marketing on this approach?

Also I am curious if the collection would be launched on EVM, zkEVM or WASM side

Thank you

[codymuro3]

Can’t wait to see this project on the portal!

[pnizo]

Thank you for your question.
The cost of producing the animation is very high and cannot be covered by the sales of the first NFT collection alone.

So the next step for the NFT collection is to plan to produce merchandise, voice dramas, and a novel game to generate sales.

We consider it an extension and a medium-term goal to produce animated films to be broadcast on television.
In the short term, our goal is to bring the content business to the profit line on a realistic scale.

[pnizo]

We hope to achieve that as well.

[DrCAO]

Glad to hear that you are interested in Astar dApp staking. Could you please share more about the utility of the NFT? and also the roadmap if you have any, where do you plan to launch the NFT or do you already mint it? Thanks

[0xRamz]

Hey there xAlice team! Im excited for the NFT launch and for the established partnerships you already have. Plus I think its beneficial to our ecosystem and the community to see serious projects like yours, with the connections made, on Astar.

Just for clarification we have two methods on how to apply for dapp staking.

1. Build to Earn
2. Unstoppable Community Grants

Each has a different approach in regard to having a product launched already, and one that is not just launched yet. Ill make sure to send you some more information and answer any questions. Afterwards we can bring this up again soon for dapp staking listing consideration.

Thank you so much!

[pnizo]

@DrCAO

Could you please share more about the utility of the NFT?

Although still under consideration, we are planning the following:

• Right to participate in beta testing of content in production
• Prepare content exclusively for NFT holders.
• License agreements with holders of xAlice appearing in merchandise and content, with a portion of sales paid as license royalties

@DrCAO

where do you plan to launch the NFT or do you already mint it?

Our current plans are below:

• mint page in our official website
• Marketplace Launchpad
• CEX Launchpad
• NFT Pocket

[Matt]

Hello Hiroyasu Wakatsuki and the xAlice team,

Your project certainly shows promise, and the combination of NFTs, anime, and AI is intriguing. I’d like to inquire about a couple of specifics:

1. Community Engagement: Building a strong community is crucial in the NFT space. What strategies do you have in place to ensure ongoing community engagement and participation, especially after the NFT collection launch?
2. dApp Staking Allocation: Could you provide more insight into the allocation of funds within the dApp Staking Reward od Unstoppable Grant Usage Breakdown? Specifically, how will the animation production costs be managed, and what kind of creative contests and community management efforts do you have in mind?

[pnizo]

@Matt

• Community Engagement: Building a strong community is crucial in the NFT space. What strategies do you have in place to ensure ongoing community engagement and participation, especially after the NFT collection launch?

Create a strong community, enthuse people to own, and create a large demand relative to supply.
Thereby artificially causing FOMO to sell out the sale and generate additional income through secondary distribution royalties.

This has been the winning pattern in past NFT projects, but it is only possible on the assumption that the NFT market will continue to grow steadily, and it is clear that this approach will not work in the current market conditions.

We do not like this kind of artificial FOMO approach to raising funds. The core of our business is to sell content on an ongoing basis, and the NFT is like a membership card for a fan club that we issue to raise initial funds.

Therefore, we do not want to build a “strong” community, but rather a salon where participants feel free to relax, enjoy conversation, and gather with loyal users who want to enjoy our content more deeply.

The goal is not to be enthusiastic, but to create a community where people who like the content can talk about it and discuss ideas for future development, which is the goal for the launch.

@Matt

• dApp Staking Allocation: Could you provide more insight into the allocation of funds within the dApp Staking Reward od Unstoppable Grant Usage Breakdown? Specifically, how will the animation production costs be managed, and what kind of creative contests and community management efforts do you have in mind?

Since the cost of producing animation is very high, we will initially begin content production by focusing on novels, voice dramas, and novel games, which are more cost-effective.
This will increase the visibility of the content while gradually increasing profits from the sale of merchandise.

Creative contests are both a means of attracting loyal fans who will do derivative work and a means of discovering talent to become part of the production staff.
We would like to do scenario contests, composition contests, illustration contests, auctions for voice actors and VTubers, things like that.

[GuiGou]

At first I was afraid that you would be just another collection of NFTs. But according to your different answers, you really want to create more than a simple collection of NFTs. If the content you produce is quality, I am relatively confident that you can retain a certain number of regulars and loyal users. Glad to see you on Astar.
And as @0xRamz suggested, you should apply for unstoppable community grants because your product is unfortunately not live yet.

[MrKarahanli-Emre]

Greetings, good to see you here. What I’m curious about is which network do you plan to support, WASM or EVM, which one? I don’t know if you will have time to complete the project with zkEVM, so I’m not saying that?.

You also said that you plan to release it next month. Why are you in such a hurry? You’re not missing any hype. On the contrary, the NFT ecosystem is in pretty bad shape right now. Many projects are waiting a little bit more instead of releasing now. What is your purpose in releasing so soon?

Also, your beautiful partnerships are very exciting. The anime industry is a huge industry and it can be beneficial for us. But would you consider adding modern age screenings to your main goals instead of TV screenings? This could even help you get funding from modern age streaming platforms.

[pnizo]

Hello, glad to see you here too!

@MrKarahanli-Emre

which network do you plan to support, WASM or EVM, which one?

We will use EVM.
To be honest, zkEVM was very attractive, but our timeline did not match the timeline for zkEVM to launch.

@MrKarahanli-Emre

You also said that you plan to release it next month. Why are you in such a hurry? You’re not missing any hype. On the contrary, the NFT ecosystem is in pretty bad shape right now. Many projects are waiting a little bit more instead of releasing now. What is your purpose in releasing so soon?

There are several reasons for this.

1. We are a for-profit company, and if we extend the term of the launch, we will incur that much fixed cost, and companies have a fiscal year end.
2. I have seen many projects that have had their launch postponed due to market conditions and I have never seen it turn out well.
   The secondary market for NFTs is currently in the midst of a bear, or flat with no liquidity to pass through it.
   Even if we postpone the project, we cannot expect the secondary market to turn around as it did before.
3. Even though we do not aim to be hype of the community, the time period in which a project can attract people’s attention is actually not that long.
   A discord can only sustain vibe for a month or two, and people gradually lose interest in it longer than that.

@MrKarahanli-Emre

Also, your beautiful partnerships are very exciting. The anime industry is a huge industry and it can be beneficial for us. But would you consider adding modern age screenings to your main goals instead of TV screenings? This could even help you get funding from modern age streaming platforms.

As for our animation PVs, we will be using YouTube to publish them.
Television broadcasting is the goal eventually, but it is a very high hurdle, so until that point, online video distribution services will be used as well.

[pnizo]

At this time our NFT has not yet been launched, so I think the question is valid.
We need to clarify that.

Our current NFT freemint is for marketing purposes and we consider it part of the project.

Let us suspend the proposal once we have completed this freemint project and have the data available on the number of NFT issues, etc., and then we can discuss which is more appropriate for our project.

[pnizo]

First of all, I’m sorry for causing confusion.

We have proposed our NFT project to dApp Staking before it is launched. This is because we are currently doing the free mint for marketing purposes and consider it part of the project.
It hasn’t been full 2 days, but we have had 25,700 mints so far.

We are willing to pause your consideration until the free mint deadline so that we can report how well our free mint went.

Thank you for your engagement in our proposal!

[pnizo]

Thank you for your warm words.
We feel the strong support from the Astar community.

I have some questions similar to those asked by 0xRamz, but please allow me to discuss them again once we have more data on the market response to the Freemint.

We respect the community’s decision as to which approach is more in line with our project.

[souleater]

I’m very glad that you are being very realistic in your point 1 - 3. Just ask, can a holder participate within the storyline? Some kind of crowdsourcing but for brainstorming its content.

Just my wild idea. I knew this will be difficult since if the anime broadcasted on national television, you will have contract for each season and can be dropped if the rating is low.

Except your anime distributed on OTT like Crunchyroll or Netflix.

[Vangardem]

I am glad to see major projects on NFT in Astar, I have two questions:

1. Will NFT holders be able to access the profits generated by the marketing and transmission of product?

2. On which platform do you plan to launch your collection?

[pnizo]

Hello, souleater-san!

@souleater

I’m very glad that you are being very realistic in your point 1 - 3. Just ask, can a holder participate within the storyline? Some kind of crowdsourcing but for brainstorming its content.

The overall story line is set and we are not looking to change it.
We believe that the community can vote on the choice of smaller branches that do not change the overall structure, or on which characters and what type of independent episodes to create.

@souleater

Just my wild idea. I knew this will be difficult since if the anime broadcasted on national television, you will have contract for each season and can be dropped if the rating is low.

With our sole funding, it would be difficult to produce a single 30-minute animated TV series, so we will probably aim for a 5-minute mini-animation slot.

Netflix is an option to consider.

[pnizo]

Thank you for your questions!

@Vangardem

Will NFT holders be able to access the profits generated by the marketing and transmission of product?

It is difficult to estimate how much profit has accrued from marketing and sales and who has contributed to it and how much.

On the other hand, we believe that there needs to be a mechanism for the holder to benefit. Some ideas are:

1. Implement staking and lock xAlice to get ERC-20 tokens at regular intervals
2. Individuals used for official goods and contents are managed as a separate collection called “Origin”.
   We will hold auctions periodically, and the winning bidders will be able to transform their own xAlice into “Origin”.
   We will sign individual licensing agreements with the holders and pay them a portion of the sales as a licensing fee.
3. By spending ERC-20 tokens, the holder gets the right to participate in the beta test of the game. We pay rewards to players who participate in the beta test.
4. Holders can gain access to the content by consuming ERC-20 tokens

@Vangardem

On which platform do you plan to launch your collection?

At this time we will have a mint page on our official website.
In addition to that, we would like to incorporate sales on NFT Pocket, launchpads on marketplaces such as tofuNFT, and INO at some CEX, if possible.
If those things can be accomplished, we don’t necessarily want to mint from our official website.