🎮 Proposal: Yoki Community Mini-Game Challenge

[GuiGou]

Hi @Juminstock, what do you think about the following pitch?

Yoki Arena — The Battle of Spirits Begins

What if you could raise creatures that are as adorable as they are formidable in combat?

Following the success of Yoki Origins and Yoki Legacy, the universe expands with Yoki Arena, a new competitive experience where strategy, mysticism, and technology intertwine.

Step into the role of an onmyōji, a master of unseen forces, capable of summoning and commanding powerful Yoki — unique spiritual creatures with extraordinary abilities. Before each battle, prepare your strategy: select your Yoki, equip them carefully, and choose the arena that will maximize their potential.

From misty temples to blazing dojos, each arena has its own properties and influences. Exploit affinities, anticipate synergies, and let your creatures fully unleash their power in dynamic battles.

With every victory, your Yoki gain experience, evolve, and unlock new abilities, making them increasingly powerful and unique. Triumph also rewards you with ASTR.

Battles are entirely simulated by advanced artificial intelligence, ensuring unpredictable, balanced, and strategic outcomes. Every action and result is transparent, traceable, and secured via blockchain: you remain the true owner of your Yoki and their equipment.

Dive into an experience where collection, strategy, and competition converge in a rich visual universe inspired by Japanese manga aesthetics.

---

The Arena Awaits

Join us for an immersive adventure that redefines blockchain gaming, powered by AI, available from [Release Date] on Soneium.

[GuiGou]

Some examples of Yoki

Some battles

[Marroz]

I really like the idea—I want to make that clear. I don’t have the technical expertise to put it into practice, but I’m more than willing to offer my humble contribution. That said, if we move forward with something like this, it absolutely has to run on Astar, not on Soneium….

[Juminstock]

@GuiGou sounds really good! This is exactly what I meant, the narrative.

If this is something we feel comfortable with, the rest will naturally follow from here.

@GuiGou, what flow do you propose? Now that we know the game will be a battle arena between Yokis, we need to define the structure to align with our narrative. A lot will stem from this:

• How will Yokis be used?
• What is the acquisition path for new Yokis?
• Etc.

@Marroz

That said, if we move forward with something like this, it absolutely has to run on Astar, not on Soneium….

Yes @Marroz, you’re right, but the user base on Soneium is more significant, don’t you think?

[Marroz]

Surely Soneium has a much larger user base: practically the entire Astar community, plus all those who have joined thanks to the Sony name behind it.That said, I remain convinced that we shouldn’t build anything — neither a dApp nor anything else — outside of our Layer 1. This is not the right historical moment, and we can’t afford it.The direction taken in 2026 is clear and imperative: absolute priority to Astar. Only when Astar becomes a truly live chain, no longer exclusively focused on passive dApp staking, can we start thinking about exporting our product elsewhere.

[GuiGou]

Hi @Juminstock
Here is how I envision the next steps.

The onmyōji will travel across different regions of the world (Europe, Asia, Latin America, etc.), each featuring arenas with their own unique atmosphere and identity: Yoki Arena

In each region, the onmyōji will be able to:

• mint new yoki specific to that region;
• mint additional items that can be equipped to yoki and used in battles;
• register their yoki for combat.

All NFTs will be region-specific, and ASTR will be used for minting.
Battles will not begin immediately, in order to give all players enough time to mint their NFTs (yoki and equipments).

Regarding battles, I propose implementing a tournament system.

Tournament registration will open after one week and remain open for one week.
The number of participants will be capped at 500 or 1000 players.
Entry fees will be paid in ASTR.

Battles will follow a 1v1 format (one yoki versus one yoki). Winners will advance to the next round until the final.

The winner, along with the top 8 (or top 16) participants, will receive rewards in ASTR.
All yoki that participate in the tournament will gain experience, which can later be used to evolve them.

An AI will generate a narrative for each battle. This story will be based on the region, the arena, the competing yoki, and their equipment. The AI will also determine the outcome of each fight.

Equipment attached to a yoki will remain active for the entire duration of a tournament but can only be used in a single tournament.

I believe it would be beneficial to rotate arenas between tournaments:

• Tournament 1: Sacred Mist Sanctuary — a sacred temple hidden within drifting mists, where spirits blur the line between illusion and reality. Only the most perceptive onmyōji can read the battlefield.
• Tournament 2: Eternal Flame Dojo — an ancient dojo engulfed in eternal fire, where every clash ignites the air. Strength and timing determine who emerges from the flames.
• Tournament 3: Whispering Falls Garden — a tranquil sanctuary of flowing water and living nature, where gentle currents conceal powerful forces waiting to be unleashed.

To illustrate these ideas, I have updated the UI with different regions and example arenas : Yoki Arena

Of course, the following parameters can evolve based on community feedback:

• the registration start time and duration;
• the maximum number of participants;
• the number of tournaments/arenas per region;
• the possibility of running multiple tournaments simultaneously.

---

If this proposal resonates with you and you would like me to continue working on the project, I would like the Community Council to submit a proposal for a community vote. This proposal would aim to reward the work already completed and validate the continuation of the project.

So far, I have spent at least 11.5 days working on this project. My daily rate is $1,000, bringing the total to $11,500 for the work completed. This proposal would both cover the work already done and formalize the community’s approval to move forward.

The next step will involve implementing:

• region-specific yoki minting;
• region-specific equipment minting;
• tournament organization.

I estimate that this development phase will take approximately 20 days.

After this development phase, we will have a first playable version, with three regions and 9 arenas/tournaments.

Then we can implement the evolution of yoki based on the XP gained in battle

[Marroz]

A question comes to mind spontaneously: what is the metric that justifies what you call a “fee”?Do you have any works, dApps, games, or any other concrete projects that you have produced and that can be evaluated to judge your actual skills?I want to emphasize that everything you’ve done for me so far has been a personal initiative and, as such, is in no way subject to payment.Is your job that of a developer? Because it seems hard for me to believe that it’s not possible to have a constructive discussion, promote an idea, or develop a project together without necessarily involving some form of economic compensation.Call it whatever you like — a “reimbursement” — but 1,000 euros a day seems like pure madness to me.For now, I prefer not to say openly everything I think. I’d rather wait to read your responses first, and only then will I be completely honest about your request.

[GuiGou]

Hello @Marroz

@Marroz

Do you have any works, dApps, games, or any other concrete projects that you have produced and that can be evaluated to judge your actual skills?

About my development skills, I have been working as an Application Architect for 12 years and have over 20 years of experience developing applications and IT systems.

I started building in Web3 around 2022–2023. I learned Rust and ink!, and developed Lucky within a few months:

Astar Portal - Astar & Shiden Network

Although Lucky is a modest application, it combines multiple smart contracts written in ink! v3, v4, and v5, and is live since 2023.
From a technical standpoint, this is relatively complex. Personally, I am not aware of many dApps built with ink!.

Since then, I have developed additional dApps and participated in several builder programs alongside my main professional activity.

Builder Programs:

• Phala Builder Program: builders-program-milestone-delivery/deliveries/lucky at main · Phala-Network/builders-program-milestone-delivery · GitHub
• ink!ubator 1: Ecosystem-Grants/applications/decentralized_oracles.md at master · use-inkubator/Ecosystem-Grants · GitHub
• ink!ubator 2: Ecosystem-Grants/applications/verifiable_offchain_computing.md at master · use-inkubator/Ecosystem-Grants · GitHub
  Ink!ubator 2.0 program - Bring Verifiable Offchain Computing to ink! smart contracts (RISC-V + pallet-revive) - Ecosystem - Polkadot Forum

Some dApps I’ve built:

• Lotto (Solidity version): https://lotto-evm.netlify.app/
• Guess The Number (PoC with ink! v6): https://guess.substrate.fi/

Here is my GitHub:

GuiGou12358 - Overview

I mainly develop these projects in my spare time. However, designing and building a dApp of this kind requires a significant investment in time, strong expertise, and the use of professional tools.

@Marroz

1,000 euros a day seems like pure madness to me

Regarding my rate, it may seem high, but it is consistent with what I charge in Web2. It is also justified by several factors: expertise, experience, technical complexity, and location (development costs in Europe are higher than in other regions).

About my personal identity, I have been doxed by Astar since I demonstrated them a bug in the code in one of their substrate pallet (it was the condition to get the bounty). The bug was obviously quickly corrected by the Astar team.

I also have a question: how do you estimate the cost of designing and building such a dApp?
If a $40,000 budget seems too high to you, then it is probably not worth moving forward.

[GuiGou]

If I understand correctly, is your concern related to the 12-day proposal? From my perspective, it represents a mutual commitment to move forward with the dApp development.

If it’s more convenient, I can structure the work into milestones and deliver them progressively, provided there is a clear guarantee of payment for the work completed.

That said, I hope you understand that I cannot commit significant development time without compensation, as I need to balance this with my personal time and other responsibilities.

[Marroz]

@GuiGou

,Alright, now I understand who you are. I have the opportunity to interact daily with developers who have roughly the same level of professional experience as you (and whom you probably know as well).If I were you, I would have avoided mentioning that you are the developer of Lucky dApp. It looks particularly suspicious that, after the purge and revamp of the dApp Staking program in March 2026 (which reduced the eligible projects to only 16), your dApp remained among the supported ones.But let’s get back to the point: the Yoki mini-game and your rate.First, I want to emphasize one important thing: please stop editing your messages on impulse, because I read and reply to the original version, not the softened one that comes afterward.I have to be honest. Based on what I read in your deleted/edited message and on the rate you are asking ($1,000 per day, including retroactively for days that were never agreed upon), in my personal opinion you should be removed from your position as Technical Ambassador. Astar needs professionals who are truly dedicated to the community, not opportunists who apply high rates to unsolicited extra work.Now, let’s talk about the game and your compensation.

Whether this rate is considered appropriate or not will be decided by the community, not by the ACC alone. I never intended to raise this issue, but you left me no choice.There is a clear conflict of interest here: you are a Technical Ambassador, already remunerated by the chain for your role, and (as you yourself pointed out) also through your dApp Lucky that benefits from dApp Staking. Asking for such a high rate on a simple community-led MVP, including retroactive payment for work that was never requested, is completely out of place.You can decide how to spend your own time.

I know you are already being paid by this chain. If you want to propose a referendum or a treasury proposal to fund the game under these conditions, I will use all my power to boycott it and vote against any attempt to suck ASTR out of the treasury in this manner.The community deserves transparency and builders who put the ecosystem first, not their own invoice.I await your feedback (without impulsive edits this time).

[Marroz]

Perhaps you still haven’t understood one thing.The revolution started in 2026.

It began with tokenomics, with the compensation of agents, and with the deep overhaul of dApp Staking.

Messages and attitudes like this only confirm what many of you have always been.Be careful, though: the real community — the small and resilient one that has remained — wants one final change.

The problems did not end with the changes already made.

We start from the bottom and go all the way to the top.

Every single person who has taken from Astar is responsible for the situation we are in today.

Everyone must take their own responsibilities, instead of sending the bill. Because that bill, in the end, will be presented by the communi

ty.

[Marroz]

I note with pleasure that the agent’s comment, in which he listed his curriculum and experiences, has received a like from someone who holds high-level and paid positions within the Astar ecosystem.This does not surprise me.

This kind of silent gestures only confirms and strengthens what I had only weakly insinuated earlier.I kindly ask to avoid tactical likes or passive siding.

If one has an opinion, it should be expressed clearly and, above all, a direct response should be given to the various issues raised. As often happens, the beginning of a simple discussion opens up much more articulated scenarios — and this is exactly one of those times

[FFR23]

A concerning thread to read and this topic is now a common theme of the forum.

Trust is being broken in a currently very centralised system.

@Maarten tagging you for visibility

[Beky]

I believe that Yoki IP has an extremely great future, it just needs to be worked out smartly and in detail. Today, with all the possibilities of AI, I believe that miracles can be done.

My opinion is that it would be great to start building together from the very beginning of Yoki, from the Manga all the way to the collections of seasons 1 and 2 but also the Yoki OG badge. Somehow to create a link with all of that. For example, maybe start with the continuation of the Manga and later create physical comics, leave Season 1 and 2 of Yoki as collections or make it necessary to fill out the Yoki book that leads to the minting of 3D Yoki for Yoki Arena, leave the Yoki Badge as an early member ticket for testing and so on.

I would agree that Yoki Arena sounds good and that I would like to see something like that because I still think that web3 gaming is yet to experience a big boom.

Through the prism of Axie Infinity, we can see the great growth but also the decline of P2E gaming, but further development and dealing with a version of the game and the P2E mechanism itself will lead to a boom around the project itself. It should also be noted that a project like Azuki with its NFTs led to the creation of a brand, TCG and the creation of tournaments.

Why am I writing all this?

I am writing because I think that Astar has a much greater potential to build something like that, it is clear to me that the current lease is about something else, the development of on-chain finance, the development of stablecoins and Startale dapp. But with experience, knowledge and partnerships like Sony lab, it can surely contribute to the development of entertainment and gaming in the web3 space, which is in a way also the goal.

I personally don’t have any skills but I’m just willing to help in any way I can with the development around Yoki IP.

Let’s move on to see what we can do and how we can start building around Yoki.

[GuiGou]

I will respond one last time and then ignore such messages as they are unproductive.

@Marroz

Alright, now I understand who you are. I have the opportunity to interact daily with developers who have roughly the same level of professional experience as you (and whom you probably know as well)

Over the past three years, I have had the opportunity to help many developers, both on the Astar Discord and privately, on various topics such as ink!, Solidity, and indexers.
It is therefore likely that we have interacted with the same people.

@Marroz

I would have avoided mentioning that you are the developer of Lucky dApp. It looks particularly suspicious that, after the purge and revamp of the dApp Staking program in March 2026 (which reduced the eligible projects to only 16), your dApp remained among the supported ones

Lucky dApp is currently the only dApp developed with ink! (WASM smart contracts) and built on top of dApp Staking.
Multi-VM support (EVM and WASM) and dApp Staking are two core features of Astar.

I assume Lucky was selected for the dApp Staking program for these reasons, as well as because it is a long-standing dApp that has been live since 2023.

@Marroz

please stop editing your messages on impulse, because I read and reply to the original version, not the softened one that comes afterward

I guess the message history is public, anyone can review the edits and assess the accuracy of your statements.

@Marroz

will be decided by the community, not by the ACC alone

I do not want the decision to be made solely by the ACC, but by the entire community, meaning all ASTR holders.
The proposal could be submitted by the ACC so that a simple majority rule can be applied.

@Marroz

There is a clear conflict of interest here: you are a Technical Ambassador, already remunerated by the chain for your role, and (as you yourself pointed out) also through your dApp Lucky that benefits from dApp Staking

All Ambassador reports are public. You can verify that I have received no reward as a Technical Ambassador in 2025 and 2026.

Regarding Lucky, the dApp (2 developers) has received 222,800 ASTR from dApp Staking since 2023, which is used solely to cover infrastructure costs.

@Marroz

Messages and attitudes like this only confirm what many of you have always been. Be careful, though: the real community — the small and resilient one that has remained — wants one final change.

I have been part of the community since the very beginning, back in the Plasm days, long before becoming an Astar Ambassador.

As you can see, I am still active despite not receiving any compensation as an Astar Agent. I continue to accomplish the tasks entrusted to me off-site, such as testing new features or answering technical questions from the community.

To avoid prolonging this unproductive discussion and cluttering the thread, I will not ask further questions and will refrain from responding to off-topic comments.

[GuiGou]

To get the discussion back on track, I will try to summarize the thread.

Following the community’s request to create a continuation of the Yoki NFT series, it was stated that this could not be carried out by the Astar team,
and that it would need to be handled by someone with the technical capabilities to implement it.

@Juminstock

However, I discussed this internally with the team, and the required resources, technical, design, and project management, are substantial. The Astar Collective owns the 2D assets we saw in the NFTs, but developing a game requires animations, sound production, narrative development, gamification structure, smart contract development, frontend, backend… The list of required resources is extensive.

@Marroz

I fully agree: I thought exactly the same thing a while back, just phrased more briefly.The proposal is really solid, but the big hurdle remains: who actually builds it?A realistic option, without internal resources, would be to run a contest or call for proposals through the project’s official channels: create a sharp teaser outlining the key features, goals, and overall vision to attract capable and motivated teams ready to deliver

The idea of using AI to generate the code then came up in the discussion, and I was asked for my opinion.

I then confirmed that AI could significantly reduce development costs but AI alone was not enough. And I delivered a functional proof of concept (PoC) which can serve as a foundation for the game’s development.

I also took the opportunity to outline my conditions for working on such a project, as it requires specific development knowledge and skills, as well as a significant time investment.

It appears that this initiative was even praised by Marroz.

It was then pointed out to me that the pitch and narrative—key elements of the game—were missing.
I then proposed the following pitch: 🎮 Proposal: Yoki Community Mini-Game Challenge - #25 by GuiGou

I further developed the concept in that post: 🎮 Proposal: Yoki Community Mini-Game Challenge - #30 by GuiGou

And suggested a visual universe aligned with the game.

Three regions:
-Asia:

• Europa:
  
  

-Latina America

Multiple arenas:

And many other in the updated PoC : Yoki Arena

Finally, as I have always stated, this kind of work is substantial and requires a wide range of skills.

This is why I am willing to continue developing this game, but only if I have the certainty of being compensated for the work completed (personally, I do not know any professional willing to work for free).

For this, it is important that the entire community validates and supports this project.

[Marroz]

Honestly, I didn’t ask any questions, I made statements. So if you want to reply, please reply to those statements.The only question I asked was about the requested compensation: how it is calculated and what proof you can provide to justify your fee. Once you replied with your curriculum, the questions ended. From that point on, I only raised doubts — not about your professionalism, but about how that professionalism is being evaluated in this context.The fact that you haven’t taken compensation in the past does not prove that you can comfortably ask for it now. I’m quite sure that if you believed there was a valid reason, you wouldn’t hesitate to request it. Your fee is quite comprehensive.Regarding LuckyDapp and everything I wrote in my replies: these are topics that fall outside the main subject of the proposal. I had specifically said that I wanted to leave them out, but evidently you didn’t feel like not addressing them.We can stop here as far as I’m concerned.One last thing: since you pointed out my praise for your comment, it seems clear that it was sincere, just as I expected your contribution to the idea to be. I hadn’t yet understood what it actually was — namely, a retroactive advance requested for work already done.That said, no one in the world would work without being paid. However, it is fair to emphasize that the work should be paid in the right way, not only in relation to the skills of the person performing it, but also to several other factors: the role they hold and the value that the work brings.It will be the community that decides.

[GuiGou]

A first collection of 36 Yoki and 50 equipments for the Asia region is now ready to be minted on the testnet.
Like Yoki Origins and Yoki Legacy, each Yoki can evolve through a fusion system, reaching up to 6 levels.

Here are a few samples of Yoki:

• First level of Yoki “Fire”
  

  

• can be fused to reveal Yoki’s level 1 “Fire”
  

  

• First level of Yoki “Shadow”
  

  

• Yoki’s level 2 “Shadow”
  

  

Here are a few samples of Equipment’s Yoki:

Each Yoki and each piece of equipment have their own specific stats.
Some equipment items may have affinities with certain Yoki, granting additional bonuses.

[GuiGou]

The core principles of the game:

Player Progression

• The player profile is represented by a SBT (Soulbound Token).
• The player gains XP through:
  • minting,
  • fusion,
  • battles.

Knowledge System

• Implementation of:
  • a YokiBook (discovered Yoki),
  • an EquipmentBook (discovered equipment).
• This system allows players to:
  • track their progression,
  • identify undiscovered elements,
  • influence battles through AI behavior..

Battles

• Available arena formats:
  • 1v1,
  • team battles (e.g., 3v3).
• Battle outcomes depend on:
  • Yoki stats,
  • equipment,
  • player experience,
  • knowledge level of the opponent’s Yoki.

Features under consideration

• Special badges/points within the Soulbound Token for Yoki Legacy and Yoki Origins players.
• Bonus starting XP for Yoki Legacy and Yoki Origins players.
• Migration of previous collections (Yoki Legacy and Yoki Origins).

[GuiGou]

A new update of the dApp has just been deployed : https://yoki-battle-ui.vercel.app/

The following features are now available:

• Minting and fusion of Yoki for the Asia region (other regions will have their own Yoki with different stats)
• Equipment minting
• Tournament registration

All actions performed contribute to enriching the player’s Soulbound Token (SBT). Benefits will be granted to beta testers.

The following features are still to be implemented:

• Combat and reward mechanics
• Integration of ASTR or ETH payments for minting and tournament registration (currently free on testnet)

A small amount of ETH is required to cover transaction fees on the Soneium Minato testnet.
A faucet is available here: Faucet - Soneium Minato | Alchemy

Constructive feedback is welcome.