This post was first published on Medium, and we republished with permission from its author, Jackson Laskey. Follow Jackson on X.
We are proud to be launching a number of game-changing products today—Asset Layer 2.0, our Unity integration, our new game, Rolltopia, and Asset Layer GPT. We are also happy to announce that Asset Layer 1.0 will live on, rebranded to Asset Layer OnChain. If you want to dive right into the new and improved Asset Layer, head to assetlayer.com/dashboard and start playing Rolltopia at rolltopia.games.
Introducing Asset Layer 2.0
Asset Layer is a backend solution for games and apps. In addition to providing basic features like digital asset and account management, Asset Layer makes it simple to add powerful creator economy features like application interoperability, user generated content, and player-to-player marketplaces to games for studios of any size.
With Asset Layer 2.0, our goal was to make Asset Layer a more complete and accessible solution for game developers. Asset Layer 2.0 includes the following new features and upgrades to help us accomplish this.
Switching to Magic Auth
In Asset Layer 2.0, we are using Magic to power a universal login solution for games that allows users to take their assets across applications seamlessly. All users need is their email address. By logging in with the same email, they can access their in-game assets and currencies across apps. Games and apps can share assets using Asset Layer’s permissioned platform, and users are able to access these assets by signing into apps with a one-time-password or social logins. It’s the easiest possible way to enable interoperability for users across apps.
Magic simplifies the account creation and log in process
Magic also comes with Web3 features which can be used to create blockchain integrations across multiple ecosystems. Right now, we are using these features to add additional security to our API, and in the future we can use this to create a signed blockchain record of all digital asset transactions on Asset Layer.
Now powering in-app currencies
Asset Layer now allows games and apps to create new currencies which can be used across applications and in marketplaces. Using our no-code tools, SDK, or API, games and apps can create new currencies, manage user balances, initiate transfers, and allow players to use their currencies in player-to-player marketplaces to trade assets. Apps stay in control, as they are able to make currencies fully transferable and tradable between players, or use currencies as a resource bound to a specific player.
We are also offering real money currencies in the marketplace which apps can choose to use as well. Right now, we are offering BSV through an integration with HandCash. We are excited to be able to offer additional real money solutions soon. If you are building a game and are interested in an integration with a specific Web3 wallet and ‘crypto currency’, please let us know and we will work with you to explore integrating that wallet and crypto into Asset Layer.
New SDKs + Asset Layer GPT
In addition to offering a REST JSON-based API, Asset Layer now also has an NPM JavaScript SDK as well as a C# SDK for Unity developers. Integrating Asset Layer into apps has never been easier.
To take things even further, we are releasing Asset Layer GPT. This custom GPT is trained on Asset Layer documentation. It’s able to answer questions about how to integrate Asset Layer into your application and how to use the Asset Layer no-code tools. We’ll be continuing to add more resources to Asset Layer GPT to make it the ultimate resource for building your apps with Asset Layer.
Unity integration
We want Asset Layer to be accessible for game developers, and the best place to meet game developers where they are already at is Unity, the most used game engine in the world. Our Unity integration allows developers and creators to create new Asset Layer assets directly from the Unity editor. This allows assets to contain all types of different 3d models, meshes, textures, shaders, scripts, and other components. Asset Layer then acts like a glue between Unity apps, enabling them to easily share assets that can be imported into games at run-time and work out of the box.
Our Unity Integration also offers tools to import assets into games using our AssetlayerGameObject. We also offer an inventory prefab to make it easy for your players to select the assets they want to use. There is also a C# SDK which allows you to build any custom Asset Layer logic into your game.
Our Unity integration is expanding quickly. We are interested in working hands-on with Unity developers and we can offer you extra support and other goodies. If you are a Unity developer interested in building with Asset Layer, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Check out this video highlighting our Unity integration
Introducing Rolltopia
To help us show the world what is possible with Asset Layer, we built a new game called Rolltopia, a hyper-casual gaming universe powered by Asset Layer and built with our Unity integration. Rolltopia combines the gameplay and feature set of several category defining games including Roblox, Neopets, Helix Jump, and more to deliver a rich and immersive gaming experience previously impossible for small to medium size game studios like Asset Layer.
If you want to see Asset Layer in action, we recommend trying out the game for yourself. Also, we are offering cash prizes and other goodies for alpha testers. To learn more about the Rolltopia Alpha Challenge rules and prizes, check out this blog post.
Asset Layer OnChain
There’s a lot to be excited about with the Asset Layer 2.0 launch, but building all these new features as rapidly as we have comes with a cost. In this case, Asset Layer 2.0 does not have the same level of blockchain integration as Asset Layer 1.0. Specifically, unlike Asset Layer 1.0, the assets created in Asset Layer 2.0 do not have a blockchain based record.
We are extremely proud of Asset Layer 1.0. It’s arguably the world’s most efficient and reliable blockchain-based digital asset solution. It supports some of the world’s largest digital asset collections such as Duro Dogs which boasts millions of assets including over 1 million in a single collection.
Asset Layer 2.0 is designed to make adoption for game developers simple. It’s also an easier architecture for us to iterate quickly to better and better achieve product market fit. But, we still want developers who are interested in building directly on chain to be able to do so using Asset Layer. So, we are keeping Asset Layer 1.0 online, rebranded as Asset Layer OnChain. If you are interested in using Asset Layer to build powerful blockchain-based digital asset applications, check out onchain.assetlayer.com.
Over time, we hope to reunify Asset Layer with Asset Layer OnChain. And, when we do so, we plan to have millions of players and thousands of game developers coming with us to put their assets on-chain where they ultimately belong.
Watch Jackson Laskey: Gaming is the future for BSV
New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.
