Brucestoise 🦎♊️ $LIZ

Why I am bullish on @ethlizards 🧵 1/ History 📜 2/ Team 🐐 3/ Applications 📲 4/ Seed investments 📈 5/ Regulatory compliance 👨‍⚖️ 6/ Competitive Gamers 🎮 7/ Culture 🖼️ 8/ Art style 🤣 👇

It pisses me off that, in my last post, I mentioned crypto gaming sentiment being at an all-time low. That's an absolute cop out if I'm being honest. I was in a very small cohort of people years ago who saw the potential of crypto in gaming, and to think I've turned to posting crap like that is literally shameful. PMF is being found by teams everywhere. There is no excuse. I see the phoenix rising from the ashes; crypto gaming will dominate again.

Huge ecosystem update. To be clear, this is not another gaming shutdown notice, so you can breathe a sigh of relief. The last 6 months have been tough, to say the least. Sentiment in crypto is now at an all-time low. And crypto gaming is even lower. But, despite that, Illuvium pushes on. I promised six years ago that we would give it our all, and we are still in a position to come out of this bear market strong, with games that people in both mainstream and crypto want to play. We are lucky to be in a better financial position than most studios in the space, and we have recently reduced our costs even further to ensure we make it out. We have also spent a lot of time strategising about the future, and this post is the first look into our new vision. This is a focused shipping plan across the products that can move Illuvium forward fastest. Overworld We have decided to release Overworld much sooner than planned. We are targeting December 2026. We can do this by cutting out the things that are massively resource-intensive while keeping the things people love and will love. The game will have multiplayer combat, dungeon runs, bosses, creature capture, hundreds of items to collect (all on chain), open world grinding, with the focus on progression, think almost limitless progression, while adding in some spice of gambling to completely max out your ranger, illuvials, and items. For those who played the most recent test, you know all of those things (apart from dungeons) are in the game already. The big thing that will still be missing at launch is PvP. What comes next after launch will be driven by player demand. The exciting part is that we’ll run more playtests throughout the year. The feedback we got from testers was fantastic and helped us shape the final vision listed above. No more ambiguity on the release dates of 3 years from now. We’re talking a December 2026 target. Beyond This little collector's game has generated more revenue than most crypto games ever released. The fanbase is strong. But it needs more, and more importantly, deserves more. We have decided to put a small team of our best web developers onto a tabletop game using Illuvium Beyond characters. Think Unstable Unicorns meets Marvel Snap. We want to build this game quickly and make it available on the web and mobile. This game will integrate heavily into the Beyond ecosystem, including stretch goals, burn mechanics, and disk sales. I have always invested heavily in each wave of Beyond, and I know many, many others have too. Finally, we will have something to play outside of just pure album collecting (which, btw, is obviously still addictive as fuck). On top of the new game, we have Wave 5 coming up, which will complete the set 1 collection, and then a few weeks later, we launch the biggest partner collection we have ever had in Beyond. A brand that is going to turn heads, and the artwork looks beyond fire. Once Wave 5 wraps up, we move into the three-year celebration set and then into Set 2. Arena Oh, my beloved Arena, where did we go wrong with you? As most of you know, I love this game. Of course, I think things could be better if we had more characters and new content, but there is a reason you still see me in lobbies late at night: I simply love playing the game. While we have some updates to Arena, like Ascendant mode returning and rewards being turned back on, for the most part, Arena is built and released. From a development standpoint, we won’t be spending more time on it. That’s not to say we won’t be running events; we certainly will, and the first big one will be hosted by our Beyond partner. But as for development, those resources will be going elsewhere. However, that isn’t the big update for Arena. About three years ago, the head designer of Arena said to me, “You know this would sell much better if it were just a web2 game that we sold on Steam?” At the time, I wasn't thinking of ripping out all the web3 elements, since we had been pushing the crypto gaming dream nonstop for 2 years prior, so I dismissed it. Still, that conversation never really left me. Neither did it for the Game Designer, because he came to me a few weeks ago and asked to license the IP and launch it as a web2 game, with Illuvium capturing the majority revenue share (after platform fees). After some discussion with the council, we decided this was a good decision, given that his team would handle development and that all the artwork was already complete. He has promised me that the game will be ready for the October Steam Fest. Death Match The IIP has just been approved, and we’re good to start development, although we have decided only to release the game on Web and Mobile Browser. The game will feature 2d versions of Illuvials and will be accessible to almost everyone. I’m excited about this one because A) it introduces an Illuvial burn mechanic, and B) it's our first foray into risk-to-earn games, which have become extremely popular amongst crypto gamers. This game reminds me a lot of Beyond. When I first pitched that, I got a huge amount of backlash internally and externally, but ironically, it's our number one revenue-generating game by a long shot. Now you might say, “uh oh. Illuvium is doing it again, building 5 things at once.” But again, ironically, this is where we did our best work. Before, when we were building four products simultaneously, it was chaotic, but in the end, we pulled it off. This time, we are being a lot more strategic about it. Firstly, all teams are completely segregated into separate Discords, so there is no cross-over of work outside a couple of roles, like QA and UX/UI. Secondly, the products being worked on have an extremely strong foundation, and lastly, Arena “web2” isn’t being built by us at all. The reality is we need to make multiple bets at the same time. While we still have runway into mid next year, we need more revenue-generating products. So moving the release date up on Overworld by a considerable time will certainly increase revenues, but so will giving Beyond players more reason to purchase Illuvitars each wave, and likewise, Arena might finally start generating meaningful revenue, even if it’s in the polar opposite place we initially envisioned. The reality is, it doesn’t matter. We need to make moves, and we need to make them fast. And that is exactly what we are doing. So there you have it. A massive update, a huge amount to be excited about, and I know there will be some people in the comments sharing our token chart and saying “it’s over bro,” and that’s fine, but let me be very clear on this, it aint over until the final breath, and we are far, far from that, so the show goes on.

Illuvium: Zero 2026 Roadmap | Town Hall with Kieran Warwick x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

2 Weeks into vibe-coding my own @illuviumio game There's a big takeaway that puts Illuvium ahead of 99% of other games. Animations, Levels, Assets, AI's a tool, not a crutch. 99% of my time has been spent on these things and AI certainly doesn't automate it. AI is excellent at building out rules, interactions and all that, and can do it while I'm asleep. But I don't feel like my time on art is wasted. I can design 20 isometric characters, and fit them into 20 different game genres whenever I want. There's tactics, tower defence, bullet hells, all look great with isometric pixel art, and so most of my time is spent building visuals that can repurposed whenever. Illuvium has the same distinct advantage. No amount of AI will be able to expedite the design, creation and animation of 150+ unique AAA creatures. But AI will be able to expedite the code, that tells them what utility they have. Posture all you want about gameplay being important. You wouldn't play an MMO with 20 randomly coloured shapes attacking each other, that doesn't sound very engaging does it?

Get your questions ready!

In 2025 I officially shipped my first web app. I learnt so much during the process it's insane. In 2026 I am going to ship my first video game. It will be small in scope, but it will be complete with all the bells and whistles. I'm also thinking of streaming my development of it. Still unsure which engine I should use (if any). But the game design doc is almost complete. Shipping something every year as my new year's resolution, this is only the beginning.

IT'S DONE I’m now the Ethlizards (@LizLabsio) Liztator. Massive thanks to the holders for trusting me to build the 4th Ethlizards team since 2021. Time to embrace our autism and make Ethlizards great again. P.S. First priority: Ethlizard NFTs only. No $LIZ, no larp suits etc

Merry Lizmas to all the degens being rekt. Saint Nicholiz will take care of you next year.

@scoriox Congrats you two thats huge news 🥳🥳

She said yes 💍

It's easy to forget where @illuviumio has come from but its a stark reminder that they are moving at an insane pace right now. October and November have felt a little slow, but barely 6 months ago the MMO didn't really even exist, and the Illuvium Arena was a completely different (and worse) game. I don't know when the MMO-Lite will enter the publics hands, or really if it should until it is absolutely ready, but I do know that progress on this front has felt about 5x faster than what we've seen in the past 2 years collectively. It's not to say work wasn't done quickly, but as it primarily laid a foundation, it was far less obvious to say the least. Illuvium has had a rough time, but they are in a strong position and I'm excited for 2026 without a doubt. Also the Arena with the shorter matches feels so much better now its not even funny. I think it could be a tad shorter, but it at least stands a chance in the mobile market now, which is bullish asf.

$150,000 on the line. 💰 64 players enter. Only 40 make the cut. Every match from here decides who survives. ⚔️ The IPL Grand Finals are almost here. Who takes the crown? Drop your prediction for the winner! 👑🔥

Crazy to think one of us will be 50k richer after the next 2 weekends 💰💰

To be honest, Illuvium is still the best game for me. Competitive when I want it, chill when I need it. Can’t wait for the MMO + mobile Arena 😎🔥 Still playing daily! Btw please forget about my cat 🤣 #Illuvium #GamingVibes #gaming #web3gaming #ilv #nft

Everything else is noise.  Demand Gameplay. 🔥 👉 Where do you stand

I've had several people ask me why I am not an @illuviumio ambassador and really its quite simple. Most don't know that anyone can get involved in the Illuvium ecosystem incredibly easily. Simply register for the Alliance program and you get paid for referring players who spend inside the game. Not only that but the Illuvium X account will make an effort to repost and interact with you, and anyone in the community can ask any Illuvium team member for an AMA or anything else. Illuvium is always willing to welcome new creators into the fold, and if you have this exclusive upper echelon, that entire open door policy just feels sort of weird. Now sure there should be some pinnacle to work towards for newer creators, but hard work will always pay off, with or without a title.

If the Creator of the Year, @cagyjan1 is saying he is down to play the MMO, We might be cooking here! 🔥😄

LIP 31 prevoting won! 😍 #ethlizards can check the proposal in the lizcord one more time before we place it on snapshot for the final voting stage! Be ready to vote, prepare your wallets 🦎🦎🦎 Community above all! @LizLabsio

Demand Gameplay. If it’s real, it should be shown. 👀

Important message to all #ethlizards nft holders We just started pre-voting LIP 31 or LIP 32 proposal which will decide the future of our project. 24 hours left 🦎🦎🦎 All who is in favor for a CTO, vote LIP31, we rebuild and make #ethlizards great again. Spread the word, otherwise your pfp nft will become worthless. Join us in the Lizcord, vote and have a nice degen chat 🦎🦎🦎 @LizLabsio

Nothing beats players noticing the upgrades for themselves. 👀 The MMO is getting cleaner every week. Demand Gameplay. 🔥