A fledgling blockchain-based game projection called Illuvium has already managed to attract support from major industry backers — a development owed in office to the fact that Illuvium co-founders Kieran and Aaron Warwick are the brothers of Kain Warwick, the co-founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Synthetix.

In a tweet on Fri, Kain announced that "afterward two years of pressure," his brothers were revealing to the world a blockchain-based game:

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kieran Warwick clarified that evolution work has just been underway since September, and that the "two years" refers to the length of time Kain had been badgering Kieran to re-enter crypto full time.

"I left to found a startup in the food industry in 2016, [and] in hindsight maybe not the best call," Kieran admitted.

Despite the late uptake, the few resource released to the public already promise a championship with myriad influences.

"The ii genres that we have fatigued the virtually inspiration from are collectible RPGs (such every bit Pokemon) and Auto Battlers (similar Teamfight Tactics or Dota Underlords). As far every bit aesthetics we are going for a stylised feel that sits somewhere betwixt the manga manner of RPG and more hyper realistic games," said Kieran.

Gameplay will also feature some unique twists utilizing a yield farming plan for the native ILV token, equally well as deploying NFTs in innovative ways that may influence the strategy behind collecting game assets.

"Nosotros use a fusion machinery where three Illuvial NFTs are burned by the user to mint a more powerful Illuvial NFT. This machinery is common in Auto Battlers, but past employing smart contracts to control minting and burning we've introduced more than certainty for collectors and players."

While the ambition is sprawling, the Warwick brothers are bringing extensive ecosystem heft to carry. Despite only re-entering crypto full time recently, Kieran says he's no stranger to concepts like liquidity pooling, every bit he's currently "participating heavily in DeFi across over 50 projects."

Moreover, some of DeFi and gaming'due south biggest names are early supporters. Kieran says that  "half dozen of the tiptop DeFi founders" take invested in Illuvium's pre-seed circular — presumably including Kain. Illuvium volition also exist built using a layer-2 scaling solution from Immutable, the development studio behind hit NFT bill of fare game Gods Unchained.

Kieran says he'southward hoping to leverage these connections to create a gaming experience that empowers players.

"1 of the virtually frustrating experiences every bit a gamer is feeling like a consumer of a game rather than a participant, and while many game studios have improved on this over the last few years by handing more control to their communities at that place is no fashion to have the level of community buying that we are going to provide in the traditional gaming world."

To ensure this community ownership, Kieran said that Illuvium volition be governed by a DAO, enabling players to command gameplay tweaks and balancing. Additionally, a portion of funds from the outcomes of loftier-stakes, winner-have-all "Leviathan" arena battles will be allocated to a vault controlled by the DAO, every bit well equally other fees.

While even a game demo is a "few months" out and the liquidity mining program is slated for March at the primeval, Illuvium's xv-man team is resolute in delivering a product to a market they believe might somewhen become the standard.

"We believe mainstream gamers will come across the opportunity migrating to permissionless platforms where they can truly own the unabridged game."