Decentralization came into the world of P2E games: now every day 250 million users of Hamster Kombat and its clones press their fingers on the screen of a smartphone or iPhone. Someone - in the hope of making money, another - looking for entertainment, for recreation or getting to know what cryptocurrencies and tokens are all about, others out of interest. Viral marketing and the popular
messenger Telegram with an audience of under a billion is a good platform for launching a tapping game or a "game for sloths".
Practice shows that players who are focused on earning money quickly leave the game if it does not bring dividends. That is why addictiveness and lightness, exciting but simple plot (for those who have a clip mentality) increase the trend of clicker enthusiasm among those who do not expect regular semi-passive income from the gameplay. How to
create tap to earn games and prolong the life cycle of tokenomics with balance - see Merehead's article.
Demand for game clickers in the next 20 years
The payment for the tapping game is the user's time and energy. 10-20 minutes of searching for ciphers and guessing combos - and here, on the account of Hamster Kombat (or clone) appeared a certain amount of virtual coins. No drops are given out for them, there is no listing or giveaway, and the names of the funder are mysteriously hidden. Typical people are not involved in fundraising, do not estimate the clicker's life cycle. However, if there's an attempt to transfer the target audience to bookmakers, casinos, there will be negativity and rejection of users aged 25-45.
About tapping games know 42% of people surfing the Internet, although no more than 12-14% are aware of the essence. The statistics showed: better informed about clicker games are gamers born 24 years ago and less (more than 80%), part of generation X (since 1975 - about 70%) and those who spend a lot of time in social networks or live in megacities. Alpha (modern teenagers, 12- year olds) play tapping games without funding. If this number is distributed over the world's population, 0.36-0.42 million out of 3 billion players are addicted to clickers. The statistics on participants confirms this - Notcoin was played by 40 million, Blum - 20, MemeFi Coin - 10, TapSwap - 25, Yescoin - 10 and Catizen - 26 million. The leader is undoubtedly Hamster Kombat with 240 million users.
Despite the increase in the total number of gamers, there is a steady decline in % growth. Based on the data, we tried to predict what the number of gamers will be by 2034. We came up with an interesting regression equation:
% decline = 1025.675 - (0.50497 × year)
Based on it, the number of gamers will grow until 2031, and then the reverse process will begin. Precisely clickers will be played by half a billion people (14% of the total number of gamers). In this case, in the next 3 years, the leader in the number of gamers may become the UK, the second place will be Japan, followed by Niger, South Korea and Sweden [1]. For this reason, the developers of viral tapping will not face losses and forgetfulness until the 2040s. One more nuance: it is necessary to take into account how many Android and iOS owners there are in a country or region: it is likely that 3-5-20% of owners will know about clickers and play them.
Regarding the psychological portrait, users with a clip mentality are more interested in tapping. They are more common among zoomers (Z-generation) and a small part of millennials. If clickers were developed like complex games, with an abundance of information, requiring deep thinking, then their demand would increase among people with systemic thinking. But this is not the case yet: the clip format assumes multitasking - work in the mode of switching, quick search for a simple solution, with accelerated filtering and fragmentation of information, lightning-fast reaction in extreme situations. Therefore, tapping games are designed just for this kind of people.
Financial aspects about Hamster Kombat and analogs
Listing of token $HMSTR (Hamster Kombat), a planned 10 billion token, has not taken place yet. The starting eidrop is equal to 100 million $HMSTR, but it is stipulated that there will be locks and vesting for 4-7 months. If 25-50% of the tokens came to market, there would be no questions, but the limited issuance (up to 2-5%) indicates that there will probably be pamping, then selling and how the exchange rate will change is unknown. The potential price of $HMSTR equates to NOT ($0.014), but on Binance the rate is estimated at $0.000001 or 14 thousand times less.
So, it is necessary to explain to users that it is better to treat a tapping game as a regular game, with the purpose of relaxing and resting, not expecting to get big winnings from many hours of clicking. The basic functionality of the simplified version for $6-10 thousand includes the ability to tap and earn points, farm
own cryptocurrency, boost in social networks or buy boosts for bitcoin. Detailed development of the backend with a smart contract, user accounts and referrals, high-quality design with Adobe or Figma products, using native code like Python with Node.js and MongoDB system will cost up to $20 thousand.
Monetization of the model is different for participants and creators: developers receive the majority of the profit. A blockchain-based
smart contract can be written in such a way that the creators receive onchain royalties or other types of remuneration from each transaction of gamers. The main thing in this case is that token owners trust the issuers in the actions of payment and exchange, improvement of functionality, rights within the performed protocol. If earnings are stable and justified, it will strengthen the ecosystem and foster the growth. Such options determine the price of $40 thousand.
Relaxing & Rewarding
The popularity of tapping games is based on the fact that millions of people use messengers. In order to enter the game, it is enough to launch the bot and start playing. All results are saved, as well as the history of the game with daily tasks. Telegram interacts with HTML5 markup language, more like a layout platform for apps and games. Quick updates and capturing game progress while learning how to play while earning cryptocurrencies is the "anchor" that has attracted many participants.
You can clearly see the popularity of a simple Bcoin 2048 tapping, the essence of which is to add vertically and horizontally paired numbers and simultaneously visualize the points scored. If you make a mistake, the next round starts with a new day, if you want to continue the game there is a payment option. However, in the clicker there are no unique NFT (elements like swords, avatars or feature enhancements).
It is good when the clicker has a cross-platform version - not only for iOS and Android, but also a desktop version. Expanding the user base to millions of participants provide elements in the basic module, when to get real coins offer to invite friends or acquaintances. For example, perform actions like fishing or get prize points for opening chests. In Telegram, additional points are awarded for inviting friends with a Premium account. The game form of clicker without complex tasks and requiring thinking through the steps of strategy with the possibility of small rewards attracts more and more users.
Catizen nuances
The variant with a planned listing, entry to serious exchanges requires more attention and time, investment of $40,000. The more cryptocurrencies the clicker supports, the better the development goes. Thus, investments in Catizen amounted to $6.2 million during the seed and strategic rounds of the business incubator, and then, looking at the startup, Binance Labs became an investor (the investment amount is a secret). In total, the project has 14 partners and this number is expected to grow. Two reasons for the interest are the seamless integration of Telegram and TON, and the expected release of the CATI token, whose holders will be able to steak tokens by interacting with other games and receiving rewards.
Simple and easy gameplay, mild and pleasant visual gamut in warm and lilac shades, coins-wheels and multicolored, realistically made kittens - uncomplicated UI/UX-design attracted attention to the tapping. The smoothly appearing record alerts fade away after a few seconds, and the real score is visible in the middle of the screen. Moreover, you can play not only in mobile version, but also on PC.
Cute cats Catizen (remember the axiom that everyone loves cats) change color when reaching different levels and $vKitty and $FISH coins are credited to the account. In the future, the rewards can be exchanged for TON cryptocurrency by withdrawing to the wallet of specific exchanges that will be offered after listing. Given that there will be several eirdrops, even a simple player has the opportunity to earn up to $300. There is a double incentive - game reflection and coins for pizza and coke.
Characters and plot in gameplay
The game's real value is not replaced by the search for income, so the tasks in the clicker should encourage the player to act, instead of stopping without an influx of finances. Passing a level or obtaining an item, skills should interest the participant more than in-game money or tokens exchanged for cryptocurrency. Gameplay and visuals with cute characters are more attractive than a varied plot with a lot of surprises - cheerful hamster, cute cats, friendly dogs are proof of that.
In order to assess the attractiveness of a clicker, a retention rate is applied: if a person continues to play a tapping game for a month, then he or she will be there for a long time. The convenient connection to the Web3 wallet and the ability to sell in-game assets like avatars or skins also partially determine the likelihood that a player will want to enter the P2E space. If the availability of tokens will indirectly influence the clicker's strategy, changing the roadmap, it will be an additional factor in retaining old gamers and making it cheaper to attract the new ones.
Guide on creating and running clicker games
Tapping games in Telegram are relatively easy to create. One option is to combine the Telegraf library with the Angular 17 framework on the basis of a Node.js project and then, after launching it on a PC, deploy it to the cloud. Based on Telegraf, it is easy to develop bots using TypeScript or JavaScript. This is also done in Python. Then get an API token and
make a crypto bot. Angular can be replaced by a combination of CSS, HTML and JavaScript when developing a tapping. Then on a hosting like Firebase we show the path and after the deploy we get the address. At the final stage of clicker development, we link the Telegram-bot to the application and move it to the cloud.
Docker server is an option for deployment: first you upload the application to a repository on GitHub and then clone it to a cloud server. Deployment and launch are the final steps. The more complex the configuration - the more steps. You can find different 2D games on GitHub and take ideas as a basis by copying the repository. JavaScript will help to write a player account, implement a URL for it. Python script provides server startup for testing purposes. However, you need to consider security when implementing and developing the API: if it is open, the bot should also have the access to check the validity of the information.
The Web3 ecosystem is based on the blockchain principle and self-executing smart contracts. The Tact programming language is used for TON cryptocurrency, and Solidity is used for Ethereum contracts. Truffle and Hardhat development environments as frameworks support code writing, deployment with testing. The main thing is that the frontend should be simple and clear, without complexities, and the backend should build trust of participants and simplify deposit or withdrawal of funds. Full binding of the account to the smart contract will eliminate the need for a server.
Deflation and inflation, balance of tokens and functions
Tokenomics and in-game economy parameters are a compulsory part for the game to live and grow in the ecosystem. The base cryptocurrency TON is a good solution, but other pairs can be looked at and matched to the game. The community that develops with the game is a support and basis for the further formation of P2E. After all, without marketing strategies, the development will stop at the stage of expanding the audience of up to 100 thousand and most of them will be those who are looking for profit, not pleasure from the gameplay and relaxation.
The balance between rewards and growth is thought out at the stage of writing a roadmap with updates and extensions to different regions. Therefore, it is initially preferable to use a deflationary model so that the number of tokens decreases, provoking the growth of the exchange rate. If the inflationary option is chosen, it is important to work out mechanisms for slowing down the process or reversing the exchange rate. This list includes redemption with subsequent burning, a transactional destructible tax in a smart contract, and sending to non-returnable addresses.
Balancing by means of a deficit and limiting the supply of tokens will work in case of a stable growth in the number of players - for example, in the range of 5-10% of the previous time period (decade, month, quarter). Then, even under the initial inflationary scenario, the token supply can be adjusted according to the rules of minting, issuance, distribution protocols and smart contracts. Tokens and game functions in a good tapping are interconnected, which increases the interest and involvement of participants. Let's take a closer look at the numbers.
Tokenomics for TON and ETC: simple calculation
Let's say a team want to start a
p2e game development and they want to attract 1-5 million users. For this purpose, at least 100-200 tokens should be issued for each player, with a reserve. The value of the token is calculated based on the cryptocurrency pair to which it will be linked - to BTC, USDT, TON OR ETC. TON is used because the price per unit is $7, ETC has it at $27, so it is convenient to specify that the game token is valued conditionally at 0.001 units of cryptocurrency or less. Let's calculate how many tokens we will issue, what will be the price for one token and the total expected number of investments that the project will be able to attract.
Indicators |
TON |
ETC |
Number of players, millions |
1 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
Tokens per one participant |
100 |
200 |
100 |
200 |
Total tokens, mln. |
100 |
1000 |
100 |
1000 |
Maximum token price, cryptocurrency units |
0,001 |
0,001 |
0,001 |
0,001 |
Minimum token price, cryptocurrency units |
0,0001 |
0,0001 |
0,0001 |
0,0001 |
Max. investment amount, units of crypto |
100000 |
1000000 |
100000 |
1000000 |
Min. investment amount, units of crypto |
10000 |
100000 |
10000 |
100000 |
Equivalent in $ max, ths. |
700 |
7000 |
2700 |
27000 |
Equivalent in $ min, th. |
70 |
700 |
270 |
2700 |
As we can see, the first option with the issue of 100 million tokens and the price for one 0.0001 TON is clearly a failure. If the token rate after listing will be 10 times more expensive - the investment of $0.7 million is secured. When the number of players reaches 5 million, then, in case of viral growth in demand, there is a chance to attract $7 million. Similar statistics on ETC shows that in the same conditions it is realistic to achieve an investment of $3-27 million.
Once players and investors see that the developers intend to be generous, allocating 30% of tokens to participants, planning for an eirdrop of 5-10% and learning that the balance will be distributed in-game as rewards for features and activity, speculation may arise. In order for tapping not to become another bubble, the stakes, tokens, and in-game features need to be balanced. The liquidity and ease of exchanging tokens for crypto and vice versa are prescribed in smart contracts, based on the principle of fungibility.
A few tokens, faucet sinks, and bootstrapping
Non-custodial ownership of NFT games and sales on
NFT marketplaces increases the number of incentives beyond fun and entertainment. The game's sustainability determines the balance between attracting players, getting them through the rounds, and the resulting enjoyment (both the relaxation factor and the financial gift). For experienced players, it can be alarming when a person who has invested in the game for a long time hands over tokens to a recent entrant. This may be a hidden evidence of instability and imbalance in the ecosystem.