Digital cat breeding game Cryptokitties and the Italian artists of Hackatao are collaborating on collectible kitties and artworks. Kitties designed by Hackatao will be available for breeding inside Cryptokitties from October 24th until the 31st. In addition a programmable artwork will go on sale through Async Art.
This collaboration between a blockchain game, artists and an art platform is somewhat unique. It’s great seeing artists, art platforms and game creators work together. They’ve dubbed this kitty project HaCKittieZ. However, Cryptokitties has been inviting artists to design unique kitties for some time.
Starting from this Saturday, collectors will be able to breed their kittens into one of these collectible HaCKittieZ. Which treats are required to discover them, is not yet communicated. According to a community newsletter the difficulty for breeding these kitties ranges from novice to Kitty Grandmaster. In addition the team hinted at a special mutation when three traits from these HaCKittieZ are combined.
Aside from the weeklong breeding event, Hackatao is auctioning programmable art on Async Art. The artwork consists of six unique layers, each of them an artwork on their own. The owner of a layer can customize the image with up to 13 different traits. Each layer-owner influence the looks of the master artwork, which combines all six layers into one.
Not Hackatao’s first gaming experience
Hackatao is making a name for themselves in the crypto art community. Their works are among the most wanted artworks in the space. They also create physical pieces. In addition they are moving more into gaming. Cryptokitties is one example, but The Sandbox was first. Hackatao got funding from the Sandbox GameMaker Fund, and they have created game characters based on their artworks.
What is Cryptokitties?
Cryptokitties is a blockchain-based game that involves the purchase, collection, breeding and selling of digital cats. Every cat features different attributes that make them unique and they cannot be replicated. Because of their uniqueness, trading Cryptokitties is quite a big business. At the moment there are almost 2 million different kitties on the market. Some of them worth 1 dollar, others worth thousands.
For example, in September 2018 someone paid 600 ETH for a kitten called Dragon. That was the equivalent of 170 thousand dollars at the time of the sale. In addition the first kitten ever, Genesis, is probably worth a lot more. People are currently offering 265 ETH, which is 105 thousand dollars. Obviously the owner didn’t sell his unique NFT.
Cryptokitties organizes all kinds of breeding events. Recently they even had a partnership with the rock band Muse. Game studio Dapper Labs will soon bring an improved version of Cryptokitties to their own Flow blockchain.
In a world full of blockchain games, Cryptokitties is the godfather. Because this is the game that started the concept of ownership over digital assets. It was the first to use the Ethereum token standard ERC-721 and make a successful ‘game’ out of it.
