Gm folks!
It seems like the markets are starting to see some signs of life again, especially in the more ‘blue-chip projects’, perhaps attributed to growing interest after NFT NYC, plus ETH gas finally in the double-digits. The projects we are covering today are still relatively down from their all-time-highs, and we think could be worth considering before the next run. SupDucks is a project that generates utility tokens for holders that can be used in their metaverse, The Heart Project takes a step back into the real world and aims to empower artists and creators, and Panels Art is a collaboration between established generative artist Arihz, and FlamingoDAO.
Enjoy!
P.S. - Our Discord is up! Join us to share and discuss alpha :)
Project #1 - SupDucks
Contributor: @chris_sirise
Mint Date: 17 Jul 2021
Mint Price: 0.1 ETH + gas
Collection Count: 10,000
Team: Frankynines - Artist, Stronkwonk, Notanumber, Xiggalo, Luis
Opensea | Discord | Twitter | Website
About
SupDucks is a project of 10,000 quirky NFTs that were procedurally generated from a range of hand drawn items. While originally launched as a profile picture project, the team has subsequently rolled out evolutions to the project that include companion drops, utility tokens and unique mechanisms that cause the NFTs to evolve. There has also been a beta of a mobile app and initial stages of a “duck bungalow” launched, where more types of NFTs can be displayed in future, essentially creating a 2D metaverse.
Two items can be shown in your “Duck Bungalow” currently. Your SupDucks and King Frogs
Strengths
The team is strong, with the lead artist, Franky, having worked in Dapperlabs, NFT42 and Zynga and developers coming from organisations like Gala Games. They are fully doxxed and have built a reputation in the industry before SupDucks.
Over the last few months, they have consistently rolled out creative evolutions to the project that have received very positive feedback from their community. It started with news that each SupDuck can generate 10 $VOLT utility tokens a day. Following that, they launched a companion project where every SupDuck holder got to mint a King Frog.
King Frogs that could whimsically be “stuck” at the wrong position
The next part of the roadmap revealed that VOLT could be used to purchase different snacks which can be fed to a King Frog. After ingesting a snack, the Fed King Frog receives a new additional trait and also transforms from a static image to an animated GIF. This was where the competency of the team started to show. Instead of just releasing the snacks, they decided to also add the animated GIFs as a reward, which require upgrading metadata and adding traits.
Snacks that cost more $VOLT will produce rarer Fed King Frogs
Following that, it has been revealed that fed King Frogs will have special airdrops and other forms of utility as further rewards. Soon, you will also be able to burn 3 Fed King Frogs to form a Mega-Chonky Toad. This Toad will be able to lick a Supduck, which then does something to the Duck that unfortunately has not been revealed. This internal economy for $VOLT that has both a production (Ducks) and range of burning mechanisms (Snacks, Frogs, Toads and perhaps bungalow furniture in future) is well thought out by the team and ensures $VOLT will have sustainable value in the long run.
Lastly, the community is healthy with a very active discord server. Price of the NFTs themselves are rarely discussed, with most of the conversations around speculation for what is upcoming, trading of snacks and $VOLT or even other crypto related topics. The community is also extremely welcoming to newcomers or non-owners. Given the high price point of the project, there are active discord members who are not owners but still welcomed and actively participating in the public channels.
Potential Risks
One weakness to the project would be that the holder count is low at 3,200 owners for a 10,000 collection. This is 32% which is low relative to many blue chip projects that have holder counts in the 45%-55% range. This lower holder count might be worrying usually, as the effect could be less people championing the SupDucks brand. However, they do have 5,300 holders for their King Frogs collection, which has a lower price entry point. This slightly mitigates that concern.
SupDucks is also currently at a 1.5 ETH floor, much lower than their all time high of around 4 ETH. This is more likely due to the NFT bear market currently happening than an indication of the quality of the project. This project might be worth taking a look at for those who are looking at getting into more established projects that are at a lower price point now.
Project #2 - The Heart Project
Contributor: @c___hello
Credits: The Heart Project / https://www.heartnfts.io/
Project Details Mint Date: 28 August 2021
Mint Price: 0.08888 ETH + Gas
Collection Count: 10,000
Team: Stefan Meir - Artist, Aidan Cullen, Henock Silleshi, Luke (Engineer)
Opensea | Discord | Twitter | Website
About
From their website, “The Heart Project is a community-run creative studio which enables passionate lovers of creativity to shape the art we interact with. 10,000 unique tokens on the Ethereum-based blockchain will serve as membership passes which grant access to creative contribution and shared ownership of our group creations. The Heart Project Creative Studio is designed to produce media with thousands of contributors on every project and grants ownership of our shared creations.” Kind of unique and weird, right?
Credit: The Heart Project / https://www.heartnfts.io/
I first learnt about the project from a friend prior to the release of public sale. My research process was:
Finding out who the team behind the project was (Very cool guys, Aidan and Stefan are both very prominent figures in creative industry in LA. They’re very well connected and have worked on creative projects all their lives. It’s always nice to know that people behind the projects are truly industry veterans.)
Vibe in the Discord (No red flags for me here, just a bunch of Discord members who like art and music, anything creative in general)
Checking out pre-mint prices on Opensea
I bought in on the secondary market before the public release at 0.21ETH (including gas fees).
Strengths
Obviously one of the strengths of this project is the accredited team. The team knows people in the creative industry, which is a plus point. They know what they are doing. They know how to get around to achieving what they promised in the roadmap. They will come through.
Another strength about The Heart Project adds on to the previous points. When you have a team that is well connected IRL, it bleeds over to whatever is done on the metaverse. The roadmap promises tons of “creative” studio activities — designing magazines, creating music, producing merchandise, video production. There’s a lot of money in the creative industry, and the art here is versatile enough. I can see The Heart Project becoming a brand that can be transformed into many different projects. Done well, it could become the next “Supreme”. Case in point: They’ve started to produce merchandise that Heart holders went crazy for in LA and NYC.
Potential Risks
Community run creative studios are.. tricky. Too much of a good thing is sometimes a bad thing. Currently, I see The Heart Project preparing to launch their Heart Magazine, an “open-sourced” contribution from the community. Do I see quality stuff being contributed? Well, not exactly. I don’t think anyone can be a contributor to all of the projects. Contributors have to be “vetted”, “approved” by the team behind The Heart Project. If they don’t do this, the brand identity of the project could easily be lost. People in this space also lose interest when things are “mundane” (See floor price of The Heart Project @ 0.11ETH as of 5 Nov).
My Heart #742
I didn’t sell my heart at it’s peak of 0.7ETH and will continue to hold them. I like projects with IRL utility, my friend went to their party in NYC (representing me) and I thought that was cool. It’ll be interesting to see interesting projects coming out from the team over at The Heart Project.
Project #3 - Panels Art
Contributor: @Blokitek
Project Details Mint Date: 25 October 2021
Mint Price: 0.05 ETH For Block , Panels are: 2x2 (1.0 ETH), 3x3 (1.5 ETH), 4x4 (2.0 ETH), 5x5 (4.0 ETH), 6x6 (8.0 ETH)
Collection Count: 10,000
Team: Arihz and Flamingo DAO
About
The Panels Art project is a generative art experiment by Arihz, a creative coder and a generative artist. Some of Arihz’s works includes Framergence, Pulsquares, Avid Lines
This project combines art and some elements of game theory and biology. There are several elements that can be combined into a more complex element.
The Blocks: single unique generative art piece.
The Panels: The final artwork, formed by several Blocks. Panels can be 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5 or 6x6 blocks. Each Panel is created through the burning of a set of Blocks. each deconstruction each Panel degrades, and the new blocks on it will lose sharpness, definition and colour.
Strengths
This is one of the more creative generative art projects, the artist Arihz intends to have this project to mature over 12 months. The first phase is the creation phase, and with the relatively floor floor price of blocks now, which allows the community to create their panels art. In the second phase, the blocks become rare due to the burning mechanism. Currently there are 8400/10000 left after 2 weeks of burning. This is a slow and gradual project that the value will increase over time.
Potential risks
At the time of minting, gas was very high, and most people ended up paying around 0.13 ETH for 1 block. This was intended to be a long term project, and some holders have expressed unhappiness with the lack of activity causing poor price action. On the other hand, lower prices now also allow the community to explore and create their panels, so it could be a good time to pick up a few panels too.