Meet the Minds Behind Catacomb Crawlers and Their Vision for Sybil Resistance Gaming
The Humanode community, and the mobile gaming industry has been abuzz with the news about Catacomb Crawlers (CC from here on) joining the Humanode ecosystem, and the upcoming birth of the world’s first Sybil-resistant mobile game that will potentially introduce a whole new business model and gaming experience. Sure, much focus will be pointed at how this game will change the status quo, what this will mean to the users and how it will affect the gameplay and the surrounding marketplace, if users will really benefit from using Humanode private biometrics, and perhaps even if this will become the use case that changes the entire Web3 gaming industry or if some people are just too idealistic. But before we start speculating about stuff that only time will tell, let us dive into one of the more important questions, who are the people behind CC?
So, we simply decided to sit down with Florin Mitu (Co-founder) and Alex Carbunariu (CMO) to find out.
Hi, and welcome to the Humanode ecosystem and Humanode community! Let’s kick this off with the basics. Tell us a little bit about yourselves, where are you from, and where are you going.
Florin: Hi! Both Alex and I are from Romania. And as for my background, it’s quite simple. I have played games since I was young, and I made my first income from a game when I was 15 or 16 playing League of Legends. Actually, that is where I met my Co-founder, CjXander and our CTO, Katmai. We started playing together and have been working together ever since. Oh, and I also had a gaming pub where I enjoyed creating offline events and meeting new people, so yeah, that’s basically all I know how to do. Play games, and work with games. I plan to perfect these skills so I can continue doing so for the rest of my life!
Alex: I’m more of a web3 guy, and have launched a bunch of web3 products over the years. Unlike most of the team members, my background is in finance, and I think I am the oldest in the team. But, I am gonna say this, it’s cool to work with brilliant minds from the gaming industry, it keeps me young!
As you probably know by now, almost everybody on the Humanode team are game lovers. So, from gamer to gamer. What was your first love, and what is your all time favorite game?
Florin: Hmm I remember that the first game I played was Need for Speed Underground, but the first game I fell in love with was Cabal. I really enjoyed MMORPGs back then and this was my favorite! Currently I usually spend most of my free time doing a lot of research on mobile games, so I basically play a lot of mobile games, but sometimes, when I have the time, I go back to play some League of Legend, or World of Tanks.
Alex: This question makes me feel like I’m 100 years old, so let me think back… I think my first love and my nemesis was Counter Strike. I used to skip math classes to play, but then I almost got dropped out from the class because of that. But to be honest, through a twist of fate, I ended up learning to love math, and for some reason pursued a career in the numbers industry. So I guess I can say that gaming made me what I am today! I don’t really play games that much, but I have been playing a lot of CC, and am probably the loudest voice when it comes to pushing the team to fixing bugs or creating more content! I absolutely love this game!
Out of curiosity, What do you see as the current trends in gaming and where do you see the gaming industry going?
Florin: If we refer to gaming in general, current trends are still evolving towards games that are easy, fast, and enjoyable. People seem to want games in which you won’t have to spend hours playing them, but games that give you the dopamine rush needed to make you feel good. But yeah, when it comes to the hardcore gamers, yes, they still prefer the old and extremely challenging games, but all in all, a majority of the current market focuses on the casual games.
Alex: I am going to say something surprising to some. WEB2 gaming is on the rise, especially Mobile gaming. Think about it, there are over 8 billion active smartphones in the world and more than 2.8 billion casual mobile gamers. So yes, this industry is still growing. If we were to talk about Web3, we can say that it has had a rough time in the beginning. But little by little, cool games have been coming out, and I guess one could say that the bear market actually filtered some of them out, opening space for true contenders.
So, here is the big question. Even though you are in startup mode, your team is known for doing top notch work in the gaming industry. The titles you have worked on are clear winners. I am sure plenty of big guys wanted to invite you under their wings. Why did you choose to partner with Humanode?
Alex: We have to be honest, we have had more than 5 offers from various chains and Layer 1s. But for some reason, we just clicked with Humanode. It was the level of transparency, trust, and this family vibe that actually won us over. And I can already firmly say that we were not wrong. We see the Humanode team as mentors and they are pushing us to new levels every day. We want to become the biggest game in the Humanode ecosystem that we are sure will be attracting many projects, big and small, and yes, we want to grow to new heights together, and I know we will.
One of the biggest features of Humanode is how it enables Sybil-resistance utilizing private biometrics. What does Sybil-resistance mean to the gaming industry?
Alex: Sybil-resistance ensures that every player is real, blocking bots and cheaters from gaming the system. For us, it's about building fair and secure experiences where everyone competes on an equal footing. It's a big step toward a more trustworthy Web3 gaming environment. I really think that this will be a game changer, not only for the users, but it will fix so many of the issues that bogged down the Web3 gaming industry and the current Web3 business models.
Other than growing together, did you have any goals in mind when your team decided to join hands with Humanode?
Alex: From a game perspective, our goal with Humanode is to create a new standard for fairness and security in gaming. We're focused on developing more Sybil-resistant games like CC, where every player is real and cheating is virtually impossible. Moving forward, we want to bring more trust in the Web3 ecosystem where the scammers and cheaters will have no place, and change the perspective of the “normal” Web2 gamers by showing them that something amazing can be created in this space too!
Cool! So, can you tell us a bit more about CC? Who do you think will enjoy playing it the most?
Florin: First of all, we want to bring some new concepts into the market with CC, like focusing on a less inflationary model, and providing a safer environment. But from a game perspective, we want to make it look and feel like a normal game, with unlimited assets/NFTs, with low prices and high volumes, and a marketplace to trade them like a cs:go marketplace. If we check all our competitors, we can already see that CC has better graphics than any of them on a mobile device, and we aim to bring many more game modes to keep the retention as high as possible. Our main aim is to create games that are easy and fun to play, with a primary focus on mobile but with graphics that can be easily used for any other platforms. So yes, you can expect a PC version of our games on Steam or maybe even for consoles & VR.
Alex: Apart from that, CC is special because of the team. These guys have worked on more than a few Tier 1 and Triple AAA games, and have accumulated quite a bit of experience in the process. The target audience for CC is quite wide too. Actually my grandfather plays the game, this is not a joke, and he enjoys it quite a lot. People rarely guarantee things in Web3, but we do! We guarantee that you will love the game and you will be addicted to it.
Ok, last question! When do you plan to launch CC on Humanode? What should our readers do in the meanwhile while we wait for release?
Florin: As soon as possible! We're close to launching our official version soon. We have almost everything ready, but we’ll have to spend extra time on bug testing to make sure that everything will be perfect! So, unfortunately, we don't really have a specific launch date, but it’s going to be in the upcoming months. Until then, we have a beta version ready to be tested where you can train for our upcoming Survivor tournaments. You should be able to download it in either the Apple App Store, or Google Play!