'Nifty Island' NFT Game Launches Open Beta With Airdrop Rewards

Nifty Island—a new social multiplayer game with NFTs—officially launched its public beta Wednesday.

In the 3D game, players can complete quests, run around with friends, and build their own environments in real-time. Like Roblox, Animal Crossing, or Fortnite’s user-generated content (UGC) modes, Nifty Island players can customize the game world around them with buildings, foliage, and new terrain.

As its title suggests, Nifty Island is all about UGC islands. Every Nifty Island player gets their own free island space to redesign (no costly land plots here, folks). While some islands are sure to be more social and “chill,” players can also participate in higher-stakes games like capture the flag matches or battle royale modes.

Players can also collect items known as “blooms” to mint NFT rewards. A promotional video from Game Fund Partners General Partner Jonah Blake, who is working with Nifty Island under his agency banner, shows how the bloom collecting process works. 

Bloom rewards can be redeemed on Nifty Island’s marketplace for various NFTs like a DeGods-inspired Greek Parthenon or a Pepe-inspired green frog. 

These NFT rewards, which can be added to users’ islands, are inspired by a range of real NFT collections and other crypto brands like Pudgy Penguins, Moonbirds, CyberKongz, MetaMask, and countless others. 

In a message to Decrypt, a rep for Nifty Island confirmed that the game is taking a multi-chain approach, offering NFTs on Ethereum’s mainnet as well as Polygon and Coinbase’s Base network.

For the crypto-native, Nifty Island can feel like a home away from home—but those unfamiliar might be a bit confused by all the specific references.

A rep for Nifty Island confirmed to Decrypt via email that the game has officially partnered with over 120 different NFT collections, allowing the game to use their respective characters and brands to create inspired avatars and buildings.

“Our goal is to eventually integrate every NFT project and their communities into the Nifty Island ecosystem,” said Nifty Islands founder Charles Smith in a statement. “By creating a game world that is more accessible and rewarding for players, we believe we can unlock new use-cases for NFTs and propel them to become a leading method for distributing and monetizing user-generated content.”

Gamers can download Nifty Island for Windows or Mac computers—and login with a crypto wallet, an email address, or a Discord account. 

Nifty Island has also launched its “play-to-airdrop” campaign that’s now live through the game. Gamers who play the title, collect blooms, mint NFTs, and share their island links will be able to increase their future allocation of the game’s upcoming ISLAND token, according to a post.

“In today’s digital landscape, NFTs exist without many engaging experiences that bring them to life,” Nifty Island’s website reads. “Central to our ethos is our rejection of artificial land scarcity and the belief that Web3 can be the foundation for a better creator economy.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward