By: Geeq  on Sep 24, 2024

All hands were on deck to build and refine the user experience for the Stacks App release targeted for late August. The team wanted users to feel free to create what they wanted in a fun and familiar environment. They were tasked with building an app to allow users to tokenize assets on the fly.

They also had to highlight the stacking feature: instead of a single static NFT or a dynamic NFT that depends on smart contracts or oracles, users had to have full control to add layers to a Stack whenever they wanted. The Stacks App signaled the beginning of self-service, continuous building of digital assets.

The Project Description

There were three major deliverables. First, the team needed to build the Stacks App to contain a playground for the users. The app had to work with multiple blockchains. The app needed to be designed so that users could create unexpected assets and see them registered on-chain exactly as specified. Accuracy is a hallmark of Geeq. The more unique the input—whether in image or metadata—the more we aimed to show users that tokenizing assets on-chain is safe, reliable, and convenient.

The Stacks App needed to provide a skeleton framework for developers looking to incorporate continuous and flexible asset-building into other projects.

Second, they needed to tokenize the user’s choices on-chain without disrupting the user experience. The challenge was to make the blockchain infrastructure seamless and invisible.” While users were entertained in the Stacks App, it also had to format and send each transaction (similar to a mint transaction) to the chain each time a layer was locked in. It also needed to update the asset in the user’s account.

Third, they needed to build a separate block explorer app and integrate it with the Stacks App, giving the user the option to track their progress on-chain at any point. For example, if a user created a Stack with a dancing hippo theme, they might be excited to check every layer: ballerina hippo, salsa hippo, etc

This three-component ecosystem (Stacks App, blockchain, block explorer app) provides a common language for app developers to envision how to use Geeq blockchain(s) in their own projects.

For instance, sections for storage and display were carved out so developers could easily direct them to their own choices. For instance, the pointer to storage could be replaced by a pointer to IPFS, a website, a database, or even existing NFTs on other platforms. Additional tabs could be reserved for activities like voting.

These were some of the decisions.

Environment:

• Two to three blockchain networks would be launched, potentially one for each VIP tier.
• One block explorer app would be developed. Each blockchain would be accessed by its own blockchain.
• A limit of 5-layers was placed on Stacks to collect data for QA and to put an upper limit on the number of calls to DALL-E.

Stacks Apps Integrations:

• Users would be asked to sign in with their discord handle.
• A Geeq VIP pass minted on Blast would be required. The team integrated NFTScan.
• The team investigated various AI integrations. They chose a standard integration with DALL-E.

Stacks App decisions:

• The Stacks App would hard-code different prompt and voting credits for each of the VIP tiers.
• VIP holders would be placed in the chain corresponding to their highest tier pass.
• Credits would be stacked for multiple VIP pass holders.
• Voting on-chain, while possible, would not be included.

Metadata decisions:

• The discord handle would be included as metadata.
• Users would be prompted to name each Stack.
• The metadata for each layer would be filled in automatically by the AI prompt.

Conclusions:

Building the Stacks App helped the team realize just how flexible the ecosystem could be. App developers were essentially unconstrained in what they could do. App developers were essentially unconstrained in what they could build. Still, key decisions had to be made for this specific Stacks App.

The team recognized there was a balancing act when combining Web2 and blockchain. On the one hand, Web2 users were used to playing on a website, leaving it, and coming back to continue where they left off because the website deposited cookies. Would they appreciate an ecosystem where we did not use cookies and respected their assets?

Meanwhile, Web3 users were used to friction. Many would use an app with no clear purpose except to see a change in their account on the block explorer. Should the team make the blockchain more visible to remind users it’s there? Would users view tokenization as a valuable activity if they were embedded in a more creative environment?

These remain open questions about the state of the market. As an exercise, it was important to establish that it was easy to move back and forth between Web2 and Web3. We looked forward to specific feedback on which use cases would resonate most with users.

We hope you enjoyed reading and, as always, we appreciate your continued support.

– The Geeq Team