Sit down with Eden’s 7
Written by: MoodyM {@Moodyx_M}{@blockburnouts}
Introduction from my POV
MoodyM: What excited me most about writing this article is the fact that I have been so immersed in the community prior to publishing. For the past month or so, Edens has been the community I have been active in most simply because of how much the team loves working on the project, and how vocal the community is around the project, the artwork, and the story behind the NFTs.
Navigating through the twitter and discord, it is evident that the lore and story play a huge role in this NFT community; with the origin, and the kings challenge, hosted on the server where community members compete for the right to the throne. Being as early as it is, the project hosts daily twitter spaces to communicate what they’re building to the community and listen to feedback on what they’re most excited about and want to see from the project itself; allowing members to shape the project they are apart of.
Interview/Background info on the team
MoodyM: “Who was Eden before NFTs?”
Eden: “I am 31, a software architect by trade, and i’ve been in the IT industry for over 10 years now. Outside of that, I’ve always been highly creative…and a massive manga/gaming/art nerd.
Bringing NFTs into the mix, not too much has changed, besides the fact that i now have a proper outlet through which i can channel all of the built up ideas that have been amassed in my head over the course of 20+ years.”
MoodyM: “What was the first NFT collected/what was your first Cardano NFT?”
Eden: “My first NFTs were over on Ethereum. I started my crypto journey in February 2021. And around April, i purchased an NFT from a project called Crypto Beasties…i believe it was done to qualify for a whitelist on a project called “Chain Guardians”, but besides that, i really did it just to dip my toe into the new technology. It was fun learning how to buy an NFT for the first time. As far as Cardano goes…my first CNFT was Clay Nation.”
What made us want to do the article?
MoodyM: “What inspired me to cover this project was how well thought out the storyline and community involvement was. The artwork catches the eye of the collector, as you read into the story behind the world you start to become your NFT, and the world being built and involving the community in every aspect of the project through twitter spaces/discord is simply the icing on the cake.”
Interview about Edens 7 specifically
MoodyM: “What inspired the team to create Edens7 on the Cardano blockchain?”
Eden: “I would say 2 main things: The community…and the level of accessibility versus Ethereum. Not having to worry about crazy contract creation fees, or high prices on just about everything over on ETH allowed us to simply focus on what we wanted to create.”
Let’s build some background..What is Edens7?
Eden: “Eden’s Seven is a story driven NFT Based Universe, where we are exploring the core concepts of…
NFT Interoperability (Evolving NFTs)
Story Driven Development
Gamification of community and NFTs
We are building an RPG style game world (think Gameboy JRPGs circa 2000–2010) which will be the central location for all our holders to interact with the story/project within.”
Is mint still ongoing?
Eden: “Yes, the mint is still ongoing. We are chugging along smoothly, and really actually focusing on rewarding and developing for our community. That’s really where we believe it all starts. If your community is happy and sticking around, then it is only natural that new attention will come with that after the fact.”
What is the total supply/mint price?
Eden: “Our Season 1 (Children of Mir) is minting at 50 ADA, with a total supply of 7,777”
MoodyM: “Tell us about how the artwork came about?”
Eden: “If we were to describe our art style in a phrase…it would be “Simplistic Complexity” in that we have opted to keep a generally simple overall aesthetic with touches of detail. Specifically in our body clothing pieces and weapons.
A great deal of thought has gone into the following:
- Specific trait choices
- Ensuring a high level of cohesion with the overarching story we have laid out
- The range of variety displayed in our trait set
- Making each NFT, whether common or super rare, both expressive and unique
- Special touches (For instance, you will notice that our NFTs all float within the frame… or that we have looked for interesting ways to emblazon the figure 7 across most of our traits)
One of the most important things to us when we were building our Season 1 Collection, can be summed up in the form of the question…
“When a collector sees our NFTs for the first time, how do we want them to feel?”
…and in a few words, we wanted to foster a sense of:
Nostalgia — the team at heart, fell in love with the worlds of anime, gaming and fiction and the project was very much made for collectors with similar experiences.
Intrigue — How do the traits of my NFT tie into the story i’ve just read? We really wish that as we continue to build on the story, little easter eggs and reveals will prompt our holders to continue to discover and pick apart all of the creative choices we have made along the way.”
MoodyM: “What is Edens7 doing NFTs differently than other projects on Cardano?”
Eden: “We focus on the following:
Content. We see ourselves as Content Kings within Cardano. Everything we do is about packages, and if you look at any of our video content as an example, it will be clear.
Story Telling. It is our hope that through our detailed and rich, imaginative storytelling style, we will be able to quickly become much more than just an NFT collection. We really want holders to fall in love with characters, rather than just the NFTs they hold within their individual wallets.
NFT Interoperability. Our roadmap and general plans have many of outside the box elements, aimed at making our NFTs more than just PFPs. Evolving NFTs, companion NFTs that work together. Effectively bridging the gap between gaming and blockchain in a way that is fun and thought provoking. That’s just a few things that we have in store.”
MoodyM: “What is the vision behind the adventurer store/item upgrades/mir token?”
Eden: “I really like to think and create based off “systems”. Things that you can set in place, that make it that much easier to build and expand upon down the line. In both a flexible and scalable manner.
Adventurer Store — This, in combination with our project token, will allow us to satisfy two key factors. Firstly, we can continue to create after our initial collection is sold out. New items. Project benefits for holders. The sky is really the limit. Our holders should not only be looking to buy from the traditional secondary markets. They should be excited to continually have new ways to engage with the project itself.
NFT Upgrades — We come from a time where in games especially, every single new item you found, would give you this sense of awe and achievement. We want to replicate that by allowing holders to collect and receive standalone items, outside of the S1 collection…that they can then go and use with their NFTs to simulate “equipping” or “upgrading”. This will allow our holders to feel like they are growing with us…as well as being a way to stay relevant over time as art styles and project demands evolve.”
MoodyM: “What do you believe are your biggest strengths as creators?”
Eden: “The ability to weave storytelling into everything that we do, the speed and quality of our work in general — whether it be collabs or general project art work, and our Video capabilities.”
MoodyM: “What has been the biggest obstacle your team has had to overcome in the NFT space?”
Eden: “Adapting and maneuvering in a time where there are new projects every day, and really knuckling down on the elements of marketing required to stand out in the 2022 NFT market.”
MoodyM: “What developments can the community look forward to in the near future for Edens7?”
Eden: “Our Project Token — The MIR token. This will be initially made available to our community early April (based on how many Eden S1 NFTs you hold) It will be redeemable for a number of interesting project benefits (New Items, Borders/Color Changes/Special NFTs etc)
Project Eden (Name TBC) — Our RPG Game world hub. This is going into Open Beta within our community in May.
…and generally, one of the best NFT stories that you will ever come across :).”
What does the community enjoy the most about the project?
This is where Blockchain Burnouts likes to get a community opinion on the project as a whole. What brought them to the project? What is something that excites them about the project in the future? As an NFT creator, your community is everything, it is the foundation that you build the brand off of, so taking time to listen to what excites them/what initially brought them to the project is critical.
ShearMadness: “My favorite thing about the project is really simple. Every adventurer, sometimes immediately, tells me a story. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story and the project grows organically. There are many irons in the fire.. a game, mini games, Mir token, weapon upgrades etc, but I think Eden’s Seven is great with just the art and the possibility to grow the story.”
Austin: “The artwork is what brought me to EdensSeven.. it’s very unique and caught my eye right away and the community is what kept me here, they were very welcoming and helped me out quite a bit since I was new to the NFT space. I’m very excited for the upcoming RPG game and for the item and weapon store/upgrade system.”
Closing thoughts
MoodyM: My NFT journey has taught me that NFTs are basically three fold; artwork, community and utility, with each complimenting the next. You start with the artwork (leaving out the Edens specials because that’s basically cheating lol) it is very apparent that Pride took his time developing every attribute while collaborating with eden on how they can incorporate the art into the story.
Next.. the community. It is an overall small community still, however the only issue I see with that is it just hasn’t reached the whole CNFT space yet due to the volume of projects launched. Edens has a strong base community with members and kings challengers alike who tune into the discord to talk CNFTs, as well as a daily twitter space where it seems like over half the attendees are rocking Edens.. not something you see everyday.
Finally.. the utility. With the game still in development, we are teased with how our Edens are being pixelated for a Zelda like game style. One utility that is massively overlooked is the adventurer store, where using their ecosystem token, “Mir”, you can upgrade your NFT and purchase new items to be used in the world.
Combining all of those factors, it seems like a sleeping giant awaiting to reach the full audience base of the Cardano NFT space. If the project continues to develop and engage the community like it has been doing since launch, personally I believe it is just a matter of time.
