Oh so you thought that the governmental lockdowns are bad? 

Or that the second wave is going to drive you mad? 

Just wait until you step into my tenebrous catacomb: once you walk past the strategically-positioned spider web, you will get tangled like it’s 1977 and this is Hotel California. And yes, you may go back to the bathroom to empty your human bladders, but this pale vampire will give you “the look” – not the one that makes you feel ashamed of your interruption, but the one that hypnotizes you so well that even the MK-Ultra mind programmers would get jealous.

Now that we have taken these otherwise perfectly reasonable conditions out of the way and everything is crimson blood-clear, let’s talk about today’s guest.

Czino is yet another one of those folks who program minds with interactive digital entertainment. He’s not as effective as my vampire powers, but it’s always admirable to observe how mere mortals waste their limited time in this world trying to create something that will outlive them.

Anyway, I hear that Czino’s video game is about the two cats on the hot brick citadel upstairs.

They’re not really creatures of the night, so I don’t get to meet them too often. But it was thanks to their generosity that I was allowed to stay in this tenebrous catacomb and play with your fragile yet interestingly-resilient minds. So please do your best impression of enthusiasm, clap your hands for Czino, and then remain silent or else I’ll tell Sirius to play fetch with your collarbones.

Vlad: In the last few months you have invested so much time and passion in your video game project that your Twitter name is Czino.newGame(). What is your video game about?

And as the name suggests, there will of course be citadels emerging from the ashes of the old system. In fact, the game regularly checks the Bitcoin network and informs you about each new block that has been found. They then appear in your inventory and you will be able to build your own citadel block by block.

Vlad: How did you come up with this idea and why did you settle for the 8-bit aesthetics?

Czino: The idea of creating the game originated from reading the first volumes of Citadel21. I really liked the pixelart that Katoshi and Hodlonaut put in between the articles. Not only the pixelart but also the overall vibe of the magazine got me inspired. The citadel meme is very powerful and lets us dream of an interesting future. I want to capture that.

Making 8-bit games is also very restricting, I like being restricted in the options I have, it makes the development easier – although... sometimes I wish I had a few more pixels available to make some things look better. Another advantage of the low resolution is that it keeps the game small. The game currently fits into a single Bitcoin block.

Originally, I didn't mean to implement a whole story – indeed, my intention at first was to create a block explorer that lets you build a citadel in a Tetris-like fashion. Then, one night before falling asleep, I got the idea of adding a little Hodlonaut and it all came together: this is going to be an RPG!

Vlad: When the Sun goes down and Lucifer shines bright, you seem to be quite lover of the ear-pleasing arts. You have an extensive Soundcloud catalog which proves that you're a multi-instrumentalist and you also enjoy creating sounds. What led you down this path and how does it intersect with the video game? 

Czino: Oh yes, I have a great passion for music of (almost) all kinds! I fondly remember how Aphex Twin's Windowlicker kicked me down this rabbit hole in my late teens – his music blew me away! I wanted to be able to create sounds like he does and began to experiment and produce tracks of my own.

I am not writing songs nowadays but for the game I am playing with the midi sequencer again. Chiptune or 8-bit music is a real challenge for me, each note is very prominent. Also, creating a good atmosphere can be rather difficult. Luckily, we have accumulated a gigantic catalog of music throughout history. I found great medieval melodies, I had to incorporate some.

Did you know that Maurice Ravel's Bolero could have been the Overworld Theme to The Legend of Zelda? The game developers almost included it but they found that the copyrights hadn't expired yet. Luckily, Koji Kondo composed the iconic Zelda Theme instead, all in one day.

I am also thankful to your contributions, Vlad. I will make good use of 3 of your tunes.

Vlad: Are there going to be any vampires in your game? And if so, will they be friendly or will you add them as final level bosses?

Czino: I will only add vampires to the game that have a connection to Bitcoin, friend or enemy. You are a vampire, aren't you Vlad? Would you like to appear in the game?

Vlad: I’ll call my vampire agent and let you know. Anyway, what are your main sources of inspiration for retro video games and what kind of games do you enjoy playing?

Czino: As a kid I really enjoyed playing the Zelda and Final Fantasy games, their stories captivated me. I often dreamt of creating my own games. Ages ago, I used to make some on the RPG Maker, it was good fun but nothing serious.

I barely play video games nowadays, there's so much else to do, it's hard for me to find the time except for when I visit my family. There, my brothers and me often play Playstation late into the night.

I really like games that have no particular goal and play them sometimes as a form of meditation. I am a big fan of Noby Noby Boy and "Everything" for that reason.

Vlad: Will your game include Lightning microtransactions so vampires like myself can customize their capes, or is it the old-school "you only pay once and get the entire game" type?

Czino: I want the game to be available for free. I don't want to withhold it from anyone, and even if I wanted, it's trivial to circumvent any restrictions. I thought about the possibility to include Lightning payments inside the game but I cannot think of the right incentives yet. You will find USD and sats already within the game to acquire various items – but they are not real, of course.

For people who would like to contribute, I am considering a crowdfunding model in which I reimburse contributors by adding their personas to the game. I thought 50k sats would grant you an appearance as a non-playable character and 500k sats as a playable character.

Vlad: What is the spiciest narrative detail from the game's story, which doesn't spoil the action?

Vlad: If your game becomes successful, will you work on further expansions with new characters that join in the action and do complementary parts of the story? I'm thinking of something like Half Life: Opposing Force, where the action takes place from the perspective of the original's villains, or Half Life: Blue Shift where you explore the game as an aide from the original.

Czino: My game will probably involve that kind of work that is never complete. Especially not when it is about Bitcoin, so many things are happening right now that I can barely keep up. I have a lot of ideas for the game, but my time is very limited. I will first concentrate on the main part of the story and make the game publicly available. I can always roll out extensions afterwards if there's thirst for more.

Vlad: Which classic video games should we be playing to get ready for your game? Is there anything that would better prepare us for the experience?

Czino: There probably isn't a single game that could prepare you. I think any retro RPG such as Secret of Mana could get you in the mood. I have also talked with my brother about this, he is a very seasoned gamer. He owns almost every gaming console there is.

Vlad: Do you believe that Bitcoin will become an essential part in video games of the future?

Czino: It depends on the type of game, really. I don't think that every game will be a nail that fits the hammer. Bitcoin will most likely be essential in purchasing the game. When it comes to integrating Lightning payments; THNDR GAMES, Lightnite and MintGox are already demonstrating that Bitcoin can play a central and indispensable part in games. Shout out to Zebedee, they have developed an SDK for game developers that will make it simple to integrate Lightning payments into their games. Should I add microtransactions to my game, I will check out their solution first.

We are only scratching the surface so far. The main obstacle I see within the big gaming industry is, that they’d rather use GPay and ApplePay or include their own token/currency instead of integrating real digital money.

Steam used to offer Bitcoin as a payment method but dropped support due to high fees in late 2017. With the emergence of the Lightning network, they might change their mind again.

I would say that I’ll see you next time on Vlad’s Tenebrous Catacomb, but who am I kidding? You’re stuck here with me for all eternity and all your blood r belong to me. *evil laugh*