Success story: Team STEP’s accelerated Web3 game development with Apillon

Apillon’s Web2-like methods compensated for the deficiency of Web3 knowledge and automated the way games are hosted on a decentralized…

Apillon

Oct 5, 2023 • 4 min read

Success story #3: Team STEP’s accelerated Web3 game development with Apillon

Apillon’s Web2-like methods compensated for the deficiency of Web3 knowledge and automated the way games are hosted on a decentralized network.

The bigger picture
Problem: High threshold to Web3
Solution: Apillon’s Web2-like development methods
Decentralized storage and hosting just a step away

👉 Project: Team STEP
👉 Niche: Web3 gaming
👉 Apillon services and features used: Decentralized Storage buckets, Decentralized Hosting, API, CLI, GitHub Actions

The bigger picture

Team STEP is an international team that builds games in Unity and Godot, as well as tools, applications, and platforms.

To ensure their games are fully Web3 compatible, Team STEP needed to integrate a fully decentralized infrastructure and make the deployed applications unstoppable.

Learn more 👉 GitHub | Twitter | YouTube

One of Team STEP’s projects in need of a decentralized infrastructure was Witch One, a stealth, hide-and-seek game set in a medieval fantasy world.

Developing the front end and standard game mechanics was not an issue. What caused more head-scratching and consumed too much of the team’s time was the technical onboarding to Web3.

Problem: High threshold to Web3

At Team STEP, several engineers work on each game, however, only the lead developer understands in-depth the intricacies of Web3 infrastructure. Other development team members master legacy methods of Web2 but are not that familiar with Web3 architecture and its specifics. The high threshold to Web3 was slowing down the release trajectory of Team STEP games and, ultimately, their potential for success.

To accelerate the development process and make games hosted decentrally, Team STEP needed a reliable, turn-key tool that would compensate for the deficiency of humanly acquired Web3 expertise.

This is where Apillon stepped in…

Solution: Apillon’s Web2-like development methods

Team STEP switched manual code drilling for Apillon’s Decentralized Storage and Hosting services.

New game builds are now automatically deployed to Apillon Decentralized Storage through GitHub Actions, Apillon CLI, and API.

Automated decentralized game hosting, STEP-by-step

The transition to the fully Web3 back-end of Team STEP games was straightforward.

First, the team configured a static website hosted on Apillon via Decentralized Storage. The website is able to browse Web3 game deployment folders in Apillon Decentralized Storage buckets, where each build version is stored in a specific folder.
The static website allows developers to switch between different build versions and immediately test them in the browser.
The only thing the Team STEP developers have to do is deploy their Web3 game builds to GitHub, which triggers GitHub Actions. Apillon’s Decentralized Storage and Hosting CLI is configured to deploy the game builds into the corresponding folder and automatically includes them in the static website build switcher described in Step 2.

API, the way to Web3

By utilizing Apillon’s API, Team STEP’s developers set the complete Web3 game infrastructure in a way they are familiar with — using Web2 gateways, while reaping the benefits of decentralized hosting and file storage.

import { Axios } from 'axios'; 
import { ApillonDirectoryResponse, ApillonFileResponse } from '../types'; 
const API_ENDPOINT = 'https://api.apillon.io'; 
const IPFS_ENDPOINT = 'https://ipfs.apillon.io/ipfs' 
export default class ApillonApi { 
 private _apiInst: Axios; 
constructor(apiKey: string, apiSecret: string) { 
 const reqAuth = btoa(apiKey + ':' + apiSecret); 
// create a axios instance with all the base config 
 this._apiInst = new Axios({ 
 baseURL: API_ENDPOINT, 
 headers: { 
 Authorization: 'Basic ' + reqAuth, 
 }, 
 responseType: 'json', 
 }); 
 } 
public async getBucketFolderContent(bucketUuid: string, directoryId?: number | string) { 
 // todo: need to handle corner cases 
 const res = await this._apiInst.get(`storage/${bucketUuid}/content/${directoryId ? `?directoryId=${directoryId}` : ''}`); 
 const bucketItems = (JSON.parse(res.data) as ApillonDirectoryResponse).data.items; 
 return bucketItems; 
 } 
public async getFileDetails(bucketUuid: string, fileId: number | string) { 
 const res = await this._apiInst.get(`storage/${bucketUuid}/file/${fileId}/detail`); 
 const fileInfo = (JSON.parse(res.data) as ApillonFileResponse).data; 
 return fileInfo; 
 } 
public getIpfsLink(cid: string) { 
 return IPFS_ENDPOINT + '/' + cid; 
 } 
}

The code snippet above resumes calling Apillon API in Team STEP’s Witch One game (see more on GitHub).

Decentralized storage and hosting just a step away

By opting to streamline the development of Web3 game infrastructure with Apillon, Team STEP gained significant leverage in their go-to-market trajectory.

On the Apillon dashboard, you can do it too, and in a matter of minutes. In the menu on the left, navigate to Decentralized Storage and Hosting, and upload your game contents to a decentralized storage bucket.

If you wish to adapt Web3 Services more to your project’s needs and want to remain in control of your code, go with Apillon API, CLI, and SDK.

Upgrade your game, website, or app to a Web3 level without the hassle of manually researching and implementing the technology.

Simply upload, select, adjust, and deploy.

⧓ About Apillon

The Apillon platform serves as a unified gateway to the Web3 services provided by linked Polkadot parachains. Following the multi-chain vision, Apillon powers the transition of developers to Web3, simplifying its adoption in the real economy, and expanding its versatility as the ecosystem grows. With Apillon, Web3 services are within reach for every developer, regardless of their background and experience with blockchain technology.