I've been playing Neon District for a few weeks on and off between writing projects. Everything is pretty straight forward, and there are quite a few articles online about how to play it. I've noticed a serious increase in active players in the last week alone, so who knows what new things the developers might implement.
NFT games
Since the success of Axie Infinity there have been more and more NFT-based games popping up. Most games are past the point of building a small and dedicated fanbase, and are now requiring some hefty startup NFT or crypto purchases just to play. I was looking at one game that was auctioning off "starter" ships on the marketplace for tokens equivalent to the price of $322.50 USD. That price isn't too unreasonable for some players, but I would prefer to try a game out before sinking real money into it. I found Neon District by cruising through articles on Publish0x; and I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm not saying that this game could make you rich. But it is an opportunity to snag some potentially valuable item NFTs if it takes off. The developers have been pretty open with the fact that this game is still undergoing some changes. It could possibly mean the free aspect of it might go away.
I have already collected a few NFT armors and weapons and have searched for similar items listed on OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs. One legendary armor of the same type and rarity that I collected yesterday is listed for sale at around .15 Ether ($464.66 USD at time of writing this).
FYI, this is NOT my listing.
Zeno Enforcer: Renegade, legendary armor, for sale @ OpenSea
NFTs are getting huge
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are here and they can be big income if you can get some before the rush hits. Does anyone else wish that they could have snagged a few CryptoPunk NFTs easily before they skyrocketed in value? I sure as hell do.
Starting out
1. Go to the game portal and create an account. https://portal.neondistrict.io/
2. After signing up for an account, the game has a short tutorial that has you purchase 4 characters with the in-game currency "Neon" (which you have 400 of at the start).
3. Create your cyber-goons and get them to start delivering pizzas to earn more Neon and get those NFTs!
Here are a few things to remember:
1. There are 2 kinds of deliveries that you can participate in.
-Tier 1 is automatic and purely PvE and you CANNOT get ambushed by other crews. It earns less Neon but it is a safe thing to have your pizza goons doing when you are sleeping.
-The other type of delivery is Tier 2; it pays about 3x MORE Neon, but you can be ambushed successfully at least once with each individual delivery. What that means: If the enemy ambush is successful, they will take half of your accumulated Neon for that delivery, so you should "bank" the Neon you earn on each run you complete. I usually set an alarm on my phone to remind me to collect the Neon, or else it can get stolen.
2. Ambushing. You can select pizza delivery teams to attack while they are making their rounds and steal half of the Neon that they are carrying. This aspect of the game is very competitive, because as a newbie you will not have equipment like armor or weapons and you will need to build up some Neon through safe deliveries first.
3. Alternate between buying equipment crates for 500 Neon (with a decent chance for higher level NFTs), upgrading your equipment, and levelling up your "cyber-goons" buy purchasing "juice" with Neon. All of these things will increase your combat power and allow you to defeat other players easier.
4. Final tip: I found that playing on a PC to ambush is much easier than using my phone or tablet. It is much easier to click on other pizza delivery teams to ambush and it refreshes a little faster; often I'll click on a team to attack and be informed that someone already did it first.
I love that Neon District doesn't require a huge time investment because it takes about 8 hours to complete a pizza delivery "shift". Also, there is a limit to the number of times you can ambush other delivery teams. It was a bit of a rough start because you start off with enough "neon" currency to have only 4 fighters and zero equipment, but after a bit of a grind and some patience I was able to make some headway and earn some rare armors and weapons.
Pizza Dough Recipe
I make pizza dough EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. My kids will get seriously pissed off if I don't do pizza on the weekend; their go-to toppings are cheese and meatballs. My wife likes chorizo and mushroom and pretty much anything other than green peppers on hers.
I developed this recipe during the quarantine during the first few months 2020 and have been using it non-stop ever since. This recipe makes a ****load of pizza.
6 cups standard flour
2 cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
1.5 TB dry active yeast
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
-Stir sugar into warm water and then gently stir in dry active yeast, let it foam for 5 minutes or until you see the yeast activating.
-Add yeast and water to a mixer with a dough hook, or add to a large bowl if you are making dough by hand.
-Add the salt to the yeast mix.
-Gradually mix in the flour, cup by cup and drizzle the olive oil into the unmixed dough.
-Work the dough either in the mixer or by hand until it is smooth and elastic. About 10 minutes.
-Place in a very large greased bowl and cover; let rise for 1 hour until doubled in size.
-Use immediately OR you can keep for a few days in the refrigerator. If you refrigerate the dough, make sure it warms up at room temperature for an hour before you use it.
Thank you for reading! Let me know if you try out Neon District or if you have a favorite NFT game in the comments below!
