NFT Project
Overview
For the 2022 NFT Hackathon hosted by ETHGlobal, I created a randomly generated set of NFTs called Eggie Planet. It was a rewarding experience to learn how to compile unique traits, discover creative ways of minting, and create a smart contract to assign NFTs.
For context, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are a visual representation of stored data. While some NFTs are purely for collecting, the current trend is creating NFTs for future community building and buy-in. By owning a community-driven NFT, you are now directly connected to the company that created it and can influence future decisions, get access to early releases, and more depending on that company’s roadmap.
About
This project is meant to be a fun generative NFT art project exploring a world with adversities similar to our own.
It started with an eggplant because I thought eggplants were always a funny-looking fruit that's been misunderstood its whole life. In a society that judges and places stereotypes very readily upon others, Eggies embody that inner desire to feel like they are welcome and that they belong.
The story takes place in a galaxy (far far away, obviously) where Eggie Planet is shunned by all the other planets because they don't believe they belong. Eggies wear many hats in hopes of assimilating, but will eventually realize that they should just be themselves.
Process
Created unique traits using component variables on Figma
Set rarity scales for each trait
Randomly generated NFTs using a repository by Hashlips
Uploaded NFTs to IPFS ready for smart contracting
Started community building
Designing Eggie Planet
I started out with some rough sketches on Procreate to figure out the shape I wanted as a base as well as what traits I wanted to vectorize.
Using my sketches from Procreate as a template, I created over 110 different traits and grouped them into component variants that can be randomly combined in Figma to test out each layer. Each component had to be ordered in a specific way so the layers don’t overlap each other when generated.
Ready to mint
Using Hashlips’ repo, was able to include a rarity scale for each individual layer once I exported them from Figma. This helps create different levels of rarity once they are generated and makes certain NFTs more coveted than others. Once they were all imported, I ordered them based on how I wanted them to be layered, updated the metadata, and ran it to create 1,000 unique NFTs.
In order to solidify a minting process, I uploaded the images generated to IPFS using Pinata and updated all JSON files with their unique URI to prep the files for smart contracting.
You can find the Hashlips tutorial I used here.
Building a community
The most challenging part about creating an NFT is figuring out how to build a genuine community and hype around it, especially when there are so many competitors in the space. I started by creating platforms on Discord, Twitter, and Instagram and figuring out what brand identity to embody.
The crypto community is a lighthearted, meme-friendly space, so I created engageable content to start generating hype. The next steps would be to encourage user-generated content, similar to what we see with popular NFTs such as Little Lemon Friends and Doodles.
What I learned
There is so much untapped potential for NFTs and how we create community buy-in for a grander vision. Owning a piece of art is now more than just collecting, it truly becomes a part of your identity and your contribution to the brand. Once we get more mainstream adoption, it will truly transform the way companies operate and decentralize how decisions get made.
I’m thankful for everything I’ve learned during this project and for getting my NFTs live for public launch. If you’d like to check it out or mint an Eggie yourself, please visit the minting site!