ETHDenver was electric.

We distributed tens of thousands of cards, launched booster packs for the first time, shared Memethology on the big stage, and watched people rip packs like it was Christmas morn’ 🎁

Peep the overexposed highlight reel 👀

What can you do NOW?

• Join the Telegram (and try the new Card Creator!)

• Rip a digital pack - all new 3-card packs 🔥

• Play the game - rules and playthrough here

For years, booster packs have been the #1 requested product since the very first Infinite Garden cards. Seeing people buy handfuls, tear them open, trade on the spot, and hunt for foils? Pure joy.

Two of the one-of-one Secret Rares were claimed.

The VIP Captain Ethereum slabs were a hit…

One of my favorite moments: a player who spent all four days collecting every single card in the base set. Buying packs. Trading nonstop. Coordinating with strangers. By the end, they had the full set. Legendary behavior.

Huge shoutout to the ETHDenver team for building such a powerful arena for builders and artists. Truly grateful.

Also a special thank you to Base — Jesse ripped a pack and did a short interview with us (hopefully dropping soon 👀). That was a highlight.

And big love to our partners Zircuit and Dedaub, who sponsored custom cards. They had promo cards at their booths plus special edition foils for top contributors. Watching people run around the conference trying to complete the set felt like a live-action side quest.

At our booth, my brother Kinley (game design lead) and my mom (our legendary Mom-Manager™) showed up in full force. Family energy hits different.

My advisor and his son also joined the booth crew.

What’s Live Now

Digital booster packs are officially live.

Instead of opening one card at a time, you now rip packs of three cards from the latest ETHDenver set — with beautiful foils included.

We also rebuilt the Card Creator from the ground up. Some of you may remember the first version we launched two years ago.

This one is:

• Easier

• Editable

• Faster

• Fully integrated in Telegram

The range of cards people are making is wild. Pets. Family members. Meme lords. Full-lore Memethology characters. It’s chaos in the best way.

Check it out here.

Where We’re Headed

Next stop: ETHCC.

We also had strong conversations with organizers of other major conferences. Expect new sets, new drops, and more collectible chaos later this year.

Your Move, Anon

🤖 Join the Telegram and try the new Card Creator

🎴 Rip a digital booster pack

🃏 Play the game - rules and playthrough here

The world of Memethology is growing — and it’s way more fun when you’re in it.

See you soon.

Colton

And now . . . the ETHDenver lore cards:

(if you’re a business that wants cards. hmu 🤙)

Memethology is partnering with ETHDenver 2026.

Our largest set of cards ever will be distributed to 10,000+ people.

Watch this trailer for a peek at a few of your favorite ETHDenver-themed cards dropping in just two weeks!

On the Ground: How to Secure a Pack

We are bringing thousands of packs to Denver. Here is how to get one:

• Be Early: If you are early to the conference, you might just find a free pack waiting for you.

• Find the Booth: Miss the drop? We will be selling packs directly at our official booth.

• The Chase: We’ve included a number of Secret Rare Foil cards in this print run + new collector edition items and even uncut sheets!

Not in Denver? We’ve got you.

If you can’t make it to the Mile High City, you won’t miss out.

We are currently building in the Base Batch Incubator, and as part of that momentum, we are launching a Digital Pack drop alongside the physical event. You can collect and pull the new cards from anywhere in the world.

Don’t Miss the Drop

For real-time updates on booth locations and the exact time the digital packs go live, make sure you are following us.

• Follow Memethology: @MemethologyTCG

• Follow the Founder: @colton_art

See you in Denver (or onchain).

Best,

Colton

Housekeeping:

👉 Drop a comment here to join the Alpha Club for more community + content 🔮

Last week was a big milestone for Memethology.

Just a short time ago, we had an incredible stretch at Devconnect meeting players, collectors, and friends:

Then I went head down and finished our largest set yet.

162 cards. Ordered and printing.

we’ve got old favorites with new art…

All new legends…

Cards that were previously collectable only - now featuring abilities…

Original Infinite Garden TCG art new frames + Secret Rare variations (I love this one so much!)…

162 cards - and more coming!

I can’t wait to get these into your hands :)

This set has been quietly in the works for the last few months, and finishing it felt like crossing a real threshold.

We’re now set up to launch the physicals in Q1, alongside a significant partner I’m excited to share more about soon.

oh, and we were a Base Batches winner, so more digital packs will be rolling out too!

For the first time, the physical and digital sides of Memethology are properly converging.

With metta,

Colton

I just wrapped up one of the most energizing weeks I’ve had in a long time.

Between the battles, the trades, and all the Memethology TCG cards flying across tables, Devconnect BA felt like a celebration of creativity and community. But honestly? The real magic was the people.

Buenos Aires amplified everything — the late-night asados, the Malbec, the conversations with strangers who instantly felt like old friends. There’s something about this city - and the ETH community - that makes these events magical.

Similar to last year, the Ethereum Foundation gave me a space to share Memethology + other tabletop games.

Here are a few snapshots from the week:

If you were there and we crossed paths, played a match, or shared a great convo, drop a comment — I want to make sure I’m following everyone who helped make this week so special.

Onward 🌀

- Colton

PS: I cold plunged every day at Edge Patagonia. An actual photo of me:

I haven’t posted in a while, but a lot has been happening. More on that soon. Two quick notes for today:

1. Devconnect:

I’ll be at the Devconnect Games Corner (near Pista Central) every afternoon from 2–5pm this week. Come find me to hang out, play the game, and collect some cards! Sign up on the event calendar here.

2. Substack cadence:

Rather than posting weekly, I’ll just share Substacks when there’s big news. Why? Because time and attention are scarce, and I want to preserve your inbox for the bigger updates (like this one!)

Hope to see you soon 🙂

Colton

Happy Wednesday ☀️

We just shipped digital packs v0.1

Try it here

✅ Open packs → view cards in gallery

⚠️ Works in the new Base app + desktop browser w/ MetaMask on Base

💕 I’m building in public. lmk bugs you run into & features you want next

Devconnect

We’re going to have a table at Devconnect so people can play the game and check out the new app. If you want to play other tabletop games, drop a comment here!

Some shots from last Devcon:

Web app MVP

Focus is on making an MVP of the web app:

1. Slick pack opening experience with new 31-card pack every month

2. Growth mechanisms: Referrals, streaks, rewards for collecting all cards in a set

Features (what do you want next?)

• [ ] Gallery filters (rarity/foil/owned, unowned)

• [ ] Subscriptions: Patron pass. Maybe use Unlock. Gives users a free pack every day. Works great for Pokemon Pocket.

• [ ] Login with email (Privey sounds pricey)

• [ ] Countdown timer: each pack is only available for 1 month. #scarcity

• [ ] Free starter pack: Simple sybil-resistant solution could be to give each player the same three cards - it’s more about just giving new collectors a “wow” moment in the first few seconds.

• [ ] Switch to three-card packs. More generous - but does it feel good with small sets?

• [ ] Quests (basic growth mechanisms)

  • [ ] Referrals

  • [ ] Streaks

  • [ ] Reward for collecting all cards in a set

  • [ ] Reward Vibe Market collectors with promo cards

• [ ] Buybacks:

  • [ ] Option A: Vibe Market model,

  • [ ] Option B: Lottery using this

Vibe Market

I posed this clarification. tl;dr our app does not use Vibe Market at all.

I’m testing a Pokémon Pocket-style, low-cost collecting/subscription flow.

But I’m also planning to drop another Vibe Market pack soon…

With metta,

Colton

PS. raw Midjourney musings:

Haaaappy Tuesday frens,

Packs are available in closed alpha 🥳

I’ll be rolling out invites - comment here if you want in.

Merch

I ordered new Memethology-branded playmats for us to have at Devconnect! (vote on which is your favorite here)

I’m working on shirts/clothing now. If you have cool references for merch with a Memethology vibe, please drop it in the comments👇

Vision deck

I’ve been working on my vision deck and sharing it with friends. It’s been very valuable for clarifying the project, priorities, business model, growth mechanisms, etc.

Like I said last week, everyone should do this - whether or not you’re raising.

Some favorite slides (feedback welcome):

With metta,

Colton

p.s. if you want a peek into my life, check out my partner’s recent post on the community we’re living with in SF here

I’m feeling good about Memethology’s momentum. We’re like a lil’ Baby Gwei beginning to grow in the Infinite Garden 🌱

I spent the past week turning my vision into a clear strategy deck: market, business model, growth loops, etc.

This was extremely valuable.

Laying it all out forced me to pressure-test assumptions and sharpen the roadmap.

My girlfriend is also founding a company and we’re surrounded by founders here in SF so we’re constantly pitching to each other and getting feedback from people with far more experience. I’m very grateful for this network.

With a clear vision deck in hand, I felt well prepared for my meeting with Base this morning. It went very well and I’m excited to share more as that path unfolds.

Other things

• Started setting up a super lean Notion database for project tracking. Juggling tasks in DMs gets overwhelming fast…

• Thosmur and I had a fun livestream last week. You can catch the recording here. (got another livestream tonight in about 1.5 hours)

What we’re building next

Native boosters are coming soon :)

Epic work, Clementine 🫡

and remember you can catch the livestream tonight

With metta,

Colton

Feels like one of those “wet clay” weeks - the project is taking shape but not yet polished.

Some quick updates:

What we built

I say we ‘cause I’ve had some help recently from an amazing dev. She made this beautiful foil effect:

And this pack rip prototype.

Aiming to get these prototypes to you by next week!

Livestreaming

Livestreaming has been a ton of fun. Thanks to many of you for tuning in for live pack ripping and giveaways. I did one last week with 1300+ views and a second smaller one with my mom and brother. It’s a lot of fun and I’d love to have you drop in for our next one tonight (I’ll post it on X)!

High hodl, low fees

Memethology is still #2 on Vibe Market (second only to the big BNKR project). I’m happy about this because every day other packs pump then dump with Memethology and BNKR holding steady at the top.

The problem is I make money on transactions, and everyone is just holding my packs. But I’m confident sales will increase as people see the project grow, and the Memethology mini app provides additional revenue streams.

Positive tensions

Professor Dumpster was visiting our house the other day and we spoke about the challenges of being an artist/founder. It reminded me of the Eames’ motto “the best for the most for the least”.

As an artist, I want to give everything away.

As a businessman, I need to charge money.

I seek the middle path.

What we’re building this week

The main focus this week is shipping new paid packs on the Memethology app. We’re keeping the scope focused on a beautiful pack ripping experience (with lots of fun features to layer in next).

Cuts

• I dropped 3 cards every day for a week - it didn’t move the needle much but there are now a lot more cool cards in the Gallery!

• I decided to cut claim reward cards and focus first on just a beautiful pack opening experience. This will be used for reward cards, but also our own paid packs.

• Kinley and I discussed the project as a whole and decided to push the physical card sprint back. We’re excited to get back to it soon™.

With metta,

Colton

Hey frens,

This week’s progress:

The mini app is live! Works on Farcaster and the Base App (if you have an early invite). You can use your arrow key to flip through the gallery and read about the cards!

💕 I hosted the Vibe Market community call. Tons of fun speaking with creators and giving away packs. You can listen to the recording here or catch us Wednesday 10am PST

👟 I attended Onchain Summit in SF. It was one of the best conferences I’ve been to - small group of passionate people, poker nights, great food, custom sneaker merch - oh and Jesse loved Memethology!

😻 I’m putting the Super Secret Stray Project on the back burner for now - other things are higher priority

What I’m focusing on this week.

• Finish the mini app “loop”

  • Buy cards on Vibe Market (for now) (done ✅ )

  • View your collection in the Memethology app (done ✅ )

  • Claim reward cards (e.g. first 69 collectors get X, share Memethology to get Y)

  • Scope an improved pack experience - I want accessible $1-$5 packs (roughly 10x cheaper than Vibe Market)

• Physical cards

  • Kinley and I have a gameplay sprint on Friday

  • Friday prep: Figma, Sheets, project scope (done)

• Growth:

  • Plan giveaways (done ✅ )

  • Invite guests to this week’s Vibe Market call (done ✅ )

• Misc

  • I have a secret MidJourney related meeting 👀

DAO Roadmap

Yup, I said the D word. I’ve envisioned this as the endgame since I started working on it at Zuzalu in ‘23.

• Mini app: Rip packs, fill your collection, complete quests (mostly done ✅ )

• DAO V0 👉 Run a card competition - allows us to test the quality of user generated content (UGC)

• DAO V1 👉 If UGC is good, then DAO platform (all offchain, users submit new cards, community bets on winners, creators and backers get rewarded)

• DAO V2 👉 If the platform is fun, DAO V2 puts the process onchain and the first community-driven TCG is born ✨

And with the DAO, the unstoppable flywheel begins: Create cards and get rewarded for making the next Charizard > Invest in cards you think will be popular > top cards get added to digital packs, then later printed as physical cards

This creation/curation mechanism is already proven - it’s like pump.fun but for cards.

The DAO could grow a lot from there. Community funded projects, irl tournaments, and of course a massive token airdrop to reward all the early contributors cause hey it’s crypto fam ;)

misc reflections

My social media game has improved a lot. Since momentum picked up with the Vibe Market drop, it’s become much easier to build in public - and way more fun! I love doing giveaways, hosting community calls, and sharing progress now that there’s an audience. As a creative, this is a gamechanger. It’s SO HARD for many of us to share our work (there’s a well-known book on it).

On a separate note, I’m figuring out what to offer my wealthier patrons (where my whales at?). Past physical and digital drops have followed a Pareto principle - 80% of the revenue came from 20% of the buyers. This project would not exist without those patrons and early believers so I’m working on more special offerings for my Alpha Whales ;)

Somewhat related, with the current Vibe Market model, I have the odd problem of my collectors not selling. This is a problem because I only make money on transactions. If I had snatched up more of my early supply, I could be selling my own packs back for a big premium (the price has gone up 100x since launch). Lesson learned 😛

With metta

Colton

PS I’ve been carving out at least one night a week to just go deep with Midjourney. It’s such a thrill.

Yesterday I was interviewed on the Based Show. The account has 500k+ followers and it was a lot of fun yapping. You can find the recording here.

I had a great time sharing what makes Vibe Market unique and what it’s been like to be involved as a creator. The key takeaway is we’re going into another NFT bull run and if you want a taste of the hottest mechanism on the block…

👉 pick up a pack or follow my account for giveaways.

idk if it was the interview, but my packs doubled in value overnight and Memethology is currently back to #1 on Trending.

Updates since last week

Overall I’m happy with the state of the app. I didn’t finish everything on the list but I like setting ambitious goals. It constrains me to stay focused on what matters and ship 🚢

Here’s a preview of where it’s at

Up next

• I’ll be hosting the Vibe Market community call, come through to hear from top artists on the platform and win some free packs!

• I was also invited to the Onchain Summit in SF this week so I’ll be going there to connect and share my cards irl

• I would love to have V0.1 of the mini app out by Onchain Summit so people can claim a special card for testing the app

• I also want to move our Super Secret Stray Project forward (a collab I’m doing with Vibe Market artists)

Keeping it tight this week - back to the craft now 🎨😻🛠️

with metta

Colton

tl;dr

I launched on Vibe Market last week - it was very well received.

Today’s stats

• Market cap: $108,196.23

• Trades: 620

• Top card value: $499.60

Rip a pack here

This launch has been great validation, but it’s currently just a slot machine in the Defi Casino. This week, I’m building something to solve this.

New cards drop

But first! I’m adding 7 new cards to the set. They’re live now in the same packs here.

I’m also giving away free packs this week—drop your wallet address in the comments here.

and here’s a trailer for the new cards

And a quick one about me and the project

Memester Manual

Hat tip to the D&D Monster Manual.

I’ve been using Vibe Market for the packs and it’s an amazing hook—pay for a random card, easy instant resale—but it naturally favors speculation. I want stronger rewards for long-term collectors.

This week I’m going to build a mini app (think Pokemon Pocket) that rewards collectors for holding (not just flipping). Also have a nicer way to view your collection, card info, missing cards, and most of all…

Collector rewards. That means:

• Holders with ≥X cards get daily rewards (subscription-like utility).

• Complete sets to unlock limited-edition cards.

Scope (MVP):

• Link out to Vibe Market for packs

• Gallery view of your collected cards + progress bar

• Focus view with card stats + lore

• Collector rewards ✨

Features for later: In-app pack opening, social features, battle mode, trading.

Thanks

Hope you get some banger pulls—can’t wait to share the app next week. Definitely don’t expect onchain Pokemon Pocket in a week haha - it’s already a lot to ship… but I like big goals 😎

With metta,

Colton

PS

Scene at Frontier Tower’s robot fight #2 (featured on the news)

TL;DR

I just dropped a 12-card mini set on Base (via Vibe Market). I launched the pack 1 hour ago and with no promotion, the preorder is already at 39% 🤯.

Vibe Market is in EARLY ACCESS but you can get in with my referral:

👉 LINK

Video trailer

Watch the promo video here:

Why this drop?

I’m shipping small, fast experiments.

The two NFT drops I did last December were a success (5,000 mints and featured on Bankless), but the Party App user experience wasn’t cutting it.

Since then I’ve been building iterations of my own Pokemon Pocket-style app. The World mini app was one test, and I’m testing another on the new Base app (I got an early invite to build).

The Vibe Market team reached out to me and we quickly realized there may be a lot of synergy. They handle the tech—minting, randomness, and trading—so I can stay heads-down on art and design. Their contracts make every pull transparent, and the cards are open source by default, which fits one of my visions for Memethology.

The Vibe Market team is also very savvy when it comes to fun, compelling collection mechanics like instant buy backs.

The whole thing already works on desktop and mobile, but like I said it’s in early access so don’t be surprised by bugs!

What’s inside?

Each pack mints one random card with onchain rarity, foils, and wear.

• 12 Memethology designs

• Single-card packs (for now)

• Onchain RNG via Pyth → real rarity & foil / wear traits

• Price: starts super cheap around $0.20 and increases via bonding curve

How to collect

1. Visit vibe.market

2. Mint a pack and hit Open.

3. Share a screenshot of your pull on Farcaster/X and tag @colton_art

The road ahead

This mini drop is a stepping-stone.

If you like where it’s going, Vibe Market makes it easy to fork the frontend and build new features. I could add free daily packs, create a beautiful Memethology interface, and a sleek booster pack opening experience (WIP of the pack + animation in Blender):

Closing

So lmk what you think!

My goal right now is:

1. Create a fun digital experience so you can collect cards and give feedback

2. Launch a crowdfund for the new physical drop this fall.

With metta,

Colton

PS

Nico is hosting a 1-month creative residency as part of Edge City Patagonia.

Join us on this adventure! More info here

PPS

This past weekend, we were at FWB Fest, the “industry-defining emerging tech & music festival. A weekend of ideas, music, and experiences in Idyllwild, CA.”

When we weren’t dancing, we were making new frens and vibing:

Hey friends,

First off - this project has a name!

Introducing . . . Memethology

The previous name, Alpha, was temporary and it feels great to finally have a permanent title.

Honestly, I thought Memethology was clever at first, but it took a while to really grow on me. What really convinced me was how many “hell yes” responses I got from many of you!

So if you’re not super into it at first, let it settle. Then if you’re still not into it lmk what YOU would call it ;)

Memethology Mini App Launched! 💥

EDIT: I was about to say the World mini app is available! But then I saw my mini app was rejected due to a big bug.

rip 🪦

All good. Back to work we go!

With that warning out of the way, you can still check it out . . .

👉 go here (Note: you do NOT need to be “verified” on World, you can just make a basic account then download Memethology).

How it SHOULD work:

I updated several things since it scored 2nd at the World Residency—but it’s still very early.

🔑 What (should) work today

• One free booster pack every 24 h

• Referral link = extra pack for both of you

• V0 pack-opening animation (see GIF ↑)

🛠 Your mission (takes <60 s)

1. Rip a pack, pick your fave card

2. Screenshot it, post on X and tag @Colton_Art

3. Drop any bugs or ideas

I’m building this in public so don’t hold back on the critiques!

Cheers 🥂

Thanks for testing the app—excited to see what you pull!

…and for anyone not on World, I’m working on making packs available on other platforms too!

With metta,

Colton

p.s. Noah and I met Malik (center) who was painting this sick mural on Frontier Tower. Great mythic/tech vibes

🎉 Booster-Pack Giveaway

Congrats to this week’s winners!

Watch the video to see if your name pops up (no spoilers!)

I’ll email the winners directly and get those shiny cards in the mail ASAP. Huge thanks to everyone who joined the fun—your energy makes these drops worthwhile.

🐍 Lore Spotlight #1 – Roko’s Basilisk

Roko’s Basilisk began as a 2010 thought experiment on the rationalist forum LessWrong.

The cliff-notes version: imagine a future super-intelligent AI that decides anyone who slowed its creation is an enemy—and retroactively punishes them. Once you’ve heard of the Basilisk you’re caught in a “knowledge trap”: cooperate in building it, or face the consequences.

The meme quickly merged with broader “AI alignment” fears. Elon Musk’s famous warning that AI research feels like “summoning the demon” echoes the same anxiety that we might create something we can’t control.

In the Alpha universe, the Basilisk card embodies that existential dread—a colossal code-serpent that demands allegiance…or else.

🔥 Lore Spotlight #2 – Ether’s Phoenix

Karl Floersch (co-founder of Optimism) dreamt up Ether’s Phoenix as the antidote to the Basilisk.

Instead of punishing decelerationists, the Phoenix rewards anyone who helps the public-good ecosystem soar. That mindset powers Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RPGF) on the Optimism Superchain, where profits are recycled to builders who’ve already delivered impact.

• Impact = Profit. Optimism hard-codes this ethic: do good work today, and you can still get paid tomorrow.

• Real numbers. Since 2022, Optimism has distributed 60,815,042 OP tokens to onchain builders - that’s ~$41m 🤯

• The origin story. Hear Karl tell it himself on the GreenPill podcast

I got a chance to chat with Karl and he told me the Harry Potter nod is deliberate: Fawkes the phoenix blinds the Chamber-of-Secrets basilisk, letting Harry land the final blow. Likewise, Ether’s Phoenix is written to counter Roko’s Basilisk in both lore and gameplay—summon the bird, resurrect an ally, and watch hope rise from the ashes.

🤔 Why it matters

Both legends wrestle with a core question of our century: How do we steer super-powerful tech toward collective benefit? One tale motivates through fear, the other through coordination.

By turning them into playable myths, Alpha invites us to explore (and maybe reshape) that narrative each time we draw a card.

Hit reply and tell me: which side of the mythos resonates with you, and how would you mythologize alignment in our next set?

See you next week!

With metta,

Colton

p.s.

Explorations for other manifestations of Miss Alignment:

Hey friends!

Want physical cards shipped to you?

Here’s the deal:

This morning I had an idea—why not open some of these booster packs live and share the excitement with all of you?

Rip-and-ship streams have been blowing up lately, and they’re a ton of fun, so I decided to cook 👨‍🍳

Here’s me opening the very first pack on camera for my new friend Nico (who’s currently working on the very cool vibechain).

they got some nice pulls!

So… you want cards?

• Fill out this quick Google Form (just name + email)

• 3 winners will be picked randomly from the entries and I’ll make a video like this next week rippin’ their packs!

But… there’s another way!

Get 10 people to subscribe to this newsletter and you get a guaranteed pack! (limited to the first ten people).

So think of a few people who might love this project and…👇

Thanks for spreading the word and I look forward to ripping a pack for you!

If you’re new to the rip-and-ship world: I open the packs on video, share the pulls with everyone, and then winners can choose to have their cards shipped directly to them!

I can’t wait to share more packs with you all—good luck!

Behind the Scenes #FounderMode

The filming setup was… scrappy.

PVC pipes, a borrowed desk lamp, and my trusty iPhone hanging precariously overhead + unflattering up-the-nose angle

nice 😎📸

As a successful founder friend told me this week, “don’t be embarrassed about the scrappy early versions - they’re authentic and fun to share later on when you’re crushing it.”

Okay! But it still feels a bit vulnerable.

Card Transformations

Spent Sunday afternoon working on physical-to-digital card transformations for an upcoming trailer.

Quick Project Updates

• 📍 Detailed roadmap: I mapped out the next steps in preparation for our upcoming drop.

• 📚 Must-Read Recommendation: Make by Pieter Levels. This is an essential guide for any solopreneur journey—practical, tactical, and genuinely inspirational. Even just the TLDR at the top is gold. Also, don’t miss his episode with Lex Friedman. Shout out to my friend Ethan for reminding me of Pieter’s work!

• 🎨 Biggest Card Set Yet: We’re back to work on our next massive set, aiming for 200 cards. Being in San Francisco has been incredibly inspiring—ideas are everywhere here!

Thanks for following along—see you next week! And remember to share this email with friends for a chance to get a pack next week!

Share

With metta,

Colton

p.s. check this video the world’s first robot battle in the basement of Frontier Tower 🤖💥

THRILLING> INTENSE> BRUTAL> FAST PACED

gm Anon!

Ever heard this one:

Well then, call me a great artist 😎

Below are all the websites I “stole” from to make our new website!

👉 View it here

How I cooked 👨‍🍳

When I design - whether it’s art, games, or websites - I’m basically raiding the internet’s pantry and throwing the tastiest bits into one pot.

Ingredient 1 🍌 Pokémon TCG Website

I really loved their header section, and the animated card is super sleek (I'd love to add that too, but cut for now).

Ingredient 2 🍹 Glassmorphism

Glassmorphism is a web design aesthetic that uses translucent, frosted-glass elements that create a sense of depth and dimensionality—popularized heavily throughout 2021 due to its sleek, modern aesthetics.

I haven’t seen it used by games. And I knew my AI coding agent could easily make it look nice 👌

Ingredient 3 🥩 Magic the Gathering

While I'm super inspired by much of what Magic does, I was underwhelmed by their website.

However, their glowing orange button was very sexy - such a nice hover animation!

So I stole it 🤗

Bad ingredients…

It's worth noting many trading card games have surprisingly weak websites. Yu-Gi-Oh’s site is uninspiring and low res.

Even League of Legends' new Riftbound site, despite having polished art, felt very plain.

Final flavors 🍲

Put the ingredients together, and I was happy with the flavor 👨‍🍳 but it's your opinion that counts!

👉 so hit the landing page, wiggle the window, tell me if anything breaks.

As an artist, it’s hard to ever feel something's truly "done," but as an entrepreneur, I'm learning that "done enough" beats perfection every time. I felt that tension a lot during the website building.

Here’s the process I followed to make this website (including mistakes made).

Also, briefly:

✅ Continued talks with a new distributor and manufacturer + got my hands on physical prototypes.

✅ Started presenting decks to potential sponsors.

✅ Spent some weekend time updating the World App with daily claimable cards. Aiming for an official release in July.

Thanks for reading and for cheering on this indie-dev roller-coaster. Until next week—keep iterating, keep shipping, and remember:

every great work starts with existing ingredients 🥨

—Colton

p.s. ChadGPT 🔥

Hey fam!

Guess who just snagged 2nd place in the World Builder Residency at Edge Esmeralda?

Yep, it's ya boi—solo dev, artist, and founder 🙋‍♂️.

apperently I was so happy I literally started to glow:

I've entered plenty of hackathons before, usually walking away empty-handed because, well... coding was my nemesis.

But this time, armed with some fresh vibe coding skills, a sprinkle of patience, and tons of help from this incredible crew, magic happened ✨.

Spending this month building alongside the epic squad at Edge felt like the best kind of competition—like teammates in a championship game, everyone was there for each other.

all the projects crushed; seriously inspiring stuff all around. 1st place and 3rd place are 100% worth checking out

Here’s a peek at the app I made (taking inspo from Pokémon Pocket)

it's fully functional but not live yet. Watch this space for updates.

In other news:

🔥 November Drop Incoming! New cards are officially on their way to your hands. Get hyped—I sure am!

🎨 Alpha Cards No More! Been working hard on world building with one of the greatest fiction architects I know. The official name and fresh branding are coming soon™

🃏 Sponsor Packs! Been cooking up some sweet collaborations for DevConnect. Imagine ripping open booster packs instead of grabbing another boring conference tee. Yeah, way more fun

That's it for this week—I'm off to celebrate this silver medal with a victory lap around my laptop.

Stay legendary, friends✌️

Colton

This past week, I hit a breaking point.

As many of you know, I've been building a digital version of Alpha Cards and have been deep in the World residency at Edge Esmeralda. The project required juggling WebGL, mobile browsers, Stripe payments, WorldPay, and a ton of other web dev hurdles—things I had zero experience with.

It was brutal.

After days of frustration, long deployments, and endless debugging, I hit a wall. “I’m just an artist!” said the voice in my head. idk how to do this tech stuff.

I seriously considered quitting…

Instead, I pivoted.

I dropped the complicated WebGL setup and rebuilt the app from scratch as a traditional web app.

Suddenly, everything clicked. With help from amazing friends at the coworking hub, I got it (mostly) running for our “World's Fair” demo yesterday. (It was a hit!)

Two lessons from this rollercoaster:

1. Pivoting is powerful. It's not easy letting go of work you've poured time into, but sometimes it’s exactly what you need. Recognizing the right moment to shift gears can be transformative.

2. Surf the edge of tech wisely. This wave of AI tools is incredibly powerful, but it has limits and scope creep is still very real! Just lean into the strengths of AI, be patient, and you'll create something amazing that truly stands out.

Oh, and some exciting news—I've been asked to make exclusive packs for upcoming events (including a big October launch).

Instead of getting boring mugs or t-shirts, imagine getting booster packs with exclusive cards that you can play and trade with your frens - EPIC.

If you know anyone hosting conferences or events who'd love this, let me know!

Thanks for reading. Keep an eye out for more card images and behind-the-scenes updates coming your way.

With metta,

Colton

PS one of the video cards I’ve been posting on social:

Nice 😎

Now think hard:

Thank you for this very important vote ;)

Surprise and Delight

One of the best parts of this journey? Seeing kids and families loving these cards.

Billy wasn’t the only one having fun… Edge City co-founder Janine Ledger got some great pulls too:

Big Dev Energy

Locked myself in a room this week to push some serious updates. Huge shoutout to my friend Dipanshu—there’s no way this would’ve made it to production without his help.

I made him this song as a thank you :D

Payments Drama

Payments? They worked! Then I broke them. Now they’re working again! (Fingers crossed.)

Digital packs should be ready very soon—I just want to give the pack-opening experience a much-needed glow-up.

Right now, it’s pretty underwhelming:

The goal is to deliver a Pokémon Pocket-style experience—but without their aggressively extractive monetization.

As a kid, my brother and I loved Pokémon but often lost out just because we couldn’t afford the top-tier cards. That won’t happen here. This is all about building an inclusive ecosystem.

Daily Card Drops (and Collecting on Rodeo!)

I’m now posting daily cards on Farcaster, Rodeo, Twitter, Threads, and BlueSky! If you’re on Rodeo, grab new cards daily—I’m starting by sharing some older classics, but fresh ones are just around the corner.

Stay tuned!

–Colton