Pixels Web3 Game: The Definitive Beginner's Guide (UPDATED)

What Is Pixels?

Pixels is a Web3 social gaming platform on the Ronin Network, blending farming, exploration, and community building in an open-world universe. Emphasizing a community-focused approach, Pixels builds alongside its users, on a mission to become the biggest Web3 game and further transform the gaming industry as a whole.

Key Takeaways

• Pixels is an idle farming blockchain-backed web3 game, with a Free-to-Play option, utilising an off-chain currency called Coins, and an on-chain currency called PIXEL.

• Pixels is powered by the Ronin Network.

• Participating in gameplay and earning in-game Coins will allow players to advance further and faster in the game, as they can buy more items and level up their skills faster. 

• Using their Coins advantage, players have more opportunity to earn PIXEL on their task board

• Players have the option to buy their own NFT Farm Land NFTs on the Mavis Marketplace or OpenSea, as well as Pixel Pet NFTs on the Mavis Marketplace.

Pixels Overview & Ronin Partnership

Pixels maintains one of the largest player bases in Web3. As of April 5th, 2024, the game sees over 700k daily active wallets, boasts 280k+ X followers, and has a thriving Discord community with 253k+ members. 

On February 19th, 2024, the Pixels Foundation released its highly anticipated token, PIXEL, on Binance, which became the 10th most traded cryptocurrency in its first trading week.

In October 2023, Pixels moved to the Ronin Network, a strategic decision aimed at boosting growth metrics. This move was described as a partnership strategy to align Pixels with the top Web3 gaming companies, benefiting from their expertise and advice.

“[The] move to the Ronin Network was a strategic partnership to align [Pixels] with the most successful Web3 gaming companies to-date, allowing the Pixels team to benefit from their depth of knowledge and guidance in the space.”

Since the transition to the Ronin Network, it has gained over 1.2 million daily active users, ranking as the 2nd most used blockchain.

Pixels is gearing up to launch Chapter 2, an update poised to transform the gameplay by introducing tiered resources and enhancing Guild-based gameplay. These major updates will significantly alter how resources are managed, emphasizing the critical role of Guilds.

What Is Pixels Gameplay Like?

Pixels has built itself to become a social platform, which has taken a lot of inspiration from Stardew Valley and other MMOs. Gameplay includes integrated NFT PFP collections, idle game features, much like Axie Homeland, Bitmate, Animal Crossing, and so on. Players are given ONE avatar to farm resources, cook food, buy/sell/trade goods, own their own plots of FARM LAND, own their own Pixels Pets NFTs, etc. There are also community building features which can be found from their recently launched Version 1 of the Guild System. 

The game aesthetics are very cute and you can personalize your own Pixels avatar. It was very fun to be able to recognize some of the avatars from various NFT projects. 

You will enjoy this game if:

• You love the community spirit;

• You enjoy idle games and personalizing aesthetics (your avatar and FARM LAND);

• You enjoy competing to be listed on the Leaderboards;

• You enjoy owning your own land, decorating it, levelling it up and hosting players at your land. 

The following Beginners’ Guide will help set out the map, tell you where you can find the NPCs, what skills/gameplay you can expect at each location. We will color code key words based on the following color scheme: (1) BLUE for LOCATIONS/LANDMARKs, (2) GREEN for NPCs (Non-Playable Characters), (3) RED for SKILLS, and (4) PURPLE for in-game ITEMS.

1. Beginners Tutorial and Quests

Pixels has a beginners tutorial via the form of QUESTs, which introduces the skills and locations to new players. Players first meet BARNEY when the game starts; he is the first NPC who will teach players the basics of FARMING.

Other than the first few QUESTS, subsequent QUESTs are not automatically triggered – also do not expect hand holding, as this is an adventure/exploration style game. Players have to randomly approach NPCs to trigger more QUESTs. Usually players would be then told to find particular particular NPCs and have to do a bit of ‘treasure hunting’. For example, players would be given a vague location (e.g. “SW of Terravilla”) on where to find the NPCs. When stuck, do not fear, the Pixels community is a great resource for guidance and are eager to help you progress in the game. 

2. Navigating the screen

The following are the key gameplay buttons available to you to navigate the game. 

Pixels gameplay runs on 3 main points/tokens, which are key to managing while playing Pixels, (1) ENERGY,  (2) Coins and (3) PIXEL. 

You can access your Speck, Bookmarks and Lands from the (4) Lands/Bookmarks Tab and access your Pets from the (7) Pets tab.

You can also customize your Avatar on the (6) Player tab.

3. ENERGY – Your Most Important “Limited” Resource in Pixels

You need ENERGY for nearly everything in Pixels. For example:

• It takes 2 ENERGY to start 1 cycle at the APIARY (BEE HIVE) to get 3 POTS OF HONEY;

• It takes 2 ENERGY to sow POPBERRY seeds, 0.5 ENERGY for each time you water the seed, and 1 ENERGY to shear the plant – i.e. on average it takes 3.5 ENERGY to harvest a POPBERRY which is one of the many types of crops;

• It takes approx. 8 ENERGY to start 1 cycle at the MINE to get 3 IRONITE;

Every activity saps your ENERGY and therefore you need to manage your ENERGY while playing Pixels. Without ENERGY you will not be able to do much, and at 1 ENERGY your avatar will move pretty slowly. 

ENERGY slowly regenerates throughout the game, however waiting solely for ENERGY to regenerate can take ages. You will gain 19.8 ENERGY per hour; that's approximately 475 ENERGY per day. Thankfully, there are more efficient ways to boost ENERGY.

• Boost ENERGY at the SAUNA: The easiest place to gain ENERGY. Each cycle gives you approximately 240 ENERGY points per day – it can be pretty slow, but it is still better than nothing, although you must remain online. Once you’ve restored all the allocated 240 ENERGY for the cycle, LUKE will tell you when to return. If you come back earlier, you will still be told how much longer you'll have to wait before you can reenter.

• Note: If you are a VIP, you can walk into the VIP SAUNA room to gain 480 ENERGY every 8 hours. Just click on the coals and be on your way! You can buy Pixels VIP Status using PIXEL  and the VIP BOOTH can be found towards the bottom left of the Terravilla Town Square. 

• Boost 50 ENERGY with an ENERGY DRINK: each ENERGY DRINK will give you 50 ENERGY. You can get ENERGY DRINKs via 3 main methods:

  • Buy ENERGY DRINKs at 250 BERRY / ENERGY DRINKs at THE BUCK’S GALORE;

  • You can purchase ENERGY DRINKs cheaper at the marketplace P2P or 

  • If you keep your chat open, some players may offer to ‘trade’ (sell) ENERGY DRINKs at a cheaper price to you.

     

• Boost ENERGY by consuming foods or drinks that you cook yourself or buy from other players; you can gain ENERGY from consuming foods and/or drinks. You can refer to the Pixels DATA website ENERGY table to know how much ENERGY each food and/or drink yields: https://Pixelsdata.xyz/energy/. 

• Boost ENERGY by attending parties: check the EVENT CALENDAR for parties, when the crowds gather for the said party ENERGY will be given to attendees. These are an example of the parties held previously.

4. Coins – Your In-Game Currency in Pixels

Coins are Pixels’s in-game utility currency used to buy resources, tools and Speck Lands. There is an uncapped supply, based on an inflationary model, to allow for Free-to-Play. Pixels will manage the supply of Coins via a few levers;

• Controlling regeneration supply of resources;

• Controlling regeneration times of resources; 

• Controlling the inputs required to craft/harvest/etc. resources/items; 

• Controlling the number of outputs each craft/harvest/etc. per cycle;

• Controlling the ENERGY/effort to craft/harvest/etc.; and

• Controlling/removing/limiting in-game items.

While Coins cannot be directly converted to PIXEL nor sold on any exchange, there is still a valuable need for Coins. Coins are necessary to progress within the game, and acquire the materials and resources needed to earn PIXEL. 

5. PIXEL – The Premium Token in Pixels

PIXEL is the premium token used in Pixels. Currently, PIXEL has been used for creating and joining guilds, Pet minting, VIP, to purchase coins and some small Premium Features. Much more is expected to come in Chapter 2 with Speck Upgrades, items like the Infiniportable, and other Premium features!

$PIXEL listed on Binance on February 19th, 2024. You can get more information about PIXEL at https://www.binance.com/en/trade/PIXEL_USDT.

6. Pixels Terravilla Map

The table below will describe the locations, which NPCs you can find at each LOCATION and if there are any skills/actions/gameplay you can do at the location. 

7. Pixels SKILLs

The table below lists the skills available for gameplay in Pixels, currently there are approximately 15 SKILLs to be leveled up on.

The BERRY quoted at the prices below are the prices you will find to buy the items at BUCK’S GALORE; you might be able to get better pricing in trades with other players. 

For more information: https://pixelsdata.xyz/skills/ or https://web3triads.com/skills/

8. Pixels Basic Quests

The following list are the QUESTS which I have triggered, however the last few have not been completed. Click the ‘for more information’ link below for the extensive QUESTs list. 

For more information: https://pixelsbase.xyz/quests.

Tips: https://web3triads.com/quests/limited-quests/ 

9. Other Gameplay

Besides completing quests, players can also earn BERRY by selling items or exploring the Carnival. 

9.1 Shop: Earn COINS Selling Items at THE BUCK’S GALORE

Make profits by selling items that you create at THE BUCK’S GALORE.  Below is an example Task Board, and it resets daily. Aim to do the kind of skills that are listed so you have a plan for the day! Each completed activity earns you a new one within 5 minutes.  

9.2 Buy, Decorate, Invite and Level up Your Own NFT FARM LAND

You can buy your NFT FARM LAND on OpenSea, or even the Mavis Marketplace, and develop and decorate it to your liking. There are currently 5,000 lands in total – a limited supply.

Source: https://www.pixels.xyz/ 

Here are the benefits of owning your own NFT FARM LAND:

Source: https://pixelsdata.xyz/farm/ 

Key Information about Land Plots:

• There are three types of lands, REGULAR LAND, WATER LAND and SPACE LAND. 

Source: Youtube - Player_w3: “Everything you need to know about NFT Farm Land in Pixels”

• Each type of land comes in two sizes: LARGE LAND PLOTs and SMALL LAND PLOTs (100 BERRY). 

• Other than the generic seeds and resources, each land allows players to harvest special resources and seeds specific to the land type. 

  • WATERMINT can only be planted in WATER LAND PLOTS.

  • SALT BLOCK can only be drilled in WATER LAND PLOTS.

  • ASTRACACTUS can only be planted in SPACE LAND PLOTS.

  • VOITONIUM can only be drilled in SPACE LAND PLOTS.

• LARGE LAND PLOTs allow up to 60 SOIL PLOTS for FARMING, and 4 Industries. 

• SMALL LAND PLOTs allow 48 SOIL PLOTS for FARMING, and 3 Industries. 

Source/For more information: Youtube - Player_w3: “Everything you need to know about NFT Farm Land in Pixels”

9.3 Visit Other Players’ SPECKs & FARM LANDS

You can visit other players’ SPECKs & FARM LANDs to visit and farm land. Some land owners will also offer gifts and other freebies to their vistors.

9.4 Build Your Pixels REPUTATION

Source: https://twitter.com/pixels_online/status/1725645431898784181?s=20 

You can also build your in-game Pixels REPUTATION score. Pixels REPUTATION is a system that allows the Pixels team to reward and recognise the game's most loyal users – thus allowing the team to encourage certain behaviours and gameplay in Pixels to "safeguard & distinguish genuine, good players from those against guidelines.". 

Note: The Pixels REPUTATION system is still under experimentation, and the team reserves the rights to make changes where they see fit. 

Each user is assigned a Reputation Score, which is based on various data points and weighs, that have been made public in an online Google Sheet – the latest 4 April sheet is shown below. Based on how you play/interact in-game, you will receive a high or low score. Naturally, users with higher scores would be rewarded with more benefits, such as higher trade limit, higher withdrawal limit, use of the in-game marketplace, etc. 

For Pixels Repuration Score Public Breakdown: Pixels Repuration Score Public Breakdown Google Sheet

For more information: https://help.pixels.xyz/en/articles/8602409-what-is-pixels-reputation

9.5 Join a Pixels GUILD

On 29 November 2023, Pixels released Guilds (V1), in preparation for Pixels Chapter 2's release.  Since then, updates have been released allowing for players to officially join Guilds for PIXEL based on the bonding curve designed by Pixels, as well as locking lands to only guilds to limit resources to those within their guild. In Chapter 2, players must work together in Guilds, to achieve and complete larger QUESTS. 

How Do Guilds Work?

• Guild Memberships: Players will purchase memberships to join a guild – players can also choose to sell their membership back. Players are allowed to join multiple guilds and have multiple memberships in a guild but will only have 1 main guild. Prices are determined by a bonding curve. There is a 5% tax on the purchases of these memberships, which will be split between the Guild and Pixels.

• Guild Ranks: Guild leaders can assign Guild Ranks, roles and permissions, to memebrs in the Guild. 

• Guild Handles & Guild Characters: Guild Handles can be purchased for 15 PIXEL at dashboard.pixels.xyz. The 15 PIXEL awards the guild leader 5 memberships to give away.

Source: https://dashboard.pixels.xyz/guild/create

• Guild Watchlists: Guild Watchlists allows for players to publicize their interest in joining a Guild. Being on the watchlist allows the Guild Leader to give that player whitelist and allow them the ability to purchase a guild shard.

Source: https://dashboard.pixels.xyz/guild

• Guild Lands​: Guilds can set their lands to their guild and lock other players out making their land guild-exclusive.

For more information: https://twitter.com/pixels_online/status/1729672225790599405?s=20

General Pixels Game Tips

Now, let's look at some general game tips to get you ahead in Pixels, based on the writer's personal experience with the game.

1. Check the Events Calendar Daily

ENERGY TIP: If you are lucky (in the right timezone) there may be a party to get free ENERGY. 

2. Set Timers for the Big Ticket Items

A lot of SKILLs runs on cycles. Each action/event cycle will have an allocated time to ‘harvest’, where you have to return to pick up the item and retrigger the action/event, for example:

• You have to return to the POST OFFICE after every 24 hours for the random surprise mail;

• You have to return after 1 hour to collect EGGS from COOPS or SILK FIBER from SLUG HUTCHES;

• You have to return after 45 minutes to the APIARY to collect your 3 HONEY and trigger another cycle;

• You have to return after 1.5 hours to the MINE to collect your IRONITE and to reclick the MINE to trigger another round of drilling;

• It takes 3 hours to grow GRUMPKINs, however and you have to come back at the 90th minute to water the seeds otherwise the GRUMPKINs will die;

• TREES have various growth timers based on their growth state. SOFTWOOD, HARDWOOD & SAP are very valuable considering the limited amount of trees you can cut per day.

Therefore, it is recommended to have timer apps have remind you when to return.

3. Interact With Other Players 

Leave the chat log open on your screen, you will never know what tips, tricks and/or trade opportunities you can get.

• BASIC TIP: Players are usually pretty helpful, they can direct you where to find NPCs.

• BASIC TIP: Join the Pixels discord, not only do you feel the community spirit but also community is very helpful with sharing tips and giving guidance on game progression. (Link: https://discord.com/invite/pixels)

• FREEBIES TIP: Some players with FARM LANDs occasionally offer freebies if you visit, bookmark and farm (etc.) on their land. 

• HARVESTING / FARM LANDS: Sometimes you can get land recommendations from other players to (1) OR (2) find a well developed land to harvest FLOUR at a WINDMILL, which you cannot do in TERRAVILLA. Only one person can use a WINDMILL at one time so the challenge becomes figuring out which WINDMILL is available!
  TIP: Check out the "come-farm-with-me" channel on the Pixels discord server. 

Chapter 2 - What’s Coming & What to Expect?

The Pixels Team is committed to bringing new, greater gameplay and changes that will shake up the current economy and the way things currently work. We don’t have all the information but based on previous AMAs and leaked chats from the team, this is what we can estimate:

• Industries will all become limited in some way or the other, similar to the way TREES and CRAFTING industries currently are. The WINDMILL, WOODBURNING STOVE, GRILLS, WINERY, KILN, and TEXTILE MILL are all currently limited to one player use at a time. Expect this to come in the future with SOILs as well.

• Guild Gameplay will come into effect fully, with guild task boards, guild roles, and guild structuring.

• SPECKs are going to be upgradeable and will no longer have a SOIL or industry limit. They also have their own HOUSEs and GATEs.

• Tiers of items will be released, meaning much more items in the ecosystem. Tiers of Industries are expected as well. Maybe a Tier 1 Industry can be placed on a SPECK, but higher tiers can be placed on a FARM LAND.

• SPECKs will have the lowest tier of items, with FARM LANDs being the next highest, and DISCOVERABLE LANDs being the best tier.

• The Task Board will get smarter! It will also include PIXEL and Coin tasks for the new items

• DUNGEONS: While not expected in the first release of Chapter 2, it seems it’s definitely on the way.

Chapter 2 is looking to be a huge update with a lot of new items, industries and experiences.

Is This the Right Game for Me?

Now that we've looked at all the features of Pixels and how to get started, here's a summary of the Pixel game experience.

Pros

• Includes beginning of game tutorial which explains gameplay.

• Extensive list of things to do – play your own way, with at least 15 SKILLS to level up.

• To speed up progression and to climb up the ranks, you can spend $ERRY to buy items for an edge over your competitors.

• Play-To-Earn with a fun challenge – earning PIXEL on the task board can be very competitive.

Cons

• Spending PIXEL to purchase Coins can be costly. 

• Earning PIXEL in-game can be timely and takes a lot of work. 

• Without Coins or easily acquired tasks, the gameplay is slower. Players require more strategic planning of managing their resources, especially ENERGY, for progression and to claim a space on the leaderboard.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pixels offers a vibrant and engaging experience in the world of web3 gaming. Players have many opportunities to enhance their gameplay and earn rewards. 

Whether you're a fan of idle games, design, or community interaction, Pixels provides a space for players to enjoy and compete. The game's idle farming mechanics, cute aesthetics, and a variety of activities, from farming and cooking, to exploring various new events, as well as owning and caring for their own Pixels Pets NFTs make it appealing to a wide audience. Additionally, the ownership of NFT FARM LAND adds a fun dimension, allowing players to personalise and develop their virtual spaces, as well as build their own community. 

Pixels has a large player base and continues to evolve, attract and grow, it stands as a promising addition to the web3 gaming ecosystem. So, log in via your RONIN wallet, and you can earn those Coins and PIXEL tokens, and embark on your journey in the playful world of Pixels!

Additional Information Resources

• Pixels Data: https://Pixelsdata.xyz/ 

• X (Twitter): @Pixels_online

• Discord: @Pixels 

• Youtube: Player_w3 - “How to level up FAST as a beginner - Pixels Guide”

• Youtube: Legion - “How to Gain ENERGY Guide! - All the Methods in Pixels”

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Sarah P.

Sarah is an ex-analyst who loves spreadsheets. She now enjoys non-competitive idle games and boardgames, and specializes in GameFi for CoinGecko.