Megathron Game

Framing the Problem

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Who does it affect?

Traditional online games often lack a sense of ownership, creativity, and real-world reward. Players have limited ways to personalise their characters or earn tangible outcomes, and competitive games rarely tie into social impact. We wanted to create a game that’s not only fun and nostalgic but also competitive, customisable and meaningful.

Idea Explanation

What is your idea? How does it fix the problem?

Our idea was to build a retro-style shoot-and-run game inspired by Sega Genesis, but with a modern twist. We added a Tournament Mode where players can generate their own characters using AI and compete for crypto prizes. To increase impact, we implemented a Web3 system where the crypto pool collected from losses is donated to charity. This approach brings together gaming, personalisation, rewards, and social good into one cohesive experience.

Implementation

How do all the pieces fit together? Does your frontend make requests to your backend? Where does your database fit in?

We developed the game using vanilla JavaScript and HTML Canvas, allowing full control over game physics and rendering. The frontend is wrapped in React.js to handle user authentication and interface management. For backend logic and leaderboard data, we used a MySQL relational database, which communicates with the frontend through API requests.

In Tournament Mode, we integrated an LLM-powered character generator with Python and FastAPI deployed on our own server running with NGRock, which creates unique avatars from user-submitted prompts. For Web3 features, we used Solana blockchain for wallet-based authentication and an escrow system to manage crypto prize pools and donations, adding a secure and transparent transaction layer.

Challenges

What did you struggle with? How did you overcome it?

We faced several challenges during development:

Integrating Web3 authentication using Solana and building the escrow system was complex and required deep understanding of blockchain tools.

Generating unique, playable characters from natural language prompts via LLMs required extensive tuning to ensure quality and consistency.

Balancing game logic across two modes (Fight and Tournament) while keeping gameplay fair and responsive was technically demanding.

We overcame these by dividing responsibilities effectively, testing frequently, and relying on open-source tools and documentation to resolve integration issues.

Accomplishments

What did you learn? What did you accomplish?

We built a complete, working game from scratch.

We successfully integrated AI character generation, secure blockchain-based wallet login, and a donation-based crypto prize system.

We created a platform that merges gameplay, creativity, real-world rewards, and social good, offering a distinctive user experience.

Our team learned how to work across technologies from frontend design to backend data handling and blockchain development.

Next Steps

What are the next steps for your project? How can you improve it?

Add multiplayer support or co-op features to increase replayability.

Polish the UI/UX for smoother onboarding, especially for new Web3 users.

Explore additional blockchain integrations for token-based incentives or NFTs.

Partner with more charities to increase the impact of donations and make the platform scalable.