Blockchain gaming is rapidly reshaping the way we play, own, and engage with digital worlds. At the intersection of gaming, music, and blockchain technology, Herd stands out as an innovative Web3 project built on the robust foundations of the Cardano blockchain. Originally conceptualized by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, along with Romain Pellerin and talented students from the ENJMIN video game school in Angoulême, France, Herd is now becoming one of the most exciting blockchain gaming experiences out there.
From its origins as Crypto Bisons, Herd evolved through hard work, creativity, and community-driven passion into a game aiming to revolutionize the music and gaming industries by putting creativity, fairness, and player governance front and center.
Origins and Journey: From Crypto Bisons to Herd
Herd’s roots trace back to 2021, when six students—Elsa, Laura, Henry, Martin, Pierre, and Santiago—crafted a compelling proof of concept leveraging the powerful Unreal Engine 5. The project quickly drew the attention and support of IO Global (IOG), the engineering and research company behind Cardano, leading to a fully funded Alpha version released within just nine months. Recognizing the dedication and success of this passionate young team, IOG transferred full project ownership and IP rights to a newly formed DAO based in Japan in September 2024, empowering the original creators, now seasoned professionals, to drive Herd’s future independently.
What Makes Herd Unique?
Herd brilliantly merges a strategy-collecting RPG with real-time DJ battles, music production, and blockchain-enabled asset ownership. Gamers aren’t merely players—they’re creators, curators, and community leaders, reshaping how music and gameplay combine.
Immersive Gameplay: Where Music Meets Strategy
At its core, Herd is about building your unique roster of characters, known as Korr, each with a unique musical identity, backstory, and set of strategic skills. Players collect these characters, customizing them with abilities represented as musical samples or beats. Gameplay unfolds in thrilling DJ battles—both solo against AI and multiplayer against other players in real-time. Mastery demands creativity, strategic planning, and a knack for mixing killer beats.
Accessible to everyone, Herd adopts a fair free-to-play model. Players can unlock all gameplay-relevant characters and abilities by playing the game, ensuring fairness and competitiveness. Optional purchases are purely cosmetic, meaning competitive advantage can’t simply be bought—it must be earned.
A Thriving NFT Marketplace
In Herd, NFTs go beyond speculative assets—they provide real utility. Characters, abilities, sound packs, and even governance rights are represented as NFTs, offering transparency, authenticity, and fair compensation to creators. Artists earn royalties from every transaction, establishing fair revenue streams and recognizing creators for their contributions. Players can resell their customized assets, and even showcase their musical mixes through integrations with platforms like Twitch and NEWM.
The exclusive early-backer NFT pack featuring Jasparu, the Mystical PenPen, exemplifies Herd’s commitment to rewarding early supporters, creating scarcity and exclusivity without compromising gameplay fairness.
Harnessing Cardano’s Blockchain: Stability and Sustainability
Herd’s strategic decision to build on Cardano offers significant advantages. Leveraging Cardano’s secure, scalable, and efficient blockchain, Herd ensures sustainability, low transaction fees, and a robust ecosystem for player governance and asset ownership.
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Multi-chain Integration & Stability: Utilizing Paima Engine for seamless blockchain interactions, Herd employs the stable in-game token $HRD, which maintains consistent purchasing power through a pegged value against USD. This approach provides players and creators with a stable and predictable economic experience.
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Confidentiality and Fairness: The integration of Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain, enables confidential management of artist royalties and secure player transactions, ensuring trust and fairness within the ecosystem.
Empowering Community Governance with Herd DAO
Herd is more than just a game—it’s a collective adventure. Central to its philosophy is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), empowering players to shape the game’s future. With Herd’s governance token $HRDAO, players actively participate in decision-making, from selecting new features to allocating treasury funds and guiding the project roadmap.
Voting power is thoughtfully tiered, rewarding committed community members, while still ensuring every voice is heard. Additionally, community-driven tournaments, battles, and events funded through the DAO’s treasury offer ongoing player engagement and incentives, fostering loyalty and collective growth.
A Player- and Artist-Focused Economy
In stark contrast to traditional gaming and music industries—often criticized for unfair compensation—Herd allocates significant portions of revenue directly back to creators and players:
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Artists receive 80% of profits from NFT sales, benefiting from both initial sales and ongoing royalties.
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Players are rewarded through prize pools and in-game economic activities, ensuring they benefit financially from their creative contributions and competitive success.
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DAO Treasury ensures continuous innovation and community-driven enhancements, funding regular events, tournaments, and development.
Powerful Partnerships and Collaborative Innovation
Herd has strategically aligned itself with prominent Cardano community projects such as HOSKY Token, Paima Engine, NMKR, Midnight, and NEWM, bringing together the best of blockchain, music streaming, and gaming. These collaborations amplify Herd’s visibility, credibility, and user engagement potential across multiple platforms, creating a rich ecosystem unlike any other in the Web3 space.
The Competitive Advantage: Why Herd Stands Apart
No other Web3 game currently unites music creation, interactive gameplay, and NFT utility in such a compelling, community-driven manner. Herd’s distinctive hybrid economic model captures the best of blockchain technology and traditional gaming, ensuring sustainable growth, meaningful player engagement, and fair compensation.
Conclusion: Join the Future of Gaming and Music
As Herd prepares to launch, it represents a groundbreaking fusion of gaming, music, and decentralized governance, backed by the proven capabilities of Cardano’s blockchain. By addressing key industry challenges—artist exploitation, limited NFT utility, fragmented communities, centralized control, and unrewarded gamer loyalty—Herd promises a fairer, more engaging, and genuinely community-centric gaming experience.
Whether you’re an artist seeking fair compensation, a gamer hungry for creativity and competition, or simply a music lover eager for new experiences, Herd offers you a front-row seat to the future of digital entertainment.
Join the Herd and become part of a community redefining what it means to play, create, and own your digital journey on the blockchain.