Interview with IC Vibesters NFT: Feel the Vibe

We interviewed Chris, the friendly project lead behind IC Vibesters. ICVibesters is 5000 randomly generated avatars on the Internet Computer. Chris and the team plan to be interactive with their meta-data and provide a unique sense of style to their pieces.

1. Please tell us about you: your name, position in the project, your achievements, and so on

Hello there, my name is Chris. I handle the marketing and business end for ICVibesters and do any of the programming that we require. I am currently attending college, and I am in my final year. (looking forward to graduating).

2. How would you describe your artistic style?

Our artistic style is very simplistic and fun. When you look at a vibester, the last thing you do is relate it to anything else you’ve seen before on the Internet Computer, and that’s exactly what we were aiming for when designing the characters. We like to think that we bring a unique flavor of style to the ecosystem.

3. What drew you to NFT creation rather than traditional canvas-based art?

In the traditional art scene, it seems as though there isn’t any “room” for our art style. The NFT space has a much more open mind & is willing to look at what you’ve created for what it is rather than in comparison to the next.

4. Are there any artists who have inspired you? What do you like about their work?

There isn’t an artist that specifically inspired me, but more so the NFT community & ecosystem as a whole. Projects like BAYC, Doodles, and many more have shown that anything is possible if you have quality art; you have to present it to the right audience. This provides a fantastic avenue for artists worldwide to express their creativity and the opportunity to turn their artwork into a living.

6. Can you tell us about your project?

ICVibesters is 5000 randomly generated avatars on the Internet Computer. We plan to be interactive in our meta-data and provide a unique sense of style to our pieces. Our goal is very community-driven; we believe that our project’s community is the heart of our project. Because of this, we base everything we do around the premise of “how will this affect our community and their overall enjoyment.”

7. How many NFTs will be minted? Can you talk us through the process of how you create the art?

We will be minting 5000 NFT’s. The process is hand-drawn on photoshop by our artist Kevin. He uses an iPad and pencil for the fine details and his desktop computer for fine-tuning and rough drafts.

8. Will people be able to breed, stake, rent your NFT, or will it ever be in a game?

For now, we don’t have any publicly released information on the future development of this question.

9. What benefits do you think the Internet Computer has over other L1 blockchains when it comes to creating NFTs?

The internet computer’s main advantages to us, and we believe many others, would firstly be the new and innovative technology that allows smart contracts to be held in canisters instead of smart contracts increasing the security of apps immensely. Second would be the gas fees, which are so low that they are basically non-existent.

When you compare the gas fees on the Internet Computer to other chains such as Ethereum, you quickly realize the comparison shows quite quickly who the superior chain is. Lastly would have to be the speed of the Internet Computer. The internet computer can execute up to 50,000+ transactions per second with 2-second finality, which is easily faster than any other layer-1 protocol.

10. What other art have you seen that excites you in the Internet Computer NFT ecosystem?

I think it’s safe to say that the project that is taking the Internet Computer by storm, and for good reason, would be the BTCflower. The way the team managed to bring ludo’s vision to life within the blockchain and to do so with such skill is inspiring. The value of the project reflects on the quality and time spent on it.

11. What excites you most about your launch, and which date is your launch?

What excites us most about our launch would be seeing everyone’s reaction to receiving their Vibesters and seeing them on Twitter in PFP’s and posts on March 1st.

12. What advice would you give to anyone trying to enter into the world of NFTs?

It would be best if you were careful of the projects you’re minting / purchasing. Unfortunately, as this ecosystem is still so new, some bad actors must be weeded out. So always research what you’re buying, look into the team, the background of the project & what they have planned for the future.

If it doesn’t sound realistic, ask some questions, pay attention to people’s tones & attitudes; human behavior is telling. Beyond that, make friends & have fun with it. This ecosystem is growing every day, filled with amazing people, and there are so many opportunities not just for profit but for friendships.

13. Do you have further plans to work with ICP Squad in the future after this initial sale?

We’d love to continue working with ICP Squad after our launch! The team seems like a great group of people & has been extremely helpful whenever needed—looking forward to continuing to build a relationship with them.

14. Can you envisage a future where the most valuable NFT space is on the Internet Computer?

I think this is possible given the tools & perks the Internet Computer provides; on-chain NFTs, low/no gas, instantaneous transactions, and so much more. Because of these benefits, eventually, the greater NFT community will have to recognize ICP for what it is. So yes, not only can I envision this, I think it’s possible.

15. Why do you think NFTs have become so valuable in such a short space of time?

I believe Gary V. framed it perfectly; it’s about the image or “brand” at this point. The same way people are drawn to name-brand clothes, they are drawn to NFTs, as it’s a way to express yourself differently from others. If you combine that with the potential utility that NFTs have to offer, there is so much room for speculation & growth that people are naturally drawn to it to see where it goes next.

16. Tell us about your team?

My name is Chris; I’m 24 and finishing up my last year of college for computer science. I lead the Vibesters team and handle the marketing & community management. The artwork for Vibesters is done by Kevin, who’s based in the UK & works at an engineering firm. We’ve also brought a few community members onto our team, prominently our potential future community lead, Nick! He’s been a massive blessing to the project & it has been great working with him.

17. What advantages do you believe you have over other competitors?

Advantages we have over competitors, that’s a tricky question. We don’t like to see our fellow projects as competitors. We see all projects providing value to the ICP as part of the overall family within the ecosystem. What advantages do we provide to our holders, however?

We would say our unique style is one for sure; the art style is unlike others you are familiar with within the space. Our team’s drive and passion for the project and the community lastly would be the Gen2 airdrop to the holders of our Gen1 owners, which will be 3D renders of our Gen1 Characters/traits, and airdropped one Gen2 for every Gen1 owned.

18. Do you have partners? Please tell us about them

Yes, we have quite a few partners! Just to name a few, we’ve partnered with;

Dfinity Community (ICPSquad)

BeYouStudios (DFINITY Deck)

IC Dinos

IC Puzzle

Oli (IC Photography)

ICP Art

DSCVR

This doesn’t represent a complete list of our partners but is a good introduction to the people that’ve contributed to us getting this far. Huge thanks goes to everyone on all of those teams and any of our other partners, you guys are amazing to work with, and we’re excited to keep building with you!

19. Tell us about the challenges you face while building your project?

The only challenge we had while creating our project was configuring the “trait scrambler” that combines a variety of traits to assemble the finished NFT. Once we cracked that, it was smooth sailing!

20. What are your short and long-term achievements and targets?

Our short-term goals would be to continue to build a healthy and thriving community based around ICvibesters and have a successful launch on March 1st. More Long-term goals would be to apply for Dfinity grants and use that funding to provide even more utility to our NFT’s, maybe in the form of a p2e or hold to earn NFT in the future.

21. Please give us some details about your roadmap

Q1 2022:

Launch on entrepot march 1st.
Grow the community and collaborate with other platforms in the space.

Q2 2022:

Render Gen1 characters into Gen2 3D models.
Begin applying for Dfinity Community Grant.

Q3 2022:

Apply for a listing date for Gen2 on Entrepot.
Apply for DFINITY showcase of Gen2.

Q4 2022:

Airdrop Gen2 Vibesters to Gen1 holders.
Open selling of Gen2 onto Entrepot.

22. Any plan to move into the future Metaverse ?

We don’t want to make any promises just yet, but we can say we do plan to airdrop Gen2 Vibesters, 1:1, to all Vibester Holders. This Gen2 will be 3D Models that the user can interact with, that are identical to their Gen1 Counterparts.

23. Will your NFT be tokenized in the future?

No, we don’t plan to tokenize the Vibester NFT, other than the traditional tokenization of an NFT.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions 😊