I wasn’t playing Cryptokitties when KittyHats was launched. At least I don’t think I was. To be honest, I don’t know when I heard about them for the first time. I suspect it involved seeing a pair of “Revenge of the Nerds”-style glasses on a goofy-looking kitty with bad teeth and spotted fur. It might have been Jokecat. Or it may have been JiHoz hyping it (hypeeeeeeee!!!) somewhere in the CK Discord. Whenever it was, I instantly knew that it was cool.
KittyHats, at its core, is a simple concept: digitally dress up and/or accessorize your Cryptokitties. From there, however, it gets a little complicated. As far as I could tell, the overall process involved some extremely talented and skilled artists (who clearly must possess some kind of magical powers) deciding to create one of these digital whatever-they-ares, performing some sort of incantation that invokes this arcane magic, and then somehow that thing can then be purchased in their store and applied to any cat. Hats, of course, but also sunglasses, jewelry, costumes, headbands (with hearts or, of course, poop emojis on the end of the springy antennae) and a bunch of other things (even limited-edition art). Whatever suits your fancy (well, don’t bother actually trying to apply KittyHats to “fancies”, but that’s another topic). Due to general similarities and minor (but predictable) differences between the visual depiction of Cryptokitty cattributes, most KittyHats products can be applied “properly” to any regular cat. To be sure your purchase will suit the target kitty, the app (a chrome extension) lets you try-before-you-buy to make sure that you’ll be happy with the final on-screen product.
So I proceeded to buy some sunglasses for one kitty, nerdy glasses for another, a beret (that looks absolutely perfect on the kitty that I bought it for, thank you very much) and a few others. But I wished there were more options to choose from. I pictured a whole world of choices, if only these artsy wizards would summon their dark arts and make them for me to buy and apply to my kitties.
I must confess, at this point in the story, that I was more than just a little hyped up about the future of Cryptokitties at the time. I had just read Ready Player One and could almost see the path from CK all the way to The Oasis (a completely virtual universe that people experience through a completely immersive, first-person perspective). The important point is this: the blockchain allows you to actually own digital stuff. It’s new. It’s, well, really important. Others have explained it better than I would, but I’ll give it a shot:
Over the years (decades?) most of us have listened to a song (or 10,000) or watched a movie (gasp) that we didn’t pay for. Sometimes those were even copied from a high-quality source file so the copies were equally high-quality. And that copy can also be copied. And shared. Over and over and over. No ownership, no control, no economy. Blockchain tech can actually change that. You see, by theoretical example, the Oasis from Ready Player One is not a world where everything is freely copied and shared. You only own only what you can actually buy (sometimes much, sometimes nearly nothing), but whatever you own inside the virtual world of the Oasis securely belongs to you and how you use it is controlled by you. Your experience is powered and freed (or limited and constrained) based on that ownership. That is an example of the possible future that Cryptokitties represented to me. Please, no socio-political debate in the comments. Its just a story, right?
Now here’s where things get a little twisted. Ownership get a little weird when it comes to KittyHats. You buy the “hat” using ETH, and apply it to a specific kitty. Each “hat” is a visual representation of an ERC20 token on the ethereum blockchain. But, because of the nature of the the different type of tokens that these cute digital kitties represent (specifically ERC721 non-fungible tokens), the owner of the hat is actually the cat. You sell someone the cat? They also get the hat. Because the cat owns the hat. There’s probably a Dr. Seuss poem in there somewhere. All I know is that digital ownership matters for any of this tech to progress and grow. Ownership is important because I really don’t want anyone else to take my stuff. Not in the real world, not in the digital one.
Where was I? Oh yeah – I wanted more stuff.
At that point, I was invited to join the KittyHats discord and share my ideas. I could imagine a whole kaleidescopic range of KittyHats: objects pulled from hobbies, movie-inspired outfits, even limited-edition clothing, possibly licensed from forward-thinking companies who could see the future, too. Seriously, who wouldn’t want a 1-of-3 Gucci bag for their already Tiffany-tiara’d princess kitty? Or Louboutin heels. Or a Boss sport coat. See where I’m going here?
So I posted in the Discord. I didn’t know who was who or who did what. I asked a few questions. I posted my suggestions. I wondered if my ideas would be welcomed and, if so, when I’d be able to buy them. I waited. Then I started to ask different questions. How were KittyKats made? What tools do the artists use? Those dark arts that I assumed were behind these digital Barbie clothes and accessories – could someone with absoutely no artistic talent at all maybe learn to make them? I was referred to a pinned article written by OG community member-turned-CK insider (aka AlanFalcon aka Kittyhawk, but forevermore PuzzleMan, to me) that provides a great fundamental how-to overview. Link for the curious.
There were bumps, of course. I had recently bought a big iPad Pro. (It’s awesome) There were apps that would create and edit svg files, (so said the App Store) which is the format that Cryptokitties and KittyHats visually exist as. I had downloaded samples all of the different fur types so I could make my own “allkitty” (template/outline of all the known variations of kitties) and tried to import to app A. It only loads files from cloud provider X. And apparently can’t load these specific files. And App B only loads from their own cloud storage. Which I literally could not figure out how to access. Ever. App C would open a Kitty svg file. But not render it properly. Good Lord. What the actual shit?
But a few file conversions to PDF and file transfers to a specific cloud storage provider later, I was ready to go. And I started trying to learn how to summon the dark angel of, er, learn how to draw using a vector art drawing program.
It wasn’t too bad. My first creation was a blue cloak. Not terrible. Simple. It never occurred to me for a second that I was creating anything for anybody but myself. I asked the discord people (not really anyone in particular) if I could post up something that would be for me only and be able to pay to use their framework. I shared an image of my cloak. Decent feedback. Tried red instead of blue. Now it looks like little red hiding hood. Well, hoodless.
I stuck with it. I learned more. I tried other ideas. Business Cat? Why not. There was a request from a CK community member named CoffeeGodd for coffee cups. No idea why he wanted that, but who am I to judge? I made mugs, cups and saucers and, my personal favourite: familiar-looking white and green takeaway paper cups with brown cardboard sleeves and white lids. He’s asked me weekly since I first shared the samples when he could buy them. He seems to really like coffee.
The crew on the discord were great. Good feedback. Try this, maybe consider that. Your cats arms look like drumsticks. The usual critiques for an artist, I suppose. But I slowly got better. Apparently, practicing esoteric witchcraft was actually (thankfully) not required. Evidently, even a middle-aged, mechanical engineer with no identified pre-existing artistic talent can learn how to apply complex shading curves on a grey, digital suit. You know what? You can probably do it, too.
Required story sidebar: Chat Plongeur (aka DiverKitty – a currently-breedable CK Fancy) also has drumstick arms. Told you that’s what they looked like, Alan.
At the moment, the hardest part for me is probably not what you would expect. It’s patience. See, we’re still in the earliest of early stages. This is nobody’s full-time job. The process for getting the files from your vector drawing program to the site is pretty manual. It takes a lot of time. Especially when you try to squeeze the work in between so many other obligations. But it’s getting better, although still kinda technical. I’m not a developer, but I learned how to clone a github project, fork it and then set up a pull request. That sounds right. It might not be, but my files are there and the admins can see them. I know because Dan asked me to change a few minor things before the upcoming release.
What might you see from me in the next release? Some kitty suits and tuxedos that may have been inspired by some famous celebrities. A bunch of tea/coffee cups. A martini and a cosmo (that’s what a pink martini-looking drink is, right?). Keep your eyes on KittyHats.co. In the next few days, I’m going to be in the Designer-label digital kitty clothing business. Note to self: create label.
I don’t know if I taught you anything. Most likely not, but I will say this: this stuff is really, really cool. It is the beginning of the future, in a super-pre-alpha kind of way. But it is happening. You are invited to get involved and feed your curiosity. Apply your existing knowledge of the dark arts, if you have said knowledge. Maybe you can help automate the deployment of new assets. Maybe you just want to tell us that you really like ladders or motorcycles or golf. I’m still learning and I’m loving it. You should join the fun.
Next: I own some digital gold bars (“Founder” Cryptokitties). Should I make something out of them or lock them away?
