CHAPTER 1: The Shaga Origin Story

THE PROLOGUE

At some point in time, either you or someone else you know has played a video game. You know Pacman, you can hum Koji Kondo’s ‘Ground Theme’ song from Super Mario Bros., and you can do a really good “E.A Sports– it’s in the game” impersonation. For many, gaming was an important part of our childhood.

But for some, gaming grew up with us to adulthood and it continues to be part of our daily routines till today.

Whether huddled around a screen on a console in the living room or a handheld device under the covers, those late-night sessions are etched into our memories. The thrill of mastering a level, the frustration of a challenging final boss, and the joy of discovering hidden secrets— these experiences are universal. They transcend language, culture, and even age, connecting generations in a shared passion for play.

CHAPTER 1:The Shaga Origin Story

It’s 2022, Guido and Thomas are at a pop-up gaming event in Lucca, Italy. This is a city where comics and gaming are celebrated, where Guido and Thomas used to watch live actions of Assassin's Creed and watch the vibrant cosplays of their favorite gaming characters when they were kids. It feels like serendipity.

Whilst there, trying out some gaming equipment (a weighted and tethered Virtual Reality (VR) headset connected to a laptop), they both realize the limitations of the experience. With such low compute, the gameplay is nauseating. It’s enjoyable for only about ten minutes before the experience becomes laggy and unstable— the hardware is too weak. Guido and Thomas' experiences are echoed thousands of times over. They aren’t the first to feel this frustration, and they won’t be the last. But unlike so many who have shared a similar experience, this sparks an epiphany in both their gigabrains; a flash of clarity that might just lead to a solution.

Virtual Reality is the future of gaming, but clearly, hardware is a bottleneck for the quality of the experience. Perhaps, they think, if they can make hardware more easily accessible and available for use at any time, they can stream games through cloud compute in a much more enjoyable way?

‍Maybe.

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Fast-forward to 2023, and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) is infiltrating the timelines of techies, degens, and gamers. DePIN as a concept is on the rise as a new frontier for emerging technology; the kind that can enable and scale Guido and Thomas’ eureka moment.

Putting pen to paper, Guido scribbles “shared gaming”. Too long. He crosses out the last few letters of each word. “Shaga” comes alive. This is the start of the Shared Gaming Protocol. Naturally, all roads lead to Solana.

With a scrambled team quickly put together, Guido decides to enter in the 2023 Hyperdrive Hackathon. Working under typical dev conditions (no sleep, plenty of caffeine, and running on dreams and memes), Guido starts to feel the stress, exhaustion, and spiritual depletion. Even so, with two days left of the hackathon, the team’s efforts prove to be more than just an idea. While there among countless other participants, Guido by chance ends up sharing his passionate thoughts on democratized gaming with a passerby. Unbeknownst to him, he just had a candid conversation with Solana Co-Founder, Stephen Akridge. This is the fuel Guido needs to be revived once again.

On October 14th, 2023, on Twitter/X, Guido posts a video showcasing the ability to lend compute from a Gaming Node within a decentralized physical infrastructure and deliver the high-fidelity gameplay of Cyberpunk 2077 to his mobile phone. The Shaga Team takes idle hardware, puts its computational strength to use on a lightweight device over a network, and lends out their gaming library.

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This viral video reaches Daeshawn

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With 10 years’ worth of product experience, Daeshawn is former DevX Product at Metaplex, a renowned Core Contributor at Developer DAO, and is the genius author behind the MIP-8: Soulbound pNFTs. He stumbles upon Guido's idea. The inspiration that moves Guido back in 2022 to accomplish a sensible use of blockchain technology at Breakpoint motivates Daeshawn to put together several pages of a strategy that would take Shaga from an idea to a next level business without Guido even knowing.

Daeshawn had been immersed in the world of Notion for two days straight, consisting a whirlwind of ideation, market research, and intense writing. By the end of it, he had a solid draft, but he knew the real work was just beginning. The second day was all about tweaking and perfecting, ensuring that the document was not only clear but also actionable.

He poured his heart into it, determined to create a deliverable that the team, whom he had never met, could use effectively. Daeshawn found himself working through the nights. His laptop became a constant companion, even during dinner. His home had transformed into a multi-functional workspace. The living room, the dinner table, even the gym – every corner became a place for him to think and refine his work. Daeshawn felt a deep motivation driving him. He was excited to deliver this document to a team he believed in. Their project on Solana, involving cloud gaming – a field he had long hoped would improve – resonated deeply with him. Helping others achieve their dreams was in his nature. Seeing the potential in this project, he knew he had to contribute. It was a no-brainer for him. Daeshawn wanted this innovation to exist in the world, and he saw his efforts as a vital part of making that happen. His dedication and passion fueled every moment, as he aimed to increase the chances of this project's success.

Powered by a high conviction that Shaga could be something huge, in good faith, Daeshawn shares his ideas with Guido.

But being a ‘game changer’ by means of elevating Web3 technology to the forefront of the gaming industry is not something you can just ignore, or do alone. So, an enlightened Guido sees a possibility to influence the world and makes Daeshawn part of the Shaga vision. Together, they see the work from the Solana 2023 Hackathon and envision what it could become: for Shaga to be the home for shared gaming. Except Guido doesn’t want to just be limited by the “Web3 gaming” label– he wants Shaga to be an entire experience engine in the delivery of digital gaming content in the same way PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox exist in their own established and proven rights.

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The goal sounds simple enough. Bring proof of work ethic, fully realize their concepts, and bring the DePIN and gaming ideology to life. But they both know they’re going to need big players; the kind you have to unlock: the secret weapons. Both Daeshawn and Guido scour through the landscapes and find two glaring gems: Aaron and Umar.

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Aaron is the owner of multiple gaming equipment patents and has shared his extensive knowledge and expertise with companies such as Epic Games, Power A, and Tobii for years. His experience spans both the retail and development sides of the video game industry. From owning a buy, sell, and trade game store with his wife and becoming a district manager for the franchise, to selling video game accessories and working on business development and licensing of these accessories with major brands like Star Wars, Halo, SpongeBob, and LEGO, to content acquisition and bringing developers on board to integrate their games with new technologies. Aaron has always believed that one day, there would be technology capable of achieving zero latency in gaming. Upon learning about Shaga, he realized that day had arrived, made possible with peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. It was only with Shaga that he finally saw this as a reality. Ultimately convincing Aaron to be part of Shaga felt like being approved by Tony Stark.

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This is where a culture shift starts to move.

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But Guido, reminiscing about where this all started, daydreams about Lucca, Italy once more. Scenes of him at the gaming booth where he tried the VR headset that would be a catalyst for Shaga flashes in his mind. Then another scene flashes again. This time from when he was a kid exploring the exhibition booths at the same pop-up gaming event, wishing that one day he could own an Alienware PC. He smiles, opens his eyes, and pride fills him. Fast-forward to today and Umar, a Gaming Evangelist, who was one of the first employees at Alienware and has spent over 15 years at Dell Technologies is now leading Shaga’s brand identity.

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It is serendipity.

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The future holds the promise of an open-source solution for gamers that respects their digital privacy and is aligned with the user and the greater community’s goals. A future where anyone, regardless of location, will benefit from the power of shared gaming and where zero latency is the reality, not just a dream.