Renga: The Art of Storytelling NFTs
Since the beginning of September, the collections from the RENGA brand have begun to steadily rise in price through the merge which saw a subtle drop in price. As the collections continue to soar in value, many are spreading the word on Twitter of “Storytelling NFTs” which is becoming a new trend.
While storytelling through NFTs is not a new concept, RENGA seems to have found the right way to tell their story through the blockchain in an engaging way which has survived the worst of the crypto crash that dominated summer.
The Art of the Seasons
The project first began with Renga’s initial collection called The Art of Seasons which was released in March 2022. The collection describes itself as a portal to another world where narratives are created and driven by artwork. The collection is an 11,000 set and currently resides at a floor price that hovers around .19 Ether.
Launched just before the crypto crash 2 months later, the project aimed to promote solid artwork along with valuable utilities that would help drive further collections that are beginning to boom at the time of this writing in mid-September along with access into RENGA’s token-gated community.
The Black Box
One of the benefits of holding a token from the Art of Seasons collection was that it came with an airdrop that gave holders another token from The Black Box collection which carries ominous lore within the RENGA universe. Though the origin of this token is shrouded in mystery, its actual purpose is two-fold.
Holding a black box allows the user to burn it in exchange for a RENGA Character token which includes a suite of storytelling applications that are the subsistence to the RENGA series.
However, the token itself - much like an unopened collector’s item - is becoming more valuable as more black boxes are burned in exchange for the RENGA characters. According to the website, these tokens can be burned for as long as they exist meaning that the black box will hold a value based on scarcity.
As the supply of black boxes drops and the supply of RENGA characters grows, the value of these tokens will follow in conjunction with the success of the overall RENGA series.
Renga Characters
The RENGA characters are the current culmination of the previous collections which are now sitting at a floor price of around 1 Ether. According to their description, these tokens possess unique identities and lives that revolve around the artwork; thus being an art-driven storytelling device.
It’s unclear if the RENGA character tokens will guide holders towards new collections which are airdropped as rewards or if there will be additional burning opportunities in the future; however, they have gained a large amount of hype since the black box collection first came out (and even before that with their original Seasons collection).
Storytelling NFTs
While storytelling is not a unique concept, it’s still producing a lot of hype and momentum from the NFT community for a variety of other factors which are helping to produce a detailed lore.
High-Quality Artwork
One of the most important factors of any NFT is its artwork which tends to make the first impression on a potential buyer because that’s what they experience first. RENGA has done an impressive job of creating artwork that is unique and high-quality in a market that is saturated with derivatives, fakes, and copies.Dedicated Production Time
RENGA didn’t create their collections overnight. Their team has been working on the tokens, lore, and artwork for months. It takes time to create a legitimate project that buyers want to be a part of and it’s important to recognize that this team has been active for the majority of 2022 if not longer, meaning that a lot of consistent effort is being put into the project which majorly reduces the risks of rug pulls.Originality
Derivative artwork is one of the easiest ways to kill a project and, although derivatives can be successful such as with Saudis, there is still an inherent desire from buyers to take part in projects that feature new and refreshing artwork; and especially when that artwork is being used to convey complex lore.
Final Thoughts
The success of RENGA is good for the NFT market overall. Even though NFT volume has steadily declined over the past few months, projects like RENGA are proving that buyers in the market are still active and interested in finding new projects to invest in.
However, the biggest concern from here will be how interested holders are in the overall lore of RENGA. We’ve seen projects like Moonrunners and Asylum Hall try to tell stories through their artwork as well and both have slowly withered away.
For RENGA, their model of rolling old collections into new collections through airdrops and burning mechanisms can only last so long before holders start to grow fatigued. A flagship NFT collection is going to be necessary as the pillar of the series. Fortunately, RENGA characters seem to be the collection to carry that torch and it will be interesting to see how the project carries forward with more detailed lore and narratives coming out.
