ShelterPets

Hello dear CNFT family, we hope you are well. So, we have reached the end of the 1st quarter of 2022, and what a year it’s shaping up to be. The magic is in the air, can you feel it?

Well at NMKR we certainly can as we’ve been busy conjuring up spellbinding technology that will enhance the entire NFT experience on Cardano, and perhaps on any other blockchain. In addition to creating major new tech - we have also managed to gloriously bring together the past and the future with the launch of completely original, highly valuable physical prints from the NASA Space Program as NFTs that will provide the certificate of authenticity! More details are available in the feature below.

One of the major, most important goals for the creation of NFTs (we trust you will agree) is for application in use cases that add real value to our lives, and those of the planet.

So, in the spirit of these endeavours, this month we have the utmost pleasure in featuring the amazing ShelterPets Project. This project is most deserved for The MAKER Review feature because they are truly trailblazing the way NFTs are being utilised to make real-world difference to the lives of our beloved pets. We got to the heart of the matter to see how it all works and what is in store for the future. Let’s get it!

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MAKER Review (MR) Intro: Greetings Trevor, and congratulations on earning the feature for the review of March where we highlight the best and most deserved NFT projects. As ever, we’ll start off the big question;

MR Q1: Can you tell us why you chose Cardano? What is it about this blockchain that convinced you it was the place to launch your NFT project?

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ShelterPets (SP): I chose Cardano because it has really been the only “crypto community” I have been a part of.

I have held Cardano since 2017/18. However, it wasn't until 2020 that I finally sat down and took the time to learn more about Cardano’s mission. After I learned what it was about I consolidated my holding to mainly ADA and moved my funds to Daedalus to prepare for the upcoming Shelly Hardfork. However, I didn't really get involved in NFTs until October of 2021 with the launch of the SpaceBudz smart contract marketplace.

After I purchased my first NFT, I started to understand how/why people were interested in them, when before I didn't really get it. There are also so many like minded, mission driven people in the Cardano community that once I decided I wanted to try my own project, I really didn't have any doubt that Cardano was the place for me.

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MR: So, it was a very organic progress for you into the Cardano NFT space. That’s cool! May we ask what was your first CNFT?

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(SP): The first CNFT I purchased was actually a Spacebud from the marketplace. I thought it would be cool to use a smart contract for my first purchase. Then, shortly after I minted my first CNFT, which was a few Mutant Crocs!

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MR Q2: How big is your team and what are the key roles? Do you have in-house artists/designers?

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SP: My team consists of three people which include:

Me: Founder, developer Real KC: Friend, graphic design, moral support Hanz: Artist

Real was only introduced to Cardano when I told him about ShelterPets. But he has been very helpful and supportive as I have tried to run ShelterPets.

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Hanz is an incredible artist and also an architect from Malaysia. The image below shows the sketch he gave me within about 1 hour of our first messages compared with the final NFT for the ShelterPets collection. After he made the sketch I knew he was the artist for this project. I then simply gave him a list for the breeds I wanted and he came up with all of the details on his own. I am truly lucky to have him as part of ShelterPets.

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MR Q3: When and where did you hear about NMKR Studio for the first time, and what were the reasons that attracted you to the platform?

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SP: To be honest, I am not positive where exactly I saw NMKR Studio for the first time. I think I came across it by simply googling “How to make NFTs on Cardano”.

What attracted me to the platform was actually the community and team members I interacted with, specifically in the discord.

Patrick and Phil were very helpful and I even had a call with NMKR to discuss my project before I really knew what I was doing. To them I was likely just another guy with a NFT idea, but they took the time to have a call with me.

MR: We do pride ourselves on having such excellent team members who go all out to help project leaders such as yourself. Thank you for your comments, i’m sure they’ll be thrilled to hear this!

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Q4: So, you’ve chosen NMKR Studio, fantastic! Please explain what your NFT project is all about! What are the utility, rarities and the USPs? We know our readers would love to know from the people who created it!

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AN: ShelterPets is a project that is focused on directly supporting animal shelters while also attempting to educate them on the benefits of accepting crypto (specifically ADA) donations.

Our first collection simply titled “ShelterPets” is a collection of 10 dog and cat breeds. Each animal breed and characteristic was hand drawn by our artist (@Hanzkingdom) and then 10000 possible combinations were generated. The main goal of this was to simply raise money and find partners that I can establish a root of trust with. So far all donations have been directly to the rescues in need. We have ended up donating >70% of our profits (>100% if including direct donations to ShelterPets), specifically made possible by generous donations from members and projects around the Cardano community (Jaq, Moonimals, and Mystic Monks).

We have recently released some additional Ukraine themed NFTs to this collection to help support the people and animals affected. This is a smaller collection of just 700 NFTs with custom updated animated (MP4) artwork.

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SP Cont'd: We have currently raised over 5000 ADA for charity and donated 4550 (the remaining is the Ukraine funds yet to be distributed). This includes the sponsoring of 5.5 dogs at a shelter. They are Sgt Stubbs, Billy, Elvis, Jockey, Maggie, and Lady Hamish (sponsor is 1 year expenses covered). We have also contributed to cover the costs of a dog Xena who was hit by a reckless driver (via St. Rays rescue who are members of the Cardano Community!). All of our donations are tracked via our github and I try to be as transparent as possible with those who I am supporting and those who support me.

Also, I say first collection because our first policy will lock in the middle of May, but this is only the beginning for ShelterPets (hopefully) :)

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MR: This is awesome! However, we would love to know what you mean by 5.5 dogs. What happened to the other 0.5?!

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SP: HA! Our Lady Hamish was lucky enough to already be sponsored for 6 months, so while we are covering both of her halves, it's for only half a year. :)

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MR Q5: Tell us about your experiences in using NMKR Studio. What was the platform like to work with in practice? Did you have any challenges when building the framework?

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SP: My experience using NMKR Studio has been great. The interface and documentation were made to be very user friendly. I come from an academic/engineering background so while I knew how to code, I had never done any web development or used an API before. But simply based on the documentation and help from community members I was able to learn it all very quickly. After I learned, I wanted to try and help those coming after me have an easier time. So I made several tools and published all of my codes open source on our github. This includes a Cardano NFT generator, drop down count for the NMKR pay, airdrop via NMKR API, holder snapshot via Blockfrost, and more.

I haven’t had any major issues since I started using it and any minor problem has been quickly resolved by NMKR's amazing support (Phil).

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MR: That’s great to hear.. Our Phil does it again!!

MR Q6: Which front-end functions and back-end infrastructure for dealing with customer payments did you implement and why?

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AN: For Front-end I first integrated a pay in address using the (MintandSendRandom) API, but this was then replaced by payment gateway upon its release. I then made a simple change to the default payment gateway to allow for a dropdown selection of NFT count (code was released open source on my Github) I have also implemented API calls to retrieve the number of free/reserved/sold NFTs and display on the minting page For the Ukraine NFTs I implemented 8 different “projects” on NMKR under the same policy, one for the 7 base layers and the eighth for a mix. This allows for users to purchase any of the layers they wish for Y ADA, or they can buy a random NFT for X ADA.

On the Back end I have simply managed the internal wallet manually.

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MR Q7: Can you articulate how you formulated the user interface and experience of your website and why you decided on this final design and functionality?

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SP: To be honest, the ShelterPetsCNFT.com website is the first website that I have ever created. I wanted to have a simple location where interested people could come and learn about my project. I asked for feedback from my friend Real and was also able to talk with Victor at NMKR who gave some great suggestions. The NMKR Pay made implementing the mint into the website a breeze.

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MR: Victor and our Payment gateway - 2 more cherished assets that we are extremely proud and happy to hear that they worked wonders for you.

MR Q8: How do you feel about your launch? Is there anything you would do differently next time?

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SP: In general I have been very happy with my launch. My main goal was simply to learn more about Cardano and my mission was to grow a community of people who share my passion for helping animals. Also to provide financial support for those who are willing to take care of animals. So while I haven’t sold out, it has never been my focus. I immediately donate 50%+ to shelters, so every sale is meaningful to me and the shelters I work with.

In general I don't think I would do anything different. I am happy with the community we have built. My marketing could have been better to generate more sales, but there is only so much one man can do :)

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MR: Absolutely! You should be extremely proud of what you have achieved, Trevor. We are certainly very happy to have been part of bringing Shelter Pets to fruition. There is simply nothing like this on ANY blockchain, so well done you!

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MR Q9: What’s next for your project? How do you envision the evolution of your NFTs?

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SP: I have a lot of ideas for how ShelterPets can expand and become more than an NFT collection. Some things that I have been working on are NFT based pet ID’s, NFT receipts as proof of donation, and also a ShelterPets V2 collection.

My biggest long term goal is to establish a project that can support shelters but doesn't need a single person (me) running the show. I know that DAO is a buzzword currently, but I think charity based DAOs are something that will be the norm in the future.

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MR: Sounds very exciting, and we would love to help you with these should you need the assistance!

MR Q10: Any final words of advice for the readers who may be planning their own NFT launch?

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SP: Don't be afraid to reach out to as many people as you can and just try to learn as much as you can. There are so many people in the space that are willing to share what they know and help others.

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MR: Wise words from our learned colleague, Trevor of Shelter Pets. It’s a really admirable mission and we love what you have done so far! We believe this is definitely only the beginning, and cannot wait to see the future plans come to life, as you save the lives of Pets that so desperately need the love and care.