An Interview with stuckatsixpm, Creator of Dynamic NFTs

We catch up with this maverick of the WAX NFT space to discuss his dynamic NFTs, the future of the WAX blockchain, and the endless list of projects he’s working on.

MAY 14, 2021. INTERVIEWS. WRITTEN BY HYDRO.

In life, there’s two types of people; those with fantastic ideas, and those with incredible talents. Finding someone with both is incredibly rare, but the WAX community is lucky enough to have such an individual – stuckatsixpm.

From cracking the dynamic NFT formula and developing back-end tools for creators, to his behind-the-scenes support and selfless contributions to the community, stuckatsixpm is quickly developing a huge reputation amongst artists and collectors alike – and there’s few, if any, who are more deserving of this praise.

Stick around to the end of the interview for our interview card and an ASCII Timmy!

Hydro: stuck, thank you for taking the time to chat – I know you’re incredible busy! Tell us about yourself, your background and your journey into the NFT space.

stuck: So I guess I’ll start with saying “Hi! I’m stuckatsixpm”. I’m an Australian who had always grown up loving computers and technology, and I write code for academia.

I first got into NFTs not that long ago actually. I’d dabbled around with cryptocurrency since 2017, although as a broke student, I was just buying tiny amounts of various cryptos in the dips. Around Dec 2020/Jan 2021, NFTs really started gaining momentum, so I started to do some research about what the heck they were, and then finally ended up diving into NFTs on WAX after CREEK sent me a Banano NFT. So really, you can blame CREEK for the fact I’m here. I started mixing with the community and diving into the tech and I was hooked!

You’re involved in the WAX community in a number of ways – could you give a quick rundown of your various projects?

I have 2 main project streams. The first are Dynamic NFTs, which are NFTs that update with real world data on the reverse side. There are currently 3 types. Location Cards show off major cities, with the local date, time, and weather on the back.

Creator Cards feature artwork from creators such as CREEK, with market data and a QR code to active listings on the back.

Finally, the Currency Cards display ASCII art of crypto symbols on the front, and updating price data on the back, including current price, market cap, and 24hr change.

All three of these projects are interleaved with releases, however I’m currently doing a restructure, and merging the three separate collections into a single collection, which is a big task!

The second stream involves my WAX on Discord integration. This is a system that allows users to prove on Discord that they own a WAX Wallet. This opens the doors to many applications, such as granting roles based on NFT ownership and generating whitelists based on Discord roles. WAX on Discord is still under development, but when it’s complete, it’ll be released as an open-source Docker container for anyone to use.

In the meantime, I’m providing Discord bots as a paid service that perform those functions and more. Pricing is scaled on the size of your server, so it’s affordable for smaller projects.

I hear you’re also developing some tools?

Yes, I’m working on several free projects for the community.

I’m writing a Python wrapper for the WAX Chain API, with support for AtomicAssets and AtomicMarkets as well. Key features will include the ability to get info and market stats about assets, templates, collections, etc, and also search transactions and other data from the blockchain.

I’m also developing a tool that integrates with StreamLabs OBS, that displays donation alerts when a Streamer receives WAX or NFT donations – obviously there’s a lot of safety/screening considerations that are going into this project.

WAXTax is another key project – a site that gives you a table of your transactions between a date range, and the equivalent fiat value of each one. I originally made this as a simple script when I discovered how much TAX work would be involved in being an NFT creator, then turned it into a site when I realised that others would probably benefit from it to. It’s currently in beta, and support for Atomic Asset transfers is coming soon.

You must have a lot of faith in the WAX ecosystem – would this be correct to assume? What are your thoughts on where WAX sits currently, and where do you think its future lies?

I really do have a lot of faith in WAX – I love what it’s doing and the opportunities the ecosystem provides. I also love the growing community of developers, creators, and collectors. At the moment, I believe WAX currently sits at the top of the NFT pyramid, but there’s also no room for complacency.

Looking at what the future might hold, I think WAX is currently on the cusp. The milestone of adoption is happening right now, with interest from big companies and brands, and the key will be making sure the resources are there to keep up with future growth. The NFT ecosystem is incredibly competitive, and I think we need to make sure there’s a focus on accessibility, education, and innovation to help WAX cement itself as “The King of NFTs”.

Accessibility: There’s a mobile version of the Cloud Wallet on the WAX roadmap, but I think the development of other user friendly apps and sites, like Bloks and AtomicHub, TokenHead, NeftyBlocks and WAXTax will all help improve the ease of use of WAX as a platform. It also obviously needs to be easier to people to buy WAX.

Education: Tying into accessibility, it’s important that information resources exist to help onboard newcomers and support existing community members. Many of these already exist, but it’s important to keep things up to date. I’m currently working on a “compendium” website, collating resources created by the WAX community into an easy to find format. I’ll put the call out now, I’d love to have people contribute to this like a wiki when it goes live! Back when I wrote my pack guide, there were only 28 NFT packs registered. Today, less than a month later, between people manually following my tutorial and NeftyBlocks’ amazing UI, there are over 340 packs.

Innovation: Big brands bring numbers to WAX. There’s no denying that that’s important. But it’s the smaller, indie creators who are driving innovation. There are so many creative uses for blending that I’ve seen people implement, like the EleBlobs, where you combine resources to evolve your Elemental pets. Another is Virtual Alaska, where you combine “photos” and “film” to create stunning NFTs. Many collections have started games, where you use your NFTs as a functional part of them.

Talking more about EleBlobs, in the past week they’ve annouced their Immersys metaverse, where you’ll be able to place your NFTs in a 3D VR world! I’m really excited to see how that projects develop.

Innovation is important. It shows that we’re a living community, growing and evolving together. I want to keep seeing innovation thrive on WAX, and that’s why I do what I do.

EleBlob and Virtual Alaska are doing some wonderful work! Are there any other artists in particular that you’ve got your eye on at the moment? Is there a particular collection that has piqued your interest?

There are so many new projects being published, and it’s hard to keep track of them all whilst working on my own projects.

I have to admit that at the moment, I only really see projects that I scroll past on Twitter or people thrust under my nose.

There are far too many projects to talk about, but a few I’m actively watching are: CryptoMoonies, ConsonantDesigns, the LGND projects, TreasuryNFTs, and Immersys.

The Location Card collection certainly turned heads when it first dropped, due to its dynamic nature. I won’t ask how it was done, but were you surprised at all to be the first on WAX to realise this concept?

To be honest, I wasn’t hugely surprised. Dynamic NFTs are a lot of work.

Dynamic NFTs were something I was on the fence about for a long time. The key problem with anything like this is that you just can’t host it on IPFS. IPFS isn’t for dynamic content like what I wanted to do. But I knew that collections like R-Planet were hosting their own visual assets so I thought “Well if they can, I may as well give it a shot.”

There have been a lot of technical challenges and considerations along the way. The first is the huge issue of making sure that owners of a location card can be sure that their card will always function, even decades from now.

Location cards are somewhat pricey in comparison to many NFTs on the WAX marketplace, but you have to realise, when I create a location card, I’m committing to making sure that card functions into the future.

I was a fly-on-the-wall in a few discussions surrounding these cards when they dropped – all manner of blue-sky ideas were flying around, from sports cards where the stats change in accordance with real-life data, to NFTs where the entire look could change after a set period of time. Could you comment on the feasibility of ideas such as these?

I think that almost anything is possible if the project is planned properly.

There are several roadblocks to consider, such as the fact that images/resized are cached on almost every platform to enable previews to be loaded quickly.

Reliable data sources are also a must. I’m currently collaborating on several projects that will be using Dynamic NFTs. Currently, the way I’m doing the dynamic NFTs is a trade secret, but I’m happy to discuss potential collaborations with creators.

On the tool front, the StreamLabs OBS donation tool is a very interesting idea. The interplay between NFTs and livestreaming is very much in its infancy – how do you think this will develop, in concurrence with tools such as yours?

I’m hoping that this will really help both WAX to grow and be adopted by the gaming world, where NFTs have so much potential.

I’m also hoping that people will be able to support streamers they like with NFTs that can either be sold for income, or are useful in real life

We’ve had a number of household names hit the WAX blockchain in recent months – Atari, MLB and now Funko. What are your hopes for the Funko drops, and how do you think they will impact the community?

I’m really excited for Funko. They have a much wider demographic than MLB in my opinion, and I really hope to see Funko pull off what they have planned successfully, giving vIRLs much needed exposure. As always, there will be a massive influx of new members into the WAX community, and I think it’s really important that WAX is as easy to understand as possible. I’m hopeful though that as a community we’ll be able to point anyone who needs assistance in the right direction.

Where would you like to be 12 months from now?

In 12 months from now… It’s funny isn’t it how COVID-19 has made everything so uncertain when planning for the future. I don’t know where I’ll be, but I have a few key goals.

1. Keep creating links between NFTs and the off-chain world. The projects I’m working on are just the start, and as I mentioned earlier, there are many more to come. I want to keep making NFTs because I really believe in the technology. I think we’re just scratching the surface of what we can do with them.

2. Drive the community to keep growing and investing in itself. It’s how WAX will still be the “King of NFTs” 10 years from now. I have a plan for this that I’ll hopefully be announcing in the next week actually. I want to be an active part of the WAX community and have a great time with everyone along the way.

3. Grow. Working on WAX has been a massive learning experience. There’s so much information to absorb, both about WAX and new things I’ve learnt whilst developing for WAX. I’ve started my business SixPM Software, and that’s been a steep learning curve. I really want to keep learning and collaborating, and eventually reach a point where I can expand my small business into a team working to help WAX grow and make some cool NFTs along the way.

Other than what you’ve mentioned above, do you have anything we should be keeping an eye out for?

This is not paid promotion, nor was I asked to mention this, but people definitely should keep their eye on the NFT Insider site. What you’re doing is incredibly helpful to the community, distributing information in an accessible fashion. Obligatory mention to my own projects! I appreciate all support whether it be following me on Twitter, joining the SixPM Software Discord server, or buying my NFTs.

The other thing I’d encourage people to do is to keep an eye out for innovation. Projects that do new things that others haven’t before. I’m definitely not saying ignore other projects, but innovative projects will help drive the future of WAX.

Time for the quick-fire closers.

Tea, coffee, or something else?

Tea. 100%. I do drink black coffee though.

Summer or winter? Why?

Winter – you can put layers on but you can’t take layers off after a certain point. You also get to drink tea without overheating. Also, Australia is hot.

Long-term; crypto or fiat as the predominant currency?

Fiat for quite a while longer with a slow shift and eventual switch to crypto.

One unusual fact about you?

I’m pretty colourblind.

You can invite three people, dead or alive, to dinner. Who do you choose?

Hmmm. This one’s hard. I’m really struggling to narrow it down to 3, so I’m going to take the easy route out and say my wife and our two cats! (laughing face)

How can we follow you and your projects?

First and foremost is the SixPM Software Discord server, where I post drop links first, as well as hold giveaways, and just hang out and chat.

There’s also my personal Twitter for NFT updates, and the SixPM Software Twitter for tech updates.

Finally, I’ve started a blog, where I write somewhat longer posts about what I’m working on.

Thank you… oh! One final thing, where does the name “stuckatsixpm” come from?

“If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said Alice.
“Of course you don’t!” the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. “I dare say you never even spoke to Time!”
“Perhaps not,” Alice cautiously replied: “but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.”
“Ah! that accounts for it,” said the Hatter. “He won’t stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he’d do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o’clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons: you’d only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!”
(“I only wish it was,” the March Hare said to itself in a whisper.)
“That would be grand, certainly,” said Alice thoughtfully: “but then—I shouldn’t be hungry for it, you know.”
“Not at first, perhaps,” said the Hatter: “but you could keep it to half-past one as long as you liked.”
“Is that the way you manage?” Alice asked.
The Hatter shook his head mournfully. “Not I!” he replied. “We quarrelled last March—just before he went mad, you know—” (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,) “—it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing

‘Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!’

You know the song, perhaps?”
“I’ve heard something like it,” said Alice.
“It goes on, you know,” the Hatter continued, “in this way:—

‘Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle—’”

Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep “Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle—” and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop.
“Well, I’d hardly finished the first verse,” said the Hatter, “when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, ‘He’s murdering the time! Off with his head!’”
“How dreadfully savage!” exclaimed Alice.
“And ever since that,” the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, “he won’t do a thing I ask! It’s always six o’clock now.”
A bright idea came into Alice’s head. “Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?” she asked.
“Yes, that’s it,” said the Hatter with a sigh: “it’s always tea-time, and we’ve no time to wash the things between whiles.”

(taken from Alice in Wonderland)

The WAX community is incredibly lucky to have someone with the passion, insight and determination that stuckatsixpm has. I consider myself privileged to have been able to speak with him in this level of depth, and even more so to call him a friend.

To mark this interview, we have two NFTs up for grabs.

The Wonder from Down Under
Collection: nftinsiderio
Max mint: 300 (225 public, 45 for promo holders, 30 for OG Backers)
Drop price: 25 WAX
Dropping 15/05 22:00 UTC (public), 22:05 UTC (OG), 22:10 UTC (promo)

Drop link: https://wax.atomichub.io/drops/38527+38528+38532

50% of the proceeds will be donated to stuck to help fund his work!

Digital Timmy
Collection: sixpm
Max mint: 300 (225 public, 45 for promo holders, 30 for OG Backers)
Drop price: 25 WAX
Dropping 15/05 22:30 UTC (public), 22:35 UTC (OG), 22:40 UTC (promo)

Drop link: https://neftyblocks.com/c/sixpm/drops/173+174+175