Behind the NFT: Discover the stunning buildings of Bandar Krypto!

Holla peeps!

Hang on tight, tonight we're going for a ride to a breathtaking city... 
Ha? What? Where are we going?

Well, I bet after you read this, it is gonna be your favorite city, undeniably.

So come on!  Now let's us drop by to our selected NFT creator of the week! 

*Drumrolls!* 

*Spotlight* 

Ladies and Gentleman!

The smashing team that's created the impressive architecture of NFT building!

@BandarKrypto (Twitter username) 

WoOoHoOoo! I know gang, I'm excited too! I mean it's the Bandar Krypto! 

Now, like usual, let us get to the question!

What are Bandar Krypto and the big idea behind the project?

The Bandar Krypto project is known as a city that operates in the Ethereum Blockchain, where when you purchase a token (NFT), you will be able to own a piece of building land in Bandar Krypto.

The main idea of Bandar Krypto is to get people to gather and experience the city virtually (Metaverse). Once the metaverse has launched, owners will get to invite their friends, family, anyone to their buildings; there is also a plan where the owners get to exhibit all their NFT collections. Soon enough, events will start to be scheduled throughout the city, from artists' exhibitions to talks from crypto experts and public events. It will be exciting. Those events will be held all around Bandar Krypto. Assuredly, there are a lot of big plans for this project, but I thought of announcing it throughout the project's development. 

Tbh, I personally love Bandar Krypto's concept. Undoubtedly, this project will surely go far.
Okay right now, let us get to know the excellent team behind Bandar Krypto!

Bandar Krypto is funded by Safuan Fikri and is now run by a team of brilliant people. Currently, a total of six people are running the entire project.

Safuan Fikri as the Creative Director. 

Mohd Irsyad as 3D Artist and Technical Supervisor.

Syakiran Naim and Faiz Rahman as 3D Artists.

Baihaqi Bahrain as the Music Producer.

Syafyqa Amir as PR and marketing, or better known as the person who handles social media for Bandar Krypto! 

Hello guys! It's so nice to know about the team. 

Safuan (Creative Director): The inspiration behind the project was actually from my original design exploration back in 2019. During that time, I was pretty new to Blender, and I discovered this new thing called Displacement Map, where you only need data from a black and white picture, and those data will extrude the mesh based on the image. 

Here are a few of my artwork that I did back in 2019;

In 2020, NFT is so hot, it's been happening all over the world, but back then, I didn't have the confidence to start doing it because I had doubts. Like "Are people really going to buy my work?", "What if my work isn't good enough for people to buy?" and more, so it held me back. Until Pentas.io launched, there was a lot of hype when they first started. After that, I felt like starting because it was the local marketplace. So I started doing my first NFT called the Temple Series, where I showcased temples, and each temple consisted of its own backstory.

So to conclude, the art style I created for Bandar Krypto resulted from the original creation that I made before I got involved with NFT.

After I released the Temple Series, I thought maybe I could bring something more than just a work of art. I can perhaps give collectors more of an edge in real life, more meaningful than just owning "art". From then on, I started making derivatives of famous Malaysian landmarks such as Menara TM, Kellie's Castle, Batu Caves, etc.

The only reason is who wouldn't be proud to own a famous building that, perhaps once in our lives, we've visited? So the creation of Bandar Krypto is a continuation of my Temple Series. Still, more conversation is made when holding a token with the better and more structured benefits of owning a building.

Woah, that's quite a backstory for Bandar Krypto. Well developed.

What is Bandar Krypto's most memorable NFT story?

The most memorable moment was when we sold out after 30 minutes of being released on OpenSea. Why? Honestly, we were afraid to move from Pentas to OpenSea because of the high gas fees and because most of the people interested in the project were mostly from Pentas. But we’re glad we did! We managed to gather more international collectors. As for now, one of our main goals is to grow more than just Malaysia; we plan to do buildings outside Malaysia. Since we have collectors outside of Malaysia, we are more excited to build constructions from Japan, the US, and maybe our neighbour Singapore. Tell us, who wouldn’t want to have Empire State Building or The Big Ben beside our own Istana Budaya?

Indeed, we should all feel the fear and just do it anyway.

The process of constructing Bandar Krypto.

Before the launch of Bandar Krypto, , I had done the planning and landscaping of the entire district of the city. I want to create a connection between all the areas. Some of the sites are Downtown, Lakeside, Hillside, etc. I created highways and main roads to make everything sense instead of randomly putting it in Bandar Krypto.

Here are some of the early screenshots during the planning;

Currently, 80% of the buildings are built and modelled by Bob, Kiran and Irsyad, but with strict design decisions by me because I want to keep the art style of all the buildings not far away. We usually continue to start the next drop production as soon as we finish listing. We will make an immediate decision about the building to be built next and shortlist it. Once the team starts creating the building, I'll tell Bai what theme I want for the next trailer music. I will always provide musical references for him to study.

From the last drop to a few days before the next NFT drop, we will usually do the work together through Discord. I will comment on things that need to be changed on the building, etc. 

Here are some screenshots from our Discord during the construction process:

When the trailer song is done, I will be the one who will produce the trailer, but with close discussion with the team. Once everything is set, I will mint and list it on OpenSea. I will be using another device for the minting and listing process because my metamask wallet was hacked before this. So it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I bet this is a long process, but I just know it's worth it. By the way, damn, sorry to hear that your Metamask wallet was hacked before. I hope all creators could take note on this. 

Bandar Krypto artwork pick!

As for my own favourite work, I’d choose the Bandar Krypto Hanging Bridge

IndaZubir currently owns the building. This work is a collaboration between Faiz and me. We discussed having the bridge open and close, and I’m glad we added the animation as it created a more dramatic effect on the infrastructure.

The collector sure is lucky to have this one!

Bandar Krypto's recent giveaway, the story!

We decided to do a giveaway once we reached 500 followers, Syakiran reached out to me a week before the giveaway and told me that he did this building and could use it in Bandar Krypto, and I thought it was a perfect idea since one of Bandar Krypto’s goals is to create awareness of the architecture scene in Malaysia.

Click here to see the thread

This architectural style became popular & began to dominate the earlier architectural style like Rumah Bumbung Melayu or Rumah Kutai in the early 20th century. The uniqueness of this house is how the art & craft of old Malaya is still perfect & intact to this very day.

Again, congrats for the 500 followers Bandar Krypto! Loving the giveaway style. To give and educate.

Anyways, don't forget to check out their Opensea and Discord server as well.

Also, there you have it, guys! This week awesome NFT team; Bandar Krypto!

I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for reading!

Take care 
& stay safe everyone!
N