Big Time is a multiplayer role-playing game (RPG) fusing fast-action combat, the collectability of NFTs, and a history spanning adventures where the gamer is a time traveler summoned at the end of the universe.
Participants team up with other players in the game’s “space and time” for even more adventure. Treasure seekers will earn valuable NFTs rewards deployed from a transparent, public blockchain whenever they conquer, traversing through ancient mysteries and even encountering familiar faces.
Along the way, Big Time provides clothing and armor specific to a given time in history. A critical part of Big Time is time machines, hourglasses, timekeepers, Space NFTs, and forges. From Big Time, players can level up the same character in multiple class paths and immediately switch on the desired class. Notably, each player has a customizable personal time machine with a wide range of items. Meanwhile, spaces can be furnished with furniture and trophies earned from adventures.
Big Time and NFTs
BigTime integrates NFTs to make the game more exciting. Since the priority is on the gamer, developers are getting creative to reward the most active ones. As more developers integrate NFTs, more gamers join the movement. The sharp spike in the number of gamers, deduced from the explosion of wallets, could be an indicator.
Although there is division about whether NFTs are all about profit-seeking—and therefore a fad—or digital ownership, and thus encouraging adoption that will benefit gamers and developers, the current application of the technology is already bearing dividends. It is why there is a growing interest across the gaming sphere.
The creators of Big Time are bullish NFTs would unlock the potential of player-owned economies. This way, the transfer of in-game ownership will be to players and not publishers. Subsequently, they are releasing Big Time to provide a fully managed experience that’s straightforward to use. While they will provide and host gaming items via their proprietary wallet to save on costs, the benefit will be an immediate and free transfer of NFTs through its marketplace. However, even though assets will be under their secure vaults, advanced users have a lee-way to transfer assets to their non-custodial wallets if needed.
In Big Time, a player can team up with five others–a total of six– and time travel, where they go into dungeons to kill monsters. Some of them might have valuable loot. It is deliberate. Considering how the game is designed, its developers wanted to create a simple yet fun way where ordinary players without blockchain experience can collect valuable NFTs, which they convert to cash in the real world. Using NFTs, Big Time developers allow for gamers to have true ownership of assets, a move that brings the idea of the metaverse closer to fruition.
What Makes Big Time?
As mentioned earlier, Big Time has the following core features:
- Time Machine houses the gamer and acts like a personal metaverse. It works as a portal to a player’s metaverse. A gamer can host friends and display their loot from the Time Machine. Every player earns a Time Machine after achieving certain milestones.
- Space can be compared to digital land but has varying rarity—the larger the space, the more capacity for a gamer to install more features and earn rewards. The Time Machine can only be expanded using Space’s NFTs–which have different rarities and sizes. In all, there will only be 600,000 SPACE ever to be minted, of which 60k was sold in late December 21.
- Time Keepers and Forges help the gamer line up their pockets as they play. How Time Keepers and Forges act directly depends on the qualities of Space. The rarer, aesthetically appealing, or vast the spaces are, the faster the Time Keepers and Forges earn tokens for the player. Notably, Time Keepers can be summoned into the space or acquired as in-game items from the marketplace. Their primary role in the Big Time game is to either create Hourglass NFTs or fill them up. Hourglasses are critical as they determine how fast a gamer can unlock loot and earn token rewards. Since there are no token presales, how the hourglass performs directly depends on the Time Keeper and the Space. On the other hand, Forges are needed by gamers to upgrade their NFTs’ rarity. These are stored on Space NFTs and can, therefore, upgrade NFT Equipment to new levels.
- Big Time Marketplace is a portal streamlining the exchange of NFTs among gamers directly from their mobile or desktop applications. All items, as mentioned earlier, are stored in a patented vault (wallet) and proven secure, ensuring all swaps are instantaneous and without fees as would be experienced in any other P2E game. Accepted currencies include credit and debit cards, USDC, BTC, ETH, and even wire transfers. Notably, the marketplace’s payment methods can be accessed by users in over 80 countries, including the U.S. The Marketplace was launched in mid-January with access granted on three levels—Gold, Silver, and Jade.
Team and Partners
Big Time Studios based in Los Angeles is behind Big Time.
The team consists of talented, tight-knit professionals with deep gaming knowledge following their previous stints at Blizzard Entertainment, Epic Games, Decentraland, Riot Games, and Electronic Arts. On an individual level, they have contributed to some of the world’s top games like God of War, OverWatch, Call of Duty, and more.
- Ari Meilich is the founder and the CEO. He was the CEO of Decentraland.
- Thor Alexander is the Chief Product Officer and was the VP of Production at Decentraland.
- Matthew Tonks is the CTO and the co-founder of BitMonster.
- Michael Migliero is the CMO
In mid-Q2 2021, Big Time raised $21 million in a two-part funding round led by FBG Capital and North Island Ventures.
Other participants include Digital Currency Group, Alameda Research, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Sound Ventures of Ashton Kutcher, and more.
The team has also partnered with Binance.
Big Time Catalysts
- The team is skilled, comprising veterans from leading gaming franchises worth billions. Over 25 talented experts are actively working on the game and are constantly hiring more talents.
- Big Time is well-capitalized, receiving $21 million to build their game, a reason why users should accumulate their SPACE NFTs.
- There will only be 600k SPACE NFTs with varying rarity and sizes. This limited-edition factor increases the value of rare, valuable SPACE, allowing holders to reap maximum profits.
- Big Time is leveraging the transparency of the blockchain for the SPACE movement. However, their custody system ensures high security, instantaneous settlement, and zero Gas fees to trim gas costs.
- The platform’s vaults are patented and proven secure.
- Users can trade NFTs for fiat through their partnership with Binance–the world’s largest by client count. This deal is a big boost for Big Time.
- The team is innovating and has introduced Big Time Collectible cards. These cards were limited edition and are wholly owned by gamers.
- The game will be easy to use and doesn’t require prior knowledge of the blockchain. Instead, even gamers without previous experience in the blockchain can amass valuable NFTs to liquidate for cash or other cryptocurrencies.
- After months of active development, the team plans to launch in 2022 on mobile. Meanwhile, their PC game will be released afterward.
- Big Time invests in upcoming mid-tier PC game startups, giving them incentives to integrate NFTs in their gameplay. Overall, this will be a big boost in driving blockchain and NFT adoption.
- The team is working on interoperability. Later, once the game has enough users, gamers would withdraw their NFTs and transfer them to other blockchains of their choice.