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Blockchain game Big Time research report: detailed explanation of team, gameplay, and economic model.

2023-10-12 10:34

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Original Title: "First Class Cabin Research Report: MMORPG Chain Game Big Time"

Original Source: First Class Cabin Blockchain Research Institute

Big Time is a large-scale multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) built on Ethereum, with a leading team and financing in the industry. Currently, the game is still in the internal testing phase, and has basically formed the prototype of MMORPG, and completed the conceptual construction of the game's sustainable economic mechanism. The game experience is good, and it has a certain degree of playability. Currently, the chain game track still maintains a good scale in the current bear market. After Big Time is open with zero threshold, it may attract more players to join.

Project Overview

Big Time is a large-scale multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) built on Ethereum. The game is currently in the testing phase and has basically formed the prototype of an MMORPG, as well as completed the conceptual construction of the game's economic mechanism.

From the perspective of the team, the Big Time team has a solid background in the gaming and crypto industries, with core members having experience in developing large-scale games or working for large game companies. Compared to the first research report in May 2022, there have been some changes in the core team members of Big Time, and the departure of the product director and the game economy model design director may have had some impact on the development and delivery of the game, which has since been taken over by other experts deeply rooted in the gaming industry. In addition, as Big Time Studios is a game studio that operates completely remotely worldwide, it may also have some impact on the timely delivery of the game.

From the perspective of funding, Big Time has raised over $90 million through primary market financing and NFT sales, which is enough to support the development of a 3A-level game. After the game goes online, the project team can continue to operate sustainably by selling game resources.

From the perspective of game core mechanics, Big Time has basically borrowed the character and growth design of mature MMORPGs, but its free job change system will greatly enrich players' gaming experience. However, this also puts forward requirements for the balance adjustment of the game team, because the lower job change threshold means that if a certain profession's ability is particularly outstanding, it will squeeze the living space of other professions, thereby affecting the playability of the game.

From the perspective of game economy mechanism, the design of Big Time is very clever, which can ensure that the game's economic cycle has a certain degree of elasticity on the basis of stability, and can also ensure that both free and paid players can have a relatively rich gaming experience. However, such an economic mechanism also puts high demands on players' strategies for allocating resources in the game, and players need to invest certain resources to explore their suitable position in the game.

From the actual gaming experience, the game has a certain degree of playability, but more iterations will be needed in the future to improve the game's graphics and gameplay mechanisms.

From the perspective of game entry requirements, the hardware requirements for games do not seem to be high at present, but players need to meet certain requirements to participate in the preseason tournament.

From the perspective of project development, the operation and development pace of the game is slower than expected, but the game has already attracted a group of highly sticky core players. In the future, after the zero-threshold opening of Big Time, it is possible to attract more players to join.

From the perspective of the track, since entering the bear market, although the number of players and trading volume in the chain game track has decreased to some extent, the core group of chain game players still maintains a high degree of stickiness, and the overall development progress of the track has not been significantly affected. A large number of new games are still being developed and operated. Once the overall macro environment improves, the chain game track still has room for imagination. At the same time, based on the different types and development stages of the chain game track, we believe that games like Big Time, which have some core assets on the chain, are rooted in Web2 games, and have sufficient development capabilities and operational experience, will have greater development potential in the future.

1. Basic Overview

1.1 Project Introduction

1.2 Basic Information

2. Project Details

2.1 Team

According to the official website, the core members of the Big Time team currently have a total of 38 people. However, according to LinkedIn, the Big Time team currently has 89 employees, an increase of 22 staff members since the initial research report in early 2022. From the beginning, Big Time recruited a team of senior professionals from top game companies such as Epic Games, Blizzard, EA, and Riot to form an all-star team in the gaming industry.

The introduction of the core team members and corresponding changes are as follows:

Ari Meilich, CEO, former co-founder and CEO of Decentraland, has rich experience in venture capital and data analysis. He previously worked as a market research analyst at Charles River Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund, and founded the big data company Benchrise, where he also served as CEO.

Matt Tonks, CTO, served as the chief programmer of COR Project from 2004.01 to 2005.05; worked as a software engineer at Electronic Arts from 2005.05 to 2007.10; served as a senior AI programmer at Epic Games from 2007.10 to 2012.7; served as the technical director of Drifter Entertainment from 2016.01 to 2020.08; and has been a co-founder of BitMonster since 2012.03. Matt Tonks has been dedicated to the gaming industry for the past 18 years and has extensive experience in game development.

Thor Alexander, CPO, served as the Development Director at Epic Games from 1999.04 to 2006.12; from 2002.10 to 2005.02, he was the founder and editor of MMP Game Development; from 2006.12 to 2008.11, he served as the Product Management Director at Metaplace, Inc.; from 2008.11 to 2011.12, he was the Executive Producer at Zynga; from 2012.03 to 2017.08, he was the founder and CEO of Lucky Puppy, LLC; and from 2018.11 to 2020.04, he served as the Vice President of Product at Decentraland. Thor Alexander is an OG in the traditional gaming industry, with over 25 years of experience in game development and rich entrepreneurial experience. Currently, there is no information available on the official website, and it is highly likely that he has left the company, with his work being taken over by Brian Chu.

Brian Chu, Product Management Director, entered the gaming industry in 2007 as a Salesforce developer marketing intern. In 2008, Brian joined Deloitte Consulting as a senior consultant, providing consulting services to multiple companies in the interactive entertainment, software, and mobile information industries. In 2009, Brain joined Zynga as the Chief Product Manager for the CityVille project. He then served as the Vice President of Product at Identified in 2012. In 2013, Brain joined Blizzard Entertainment as the Global Brand Management Director, responsible for global brand marketing strategies, budgets, and execution for "Heroes of the Storm" and "StarCraft II". In 2016, Brain became the Product Director at Rocket Games, which was acquired by Penn Interactive Ventures in April 2017. In 2017, Brain became the Product Management Director at EA, and later joined Epic Games in the same position in 2019. In April 2022, Brain joined Big Time as the Product Management Director and has held the position since then.

Michael Migliero, CMO, served as a product marketing assistant at Akamai Technologies from 2007-2008; co-founder and CEO of Fractional Media (an advertising services company) from December 2012 to May 2018; and DSP Director at Machine Zone (MZ) from May 2015 to May 2018.

Ken Harsha, Chief Animator, Creative Director, has over 31 years of experience in special animation, television animation, and gaming. He has served as an art director, production designer, director, writer, story artist, storyboard artist, and visual development artist, and has a considerable reputation in the American entertainment industry. Ken Harsha has participated in multiple works of Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros., provided art direction for multiple series of Call of Duty games, served as art director, producer, production designer, and film director for more than 5 years at Electronic Arts, and managed the concept art department of Treyarch for more than 8 years.

Daniel Paez, Director of Game Economy Model Design, served as a product manager at VisusTV, an industrial engineer at IBM Brasil, a customer manager at Transcend Information, and a business development manager at Gresso Miami from 2009-2015, mainly responsible for enterprise product work. From 2015-2015.06, he served as an Apple SPO expert; from 2015.06-2020.12, he served as a pricing manager and publishing intelligence manager at Blizzard Entertainment; from 2020.12-2021.08, he served as a senior manager of business finance and operations at Activision. In addition to his position at Big Time, Daniel Paez also serves as the Director of Game Economy Model Design at Worldspark Studios. According to LinkedIn information, Daniel left the company in February 2022 and was succeeded by Khaled Alroumi as the Director of Game Monetization and Economy.

Khaled Alroumi, Director of Game Monetization and Economy, entered the gaming industry in 2010 and has served as a co-founder of several gaming companies in Kuwait and Dubai, developing the game "Warfront: Tolia's War". In 2021, Khaled Alroumi joined the blockchain game Illuvium as a game system and economic designer. In September 2022, Khaled Alroumi joined Big Time as Director of Game Monetization and Economy and has held the position to this day.

Aaron Smith, Art Director, has previously worked at companies such as Rogue Entertainment, Nerve Software, and Epic Games. He is also a co-founder and game artist at Bitmonster, Inc. With over 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, Aaron Smith specializes in concept art, 3D character and environment modeling, and has over 17 years of experience with the Unreal Engine. He is a seasoned professional in the gaming industry.

Martin Sweitzer, Chief Engineer, 1998.06-2000.05, served as a Trilogy software developer; 2000.11-2001.10, served as a programmer for Sony Online Entertainment; 2002.01-2004.06, founded Sigil Games Online; from 2004-2017, served as a senior game programmer for BrickHouse Games, Epic Games, and Squanch Games, and was also a co-founder of Bitmonster, Inc. Martin Sweitzer is a seasoned game industry professional with over 20 years of game development experience.

TJ Stamm, Chief Designer, began working in the gaming industry around 2000. Prior to this, he held designer positions at companies such as Electronic Arts and Infinity Ward, and was responsible for producing, designing, and creating art for multiple games. During his 6 years at Infinity Ward, he was primarily responsible for weapon design and game balance parameters in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Infinite Warfare series.

Cedric Fleury, Chief Designer, began working in the gaming industry in 2006, serving as a level designer for multiple games including Wolfenstein at Threewave, EA, and SE. In 2016, Cedric Fleury joined Ubisoft and participated in the development of Far Cry 4, primarily responsible for the open world environment design of the entire game. Cedric Fleury has since served as a senior level designer for multiple projects at WB Game and EA. In May 2022, Cedric Fleury joined Big Time as Chief Designer.

The CEO of the Big Time project is Ari Meilich, who is also the former co-founder and CEO of Decentraland. In addition, most of the team members have rich industry experience in the traditional gaming industry and have worked for major companies. From the team's resume, the team has professional game development experience and has participated in the design and development of many top games, including League of Legends, Fortnite, God of War, Call of Duty, and Overwatch. Compared with the first research report in May 2022, there have been few changes in the core team members of Big Time, but the departure of the product director and the game economy model design director may have a certain impact on the development and delivery of the game, and subsequent work will be taken over by other experts who specialize in the gaming industry. In addition, as Big Time Studios is a game studio that operates completely remotely worldwide, it will also have a certain impact on the development of the game.

2.2 Funds

2.2.1 Financing Section

On May 12, 2021, Big Time Studios announced the completion of a $21 million financing, which will be divided into two parts. The first part, $10.3 million, was led by FBG Capital, with participation from North Island Ventures, Digital Currency Group, DFG, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Alameda Research, LD Capital, YBB Foundation, Circle Financial, and Sound Ventures, created by Ashton Kutcher. In addition, Big Time Studio also completed a $11 million financing round, which will be used to invest in gaming companies willing to use related NFT technology.

2.2.2 NFT Sales Section

除去融资部分，Big Time 还通过多次游戏内的 NFT 道具销售活动，获得了非常可观的收入，详情如下：

Translation:

Excluding the financing part, Big Time has also obtained considerable revenue through multiple in-game NFT prop sales activities. The details are as follows:

1) Binance NFT Marketplace's First Sale

On July 22, 2021, Big Time launched its first NFT Drop on the Binance NFT market. The event is divided into four main parts, as shown in Table 2-1:

Table 2-1 Binance NFT Market First Sales Situation

Overall, Big Time's first sales event on the Binance NFT market has sold out completely, with a total NFT value of $667,160.

2) Binance NFT Market Sales Part 2

On August 13th, 2021, Big Time launched the second round of Binance NFT market sales. This activity is mainly divided into 2 parts, as shown in Table 2-2:

Table 2-2 Binance NFT Market Sales Part 2 Situation

Based on the information obtained, the second round of Binance NFT market sales activity by Big Time shows that the value of the NFTs sold is approximately $ 2,905,200.

3) SPACE NFT Sales

On December 21, 2021, Big Time launched the SPACE NFT sale.

Table 2-2 SPACE NFT Market Sales Report (December 2021)

SPACE NFT is a component of the personal metaverse in Big Time, similar to "land" in other metaverse projects. SPACE NFT comes in various sizes and rarities. The rarer and larger the SPACE, the more functions it can support.

This is the first sale of SPACE NFT, and the team will sell 60,000 SPACE NFTs (10% of its total supply). Details are as follows:

Figure 2-1 SPACE NFT Sales Details

Combining the two tables in Figure 2-1, we can calculate that Big Time sold a total of $38,148,000 worth of SPACE NFTs in the initial sale.

4) Mystery box sales

Table 2-3 Sales of Mystery Gift Boxes in the Market (February 2022)

On February 17th, 2022, Big Time launched a mystery box sales event on the Binance NFT market. A total of 25,000 mystery boxes were sold, each with a chance to drop 6 different types of animated postcards, and a small chance to drop ultra-rare postcards. In addition, the mystery box also had a chance to drop a VIP pass for early access.

For this sale, each mystery box is priced at 25 BUSD, with a total value of $625,000.

5) Exalted SPACE Sale

Big Time sold a total of 3,000 Exalted SPACE NFTs (0.5% of the total SPACE NFTs) and 12,000 Mythic SPACE NFTs (2% of the total SPACE NFTs) in this Exalted SPACE special sale event, as shown in the above picture (right).

Compared to the volume and pricing of the previous SPACE NFT sales event, the editor conservatively estimates that if all the SPACE NFTs in this event are successfully sold, the team will raise at least $30 million in funds, for reference only.

Big Time sold 4,500 and 7,388 mystery boxes respectively in the two mysterious box holiday sales events on Open Loot. These boxes will include three types of Utility Collectibles NFTs that can be used in SPACE: Arsenal, Furnace, and Time Guardian, with a ratio of 45%, 45%, and 10%, respectively. The Time Guardian will be used to create Hourglass components, which will be used to generate BIGTIME tokens. The Arsenal and Furnace will use BIGTIME tokens to create some skin-type NFTs, which will be tradable on Open Loot in the future.

Big Time is built on Ethereum and uses Procedurally Generated Goodness technology to expand off-chain scalability. The framework is similar to most blockchain games on the market, where game assets are put on the chain and the game itself runs on off-chain servers. The specific codebase is not open source.

2.4 Product

Big Time is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) inspired by time travel.

而使得 MMORPG 区别于其他类型的 RPG 游戏的关键点在于游戏体验的不同。

The key difference between MMORPG and other types of RPG games lies in the different gaming experience.

For example, in Japanese-style RPGs, the game experience is more focused on guiding the main plot. Players play a role in a script set by the game developer. The game mostly adopts a single-line ending, and even if it is a multi-line ending, there is generally a clear path to achieve it. The player's differentiated experience will be supplemented by the branch plot, but overall, it will not deviate too much from the main plot setting of the game.

Derived from TRPG (Table RPG, such as Dungeons & Dragons), American-style PRG weakens the influence of the main plot in game experience settings, and adds more random elements to emphasize the impact of player behavior on the game. During the player's gameplay, American-style RPGs can provide players with more differentiated experiences through the accumulation of interactive elements, allowing players to form their own game memories. The game itself generally designs multiple endings as feedback for player behavior.

MMORPG, conceptually speaking, basically follows the design philosophy of American RPG, which emphasizes interactive gameplay rather than one-way experience. Generally, there is only a short introductory plot to help players establish a basic worldview, and even the concept of "ending" is not set for the game. The main gameplay experience for players will be built on the interaction with game elements. On this basis, MMORPG will also emphasize the interaction between players, and can even be said to be a kind of online social game to some extent.

In the following text, we will first introduce the world view setting of the game, and then make a certain degree of analysis from the three core elements and gameplay mechanisms of the game.

2.4.1 Big Time Game Background Story

Note: This chapter is an introduction to the background story of the game, which is not the focus. Readers who are not interested can skip it directly.

Each MMORPG game has its unique game background and storyline, and Big Time is no exception. The story background of Big Time is set in the future human world, where a mysterious force is threatening the balance of the universe. Time has been distorted, and different eras collide with each other. The space-time of the entire universe has been severely damaged. Survivors have been wandering to the last refuge of the universe, a place called the end of time (BIGTIME'S END), in search of survival.

However, due to the influx of survivors from different times and spaces, the small asteroid BIGTIME'S END soon became overwhelmed. At this point, a solution emerged (seemingly out of nowhere, perhaps with the support of an unknown mysterious force behind it), a person named Canard Cincade created Paradox Corporate and produced batches of small robots called Clockies to maintain order in the space-time world, quickly restoring BIGTIME'S END to normal operation.

Meanwhile, Paradox began selling a pocket universe called BIGTIMESHARES, which was full of infinite possibilities, similar to the VR virtual world in Cyberpunk. Whether you want to ride a dinosaur in the American West during the pioneer era or meet a robot warrior in feudal Japan, Paradox can make it happen. Many people flock to it to escape reality. Over time, residents of BIGTIME'S END began to notice that these small robots occasionally malfunctioned or even went berserk, disrupting their lives. At the same time, rumors began to circulate that Paradox was the culprit behind the destruction of the universe. Paradox vehemently denied the allegations while introducing the Guardian XL, a large robot with devastating power. Canard Cincade wanted to use robots to control the entire world and use them for city patrols to monitor the operation of the entire city. In response, a group dedicated to protecting "time" - Evermore Academy - stepped forward. The school's principal was one of the smartest scientists in history - Albert Einstein. Einstein assembled a group of heroes to solve the crisis facing the universe.

In Big Time, players take on the role of a time traveler summoned to the edge of the universe by Einstein. In the current version of the game's storyline, players must investigate Paradox Corporation, uncover Canard Cincade's intentions, and prevent his plans. More game storyline content will be unlocked with future game updates.

As an RPG game, Big Time uses multiple time and space narratives, and game characters will travel through multiple time and space to achieve certain narrative purposes. Through the comparison of different time and space, the game content is enriched and has deeper narrative potential.

2.4.2 Role and Growth Elements

As an RPG game, the focus of the game mechanics lies in the attributes, professions, and growth elements of the characters in the game.

Figure 2-3 Big Time game character

Currently, there are four types of character professions in the Big Time game, as shown in Figure 2-3 above. They are:

• Time Warrior: Skilled in close combat, suitable as a tank; signature skills include Whirlwind Slash and Invincible Roar.

• Chronomancer: A mage specializing in ranged attacks and capable of dealing damage to groups of enemies. Signature skills include Fireball, Blizzard, and Time Stop.

• Shadowblade: Possessing high-speed movement and stealth abilities, it is suitable for single-target output; signature skills include stealth, backstabbing, and bomb traps.

• Quantum Fixer: Similar to a priest, able to heal teammates and suitable as a support role; signature skills include healing, summoning turrets, and restoring energy.

Big Time's four basic professions are basically based on the traditional European and American RPG "warrior, mage, pastor, and assassin" profession settings, which are easier for players to quickly adapt to the game mechanism and choose their own game style. On the basis of the four professions, Big Time also designed a job change mechanism. Players can use different professions' "Pocket Watches" props in the game to change jobs into different professions. In addition, after the v0.26 update, when players reach level 30, they can choose to change jobs into two new professions, Techblade and Battlemancer, each with a brand new set of skills. The former is a combination of tank and mage in terms of character positioning, while the latter is a combination of assassin and pastor.

From the perspective of growth factors, the internal growth mechanism includes the upgrade and skill point mechanism. In Big Time, players can obtain attribute points and skill points every time they level up. Attribute points can enhance the basic attributes of game characters. As the basic attributes improve, players can equip better weapons and equipment, which is similar to the gameplay of traditional RPG games. Skill points include active skills and general talents, which are related to the selected profession and are always effective regardless of the profession.

Figure 2-4 Upgrade Point System

The currently available options for external growth mechanisms include equipment systems and item systems.

Figure 2-5 Equipment and Prop System

The equipment system currently includes gears, armor, shields, weapons, jewelry, and backpacks. Gear items can be equipped on the watch to grant players additional abilities or item rewards. Weapons are directly equipped by players, and there are currently various types of weapons to choose from, including two-handed axes, one-handed hammers, two-handed hammers, one-handed swords, two-handed swords, dual swords, and two-handed staffs. The weapons that players can equip are tied to their class type, level, and basic attributes. Weapons can enhance the player's basic attributes and have a mutually restrictive relationship with the defense type of the attack target. Armor includes helmets, shoulder armor, chest armor, gloves, and leggings, as well as shields and jewelry. These equipment items, like weapons, can also enhance the player's basic attributes. The backpack is used to store player items and provides additional inventory slots for players to place items, thereby assisting players in the game.

The equipment system currently includes rarity and skin mechanisms. Equipment with higher rarity often has a higher attribute bonus limit. The skin system is similar to the fashion mechanism in DNF and can be crafted in the arsenal and furnace in SPACE. It does not affect the equipment's attributes, and players can view the skins their equipment has in the collection section above the UI. Equipment and skins can be obtained by defeating monsters, synthesizing, participating in activities, purchasing corresponding gift packs, and NFT skins can be traded on Open Loot. We will explain the specific equipment forging mechanism in the NFT and SPACE sections.

Regarding the props system, the game has set up many props, among which the props that players can use mainly include energy potions, life potions, teammate teleportation potions, town teleportation symbols, and the Tree of Life. They can basically meet the needs of players to supplement character resources and move quickly, and can generally be obtained as loot by killing monsters.

From the perspective of character elements and growth elements, Big Time basically borrows from the mature design of MMORPGs, but its free job change system will greatly enrich players' gaming experience. However, this also poses requirements for the balance adjustment of the game team, because the lower job change threshold means that if the ability of a certain profession is particularly outstanding in the future, it will squeeze the living space of other professions, thereby affecting the playability of the game.

2.4.3 Interactive Elements

The core gameplay mechanics of a game can be distilled into its interactive elements. Currently, the objects that can be interacted with in a game include the plot, map, scene, and players. Both paying and non-paying players can experience the same game content in terms of characters and growth elements, but paying players can enjoy a richer gaming experience in terms of interactive elements.

In version v0.27, players will be able to play on a whole map, which includes elements such as towns, forests, swamps, snow mountains, towers, dungeons, etc. Interactive objects on the map include NPCs, monsters, ores, teleportation gates, and other players.

图 2-6 BigTime game map

Figure 2-7 Interactive Elements

Players can interact with NPCs to complete item transactions, learn skills, initiate storylines, and receive quests. Monsters and ores primarily correspond to the game's combat and gathering mechanisms. Players can use the left and right mouse buttons to perform combos or release corresponding skills or items to attack enemies through the numeric keys.

Figure 2-8 Link to the copy

The portal mainly corresponds to the dungeon mechanism of the game. Each dungeon has a limit of 6 people and will suggest a recommended level. After completing the small tasks of the dungeon in a team, players can enter the final boss room and obtain rich rewards by killing the boss. In the subsequent official version, the rewards that the dungeon can provide will include watches, gold coins, time crystals, BIGTIME tokens, equipment, skin fragments, lucky bonus chips, NFTs and other items. In addition to the normal dungeon portal, there is also a high-reward dungeon called the Glory Portal, which significantly increases the drop rate of rare items in the dungeon. Players need to meet the entry requirements of skin-type NFTs before entering the high-reward dungeon, which may include the type, theme, season, and color of skin-type NFTs, and then pay BIGTIME or time crystals as the entry fee. In addition, players can also provide additional bonuses for the high-reward dungeon through lucky roulette slots.

The current interaction mechanisms with other players in the game include teaming up, player expressions, and chat functions. It is expected that friend and guild functions will be opened in subsequent version updates.

2.4.4 Resource Elements

On the left side of the game's main UI in the upper right corner of the map, there are three types of resources displayed: gold coins, Time Crystals, and BIGTIME tokens. Gold coins can be obtained by killing monsters, completing quests, trading loot, or mining, and can be used to purchase ordinary equipment and props in the game.

Time Crystal is the main in-game currency for in-app purchases, which is difficult to obtain through normal gameplay. Players can only purchase it from Big Time through Open loot, and Time Crystal is not an on-chain asset. Once purchased, it is bound to the account and cannot be traded on the market. Currently, the price of 500 Time Crystals is about $5, and the price of 13,500 Time Crystals is about $100. Time Crystals are mainly used to activate various functional NFTs, and a certain amount of Time Crystals is required to use the Arsenal, Furnace, and Time Guardian. In addition, Time Crystals can also be used to purchase some auxiliary props, such as additional time hourglass equipment slots or to pay for the entrance fee of certain Prestige Portals.

BIGTIME token is the most important core asset in the game, and it is the final link in the entire game economy mechanism. We will introduce this token in 2.4.7.

Aside from the three resource elements that can be directly seen in the UI interface, there are four other important resource elements related to functional NFTs in the game: Cosmetic Shards, Workshop Mod Chips, Prestige Portal Mod Chips, and Cosmetic Scraps. Workshop Mod Chips and Prestige Portal Mod Chips are collectively referred to as Bonus Roll Chips, which drop during game events and are not on-chain assets, therefore cannot be traded. They are mainly used for exchanging functional NFTs and the Prestige Portal's lucky wheel.

Figure 2-9 Workshop chip and Glory portal chip

All four will drop monsters in the copy, and skin fragments are mainly used to synthesize refined skin fragments and then make or upgrade skin-type NFTs in the arsenal or furnace. Skin fragments are seasonal drop items, and new skin fragments will be released for each season, used to synthesize NFTs that can be made for the current season. Workshop chips are mainly used to exchange functional NFTs, and can also be used to purchase lucky turntables (Bonus Roll) for functional NFTs. Glory Portal chips are mainly used to exchange lucky turntables for Glory Portal. Skin waste is mostly obtained by destroying skin-type NFTs, mainly used to exchange workshop chips and glory portal chips.

2.4.5NFT

In games, there are two types of NFTs, one is the skin-type NFT mentioned in the equipment section, and the other is the functional NFT. The difference between the two is that skin-type NFTs are products, while functional NFTs are production tools. The former can increase the user's gaming experience by improving the sound and visual effects of in-game props such as armor and weapons, showcasing the player's status. Players who own skin-type NFTs will also have the qualification to enter exclusive scenes or glory portals to experience exclusive content. At the same time, to ensure the balance of the game, skin-type NFTs will not affect the original game values of in-game props. The latter is mainly used to produce skin-type NFTs and BIGTIME tokens to maintain the economic cycle in the game.

There are two types of skin NFTs, which are the producible skin NFTs and the non-producible skin NFTs. The former can be produced through functional NFTs, while the latter can only be randomly dropped in the game. There are currently three types of functional NFTs: the furnace, the arsenal, and the time guardian, all of which can only be used after connecting to the personal metaverse SPACE. In the furnace and arsenal, players need to invest certain resources, such as BIGTIME tokens, time crystals, and skin fragments, to complete the production and upgrading of skin NFTs. Three low-rarity producible skin NFTs can be exchanged for higher-level producible skin NFTs, which will become an important part of the season competition in the future.

Time Guardian is the most complex functional NFT in the game, which will be used to produce BIGTIME tokens. Players need to first invest Time Crystals to create Time Hourglasses, and then equip them. After using Time Crystals to charge them, they can generate BIGTIME tokens. Time Hourglasses are consumable resources, and when they are depleted, players need to use Time Crystals again in the Time Guardian to recharge them in order to continue producing BIGTIME tokens.

Players can choose to use the Lucky Wheel for every activity in functional NFTs, including refining, crafting, and upgrading skin NFTs. The Lucky Wheel can be obtained by exchanging Workshop Chips and can provide additional bonuses in the form of a lottery for the current action. The level of functional NFT determines the available slots for the Lucky Wheel, and multiple different Lucky Wheel bonuses can be stacked for one action. Players can obtain functional NFT experience points for all activities in functional NFTs, and when the experience points reach the upgrade standard, they can pay Time Crystals to upgrade the functional NFT. After upgrading, the functional NFT will have higher production efficiency, additional Lucky Wheel slots, and bonus effects.

除了上述的功能之外，功能性 NFT 还拥有不同的类型，不同类型的功能性 NFT 有不同的颜色分类和特殊加成类型，此外功能性 NFT 的类型也与其稀有度挂钩，其中稀有度前三的功能性 NFT 将全部是 Triumph 类型。

Translation:

In addition to the above functions, functional NFTs also have different types. Different types of functional NFTs have different color classifications and special bonus types. In addition, the type of functional NFT is also linked to its rarity, with the top three rarest functional NFTs all being Triumph types.

The furnace currently has 10 types:

Figure 2-10 Maximum supply of different types and rarity of furnaces

The arsenal currently has 10 types:

Figure 2-11 Maximum supply of different types and rarity of arsenals

Unlike the Forge and Arsenal, the Timekeeper currently only has four types:

Figure 2-12 Maximum supply of different types and rarity Time Guardians

除了每个功能性 NFT 所具有的单独加成之外，玩家还可以依据 SPACE 当中各种类型的功能性 NFT 获得套装加成，套装加成的奖励与单独加成类似，且可以进行叠加，红色提升制作和精炼的速度，蓝色降低制作和精炼时的 BIGTIME 消耗，绿色增加额外的幸运转盘槽位。

Finally, the official emphasized that all functional NFTs will have a fixed and unchangeable issuance quantity, but new skin-type NFTs will be launched on a seasonal basis in the future. The maximum issuance quantity of skin-type NFTs for a single season will be determined at the beginning of the season.

2.4.6SPACE

SPACE is an important game content that distinguishes between paying players and free players, similar to the "land" concept in other metaverses. In the game, players can summon their own metaverse portal on the map by clicking a specific button and then enter it. Both free and paying players can have their own personal metaverse in the game, but only players who own SPACE can perform some special operations in the expanded space of SPACE.

Figure 2-13 Personal SPACE Portal

SPACE currently has four functions:

1) Expand personal metaverse. The design of SPACE is like building blocks, each SPACE has an entrance and multiple exits. Players need to create their personal metaverse by entering through the entrance and then connect to other SPACE or functional NFTs (armory, forge, and timekeeper) through the exits. Different sizes of SPACE have different numbers of exits.

图 2-14 SPACE 内部

translates to

Figure 2-14 SPACE Interior

2) Use functional NFTs. The arsenal, furnace, and timekeeper can only be used when connected through SPACE.

3) Placing skin-type NFTs. Players can display skin-type NFTs obtained during the game in their personal metaverse or make some personalized modifications.

4) Obtain the broken hourglass. The broken hourglass can be used to produce the game token BIGTIME in one go.

5) Integrate social functions. Players will be able to invite other players to visit their personal metaverse and interact with each other.

SPACE can currently only be obtained through purchase. Additionally, SPACE of different sizes and rarity have a fixed maximum issuance:

Figure 2-15 Maximum circulation of SPACE with different rarity and size

The size of SPACE will affect the number of exits of SPACE, which will affect the number of components that SPACE can connect to.

Except for the Exalted rarity, all SPACEs have three sizes: small, medium, and large, with 2, 3, and 5 exits respectively. Exalted rarity SPACEs have one more exit than other rarity levels.

除了影响到SPACE的出口数量以外，稀有度还会限制连接在SPACE上的功能性NFT，高稀有度的功能性NFT将仅能在高稀有度的SPACE上连接并使用。同时SPACE的稀有度会影响到破碎的时间沙漏的稀有度和掉率，SPACE的大小会影响到破碎的时间沙漏的掉落数量，从而影响到BIGTIME代币的供应。

In the future, Big Time will also use the SPACE rental system to allow more players to experience the richer game content provided by SPACE.

2.4.7 Game Economic Mechanism

The game economy mechanism constructed by Big Time revolves around the BIGTIME token.

BIGTIME token has the following main functions:

1) Used for refining or creating and upgrading skin-type NFTs with skin fragments in furnaces and arsenals.

2) Pay the entrance fee for the Payment Honor portal.

BIGTIME token has a total supply of 5,000,000,000, which is expected to be generated entirely through in-game activities rather than being issued into the game. There are no token sales targeted towards investors.

The specific acquisition methods are as follows:

3) Purchase through the market or obtain through team airdrop the already produced BIGTIME tokens.

The mechanism behind BIGTIME determines that its supply will be related to the allocation of in-game resources for the majority of the time, ensuring a certain level of stability and flexibility in the game's economic model. As the producer of BIGTIME in the game, the main resources required are hourglasses and time crystals, with the latter being priced in US dollars and fixed. The price of hourglasses fluctuates with market supply and demand, ensuring that if the output of BIGTIME is lower than the cost, the producer will reduce token supply, thereby stabilizing the game economy. The fluctuation of hourglass prices also ensures that the production of BIGTIME is related to the market's activity level, or the actual demand of players, thereby increasing the flexibility of the game economy.

除了 BIGTIME tokens，Open Loot also allows trading of other assets such as skin fragments, SPACE NFTs, decorative NFTs, and functional NFTs. Therefore, there are two additional paths to participate in the complete economic cycle of the game in Big Time.

1) Defeat monsters and complete dungeons to obtain skin fragments for trading on the market.

2) Defeat monsters and complete dungeons to obtain non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for skins that cannot be crafted, and then trade them on the market.

Above are the two paths for free players to participate in the game economy cycle. Due to the low drop rate of NFTs and rare resources in ordinary instances, free players need to invest a lot of time and energy, while trading skin fragments will be one of the few behaviors that free players can actually participate in the complete game economy cycle. However, since on-chain assets do not significantly affect the balance of the game, free players can still experience most of the fun of the game without involving on-chain assets.

For paying players, how to participate in the game economy cycle is more strategic. It will be necessary for every paying player to learn how to use SPACE and functional NFTs to produce more skin-type NFTs and BIGTIME tokens for trading, and to invest time crystals, BIGTIME tokens, and skin fragments in what proportion. Meanwhile, the existence of mechanisms such as the Glory Portal can further enrich the gaming experience of paying players and increase their participation in the game.

Overall, the game economy mechanism designed by Big Time is very clever, which can ensure that the economic cycle in the game is stable and has a certain degree of flexibility. At the same time, it can also ensure that both free and paid players can have a relatively rich gaming experience. However, such an economic mechanism also puts high demands on players' strategies for allocating resources in the game, and players need to invest certain resources to explore their suitable position in the game.

2.4.8 Airdrop

Big Time will airdrop to early buyers of the game's NFTs and early participants in the game to thank them for their support.

Airdrops can be divided into two categories. One is the airdrop of mystery boxes, with a total of 153,000 boxes, each containing a functional NFT with different drop rates based on rarity. The more NFTs a user account has, the higher the rarity and corresponding asset value, or the more game tasks and copies completed, the higher the value of the airdrop that can be obtained.

Another type is the BIGTIME token airdrop. According to Big Time's current airdrop plan, the total amount of airdropped tokens will reach 2.6% of the total supply, which is 130,000,000 BIGTIME. During the preseason, the official will conduct an airdrop of 97,500,000 BIGTIME tokens and use the remaining tokens for other airdrops and marketing plans. The above airdrops will be conducted at the end of the first three months after the start of the preseason, and the amount of the airdrop will be based on the real-time leaderboard of points in each user's account. The points in the user's account will be calculated based on the following behaviors:

1) Level up in the game. The higher the level the player reaches, the higher the point rewards.

2) Use practical NFTs. Behaviors that can earn points include refining cosmetic fragments, making cosmetics, making hourglasses, charging hourglasses, and dismantling broken hourglasses.

3) Participate in the Honor Portal.

4) Invite friends, inviting players can get 50% of the invited player's points as a reward.

In simple terms, the more a player participates in Big Time, the more collectibles they have, and the higher their chances of receiving an airdrop. The prizes they receive will also be more abundant. However, the specific plan for airdrops may be subject to further adjustments by the Big Time team in the future.

2.4.9 Seasonal Competition and Rewards

After the public beta, Big Time will update major versions every 90 days. Each major update will include the following content:

1) A brand new fixed quantity of skin-type NFTs, including both craftable and non-craftable skin-type NFTs.

2) New season skin fragments and refined skin fragments.

3) New special events and game content.

Due to Big Time's design being targeted towards traditional 3A games, there are certain hardware requirements for the system. Currently, the minimum system requirements are as follows:

Graphics card: GeForce GTX 1060 / Radeon Rx 580 or higher version.Memory: 8GB RAM.API Interface: DirectX 11 or higher version.

Storage Space: 23GB

Currently, although Big Time cannot be compared with the 3A games of traditional big companies, from the perspective of chain games, Big Time far surpasses the rough and shoddy chain games on the market in terms of game graphics, gameplay, sound effects, systems, etc., and can reach the level of a qualified independent game in the traditional gaming field.

However, relatively speaking, due to the certain requirements for configuration and operations, Big Time may limit the participation of some people in games that require a lot of time and effort. Therefore, the key is whether the game can successfully stand out, including whether the game is outstanding, the built-in economic incentives, and whether it can attract players from both blockchain gaming and traditional gaming fields.

• Gaming Experience

Speaking of the overall game testing results, the v0.27 version of Big Time has already formed the prototype of an MMORPG game.

First of all, the gameplay mechanism of the game has been established, but not all systems, such as tokens and guilds, have been fully implemented in the current beta testing. They will appear in subsequent updates. Currently, the challenge of dungeons and main storyline is smooth and the completion rate is basically up to the standard of a normal game.

If players want to purchase NFT assets on Big Time, they only need to log in to the official Big Time page through their Google account, bind their corresponding mobile phone number or Google Authenticator, and finally bind their bank account or add USDC to make a purchase. Of course, experienced users with on-chain transfer experience can also create a new encrypted wallet for trading.

Note: Currently, Big Time Marketplace only supports payment in USDC, and it is expected to adopt ETH payment in the future.

Big Time's NFT purchase process is relatively convenient in operation, without the need for players to learn how to use digital wallets. It only requires logging in to a Google account and binding a bank account to make purchases, which greatly reduces the user's entry threshold. It should be noted that on the Big Time NFT trading market Open Loot, before making any large deposits (over $2,000 within 24 hours) or any withdrawal operations, the corresponding KYC certification must be completed, and currently, only one KYC certification can be bound to one account.

2.5 Technology

2.5.1 Procedural Content Generation

Programmatic content generation is a method of generating game content in large quantities, either in real-time or offline, by first inputting feature parameters and basic materials, and then using a series of customized (or somewhat random) algorithms.

1) It can greatly improve the production speed of game assets, reduce costs, and have a low error rate. This is very important for optimizing the control of outsourcing for large-scale game projects.

2) PCG generates a huge amount of resources, which allows for a lot of innovation in gameplay. Continuously generating random content can stimulate the imagination of game designers.

3) Real-time dynamic generation of unlimited new content can be achieved within limited hard disk space, saving hard disk space usage and allowing players to repeatedly play newly generated levels. It can also be calculated offline to optimize game performance and provide players with a vast space for exploration.

Big Time has built a grand game world for players through PCG technology, bringing more fun and playability to players, and increasing the exploration cycle of the game.

Big Time stores the records of created or purchased items through Vault in its own database. Technically, Big Time does not automatically mint NFTs on the blockchain, where NFTs and regular items can coexist, thus keeping transaction costs low. On the other hand, players can transfer assets from off-chain to on-chain at any time.

In addition, Ari Meilich, CEO of Big Time, pointed out that if there is enough demand for Big Time, the studio will design new ways for players to extract their assets and transfer them to any desired blockchain. This may mean that Big Time's SPACE NFT in the game is likely to become cross-chain assets in the near future.

Summary:

From the perspective of the team, the Big Time team has a solid background in the gaming and crypto industries, with core members having experience in developing large-scale games or working for large game companies. However, compared to the first research report in May 2022, there have been some changes in the core team members of Big Time, and the departure of the product director and the game economy model design director may have had some impact on the development and delivery of the game, with subsequent work being taken over by other experts deeply rooted in the gaming industry. In addition, as Big Time Studios is a game studio that operates completely remotely worldwide, it may also have a certain impact on the timely delivery of the game.

From the actual gaming experience, the game has a certain degree of playability, but more iterations will be needed in the future to improve the game's graphics and gameplay mechanisms.

3. Development

3.1 History

Table 3-1 Big Time Event

3.2 Current Situation

Currently, Big Time is still in the internal testing phase. As of September 1, 2023, the game has been in internal testing for over a year and has been updated to version 0.27. Multiple major versions have been tested and wiped, but due to limited testing qualifications, the actual online player count of the game is relatively low, and most servers are idle.

3.2.1 Social Media Scale

Table 3-2 Big Time social media data.

As of October 9, 2023, Big Time social platform has a large number of fans and high interaction. The community communication is frequent, and most of the content revolves around game mechanics. The game live streaming data is good, with over 2,000 broadcasters having streamed Big Time games for over 40,000 hours. Currently, it has surpassed Axie Infinity as the most streamed Web3 game by broadcasters, and the total viewing time of the game has also exceeded 480,000 hours. It is estimated that the current core fans of the game are around a thousand people or more, and may continue to increase in the future.

3.3 Future

图 3-1 Big Time 路线图

Figure 3-1 Big Time Roadmap

Big Time is still in the internal testing phase, and the development focus of the next few versions of the game will also be on the development of the BIGTIME token and the landing of functional NFTs. In the future, Big Time will also update more main storylines to improve the game experience. On October 10, 2023, Big Time plans to launch the preseason version, and it is expected that a large number of new players will enter the game at that time.

Summary:

From the perspective of project development, the operation and development pace of the game is slower than expected, but the game has already attracted a group of highly sticky core players. After the subsequent version is opened with zero threshold, it may attract more players to join.

4. Economic Model

Big Time will soon launch its in-game token $BIGTIME. We have incorporated the BIGTIME token and game economy mechanism into our product (Chapter 2), which will not be further elaborated here.

5. Track

5.1 Track Status

After entering 2023, the overall performance of the chain game market can only be considered satisfactory for those who have high expectations for this track. However, compared with the overall downturn of the blockchain market, the current chain game market is still performing well and still has great development potential in the future.

Figure 5-1 UAW, the only active wallet in the chain game track, and transaction volume.

图 5-2 Chain Game Track Unique User Count

According to data from DappRader and Footprint, as of September 25, 2023, the number of active wallets (UAW) in the blockchain gaming industry has remained around 800,000 over the past year. Although this is a decrease of more than 30% compared to the average daily number of 1.2 million wallets at the time of Big Time's first research report, the core players in the blockchain gaming industry have not shown any significant loss. Once the overall market recovers, the blockchain gaming market will have a foundation for a resurgence.

Figure 5-3 Financing amount and financing volume of the blockchain gaming industry

Figure 5-4 Number of Active Chain Games

Despite the significant decrease in funding for the blockchain gaming industry over the past year, we can still see that the number of active blockchain games has not decreased significantly, and even continues to slowly rise. This indicates that the industry is still growing and developing, and has a certain degree of resilience even in bear markets.

Overall, both from the perspective of the game and player data, the blockchain gaming industry has performed well in the current bear market environment.

2) Due to the high operational and product iteration requirements for project parties in most games, Web2.5 games operated in the form of Web2 are able to achieve a balance between game operation efficiency and cost compared to pure Web3 games, ensuring that players have a basic gaming experience.

3) After the first wave of blockchain games, the blockchain gaming industry saw significant development. Investment in game development increased, and players had higher expectations for the next paradigm of blockchain games. Therefore, older blockchain games that resembled small or browser games in terms of mechanics and graphics found it difficult to achieve unexpected success. Players and the market are expecting a blockchain game masterpiece that can truly compete with mainstream Web2 games.

Based on these points, we are relatively optimistic about games like Big Time that are rooted in Web2 and have sufficient development capabilities and experience. In addition, as a type of game, MMORPG often has a more stable user base and longer game life compared to other types of games. Although this means higher requirements for project operation, it also means greater development potential.

1) Game Economic Model

2) Team Risk

The game rules are customized by the team, and the team may change/adjust the game rules at any time according to the current situation of the game, which may result in players' interests being damaged.

3) Game Bug Risk

There are still a large number of game bugs in the current game version, some of which may be malignant bugs that affect game assets. Players need to be cautious and provide timely feedback to the project team.