Big Time offers an escape from reality
Now, more than ever, people are in need of a place to escape – a place of refuge they can disappear into to forget the stresses of this world just for a moment. Big Time has crafted an incredibly intriguing opportunity for players to take a break from the mess of our reality, step into a world with endless possibilities, and team up with other players to protect the fate of humanity.
Big Time is a cooperative role-playing game that combines fast-action combat and NFT collection for players to adventure across time and space. Whether it is battling in World War 1 or accomplishing a quest in the time of robots, Big Time allows players to take on the role of a warrior with their weapon of choice and step into different worlds while collecting rare and legendary NFTs to decorate their avatars and Time Machines (more on this later).
The fate of reality is being threatened as time itself seems to be collapsing. Evermore Academy, the culmination of the greatest minds throughout history, is led by Albert Einstein himself, who summons time travelers to take part in the greatest adventure of human history to prevent the destruction of reality as they know it. Players, who take on the role as time travelers in Big Time, have the opportunity to participate in quests and missions to save Time’s End.
Game industry veterans lead Big Time to greater heights
The success of a game is only as good as its developers, and Big Time has been crafted by some of the greatest game industry veterans. The current team of 25 have individually worked on gaming hits like Fortnite, God of War, and Call of Duty. To this date, Big Time has raised over $21 million of funding and are backed by big names like Ashton Kutcher and Sam Bankman-Fried. With a fully remote team across the globe, Big Time’s foundational approach to get back to the basics of game development allows these hands-on veteran game developers to focus on what they do best – designing, writing, and crafting a game that they would love to play themselves.
As the NFT gaming industry has recently gained traction among gamers today, Big Time’s CEO and ex-co-founder and CEO of Decentraland, Ari Meillich, recognised that the world of crypto is complex and can be overwhelming for those who are new to the industry. Users often have to set up their own wallet and safeguard their private key. Once lost, the player’s assets are irretrievably gone forever. The cost of on-chain transactions are time-consuming and expensive, which limits the NFT gaming market to those who can truly afford it.
The patented vault technology simplifies and safeguards all NFT transactions
In an effort to make NFT gaming more accessible to a wider market, Meillich created Big Time with a patented vault technology, which keeps NFTs safe and eliminates the risk of lost passwords, wallets or assets. This allows players to acquire, hold, and trade NFT-based virtual items with ease and a peace of mind.
Players who are new to NFT gaming do not have to set up and manage their own crypto wallet and can enjoy instant settlement on transactions. Experienced players can still withdraw goods from the Vault and send them to their wallet address if they choose. Streamlined funding also allows for ease of payment from various methods like debit cards, credit cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency.
By providing and hosting digital wallets for players, assets are kept under Big Time’s custody in a secure vault, which allows for instant transfer at low costs. This ultimately provides a seamless, end-to-end user experience for the player, making NFT ownership accessible to a mass-market audience.
Procedurally generated technology guarantees an infinite amount of unpredictable encounters
In addition to the patented vault technology, Big Time also boasts the use of procedurally generated technology, which essentially creates a large number of content through special algorithms. This means that players are guaranteed a unique experience with new challenges and unpredictable encounters each time they log on to play. It may seem random, but there is a method to the madness of these special algorithms. A surprising marriage between technology and creative gameplay, this technology creates a world full of surprise and variety. Players will never be disappointed or get bored from replaying the same adventure.
The four pillars of the guiding principle behind the art team’s design for Big Time is to be timeless, iconic, mysterious, and economical. To prevent the game from looking dated as time goes by, Big Time adopts a non-photorealisitc, retro-stylized look that is instantly recognizable regardless of what is happening in the game. The developers also invested a lot of thought into crafting and telling a story through each environment. Intentionally placing clues within each setting, players can unravel the game’s deeper mysteries by paying close attention to the design of the environment. Big Time also creates a world with a blank canvas that spans multiple historical eras for veteran game designers to make their gaming dreams come to life.
Players can battle through history and collect NFTs as loot
In simple terms, players can team up with others, complete different adventures, and encounter enemies who will drop loot, some in the form of NFTs. Because Meillich wanted to create a game that is easily accessible to a wider market, anyone can play Big Time for free, and those who choose to invest money to upgrade their character do not necessarily gain an advantage over those who play for free (not pay to earn!).
NFTs that are sold on the Big Time marketplace are purely for cosmetic purposes, simply allowing the player to customize their character’s look. Those who do not purchase an NFT may get the chance to earn high-value NFTs simply by playing the game. This opens up the world of crypto to everyone, an unique approach that decreases the barrier of entry for those who may not have the financial resources to invest in high-value NFTs.
Players can utilize cosmetic NFTs through the Time Machine and upgrade them with SPACES
In the early stages of the game, players will earn a personal Time Machine, which gives you a platform to show off your loot and ‘flex’ your NFT assets. This can also be a place to simply hang out with your friends or invite them to join you on an adventure. Players can also upgrade their Time Machine by collecting limited-edition SPACE NFTs in-game or by purchasing them on the Big Time Marketplace.
A SPACE is essentially a plot of land in Time’s End, which allows you to upgrade your Time Machine and increase your capacity to accumulate tokens throughout the game. Players can choose from 5 different rarity tiers and 3 different sizes. A larger SPACE allows the player to unlock more features and even upgrade their NFTs to increase rarity. The more rare your NFT is, the more value it holds.
Hence, SPACEs are intrinsically tied to the Big Time token economy. Once a player acquires a SPACE, they need to acquire an Hourglass in-game or from the marketplace. The Hourglass within the Time Machine gives players the ability to hunt for tokens as they embark on new adventures. As with most NFT collections, there is a limited supply of 600,000 SPACE NFTs that can be traded or withdrawn outside of the Big Time platform.
To ensure that tokens are 100% community driven, players can only acquire tokens by battling across history, defeating enemies, and undertaking dangerous quests. Once accumulated over time, tokens can be used to purchase ultra rare or cosmetic NFTs, speed up crafting times, or repair damaged and depleted items.
Big Time has attracted a large community of excited supporters
Since sharing their vision of crypto accessibility and sneak peaks of their game, Big Time has created an astoundingly large community on Discord with over 408,000 followers (as of April 2022) before the game has even launched. They have over 23.2K followers on Twitter and 24.7K followers on Instagram. In July 2022, the VIP Early Access Passes and Mystery Boxes containing access passes or postcards that were released through the Founder’s NFT Sale sold out within seconds! The concept art Wanted Dead or Alive that features two heroes ensnared in a battle between cowboys and dinosaurs had a starting bid of $499 but was eventually sold for almost $25,000.
The data speaks for itself. Big Time has garnered the support of the NFT gaming community and has adequately instilled a sense of mystery and anticipation for everyone who has joined their community from the get-go. Since the Founder’s NFT sale, Big Time has also released sales for SPACEs, Mystery Boxes, Early Access Passes, and more to keep their community engaged and tease their anticipation.
In keeping with their desire to make the crypto world accessible to everyone, they also launched the Ruby VIP Pass, which grants free early beta access to members of the community who helped the game grow in its early days. These special passes will only be granted through community involvement by completing Evermore Academy’s Quests in Epoch City or can be purchased on the secondary market.
Since Big Time is spearheaded by renowned gaming industry veterans and is already creating hype within the NFT gaming community, it is highly likely that Big Time will set the standard for future AAA RPG NFT games. The overwhelming support of the gaming community speaks to the potential value that they see in the little previews that Big Time has already released, and I certainly hope that they will be able to meet the high expectations that they have planted in the minds of eager gamers.
As for my two cents, the intriguing story behind Big Time and its promises of a seamless user experience with NFTs and fresh content every time I log in certainly spark my interest and make me want to log on and disappear into the world of Big Time. If Big Time can truly deliver on their promises, there is no doubt that the gaming community will be talking about Big Time for years to come.
May 17, 2022 
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