Sakaba game report:Play to Mint (Part 2)

After the Play to Earn bubble, a new concept was raised-2.

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SAKABA_xyz

5 min readSep 12, 2023

Continuing from where we left off discussing the new concept that emerged after the “Play to Earn” bubble: “Play to Mint”. As I got too enthusiastic and wrote more than intended. Therefore, I’ve decided to split this discussion into three parts: beginning, middle, and end.

In this middle section, to understand “Play to Mint” better, I’ll be diving into specific game projects. I’ve selected some examples that explicitly mention “Play to Mint”, as well as others that I believe resonate with the “Play to Mint” (hereafter referred to as P2M) ideology. We’ll look at each game’s overview and their P2M approach in sequence.

Please stay with me till the end!

🎮 BIGTIME

Game Overview

BIGTIME is a free-to-play multiplayer action RPG. With the barriers of space-time collapsing and various eras clashing, humanity is on the brink of extinction. Players venture through various temporal realms to save humanity.

The game offers procedurally generated dungeons for solo or team-based hack and slash gameplay. Its diverse classes and skill trees for building your character are among its key attractions.

It’s currently in early access, with user feedback and developer updates being a constant iteration.

Link to Tweet from BIGTIME

From a P2M Perspective

BIGTIME is grounded in a user-driven “cosmetic” economy. Cosmetics include skins for weapons and armor, room decorations, titles, emotes and animations, and even footprints and music tracks. These cosmetics are turned into NFTs, which the game operators refer to as “digital collectibles”.

There is no direct sale of these cosmetics by the developers. The primary ways to obtain them are either by crafting them in-game using collected materials or by getting them as rare drops from defeated enemies or cleared dungeons. Each cosmetic has a predetermined supply limit, ensuring its rarity. Some are so rare that there’s only one of its kind in the entire game world. Notably, these cosmetics don’t impact gameplay power, highlighting the game’s commitment to avoiding a “Pay to Win” model.

The NFT economy concept is straightforward: the BIGTIME game world revolves around the number and enthusiasm of players who love the game and want the cosmetics. All decisions — what to aim for, what to own, what to sell or buy, and at what price — are under the user’s control.

Furthermore, there’s an original fungible token called $TIME. There’s no sale of this token by the operators, and its primary acquisition is solely through gameplay. While this token can be used for various purposes like crafting cosmetics or saving time, its main purpose is to help players obtain better cosmetics.

To give some context, I’d like to introduce four sample player activity types in the game economy, as envisioned by the operators.

👦Free-to-play players🎮
Aim to level up and clear content. It’s possible to clear until the end for free.
👧Cosmetic Collectible Collectors🎮
Purchase and collect cosmetics from the marketplace.
👨$TIME Farmers🎮
Supply $TIME to the ecosystem. The more challenging the content, the more opportunities to obtain $TIME.
👩Utility Collectible Owners🎮
Create cosmetics. Aim to maximize production efficiency through trades and in-game activities.
*Generally, the further down the list, the more funds are required.
*The above are just examples, aiming for an economy with a diverse range of players.

Both the creation of cosmetics and $TIME require production assets (NFTs) like Utility Collectibles. These are initially sold by the management and have a determined supply limit. Therefore, significant funds are needed to become a producer in the game. However, these assets have varying rarities (price ranges) and a rental feature is planned, allowing for production play suited to one’s budget. Also, both cosmetics and production assets have a (probably quite) low chance of dropping during gameplay, offering opportunities for free-to-play and minor spending players to gather and produce, creating an aspirational environment.

🎮Fableborne

Game Overview

Fableborne is aunique game combining fast-paced base-building strategy with intense raid action RPG gameplay. It’s primarily a free-to-play mobile-first game. Despite being a competitive game, it’s designed for short, simple sessions, championing the concept of “LUNCHTIME ESPORTS”. Players strengthen their islands by placing buildings and monsters, raiding other players’ islands in asynchronous PvP to gather resources, and challenging leaderboards and leagues. It’s currently in closed alpha.

Link to Tweet from Fableborne

P2M Perspective

They’ve adopted a “Play to Mint” approach, distributing AL tokens. This method ensures AL goes to those who enjoy playing, provide valuable feedback, and contribute to community building. Fableborne hold play events where players could receive Free Mint rights and confirmed AL discounts ranging from 25% to 90%, depending on feedback and tournament rankings. Free Mint rights and discounts over 31% are only available through this Play to Mint initiative, not on Discord or X events.

Detailed post-release ecosystem plans are still under careful consideration. One of the project’s visions is “DIGITAL OWNERSHIP”, and features allowing players to earn NFTs through gameplay are anticipated.

🎮Frame Arms Girl: DREAM STADIUM

Game Overview

Frame Arms Girl: DREAM STADIUM is an action RPG featuring cute mech-girls from Kotobukiya’s “Frame Arms Girl” model IP. It’s a free-to-play game, officially released in July. The models have shipped over 6 million units worldwide and have been adapted into anime and movies.

The game offers simple controls but is hard to master, featuring a rogue-lite & hack and slash style. Unique growth paths, which change with each replay and reset after each battle, complement persistent stats.

Link to Youtube from Frame Arms Girl: DREAM STADIUM

P2M Perspective

The game focuses on providing P2P trading rather than purely earning via Web3. Equipment E-Units and Support Cards, which grant characters status boosts and abilities, are turned into NFTs, facilitating P2P trades. There’s no direct sale of these by the game’s management, nor is there any in-game FT acquisition or usage. Trading in the marketplace uses $ETH and $FNSA*.

E-Units can be obtained through gameplay. Enhancements are done either through playing or indirect purchases. Support Cards can be acquired through buying gacha tickets or using jewels from gameplay or purchases. Their enhancements also rely on gameplay or indirect purchases. Once equipment reaches the MAX level, they can be “sealed” or minted, becoming tradable.

Support Card, the highest rarity comes with animations, stirring a sense of possession.

This game isn’t a package but a live service. Future updates, including new characters and support cards, are planned. Additionally, the effect of weekly rankings trials change regularly. These effects, like creating a damage field under characters when defeating enemies or enemies being immune to the first hit, keep changing. They are conscious of changing the meta to promote NFT trading.

*Cryptocurrency issued by the LINE Group. This game utilizes the LINE blockchain.

This concludes the middle part. In the latter part, we’ll continue with the case study and address concerns and considerations in P2M.

Thank you for reading this far!