Aavegotchi is a unique project that allows people to exchange scalable NFT (non-fungible tokens) and is supported by the Aave platform. Its founder recently announced the publication of a litepaper dedicated to a gamified metaverse called “Gotchiverse”.
Finance, games and fun
This is probably the most original and followed hybrid project of the last few years. Crossing decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFT), the Aavegotchi project takes a big step forward today with the launch of its litepaper for Gotchiverse.
Aavegotchi co-founder Jesse Johnson actually joked about the litepaper’s sometimes esoteric features and history:
“It’s not a typical litepaper. It has a lot of lore and legend in it […] We have a little bit of a DeFi-RPG ahead of us.”
This metaverse will introduce a new fungible ERC-20 token, the “Gotchus Alchemica,” which can be “farmed” from REALM plots of land, which are themselves supported as NFTs – conceptually similar to Decentraland’s 2-token MANA/LAND system.
Alchemica can be used to create upgrades to REALM plots, including structures such as the “Gotchi Lodge”, which will allow groups of players to socialize and combine their staking efforts. The upgrades will require “a number of blocks of the blockchain to complete construction,” but cash providers to Aavegotchi’s internal AMM, the “Gotchus Alchemica Exchange,” can speed up the process with rewards based on cash contributed.
The ambition to create a metaverse
The project is built in the tradition and unique background of the Gotchiverse. Oddly enough, about a third of the 14-page litepaper is devoted to narrative and fleshing out the universe. The game’s antagonists, the liquidators, reference real-life liquidators on the Aave lending platform, and the universe is peppered with DeFi jokes – a “base” area of the map is called the “citadel” and Alchemica types are named “Fud,” “Kek” and “Fomo.”
Aside from gameplay, Johnson said the map would be “a huge Pac-Man game,” where Aavegotchi runs/flies around the map to collect Alchemica and send it back to their KINGDOMS, before getting caught by the liquidators, which can be NPCs (non-player characters) managed by an AI or else characters played by other players.
A full release date for Gotchiverse is pending, though Johnson said parts of the game will be revealed as early as Q3 2021. Johnson added that the team now has 20 full-time employees, including video game industry veterans.
Jesse Johnson has long been a spokesperson for DeFi and NFT crossovers. And with public interest in metaverses growing in recent months, Aavegotchi is causing a real buzz. This month, Nvidia’s CEO said we are on the cusp of a blockchain-based metaverse. Epic Games (the creator of Fortnite) also confirmed its vision of metaverses as the future of NFTs.
