Cross the Ages promises to be an extraordinary crypto game. A philosophical fable located on the shores of human epic and imaginary. Two powerful universes confront each other on the continent of Artellium. The animist magic of immemorial times, the prerogative of the Arkhantes, faces the transhumanist techno of the Neurotechs of the city Mantris. Between the two civilizations, the desert, or almost.
Did you say ambitious?
A little over a year ago, Sami Chlagou, founder and director of the Pixelheart company, took on the challenge of a lifetime: the creation of an offbeat crypto game, the first NFT saga based on blockchain technology. And gaming is exactly Sami’s field of excellence! Inveterate gamer and collector of Magic and Pokemon cards among others, it is in gaming that his company made its first successes. In 10 years, more than 50 licenses for Playstation, Nintendo Switch or Dreamcast.
Faced with the magnitude of the Cross the Ages project, the serial-entrepreneur asked his friend Christophe de Courson, a specialist in the blockchain ecosystem, to join him. Together, they put together a competent and talented management team. Specialists who will be able to put to use the small empire of 5 development studios spread over all the continents. One watchword: to expand rapidly beyond the physical limits of our world.
In many ways, the blockchain universe is still a wild technological space, almost untouched by aesthetics and values. An ideal playground to develop the multiple layers of a coherent and exciting dystopian story. A saga of complex heroes, love and betrayal, empires and conquests. An adventure that lives up to the possibilities, expectations and stakes. Ideal for uniting cohorts of adventurers and taking them through the ages.
An army had to be assembled. Or rather armies, recruited from among the most skilled in their respective fields. An armada of developers, writers, designers, sometimes known for having participated in huge projects such as Lord of the Rings or Matrix. All ready to put their talents at the service of a new page of history in the blockchain ecosystem.
A rich and deep tale for a fantasy universe
In order to last over time and to break free from fashion effects, you need substance and thickness. The game will therefore rely on a powerful framework materialized by an original story. A founding story that will be revealed over the next seven years. Seven volumes whose chapters are as many episodes delivered in dribs and drabs. At the helm is Arnaud Dollen, a scientist by training and a renowned author on the shores of SF. Today, he supervises the writing and scripting of a squad of almost twenty elite scribes who together open the way for us.
A demanding and evocative aesthetic
To illustrate the concept and build its success, the graphic design had to be beautiful. No less than 66 illustrators make up the battalion of the pictorial creation. Emblematic digital artists. All experienced in the techniques and standards of the most advanced digital media. A troop of illustrators entrusted with a delicate mission: transcribe the “techno-fantasy” atmosphere of the story onto trading cards, and transform them into objects of desire. At this time, some visuals already have tens of thousands of views on the project’s Instagram.
A satisfying and addictive game mechanic
If the world must be beautiful, if the narrative must be removed, the game must have the potential to unleash passions. No less than twenty developers are working on it. Artificers ready to dynamize the known contours of video games deployed on the blockchain. From evolutionary logic to play-to-earn strategies, from avatar modeling to faction hierarchies, all of these implementations are their weapons of choice.
An innovative approach to on-chain games
Having selected the Polygon network as its backbone, the company was able to put together a tightly knit elite commando team, dedicated to implementing the full arsenal of blockchain technology. Gathered around CTO Tony Caradonna, they are currently fomenting a solid offensive strategy. Their weapons? NFTs of course, but also a war economy based on two distinct crypto-currencies, and protocols inherited from DeFi. Thus, the Crystal will be the so-called “stable” currency of the ecosystem and interaction. CTA will spearhead the expansion.
Strategic allies committed to the long term
Armed with these promises, the company went looking for fortune to meet the heavyweights of the sector. A communication campaign carried out with a vengeance that allowed the company to gather a real war chest, without compromising the independence of the studio. The funds necessary for the war effort are provided by major players who thus associate their names and fields of excellence, for glory and posterity.
A time-proof game carved in the blockchain
Cross the Ages is, in many ways, a pioneering game, unique in its kind. At first, one might think that the emerging market of collectible “NFT” cards is its core target. But CTA goes much further than that. It defines itself as a bridge between several distinct passionate universes, with strong requirements
Gamers in the spotlight
The game mechanic, which requires you to eliminate the opponent’s cards on a board, has been reworked to make the games even more fun and addictive. The gameplay is rich and highly strategic as you rise to the top of the player rankings. For the most astute strategists, a regular progression will lead them to the elite divisions. They can then compete in real competitions with prize pools of up to $1 million.
Collectable cards to grow
For many people, opening a pack of trading cards is an emotional experience. Cross the Ages wants to offer a very special category of its audience these madeleines de Proust. The “card-onomics” is original, inciting and accessible. Extremely rich and elaborate, here are a few highlights.
- The packs will all be offered at affordable prices between 3 and 15€.
- The cards contained are first issued and held in “digital” form. The number of different cards created each year is fixed.
- The owners will have only one year to “mint” the ones they want in the form of NFT.
- Each variety of card will have a limited number of NFTs to the number that the players have decided to mint during the year. Players will create scarcity.
- The rarity will make the value, but the new possibility to merge some of them will bring a new interest to the most common cards.
- The most fetishistic players who manage to put together a complete set will be able to claim an exceptional card. A physical, palpable and holographic NFT card called “phygital”.
An authentic crypto environment for investors
The “blockchain” dimension is not relegated to the background. The economic models born from games like Axie Infinity have opened the way to a true crypto-economic dimension which is a major factor in the success of a title. Cross the Ages allows you to get involved through many mechanisms that are well known to crypto investors.
In addition to the gains generated by the purchase/sale of NFTs on the marketplace, the two native tokens of the protocol, the “stable” Crystal and the fluctuating CTA will be pretexts for all sorts of returns stamped DeFi such as “staking”. Add to that the play-and-earn dimension for the geeks among us, and you have a killer crypto investment cocktail.
“Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul” – There was a time in history when artists were aesthetes and philosophers, considered as scientists in their own right. Subtly, thanks to the singularities of the NFT format, true art finds this forgotten analogy, and transposes itself in all the layers of the digital world, including games.
Ancestral discipline having known how to travel through the ages by investing the heart of men, this “aestheticism” in the first sense of the term projects today its heritage towards the future thanks to a blockchain technology with infinite potentialities. In this temporal as well as sensory journey, Cross the Ages wants to create a disruptive universe at the junction of parallel dimensions.
