Detailed Plan

It is fantastic that Atala PRISM DID solution will be used by the Ethiopian government for their students.

5 million users is amazing. However, having a really popular application that only allows authentication via decentralized ids, and in particular DIDs from Atala PRISM is needed to really bring a massive number of people into the Cardano ecosystem.

The application that I would like to build (ultimately with a team of others) could be considered a game by some, but it isn't really a game. It is a fully interactive 3D world - a metaverse if you will - that can be access from mobile, PC, or headsets (Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, or Augmented Reality).

There will be real-time communication and an actual in-world economy backed by native token on the Cardano blockchain. It will have a robust scripting language and 3D building tools allowing the residents of this metaverse to build their own places to live, furniture, vehicles … whatever they like. They can then sell these items to other residents and buy items from others. There will be a full in-world economy and actual money can be made by being a part of this world.

Cardano NFTs purchased can be visible in-world. 2D NFTs can be brought in as images and could be placed, for example, in the resident's home they recently constructed. Since residents will be able to build their own 3D objects in the world with easy to use tools, they can actually sell them to other residents. If desired, they can actually setup a policy and mint them as NFTs.

This will ultimately be a large project, but this first part will be the minimum viable product to get started. The funds requested are to pay for my time for about 2 months so I can devote my time to this project. I may try to raise additional funding by creating NFTs that can be used in-world. If nothing else, I'll ask for more funding in the next Project Catalyst to get further functionality created.

The world is not going to be called Oasis, but I had to give a hat tip to Ready Player One. In general, I want to create something similar to SecondLife, but no duplicate or bot accounts can be created as everyone will have to have a DID.

Additionally, this will allow certain regions to be blocked off if the resident is not at least a certain age. And some things may be restricted based off the country the resident lives in the real world. Additionally, since residents can create games through the scripting language inside the world, I'm sure before long gambling games would be created and DIDs would ensure only adults could gamble. In particular, knowing if a resident is over a particular age or lives in a particular country will help tailor the experience for the individual. I want everyone to be able to enjoy the world and I want to make sure people are protected. While real names don't have to be shared, there are particular pieces of identity information that can help safeguard people.

MVP Deliverables

• Website for alpha signup / notification list
• 3D World running on the PC
• Custom Avatars
• In-World Welcome Center Area
• Text Chat
• Voice Chat
• NFT Import / Wallet Connection
• Native Token created

Future Roadmap - priority set by residents and available funds raised

• Residents can buy land
• Residents can modify Land / terraforming
• Residents can build objects
• Residents can create scripts
• Residents can create NFTs and FTs
• Residents can sell NFTs, FTs and other objects
• Residents can cash out to native token to trade in open market
• Voice Modulation
• Support VR/MR/AR headsets
• Support Mobile
• Support Web
• Music rights bought on the Cardano blockchain (NEWM) can be streamed for dance parties

Funding

There is enough work here for at least 2 months. As a result, I can't do this project for anything less than 32,000. This will allow me to devote my time to this project as well as pay for cloud hosting for the MVP.

If this proposal is approved by the community, I'll definitely be submitting another proposal for Fund 7.

Sustainability of the project moving forward

In order for this metaverse to become the go to place to connect with others and to build things and to earn an income and to relax, more funding is required to bring on more people. Besides Project Catalyst, NFTs will likely be created to help fund the project and build up excitement for it. Likewise, my stake pool can be staked to in order to help fund this project. Funding will bring on 3D artists and animators, developers, designers and marketers.

Residents can jump in the world for free. There will ultimately be a subscription model where residents will have perks like actually being land owners and getting a stipend of the native token used in-world every week. Additional land (equates to server space) can also be purchased by residents if they want a really large place - or even a private virtual island.

What does success look like if this proposal is funded

In 3 months after this proposal is funded, a minimum viable product (MVP) will be available to those who signed up in the private beta. Assuming we are able to integrate with Atala PRISM, we will launch the metaverse with all of the items mentioned in the MVP Deliverables section above. Within 6 months, after further funding, more team members will be added and some of the items in the roadmap will be completed - in the order that the residents desire. Within 12 months, and after even more funding, the world will be a vibrant community where people login every day to connect with friends, create, relax, and even make money by selling their creations to other residents.

Relative Experience

Thank you for taking the time to read this proposal and considering it.

Since you made it this far, I'm sure you are interested in my ability to actually pull this project off. My name is Chad Carter and I've been professionally developing software since graduating from college in 1996. During the last 25 years I've architected and developed multiple eCommerce systems that are used by 5% of the top Fortune 50 companies and 26 of the Fortune 500 companies along with dozen of more companies.

In 2007 I authored a book on game programming for the Xbox 360. I updated that book focusing on networking and multiplayer in 2009. Both books were best sellers. In 2012 I created my third and final book on Windows 8 programming using web technologies. Unfortunately, that book had the same fate as the operating system.

I started my own company in 2010 and have done consulting for different clients and created a new eCommerce system. In 2015 I found out about the HoloLens, and was able to purchase one of the first ones in 2016. Later in 2016 I launched LearnHoloLens.com where I taught developers how to use the HoloLens. I ran that membership for 21 months, but I had to shut it down due to the low number of HoloLens developers. I treated my business model as if it were a consumer product instead of the business product it is.

I've also created my own Cardano Stake Pool, but I've not done any marketing with it. I just found out about Cardano in March and I wanted to be a part of this upcoming transformation so I started there.

I'm completed the Plutus Pioneer Program (first cohort) and have been diving deep into the Haskell programming language and the Plutus scripting language. Besides game development, I've also worked on many projects that required Single Sign-On (SSO). I expect that experience to help integrating Atala PRISM's DIDs.

Thank you again for considering this proposal!