You might know that I was buying lands in a game or I should say a metaverse named The Sandbox if you read some of my previous articles. I tried on the last day of the pre-sale to get one more land on the last day of their 4 days sale. I was out of luck this time and my slow internet connection today prevented me from getting another one. Anyway, in those articles, I wrote that I would make a more in-depth article about The Sandbox. So here it is...
If you want to read about the land I bought you can go back to read these 2 articles:
Buying a land in The Sandbox
Now a landlord in The Sandbox metaverse
So now this being said let’s go more in-depth over The Sandbox
The name comes from a concept or I could say a category of games that has an open world where almost all things can be affected by players. A little like kids playing in a sandbox and making different and unique castles by themselves with no boundaries but their imagination. It means that they can build, change, rearrange, modify, or just interact with the game world itself. These games are rich in items of all kinds, from the things the players are using and wearing to everything in the world around like flower trees, buildings, and so on.
The Sandbox game is not new. It was released in 2012 on iOS and 2013 on Android by the company Pixowl as an open world pixel editing game. Players could create whatever they wanted using pixels. With the popularity of the game with more than 10 million downloads, they moved on to release the sequel, The Sandbox Evolution.
This newer version got even more popular with over 70 million downloads. It keeps the idea of 2D design with pixels but with more polished and better graphics. They also scored big partnerships with companies like Sony to include Ghostbusters' elements to the game. Later Bandai Namco and Dreamworks followed to add content based on Pacman and Shrek.
This brings us to the most anticipated game running on the blockchain of 2020. With 3D graphics that remind us of Minecraft but more detailed, it was first announced at the Pocket Gamer Connect conference in 2018. And has since raised over 4 million for the development of the game with the new owner of Pixowl, Animoca Brands, and a partnership with the Korean giant Kakao. And yet this will only increase as they have sold over 3 million of dollars of SAND token on Binance. Now with a roadmap that keeps on adding content and getting partnerships with big names such as Atari who will develop a game inside the world it can only get bigger and more awesome.
If you are curious about what they plan for the future. You can find a link to their roadmap at the end of the article.
Many aspects of the game can make very good use of the mechanisms and ecosystem that can be built on blockchains. The notion of ownership across platforms and most importantly by the user.
The Sandbox has its own tokens which run on the Ethereum network as an ERC-20 token called SAND. I think they choose a good platform but at the moment with the gas fees, it was not so nice running their presale. I think it should have been moved to another time when the gas fee would be much lower.
Before the ownership of items or other games, assets were limited to the account with a specific game and company. Being centralized they had a total over them and would limit how they can be traded or used. With NFTs on blockchains, players retain the total control and ownership of all they have. They can trade and sell them outside the game or they could in the case the game goes down keep them forever as paraphernalia.
Before the appearance of the in-game trading systems, players had to rely on some system that players invented using mechanics but a lot was about trust. Gamers from older games like Diablo 2 could remember dropping their items and running around a well to picked up the traded items. Nowadays, In-game centralized marketplaces are common where users can buy and sell game assets, collectibles, and special edition items. But still, they remain at the will of the companies behind the game and only for in-game currencies mostly.
With items being minted in NFTs they are tied to the player's wallet and can be traded anywhere and for any currencies easily. This already gave birth to marketplaces for virtual items and even tokenized art. One good example is OpenSea.io https://opensea.io/ where players can trade safely without trust issues their virtual goods. This is perfect for open-world games such as The Sandbox.
All that a player owns can be stored in a wallet and can be afterward used anywhere as long as the wallet can be restored. In The Sandbox game, the wallet can store currency SAND as an ERC-20 token, Lands, and items as ERC-721 tokens or even with a new ERC-1155 token. They have the freedom to connect their wallet anywhere, changing servers, or even games as they wish. It is also a centralized place to keep assets from all games. One way to say only one account for any games that supports it. It also very easily verified as it is saved on the blockchain.
Another aspect that can become quite important in games like the Sandbox is the ability to make decisions for where the game is heading. What should be done to improve it and how? They plan to also add a Foundation DAO short for decentralized autonomous organization, with SAND staking. This will give the possibility to vote on how the Creators Fund Management should be spent to further the experience.
Creatures, props, decorations, buildings, armor and weapons, suits, and hats, well pretty much anything in the game can be the player's creations. The Sandbox already released its asset editor called VoxEdit. It is not only a creator for the visual aspect but also for animations of these assets. With this editor, users can create their own and submit them to the game.
It’s kind of game inception, a game in a game. Later this year, The Sandbox will release a game editor to the public. Players will be able to create games that can be placed on their lands. They can decide the type of games, the rewards, and anything they want to include. First, it will be for single players but they plan to add multiplayer support no later than next year. Not much is know yet about how it is going to work or how easy it will be, the specifics are still unclear but very promising and exciting.
Here is a little example of a small game created to demo the game creator. Some of you might know that I am an underwater explorer and a dive instructor so I chose something that relates to me. You can see how it got to me in this article
Ever been to space?
https://www.publish0x.com/scuba-diving/ever-been-to-space-xjjvvjn
The project is not new, it has been in constant development. But one good thing is that the funding is happening as the game is evolving with you guessed it, the sale of lands. You can get a good idea about the money raised in the last 4 days sale looking at this chart.
There are also big companies interested in The Sandbox. So far Atari, a dinosaur of gaming has bought some of the biggest estates in the world and is currently running a contest with a chance to win goodies in the game. They are also creating a game to play inside The Sandbox. There is also Binance, who bought quite a few big estates and was also the first to list the SAND token on their Exchange. Other big names include Opera, Square Enix, Care Bears, RollerCoaster Tycoon World.
You can go see their roadmap here
https://www.sandbox.game/en/roadmap/
Their VoxEdit editor here:
Their upcoming Game Editor here:
https://www.sandbox.game/en/play/#play
