The Sandbox Game Review

With the rise in online gaming in recent years, a whole new world of possibilities opened up for gamers and developers. What used to sound very far-fetched, today has become a reality: earning money while playing video games. But since the creation and improvement of blockchain technologies, this has been taken to a new level.

Blockchains are digital records that serve as public ledgers for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Games that are based on these blockchains are called crypto games, or blockchain games. Apart from using cryptocurrencies and providing new gaming experiences, these games allow players to earn money by trading in in-game marketplaces, monetizing creations and even investing in stock markets. Thanks to blockchain technologies, developers can finally reward players for the time and effort invested into the game. Although the offer is still limited, there are already some games available, including collectible-card games, virtual pets and interactive adventures. And many more are being developed.

One of the most exciting upcoming games is The Sandbox Blockchain Game, an interactive gaming experience that encourages gamers to create and design immersive adventures while monetizing them with its own cryptocurrency. Based on the Ethereum blockchain, The Sandbox allows players to create, buy and sell assets (e.g., items, equipment, scenery objects) in the form of non-fungible tokens, thus granting true ownership of every content created to gamers, not developers and publishers.

In the Sandbox, everything is dealt in SAND, the game’s currency. With SAND, gamers can buy pieces of virtual land, build worlds and adventures for others to join in, access other players’ levels, and trade items and assets in the game’s marketplace.

Gameplay

The Sandbox is a virtual ecosystem, with its own metaverse, in which players can design worlds and characters, create multiple adventures and narratives, and build digital assets that can be traded with other players. Everything created can be placed on pieces of virtual land called LANDs, where players are able to develop interactive levels for other players to pay admission and play them.

The game is powered by three integrated tools: VoxEdit, Game Maker and Marketplace. VoxEdit is the tool that allows players to design 3D objects that are the core of every asset in the game, from avatars and characters to equipment and scenery. With Game Maker, these assets are placed on LANDs, and gameplay mechanics can be applied. Then, every asset created can be exported to the Marketplace in the form of NFTs to be sold or traded. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are unique digital items on a blockchain, that can be sold in decentralized marketplaces with rights bound to creators and proof of ownership. 

The overall gameplay system revolves around players sharing experiences and playing in each other’s levels. But in the game, not only creators can profit from the game, as players can play-to-earn by collecting resources, rewards and tokens.

There is also a system that offers grants to creators called the Foundation. It has already funded 15 game projects, even though the game is still in its open beta phase, and several projects are expected to be awarded as well.

SAND is money

The in-game currency is called SAND and it’s a main part of the gameplay. It is an ERC-20 utility token used for every transaction in the Sandbox. Players can use SAND to play games, access worlds and levels, and buy items and equipment to customize avatars. Creators use SAND to buy LANDs, create adventures and interactive experiences, which players must pay an admission to be able to play, and sell assets in the marketplace to generate revenue. However, the Sandbox also features a stock market with passive revenue systems and a fee capture model, in which players and creators can invest and even get staking pool rewards.

SAND also functions as a governance token, so gamers are an important part of decisions about the game’s metaverse and rulings – the more SAND a player has, the more voting rights.

Since the game uses its own cryptocurrency, if a player wants to leave the game, it’s possible to recover the investments made by selling the assets in the marketplace and converting SAND back into real money.

The Sandbox Game was created to be a system where creators and players are able to craft, play, share and trade without a central control, featuring secure copyright ownership and the possibility of making money.