The Sandbox is a community-driven 3D blockchain-based gaming platform. What I find exciting about this project is that users can create their own games within the Sandbox Metaverse.

Based on the image above, you may be a bit skeptical about another game based on characters and an environment built with "blocks". Is this Minecraft or Roblox version 2.0? The devs are adamant The Sandbox is different.

The goal: disrupt existing game makers like Minecraft and Roblox by providing creators with true ownership of their creations as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and reward them for their participation in the ecosystem, - The Sandbox

That's right! The devs are giving users the opportunity to create both their own games, and their own NFTs for The Sandbox.

Related reading: What's the difference between a coin and a token?

Related reading: What is a non-fungible token (NFT)?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video should be worth one million of them. Here's a preview of the Sandbox in the video below that you should watch before reading the rest of my article.

The 3 parts of the Sandbox platform

The Sandbox blockchain gaming platform is Ethereum-based, and it consists of three integrated products.

The combined products further benefit users by allowing them to secure copyright ownership for their user-created content through blockchain and smart contracts, - The Sandbox

1) Voxel Editor

VoxEdit is the modelling software for PC and Mac used to create and animate 3D objects for use in the gaming environment. This includes things such as plants, animals, structures, vehicles, weapons, monsters, etc.

The 3D pixels manipulated in VoxEdit that are similar to building blocks are called Voxels. When a creation is completed, it can be exported from VoxEdit to get registered on the blockchain to prove ownership, and eventually become a non-fungible token (NFT). The NFT can be sent to The Sandbox Marketplace and is referred to as a game ASSET on the platform.

2) Marketplace

The web-based Sandbox Marketplace allows users to upload, publish, and sell their ASSETS made with VoxEdit.

3) Game Maker

The Sandbox Game Maker offers accessible visual scripting tools to create games quickly and easily. Because of this, the devs say no coding is required!

Sandbox Ecosystem

Devs anticipate there will be four types of users on the platform:

1. players

2. creators

3. curators

4. land owners

There are also six types of tokens in the Sandbox Metaverse. All users will rely on four of these tokens to create an enclosed economy between every user. The remaining two are reserved for use when creating ASSETS using VoxEdit.

Related reading: What are the different types of tokens?

1) SAND token for users

Using the ERC-20 standard, this utility token will be used within The Sandbox for all of the ecosystem’s transactions and interactions. Think of SAND as the currency inside The Sandbox.

2) ASSET token for users

A non-fungible token (NFT) using the ERC-1155 standard created by users with VoxEdit, which can be bought and sold on the Marketplace. Remember that ASSETS can include vehicles, animals, structures, etc.

3) LAND token for users

A LAND token is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse that users can populate with Games created with Game Maker, and ASSETS created with VoxEdit.

Each LAND token is a non-fungible token based on the ERC-721 standard.

4) GAME token for users

A GAME is a collection of ASSETS and game scripting combined to create an interactive experience. GAMEs must be paired with a LAND token to be active in the Sandbox. Creators can create games using Game Maker, and the resulting product is a non-fungible GAME token on the ERC-1155 standard.

Tokens specially designed for ASSETS

There are two additional types of tokens which are used specifically with ASSETS to define the tier and scarcity:

5) Catalyst token for ASSETS

I'm just going to quote The Sandbox on their definition:

Catalysts are Sandbox’s new utility ERC-20 tokens burnt on usage that defines your ASSET’s tier and scarcity displayed on the Marketplace. Catalysts add empty sockets to your NFTs that can be filled with Gems, the higher quality the Catalyst the more sockets your ASSET will have. In other words, the higher is the tier, the lower is the scarcity, and the more powerful the ASSET is! - The Sandbox

6) Gem token for ASSETS

I'll do the same for their definition of a gem:

In conjunction with the Catalysts, Gems are the new ERC-20 utility token burnt on usage that defines your ASSET’s attributes. Attributes define your ASSET’s main stats that will be displayed on the Sandbox’s game experiences throughout our metaverse, meaning that the more attributes your ASSETS have the more useful you’ll find them within the Sandbox, and thus incrementing its value, - The Sandbox

So if you are a creator, you want to acquire Catalysts and Gems to endow the NFTs created using VoxEdit with multiple attributes, and to buff their main stats. Examples of attributes can include power, defense, speed, magic, etc.

Impressive partnerships

The potential of a project can often be measured by the quality of the partnerships that help to get it off the ground.

A few notable partnerships include:

• Binance

• Dapper Labs (CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot)

• Square Enix (Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider)

• ATARI (Rollercoaster Tycoon, Pong)

• Care Bears

• Smurfs

There is much, much more to the Sandbox Metaverse. Please stay tuned for my next article in which I will explore a few strategies on how to monetize from within the Sandbox Metaverse!

If you would like to register for an account with The Sandbox, please consider using my referral link: https://www.sandbox.game/login/?r=CCDyfXeEsYiGFNq-IvIFRs

Related reading: Beginner's guide to the Sandbox Economy

Related reading: Beginner's guide to LAND in The Sandbox

Thanks for reading, and stay safe!

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This article wa last updated November 10, 2020

Notice:

This is not investment advice. Spend only what you can afford to lose.

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Resources:

1. https://medium.com/sandbox-game/what-is-the-sandbox-850de68d893e

2. https://medium.com/sandbox-game/presenting-the-sandbox-gems-catalysts-f017a18ff5fb

3. https://dapp.review/article/255/Everybody-Wins-in-the-Circular-Economy-of-The-Sandbox

4. https://www.binance.com/en/blog/421499824684900959/Game-On-Buying-Digital-LAND-NFTs-in-The-Sandbox