[Guide] Journey into the Metaverse — The Sandbox’s Basics

Do you like free-to-play and play-to-earn gaming ecosystems? Are you sick of living in the real world and not always being able to customise your space the way you want it? Well, The Sandbox is the game for you! Before we dive into the basics of the game, it is always good to have a little background.

Released on 29 November 2021, The Sandbox is a free-to-play (music to my ears) and play-to-earn, decentralised and 3D user-generated gaming platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform is owned by Animoca Brands, which purchased the rights to the original The Sandbox mobile game in 2018.

Players can create ASSETS and experiences, such as games, dioramas, and art galleries, for themselves and to share with others using The Sandbox’s free software, which in turn can be monetised to earn passive income! The SAND token is an ERC-20 utility token used for value transfers as well as staking and governance. The Sandbox is made up of three key components:

A.VoxEdit

Where you can create and animate voxel art which you can export anywhere, meaning you can create creatures, items or things for your gaming world and you can mint it as an NFT.

B.Marketplace

A place to sell and collect the best ASSETS or NFTs in The Sandbox. These generated content can be sold from one player to another.

C.Game Maker

Not only can you make your own games, you can try out other people’s games too. It is user-generated so the variety is immense.

In this quick and simple guide, Coinlive is going to guide you through the signing up process and the bare basics. Here goes!

1. Welcome to the Sandbox Metaverse! After you search for “The Sandbox” on google and click on it, you will reach the page below. Click on “sign in".

2. You will reach the below page after clicking “sign in”. You may create an account with your socials but it is better to just sign up with your Metamask account as recommended.

3. This is an example of what you will see. Ensure your information is correct before you select “sign”.

4. You are in! You can start creating your avatar. You may select a predesigned avatar or create your own (not all features are applicable). When you are done, just hit “save changes”.

5. The next step is to navigate the menu on the left and select “CREATE” to download the Game Maker where most of the gaming takes place. It is important to sign up first because you will need an account in order to log in after downloading the Game Maker. After you log in, you will see “My Drafts”, “Templates” and “Drafts Gallery”. To jump into the game faster, you can select “Drafts Gallery” to explore the other experiences other users have created.

6. Select any users’ template and give it a try. Below is a zombie gaming experience. Because each game is user-generated, not all games serve a purpose; some just let you run around aimlessly while games like the below have rules and objectives.

Before you go further, there are some keywords you need to take note of, namely SAND, LAND, and ASSETS. SAND is the ERC-20 token used as the basis for all transactions and interactions; LAND is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse and each LAND is a unique (NFT) token; ASSETS are tokens created by players who build/assemble user-generated content (UGC) and their main utility is to serve as creation elements in The Sandbox Game Maker.

I guess the most important question is, how to generate revenue? Check out these three easy ways!

1. Build ASSETS on Voxedit then import and sell them on the Marketplace as NFTs.

2. Build and monetise games and interactive experiences with the Game Maker using your LANDS.

3. Buy a LAND then rent them or populate them with content to up their value.

The Sandbox is pretty user-friendly although it might look daunting at first. Once you get passed the super fast installation (like a minute or so), loading the Game Maker (two minutes tops), the rest is simple. It is kind of like Minecraft, if you have played or at least heard of it before. Well, there you have it. The very bare basics of The Sandbox. Now that you have signed up, it is time to get creative and get creating!

Written by: [Coinlive] Catherine