A33 Weekly Newsletter #5
Sandbox Special Edition
gm, folks!
Don’t wanna jinx it but…….NFT market is back?! We are starting to see random mints popping off again, and some older projects picking up volume as well. Amidst the mini crypto market correction we are in, $SAND has remained as one of the few resilient ones, and has casually eked out yet another all-time high.
I’m sure we’ve all heard Sandbox being discussed more times than one can count in the past few weeks, but how does it actually work? Is there still more alpha to be uncovered by investing in the the project’s LAND and ASSET NFTs? Is it the best metaverse bet for this bull run? This week, we bring you a deep-dive into the Sandbox to investigate its potential as a ‘metaverse’ play, and attempt to answer these questions (and more).
Special Feature - Sandbox
Contributor: Shiny Mr Magpie
Credits: The Sandbox Game - Medium Article
Project Details Mint Date: Ongoing
Mint Price: Various
Team: Arthur Madrid (CEO)
Opensea | Discord | Twitter | Website | Medium
Project background
Website blurb: "The Sandbox is a virtual Metaverse where players can play, build, own, and monetize their virtual experiences."
The Sandbox is one of the most recognizable faces in the crypto gaming space. Since its inception in 2012 as a popular IOS and Android game(non-crypto), the Sandbox franchise has had over 40 million downloads. In 2019 the franchise made the jump to the blockchain and has been developing this part of the franchise ever since.
From this:
Images from the original Mobile game. Credit: (The Sandbox)
To this:
Credit: (The Sandbox)
The Game
At its core it is a traditional ‘sandbox’ game, similar to Minecraft or Roblox, however, due to its integration with the Ethereum blockchain and through its currency token $SAND, The Sandbox allows players to buy LAND, create and sell in-game ASSETs in the form of NFTs, and build virtual experiences in the Metaverse, therefore giving true ownership to gamers and creators.
$SAND is an ERC-20 utility token and is the main utility currency of the Sandbox ecosystem. Players will use $SAND in many aspects of the game, such as buying/selling NFTs, paying for in-game experiences, renting space from LAND owners, and for use as a governance token.
$SAND token:
Credit: (The Sandbox)
Creator Tools
The Sandbox has two fully developed native applications to allow creators the opportunity to build experiences and create assets. These applications are free to use and available today. ‘GAME MAKER’ & ‘VoxEdit’.
GAME MAKER – A game and virtual experience engine that can be used without coding knowledge. Users can already download the game maker and start building today, without owning land.
Credits: (The Sandbox)
VoxEdit – A voxel art editor. Used to sculpt landscapes, player avatars, and assets that can be turned into NFTs. Players who wish to create and sell digital assets for the Sandbox can sign up to the creator fund and receive royalties from sales. When the game goes live, selling assets will be open to everyone.
Credits: (The Sandbox)
The Sandbox & NFTs
As this is an NFT focused newsletter, let’s dive into the role of NFTs in The Sandbox. There are two main NFT classes in The Sandbox. LAND and ASSETs.
LAND: What is it?
A LAND is a virtual piece of real estate in The Sandbox. Each one is unique and lives on the Ethereum blockchain. The sandbox comprises 166,464 plots of ‘LAND’. They can be bought and sold on the secondary market or purchased through rare LAND sales on the Sandbox website.
Here is a section of The Sandbox map.
That tiny red dot? That’s my LAND (That’s right mum, I’m a landowner now). I bought mine during ‘The Walking Dead’ land sale, so the idea is that most of the LANDs near here may have a zombie theme.
But that tiny red dot isn’t just a tiny red dot…
One day it could be something like this:
or this:
Credit: (The Sandbox)
Owning LAND opens up several opportunities, including:
Creating games/experiences for yourself and other users
Monetizing games and experiences
Staking $SAND to earn other assets
Voting / Governance
Liquidity pool multiplier - $LAND gives you greater rewards from $SAND pools.
Right or wrong, the way I think of LAND is that I just bought a whole block of pre-industrial Manhattan, and all my neighbours have done the same. Soon we’ll all hit the industrial revolution and start building. After that, the public will come into our metaverse and experience it all. It’s very exciting.
And even if I don’t get round to developing my land? I can lease it to other developers and I will earn passive income, much like a landlord does with traditional real estate.
When viewing land on Opensea, the plot of LAND that is actually for sale is the little orange dot in the middle. (Yes it’s confusing we know)
For me, LAND is a very exciting NFT whose utility dwarfs other NFTs out there. Don’t get me wrong, I love a picture of a cat or an ape (or even a cat-ape) as much as the next person. But when it comes to productive assets or NFTs with utility, LAND gets my vote.
I’ll include a link for how to go about buying land, at the bottom of this article.
ASSETs: What are they?
Assets refer to in-game items which enrich a user’s experience. Characters, scenery, weapons, clothing, etc. These are all ASSETs.
ASSETs are converted into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) when they are uploaded to The Sandbox's marketplace. Doing this will allow players to get paid to create and it’s the part of the game I’m most excited about.
ASSETs fall under one of 5 categories.
Blocks: Environmental blocks that change the look of the world. Types such as sand, mud, or grass.
Entities: NFTs which populate an experience with NPCs (non-playable characters). These could be people, cows, spiders, a wizard, etc.
Equipment: Equippable NFT items which you might carry on your person or in your bag. Swords, shields, potions, etc
Wearables: Cosmetic items which change the appearance of an avatar. Armour, robes, suits, etc.
Art: NFTs that serve as visual decorative items to display in-game. For example, displaying your prized PFP project in an art gallery of your own making.
It’s possible to purchase NFT assets from The Sandbox marketplace using $SAND or from OpenSea using $SAND and $ETH.
Credit: (The Sandbox NFT Marketplace)
These NFTs are very popular, particularly the limited edition ones, and I believe this trend will increase dramatically once the Sandbox is open to everyone, as creators scramble to build experiences and save time building everything from scratch.
Note: If you want to create your own assets and sell them, the only way to do this is through The Sandbox Creator program, whereby you get a commission for sales through the marketplace. Once the game goes live, anyone will be able to create and sell their assets for whatever price they want.
Gamemaker fund:
Credit: (The Sandbox)
ASSETs are very exciting and my plan is to create and sell my own. Imagine for a second that you pick a niche and you're the go-to blacksmith for weapons in the Sandbox, or that you create the best fireworks or horses or even kitchen sinks. The possibilities are really endless. If The Sandbox takes off, you have the chance to be a real pioneer in this metaverse.
HYPE
There has been a lot of notable interest in the game in the past 12 to 18 months, with large companies, franchises, and celebrities buying up land.
Some noteworthy names include:
Atari | The Walking Dead | Snoop Dogg | Pororo | DeFi Kingdoms |
South China Morning Post | Binance
+ many large NFT groups (Bored Apes / Cyber Kongs etc)
Snoop Dogg in the Metaverse:
Credit: (The Sandbox)
Where am I going with this?
Well, as I was scrolling through the 10k+ PFP projects coming out every day, wondering which of them would have longevity and which will fade away. It occurred to me that having a piece of the Sandbox should be part of everyone’s portfolio. I know it’s not the first project that comes to mind when thinking about NFTs, but how many projects out there have a 10-year track record of creating revenue-generating games, a vast community of gaming enthusiasts and content creators.
How many NFTs out there give you access to creating your own vast land, filled with rich gaming experiences and an eager audience waiting to play them? Think of the massive player base on Minecraft / Roblox who will want to benefit from the play-to-earn model.
Just do 10 minutes of research into The Sandbox and tell me what other NFT ecosystem (other than maybe Axie Infinity) is even nearly as developed?
I just see The Sandbox as a really safe bet as far as NFT projects go and that it should make up a small amount of one’s portfolio. It feels a bit like the Bitcoin of NFTs, except it’s only really starting to have its run now.
Not financial advice.
Closing
Is LAND expensive? Yep. Would I buy it on Opensea right now for 2ETH (at the time of writing)? Not while there are still opportunities to buy through land sales for 1011 $SAND. (Follow Sandbox on Twitter for these events).
Am I buying assets? No, I haven’t bought any assets yet. I’m a creative designer by trade and so I really want to build my own stuff. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t buy some of the limited edition NFTs on the marketplace if you like them. When the Sandbox opens to the general public, I predict these NFTs will be sought after. I may buy some in the future. We’ll see.
Right now I’m looking to get more LAND and accumulate $SAND. I’m not looking to sell it, I just don’t know exactly how important or sought after the token will be when the game arrives, and I don’t want to be left without.
Anyway. I really hope you found this interesting and at the very least, you go and do a little research into the project. The team is awesome and the whole community is very welcoming. Please reach out to me on Twitter if you have any questions or just want to talk Sandbox. @ShinyMrMagpie
Useful links:
Sandbox website: https://www.sandbox.game/en/
Creator tools: https://www.sandbox.game/en/create/game-maker/
Gamemaker fund: https://www.sandbox.game/fund/en/
How to buy LAND: https://medium.com/sandbox-game/how-to-buy-a-land-in-the-sandbox-48e2a871cd36