A sandbox game is one that provides players with a great degree of freedom and creativity. It is not strict on a predetermined goal that users have to pursue or a sequence of events they must follow. One can choose to roam the game or perform any other permissible activities they wish within the game’s ecosystem. Some of the most popular traditional sandbox-type games include notable names like Assassin’s Creed, Fortnite, and Grand Theft Auto. Nowadays, this gaming style has been adopted by blockchain games, which have introduced a play-to-earn element for gamers. Let’s look at the most notable of these projects.
The Sandbox
This is an interactive crypto game hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. In it, players create and trade assets in the form of NFTs. It contains a metaverse in which players can design their own virtual worlds games or build tradable digital assets. This way, users own and earn from the content they create, as opposed to the bulk of the income going to the developers.
The game is powered by its native token, SAND. Players use this token to buy virtual real estate, build virtual worlds and other games for other players, and trade NFTs on the game’s marketplace. The game’s NFT real estate is called LAND. If you own a plot of LAND, you can build interactive experiences on it where other players will pay to gain admission and participate.
Decentraland
Decentraland is a crypto game that features a virtual world and is built on Ethereum. In this world, users can purchase virtual 3D plots of land and build interactive experiences, applications, and content that they can charge other users to experience.
Notably, this platform is community-owned, which it achieves by incorporating a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). This means that the land plots, assets, and tokens used in the game are all community-owned. What’s more, those who own land plots get to control the content that is built on them. This could be anything from games, paintings, art galleries, cinemas, and so on. Those who participate in the DAO can also vote on various governance decisions on Decentraland. This helps the game achieve true decentralization, which is the hallmark of blockchain technology.
Voxies (VOXEL)
Voxies is a role-playing game (RPG) built on blockchain technology. Its developers had the aim of integrating play-to-earn games with traditional strategy-based gaming, producing a seamless gaming experience for beginners and experts alike. Notably, this game made the cut into Binance Launchpad and was the only game to make it onto the platform in 2021. This Launchpad has been especially critical of these crypto P2E games, and so far, only three have made the cut.
This game contains all the familiar elements of a strategy game – exploration, combat, upgradeable characters, and in-game assets. Users can play the game and earn from their gameplay even without owning any NFTs. However, if you own a Voxie NFT, you can upgrade it, rent it out for profit or access rarer levels in the game. This game is powered by its native VOXEL token.
Town Star
This is a farming play-to-earn game offered by Gala Games and can be played from a browser. In it, players manage towns and own them as NFTs. In return, they earn TOWN coin rewards. These coins can be earned by successfully completing missions in the game. What’s more, any players who make the top 400 leaderboards are awarded Gala tokens.
There are three types of land plots on which users can build their towns. The first is the forest, which is basically a woods setup that features ponds and plenty of resources for building a town. However, the only downside is that users would incur hefty costs for clearing the forest.
The second land type is a plain, which contains a few ponds and trees and plenty of grass. This is the easiest plot on which to build a town. The final land type is desert, which features no trees, grass, or ponds. However, players can explore oil wells and mine sands for manufacturing glass used to make wine bottles in the game.
NFT Worlds
NFT Worlds is a metaverse of 10,000 virtual NFT worlds, each unique in its own right. Users of this game can create interactive experiences in any of these worlds. Each NFT world’s interface and gameplay are hosted on the blockchain. However, their on-chain data and resource information are located on additional dApps.
Once you purchase an NFT world on this platform, you control any content hosted in that particular universe. You can also build an array of various applications and experiences and charge other users to gain access. The game runs on the platform’s native WRLD token.
Vulcan Forged
This is a decentralized blockchain gaming hub hosted on the Ethereum network. It offers several play-to-earn games, dApps, and a marketplace for NFTs. It also enables developers to build their own P2E games and dApps on the platform through their incubation and crowdfunding programs. Currently, it features 8 of these blockchain games, some of which were developed by the Vulcan Forged team. In each of these games, users can trade and earn in-game assets in the form of NFTs. The platform is powered by its native PYR token. It also launched its own DEX called VulcanDex.
Conclusion
Sandbox-type games feature a large degree of freedom and creativity for their users. They are not designed to strictly adhere to any specific chain of events or achieve specific goals. Users can roam the game’s environment and undertake alternate missions within the game. Nowadays, this gaming style has migrated to blockchains, which have introduced a play-to-earn element to them. Now, the gamers themselves can earn from their gameplay, as opposed to the bulk of the revenue going back to the developers as was the norm in traditional gaming.
