This is all about Sandbox. Since the beginning of the Metaverse’s hype, the question that got thrown around most was about the NFTs.
We’re not here to answer that though.
We’re gonna assume that you already are a crypto enthusiast or somewhat have a knack for these things but haven’t found your way around. No worries.
Let’s go back to June 2017 – do you wish you would’ve bought those newly released Cryptopunk? Yeah, me too. The early days are the ones that would’ve put you a couple of million dollars ahead of your friends who have real jobs.
You missed a boom. Don’t miss another.
Need of Development in Metaverse (You can’t skip this part)
Development skills were the single most important skill that would’ve made you a millionaire, sitting in your basement. But over the course of years, we have seen huge tech companies facilitating and leveraging these developers into making algorithms that would require no coding skills from the general public to carry out tasks that would rather be done by a skilled developer, like making a website – now you can just drag and drop things to make one by yourself.
(Keep reading, there’s a reason why I’m talking about Development)
This caused the lesser jobs for developers in the industry – a few developers were enough to solve problems of billions. Just when this skill was about to be obsolete, Cryptocurrency walked in with a bulletproof vest and an arsenal of its own.
The thing with crypto is that it’s a drag-and-drop thing that you can’t do on your own. There is no how-to to it, there’s no tutorial to it, and certainly, there’s no way to tell if you made one way today you can use that tomorrow as well. But many people have spent countless hours in front of their screens to figure out patterns to watch for and they do make a lot out of it.
But consuming information just for the sake of information is an exhausting practice. Some of us want to get involved through a loophole so we don’t have to lose a lot before making some.
Remember when I told you about the developers?
Web3.0 came and evoked the need for developers.
Oh my God! Now I need to learn to code! Arrrgggggg!
No, stop it. Let’s move on to the big revelation.
The Money-making Loophole in Metaverse
Maybe the term loophole isn’t totally correct here. Since this is something, they incorporated. Though I’m using this term because this is not something everyone in the has come to know and by the time that they do, it’ll be too competitive and the prices will go up (I’ll catch you up on that in a sec).
Sandbox is Throwing Blind Money on Creators
Let’s do a decent introduction for those who have skipped right down to this part (Yeah, we know you’re here.)
What is Sandbox
Sandbox is a Metaverse gaming platform like many other platforms, for example, Decentraland and Axie Infinity. Metaverse game has different than normal games because they have infinite space in the theme and the possibilities are endless.
Money Talks$$$
Every game has a currency of its own in the game (also called points). You can buy things inside the game and also earn more. The only difference is that the metaverse game currencies are cryptocurrencies and can be turned into real money. You can play2earn, trade money, and many other things – as I said, the possibilities are endless.
The currency in Sandbox is called Sand and you can buy it, sell it, and trade it through the Ethereum blockchain with a wallet like Metamask and a trading app like Binance.
What Can You Do with Games?
Sandbox has a platform where people can come, pay in $Sand, play the games, earn rewards, and $Sand. Now what you can do is; spend them in-game, withdraw them in real money, trade them for other cryptocurrencies, or let them sit and increase in value.
But we’re here for something better.
This is what this all fuss is about.
Sandbox is throwing money at people who are contributing to the games. This includes people who are making games and people who are making the ASSETS and AVATARS; which are the in-game objects and characters and actually sold, bought, and traded as NFTs.
How to Make Games and Assets in Sandbox?
Since Sandbox isn’t a very old project in the metaverse, although it was launched in 2012, the year 2022 will be very important for Sandbox and it is expected to go from $2.7 to $100 by the end of this year. With that being in place, you know why you need to getchyo patootie in there.
Sandbox hasn’t launched its metaverse completely. They have the Alpha version of it out for creators and others to test out. This is the same reason; Sandbox is giving away thousands of $Sand to gamers. Sandbox has two software to assist game development and asset development. You can be an ASSETS developer without being a game developer but you can’t be a game developer without being an ASSETS developer. Let’s take a look at each of this software.
VoxEdit – NFT Creator
The software is free to use and free to download Here. VoxEdit sort of looks like a 3D model creator, you’d know exactly what I’m talking about if you have ever used them or had any experience with the Adobe software. This will be way different than that software but the principles of designing remain the same all across the platforms.
There are three main things that you do using VoxEdit. You can create anything from an empty space with the “Voxels” which are pixels but are called Voxels here because they are the boxes. You can then animate what you created or pull out any character from the templates and animate or either edit it and modify it in the create mode. The last thing you have is Block, you can use it to make landscape objects like trees and bushes.
After you are done making these edits and you think your character or object is ready to be used in a game. Let’s move on to the games.
Sandbox Game Maker
The software that makes the game is Sandbox Game Maker. This software is also completely free to use and free to download software. Once you are there you can start creating a gaming world of your own. You can either start from scratch or use a template.
If you want to see the possibilities and other artists’ work or actually play their games, you can do so in the Gallery tab. This is where the games will also be ranked according to their likability.
Now the good part. You can import your VoxEdit assets in your games here and actually have them functioning and doing things in your game. Welcome to the Metaverse.
How to Make Money with Assets
The “Process” of making money is easy but if you ask me about making money – you know NFTs’ actual value is based on the market demand of it. Every picture is just the same thing with a different amount and positioning of pixels. The only pricing tipping point is how popular the person who owns it or creates it, is. This throws common people like you and me out of the competition and we are just left with dreams of someone eventually buying it.
But that’s not the case here. The Assets that are listed on the marketplace will have a greater price depending on the complexity, visible work put in it, and usability of it. Just because your NFTs are more than something to show off in this place, they’ll have a better purpose. Let’s see the process of ending your Asset NFT in the marketplace.
Step 1: Mastery of Art
You need to be able to contribute greatly to the Sandbox community before you can think about selling anything. Try both software, hone them and look for the best creators in the Discord server of Sandbox.
Just try to get better at these skills, make great assets, either still or animated. Make avatars and other necessary objects in a gaming world.
Step 2: Showcase on a Platform
You have mastered it, great! Now we need somewhere to showcase this art of yours – so we can move on to the next step. You can either use free portfolio websites like DevianArt or ArtStation. These both are pretty dope and one of the best ones that artists use. Go on both of these platforms and just browse through what the artists use and you’ll have a clue on how to make a portfolio of yourself before you run into the wild. You need this because you will need to provide the link to Sandbox later in the next step.
Step 3: Join the Creator Fund
You will now need to fill out the form and get accepted as a creator in Sandbox. Due to the tools being free, they don’t want people to be exploiting and spamming the game and marketplace. This is why there needs to be a form filled out. But before you do that, we have a couple more things to do.
Set Up a Wallet
You will need a wallet to do your finances. I recommend choosing Metamask, why? I just like that fox face – ion’ know what else. Also, everyone else is using Metamask with Sandbox so I think it’s a green light. After you have set up a wallet you will need to keep your security key safe, write it down on paper or something.
Set Up Your Binance
You will need to do your currency exchange and for that, you will need something like Binance, I prefer Binance, you can go for whatever you like. If you haven’t yet set up a Binance account, you can just download the application on your phone and do so. You will need to prove your identity for Binance to give you full access of it. One you have your Binance set up, you can open their website, log into it and get ready for the next step.
Metamask and Binance Integration
When you have set up your Binance and Metamask wallet. Follow these steps to sort of – combine them.
- Set up a Chrome or Safari extension of Metamask (You’ll need it).
- Open the Binance website.
- Find and click the “NFT” option on the top left bar.
- When the page is loaded, click “User” on the top right bar.
- Let the page loads, you’ll see the option to “Connect Wallet”
- When you click on it, your Metamask extension will pull out.
- Enter the security keys and password.
- You get free NFT! Woohoo! (non-tradable — bummer)
Step 4: Officially a Creator, Now Sell!
When you show your work, fill out the form, and get accepted. This is when you get your artwork listed in the marketplace for others to download and use in their world/game. To get your assets or character from the VoxEdit to the marketplace, just choose the “export to marketplace” option. If you have been screwing around VoxEdit, you’d know how to do that. When minting your asset, you can give it attributes to acquire in a game and you can also set up its behavior in the game.
Conclusion
There’s a beginning of a revolution right in front of your eyes. People who are already in it, learning to create and sell will be proved to have the most leveraged time in the starting of Metaverse. This is not about trading cryptocurrencies where there are profits and losses. This is all skill-based earnings, you get better as you spend more time and it is only a matter of time before the world realizes that and Sandbox rolls out new policies to keep the influx out. You, my friend, will be in that influx if you choose now.
