Ever since JPMorgan launched its metaverse lounge in Decentraland, even the biggest metaverse bears might have to rethink their negative attitude towards digital lands. Decentraland’s biggest competitor, The Sandbox, now launched its Alpha Season 2. The second testing of The Sandbox metaverse began on March 3 and is another iteration that brings The Sandbox closer to its final metaverse product. Alexandria by CoinmarketCap takes a deep dive into The Sandbox and how it works, what is behind its seasons system, and what players can expect from Alpha Season 2.
What Is The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is one of the most popular and well-developed metaverses where players can create their own digital assets, turn them into tradable NFTs and upload them to the metaverse with The Sandbox Game Maker. Players can also buy digital LAND to host their unique assets.
Developer Pixowl maintains their system of metaverse digital ownership through three integrated products.
- The VoxEdit Voxel Editor allows users to create and animate 3D voxel models. Thanks to 3D modeling, any object from humans to animals to inanimate objects can be created and uploaded into The Sandbox.
- The NFT marketplace allows players to trade their creations.
- The Sandbox Game Maker enables developers to build 3D games for the metaverse.
What Are The Sandbox Alpha Seasons?
Before The Sandbox launches its “final” version of the metaverse — which will likely be continuously updated — updates will be coming as Alpha Seasons. These are multi-week events with SAND and NFT rewards for players to explore new experiences and social hubs in the ecosystem. While Alpha Seasons are not part of the “official” Sandbox game, they are a way for the developer team to collect community feedback and keep the anticipation for the final product high.
How Did The Sandbox Alpha Season 1 Work?
Alpha Season 1 launched on Nov. 29, 2021, and ran until Dec. 20, 2021, featuring 18 experiences in total.
Season 1 featured access to three experiences for users without an Alpha Pass and full access for those with an Alpha Pass. Both groups could connect through the social hub, although play-to-earn events were only open to Alpha Pass members. Alpha Passes were distributed through a raffle among LAND owners, daily social contests or were available to purchase on Opensea. 1,000 SAND and three exclusive NFTs (Alpha Dragon, Alpha Gate, Alpha Sword) were available to players as rewards.
How Does The Sandbox Alpha Season 2 Work?
Season 2 launched on Mar. 3, 2022 and is open to all users. Season 2 is also open to Mac users. Just like in Season 1, 1,000 SAND are up for grabs as rewards. Alpha Passes are still being distributed in three ways:
- Raffle: LAND and Season 1 Alpha Pass owners can participate in the raffle that ends on March 31.
- Contests: contests run weekly, and you can find info on The Sandbox Alpha Contests page and in The Sandbox Discord.
- Opensea: buying an (official) pass from the secondary market (currently 355 SAND).
Season 2 has 35 experiences, including 18 upgraded experiences from Season 1, five new original experiences, four new user-built GameMakerFundexperiences, three new IP experiences, and one new transportation hub. The new experiences include:
IP experiences:
- Snoop Dogg’s Foreplay: a preview of Snoop Dogg’s personal metaverse and his NFT collection.
- Hong Kong’s Star Ferry Pier: take a tour of the city’s pier with content from South China Morning Post’s historic archives.
- Missing Parts by Celsius Online: take a romantic ride on a boat, a walk through a flower garden and experience a multiplayer experience.
Gamemaker fund experiences:
- Dracula’s Castle: an adventure game, where you face Count Dracula.
- Meta Dungeon: a hack and slash RTFKT adventure.
- The Funguys Kingdom: a multiplayer experience to explore 10 biomes.
- Border Town of Tang Dynasty: save the Tang Dynasty from an evil power.
There are also 200 quests available. Some quests involve traveling to portals and speaking to NPCs that provide you with an objective. During others, you have to solve puzzles. By completing quests, you receive raffle tickets and increase your chances of winning an Alpha Pass to receive rewards.
Bottom Line
Alpha Season 2 is another step towards the final Sandbox metaverse and an excellent opportunity for new users to get their first taste of the action. For more info, head to The Sandbox Medium blog.
