The Sandbox Game Maker V0.4 — Our Biggest Update to Date

The Sandbox
The Sandbox
Published in
6 min readDec 23, 2020

We are proud to announce the launch of the biggest The Sandbox Game Maker update ever!

The Sandbox team has been working hard to bring you our biggest and impactful update to the Game Maker to date. Presenting the version Alpha V0.4, the Sandbox Game Maker is adding a ton of new features that will allow creators to design amazing game experiences like nothing seen before in the Sandbox metaverse.

Download The New Update!

https://youtu.be/xUgHQu_0iN0

You the player will be able to experience all of this thanks to the upcoming Pre-Season (read the full article here), the amazing games benign created by talented creators over our Game Maker Fund, and also, our community of skilled creators that will bring new games available on the Game Maker’s library as they participate in the latest Game Jam.

If you are new to the Sandbox Game Maker and want to learn more about it, we highly recommend you to check out our Game Maker Academy, where our team of experienced game creators upload tutorials and tips for every tool and feature you can use to get started.

Game Maker: Edit Mode

The Game Maker’s edit mode is where all the magic happens. Here, you’ll be able to bring your most ambitious game experiences to life.

Global Parameters

We are adding a new window which will allow you to:

  • Choose between the Avatar user and the Avatar custom (meaning the avatar that you can create here, and a custom avatar of your choice to be played in your game)
  • Have camera presets, to quickly choose different POV (3rd person, 1st person, top view, etc.)
  • Be to choose between lightning presets to select different ambiances.
  • Choose ambient music for your experience.

Global Improvements

Following the feedback from the community and the talented creators over the Game Maker fund, we have added improvements to the tools available on edit mode, which are as follows:

  1. Press Shift key while placing blocks to add only on the Y-axis
  2. New shortcuts for the main editing buttons:
  • U for Brush tool
  • I for Move tool
  • O for Rotate tool
  • P for Select tool

3. Press R to rotate randomly

4. Press Shift while placing an asset to do it with a 0.5 Snap

5. Press Ctrl while placing blocks to replace the selected blocks

6.Pres End to snap your object position on the ground

*The edit mode control list has also been updated

Library & Hotbar

The library has been reworked to:

  • Ease the navigation (It’s not a pop-up window anymore, and we have added filters to allow a better search of ASSETS, pagination, etc.)
  • Emphasize on the ASSETS rarity and attributes (Catalysts and rarities are now visible without clicking on them)
  • Keep consistency between the marketplace and the Game Maker (Same display for catalysts and gems)

Properties

The Properties windows have been improved to showcase ASSET Cards. It now has the same look as in the Library which emphasizes the ASSET rarity and remains consistent with the marketplace.

Selection Window

The selection windows has been reworked to:

  • Ease the navigation (filters allowing a better search, pagination, etc.)
  • Identify the behaviors and components easily (added new simple icons easy to understand and tooltips)
  • A new way to know the attributes used on an ASSET by the behaviors and components (gems are now displayed near the icons)

Message System

The message system welcomes the following upgrades:

  • It is now easier to use (a list of the existing messages is now displayed in each parameter requiring them).
  • If a message doesn’t exist yet, you can create a new one in the list.

Game Rules

The Game Rules window has been reworked to:

  • Each quest now has a unique window that you can reduce or unfold to make the navigation inside this menu easier.
  • Change the naming of some parameters to make them easier to understand.
  • You can now choose which quests and data you want to display within the victory and defeat window (quests, timer, deaths, etc.).
  • Quests can now have up to 5 steps: Unlock, Launch, Objective, Completion, After Completion.

Indicator

The indicator component has also been reworked to:

  • Remove unnecessary parameters that will become automatic (Lifebar color, Objective color, Track objective, etc.)
  • Since we want to keep some consistency between experiences (Lifebar red for enemies/green for allies), we chose to remove these parameters.

Presets

The presets received some upgrades:

  • You can now access your presets with a button in the UI.
  • They can also be added to your Hotbar and be seen within the library.
  • When a preset linked to the hotbar has been deleted, a sign gets displayed.
  • You can now spawn a preset in the “asset spawner”, allowing more possibilities.

Tags

The tags and categories received some upgrades:

  • New automatic tags have been assigned to the behaviors and components.
  • Less tag and category names are used and they are easier to understand and to use.

Game Maker: Play Mode

Here is where you get to experience the full potential of the amazing games that skilled creators have designed for the Sandbox metaverse.

Balancing

The progression and balancing have been redesigned to:

  • Be able to play with friends, no matter their level (no restrictions on the access of the experience)
  • Identify easily the strength of an asset (a legendary will always have better stats than a common, no matter the gems inside the catalyst)

Lifebar & Grades

The lifebar is now automatically set on the assets to:

  • Keep the consistency between the experiences (an asset with a red lifebar will always represent a threat for the Players)
  • Emphasize the assets rarity and gems (rarities are now visible, giving a strong hint about their strength)
  • Gain visibility (DOTs have been removed)

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