Speaking in general
You didn’t complain like this when in S2 there were inappropriate times recorded.
You didn’t complain like this when in previous competitions there were more BOTs/multiaccounts than the players themselves.
I haven’t seen anything concrete to change.
It feels like reading a flock saying and responding the same things as each other.
The studios once said that TSB is great, TSB does well, TSB thinks of the community…
In memory of Dionio
(ATTENTION)
Hi, the truth is that I have no money to pay a subscription of X, and making threads is a headache to me, the right thing to do would be to send the next message by mail to whom it may concern, but because of the experience I have with sandbox, it will surely remain unseen due to so many mails that reach them. I am simply writing this here in the hope that it is more likely to reach the eyes of whom it should.
The following will be dedicated, towards TSB, but if you want to know my point of view and how I feel about this, you can take a look at it, it’s a lot I know, if you know my games, you will know that sometimes I put a lot of words in it. Feel free to skip the following and sorry for taking up a lot of space of this forum, would be a lot.
Honestly it is sad to see everything that is happening now. I don’t want to attack anyone, nor blame anyone. I just wanted to express what I think, if it is something you want to know.
The truth is that I feel very unmotivated by everything that is happening now, besides sad and angry and burning everything, I feel and I know you do too, that this is like a dead end. The truth is that it’s really not only because of the wrongly named “Builders” Challenge 2, in my 3 years of belonging to this community and making games on this platform, I have only seen closed doors.
If this is the first time you see my name, I am an independent developer inside Sandbox that has a small studio with his best friend, I have participated in many Game Jams, in one year I participated in absolutely all the Game Jams created by TSB and in another year I missed one to do it again, many times I have been in top 10, once very close to top 1 and a few honorable mentions, besides making streams of how I develop games and streams of how I create my assets for my games. The truth is that I can’t be more than grateful to TSB for creating two amazing tools, Game Maker and VoxEdit, that have helped me to find something I consider myself to be good at, something I really love and am passionate about, making videogames… and that’s why I will write this with all the respect possible.
If you are one of the few who follow me in networks, you may have seen the time when I said I was quitting The Sandbox, the truth is that there is no reason to stay. If you are someone who wants to dedicate yourself to developing video games and make this your way of life, make it your entire job, it makes no sense for you to be here. I know that I and other people share the same feeling as I do, some, as you know have already left this platform. I know TSB doesn’t care if a single developer leaves, if an indie studio leaves, if a big studio leaves, if a big studio leaves, if a big studio leaves that has been from the beginning pushing this platform, even if they all leave, why? It’s a company, you shouldn’t care. When there is a need, they look for solutions and if everyone leaves, which I don’t think will happen, they will look for a way to bring in new Builders. It is what it is.
Maybe what I and other Builders have been feeling for some time, in my case for more than a year, is being felt by other great studios, that like everyone else, we work hard, with care and passion to create something excellent, something that demonstrates our skills as Builders, to be rewarded for that and in a way to compete amicably with other Builders, (which sounds logical if the event in question is called “Builders” Challenge).
But it is easy to see, even from BC1, that the goal of TSB is not to reward the Builders for what they build, but rather to compensate the developers in covering a need that the platform has, lack of new players and to keep those players on the platform. With those I have talked to in the community, I called it the “Popularity Challenge” because I believed that only the most popular studios or developers would have a chance to win in this event. Later I realized that it was all a “Marketing Challenge” and now it is a “Cheater Challenge”.
My feeling is that the company does not have the respect for the Builders of their platform, not the one we deserve. I believe and I am sure that the person reading this, that video games are an art form and everything we do is art, whether it is an experience, an asset or a story to tell in a video game, except for certain bad players that are here, as everywhere, who simply do the minimum and necessary to exploit a system, which is useless, in order to get the most profit possible. What I base my opinion when I say that TSB company does not have or shows respect for us? Simply by the fact of deceiving us, of giving us an event that would reward us for “Build”, something that we knew before BC1 started that it was not going to happen. Only a few people raised their voices and said that this made no sense. Then more people talked about all the bad things about BC1 at the end, if you got a good performance and a good reward you surely realized it, but you didn’t care.
I don’t know what kind of processes they carry out in their offices, but from my point of view, they just take the first idea that comes to their mind and implement it in events that directly and indirectly affect the Builders of the platform. At first glance, during the BC2 AMA, or rather reading the article, it was clear that this was going to be a carnage. On the one hand, this event could end up being a joke for certain bad players of BC1, and on the other hand you could motivate real artists and Builders to make bad decisions that harm the other participants. It was something very easy to see, if you don’t see it is because you live in an ideal world and you believe that the best possible scenario is the one that is going to happen.
I hope this can be understood in the best possible way, I love the Sandbox community, I love Sandfam, I love Game Maker, I love Vox Edit, but I am sick, tired and sick of all these decisions being made that affect me and all the Builders on this platform.
Once a proud developer of video games inside sandboxes, taking this seriously, as a full time job, now simply has to settle for scraps, and in some ways, finds no pride, no joy in what he does. Maybe it’s me, I know it’s not the event, but I know a lot of it is the direction you guys are headed as a company.
Sometimes it runs through me, bad blood, as a human being, I focus on the negative. I don’t focus on how good a Builder I am, the truth is that I only see closed doors here, in the old GMF format I made 8 applications, 3 rejected, 1 stopped me from sending or answering messages, 3 I didn’t even get a response, and in the last one after a few months, what a surprise, no more GMF. My only way to survive was the Game Jams, but you start to lose energy, if you also see great games made by great studios, maybe with more funding or better equipment than me.
The year of the creators. The truth is that I fell for it again. Yes, once I told some friends that I would stop making games in TSB, but a few days later I won a Game Jam and again, as always, and as everyone does when your work is well rewarded, I got excited again. Added to the fact that they would create an event to reward the “Builders”, I thought that at last a door was finally opening before me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
With misgivings I entered BC2 simply because I spent approximately 300 hours creating a game for a Game Jam, and that, by an oversight, maybe because I didn’t sleep almost 3 nights before the Deadline, or because it’s a pain how slow the Rule System is, or the bugs I had to endure during the development, the game presented a bug, which makes the game start with a Black Fade and never goes away, something that anyone who enters will do absolutely nothing about. 300 hours resulted in a $28 compensation just for a bug. So somehow I had to get that game out of the way, the dream of continuing to work on what I love. But it happened what it had to happen because of an inefficient system and senseless management.
The people you see complaining here, because apparently you don’t want them talking elsewhere, do it because they have passion for what they do, they show all those feelings, because your company is linked to artists, who strive to do their best, so they can get a fair compensation for the hard work they do.
While we may all consider ourselves Builders, developers and artists, and not marketing and content creation experts, rest assured that, if we and you both work in the same direction, with real communication and being transparent, we would be able to find together an organic way to solve the problem Sandbox has: the lack of players. So far, all I feel is that you have thrown the problem at us, thrown money around pointlessly just because you can, and put Builders in competition for it. Someone once said it: it’s like throwing a piece of meat to hungry dogs.
I don’t think there is anyone on this forum who is not hopeful that the Sandbox platform will succeed, from the bottom of my heart, I wish for the platform to succeed, for VoxEdit to succeed, for GM to be better and still have the success it deserves and I think all of us here will do whatever it takes to help make it happen, if we are fairly rewarded, if all parties are in the same boat.
I know that as a company, you don’t have to pay attention to what I say, moreover, if you decided to read this far, you may be laughing, but the truth is that you may be ruining great things, great tools, you may be ruining the future of Game Maker, maybe learning systems with creation tools that can be applied in schools, there are thousands and thousands of ways in which Sandbox can be part of good and excellent things, but we don’t even know where you want to aim.
Currently there is a big problem, in big video game companies, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts. etc, all those companies that once were big and respected within the video game industry have shown their decline, for lack of direction for trying to survive the trends, memes, subscriptions, call it what you want, someone may say it is Web 2 problem, well, Web 2, Web 3, is the same medicine with a different name, to say the least.
I would like you to believe that we would be happy to give our 110% to bring this platform to the success it deserves, if in return we receive what all our effort and work deserves. As always we are willing to engage in communications. We want the best for The Sandbox, we want the best for Game Maker, we want the best for Vox Edit. We won’t do it for free, we don’t want anything for free, we just want what we rightfully deserve. You want us to do marketing? We will. We will. Do you need players to stay on the platform? We will find a way. Everything can be better, it has to be better. Both you as a company and us as Builders, we have to head in the same direction, in the same boat.
Unfortunately, Builders Challenge is in diapers, as someone once said, it is not only that, GM is in diapers, the Game Client is in diapers, the web page is starting to walk and at times it usually crawls again. TSB is in diapers, and it is for that very reason that cooperation with Builders is necessary. TSB cannot run, direct, or handle any kind of events, whether directed for players or Builders, needs to be done but doesn’t seem to know how to do it. It has been prove since Alpha Season 2. Honestly it is not a platform that can compete right now with any other of its kind, it can if you want to, but if you want to say it is the best of Web 3, fine, but as I said Web 2, Web 3, same thing, just different name.
We all want the best for Sandbox, maybe all our complaints are for you something annoying to deal with, but it is up to you, to start getting out of that “we are in Alpha”, “there will be bugs” mentality, obviously there will be bugs, but don’t make such blatant mistakes, while we do our best, both for our benefit since we believe that good work should be well rewarded, and for the platform, which we want so much to succeed as well as you do. Surely if you made it this far, I’m already asleep, so tomorrow I will continue promoting my games for the rest of this event with no capital, and without owning not even a single Land. Because that’s all that remains.
If you read this far thank you and I love you very much.
Go play my game, I’ll have to take it off the LAND this Sunday. 
Love to everyone.
I created the account because I published an experience and thought I should check out the lb. Before that I didn’t have any purpose or business doing so.
Thank you for the detailed explanation. I’m glad to understand, at least in your perspective, what it’s been like.
I know and understand where you are coming from. Having to keep headcount while having little to no revenue coming in puts a business in a very precarious position. I’ve been there before, I’ve had those conversations before. I had to let people go, as heart wrenching as it is. Some I put to an on-demand basis.
I’m not saying creators should just hush hush and let it slide. I’m saying let’s be less harsh. Feedbacks should always be given.
Since TSB has already set the table, literally, for how much you can earn, why not pivot your model? Yes it’s hard to beat a cheater as in the case of top 3, but you can still create some simpler experiences and list it if you have land, as what some studios/persons have done.
Do I fault those who understood the game and published multiple experiences? No, because they understood the table.
Do I fault studios/creators who encourage AFK to earn? No because they understood the game.
Business and moral compasses may have to be differentiated. In an ideal world, you’d hope to have a thriving business and never firing, only hiring. The reality is that business cycles affect everyone.
Of course, it’s easy to find ways around the system, and I understand people who do it - it’s part of the game!
But it’s still a short-term vision.
I still hope to be able to work in TSB for the long term, and for that you need players and a quality platform.
If 95% of experiences are of poor quality or uninteresting, then new players will leave after their first game.
I’m convinced that, on the contrary, we need to find mechanisms to prioritize quality and put gaming above earning.
Is your question for real @TobeyU ?
Do you know how games monetize at all? Are you up to date with current monetization meta on games? Do you even know if we have any of those said tools/features available?
That’s an harsh statement, criticizing all the effort these builders and studios have done for the whole Sandbox ecosystem, while we struggle in every possible way and we are rather limited on every possible aspect to monetize at all.
Like I said before, we shouldn’t need to be reliant on a Builders Challenge, but if Sandbox doesn’t have an MVP, how will studios inside of it have?
In ANY other normal game, you’d be able to spend a “currency” in the game to buy things, Hero’s, weapons, Advancement slots, equipment, resources, you name it.
Can we put anything for sale inside the game? No. This fact alone breaks down 90% of any monetization possibility.
The sole available monetization strategy involves selling NFT’s, which use cases are also again, rather very very limited inside the Game Maker.
Please do not speak what you barely have clue of.
Try yourself to monetize first and then come back with your conclusions.
You can criticize studios, but at least I see them trying to come up with solutions for a fairer ecosystem, not incentivizing this:
Read the room, it’s not just studios complaining, it’s pretty much everyone that is playing fair.
If you believe that what you said above is the solution, there is no point continuing this conversation.
Lots to digest above. Thank you for your expansive thoughts, Rocky.
-Why do studios rely on subsidies from TSB? Because the player base doesn’t support traditional business models. It doesn’t even support web3 models (which are poor imo); just look at branded avatar sales that don’t sell out.
-Rocky notes that solo creators started seeing the studio bias over a year ago in Game Jams. To a degree that’s understandable for growth of the platform. However, when those studios start to get squeezed, who’s sticking around? What remains is a typical web3 platform in which the people that care are left holding the bag (LAND) for the parasites that only extract value from everyone else.
-The rewards are not important to me; the sustainability of the platform is. This thread has some harsh criticisms, sure, but that doesn’t make them invalid. What we need is communication. None of this has even been acknowledged by TSB staff. Admit there are mistakes and you’re trying to fix it, or that you can’t for this BC and you’ll do better next time. Silence is not acceptable.
Ok.
You’ve sold Avatars, Pickaxes, Armour and Tickets, and players do actually buy them. That’s monetization, and by extension, strategy.
https://opensea.io/ThePickaxeMaster/created
Just sayin’.
You monetized, and then now you say you can’t? I’m confused.
So did you or did you not succeed in monetization?
Please be clear on what point are you trying to prove.
This is not about us, this about the whole Creator ecosystem.
If this isn’t good for all Creators, it isn’t good for us.
If we all don’t succeed at the Sandbox, no one will.
My question is as clear as day.
And I quote from my post:
Whatever happened to monetisation strategies? Is it a fact that most of the studios that complain about not making money from BC 2 lacking that?
Is the only source of funds available only through TSB? Because most studios in the gaming industry sell products in 1 form or other to their consumers. No one sustains their business just solely only grants given out by the parent company.
And I quote again:
So did you or did you not succeed in monetization?
Don’t deflect, answer.
@TobeyU here’s a search to make it easier for you: Gaming Monetization Strategies
Hope those videos elucidate you and help you to understand the questions you’re putting out here.
Peace n’ out.
I guess the lack of a simple yes/no, and the continued deflection, is answer itself.
Funny how you just wouldn’t admit that it worked for you, and its a viable strategy that’s worth exploring for all creators and studios.
All he was saying is that in game transactions would be nice. Have you been planted here from the TSB? Are you a secret agent? Tell me don’t deflect.
We are all grateful for what TSB has done to get to this point with some bumps in the road of course. Would you rather we just keep all our concerns to ourself?
@TobeyU It’s still alpha.
Monetization inside of tsb is there, but still quite limited, definitely not enough to make a full time career out of.
I would love to build ft in tsb, but definitely not giving up my day job, because the current implementation of things in the tsb ecosystem arent possible to support full time in my opinion.
The game maker is still young, evolving and lacking many features that could draw new players into the game.
Until the gm and surrounding tech matures, it’s hard to build a working building strategy that doesnt rely on game jam / builders challenges.
Selling nfts is great, I’ve had some sales of my assets, but it’s a tiny fraction of what id need to survive.
Gmf was a fantastic experience for me, and it was very organized and methodical with excellent support and feedback, though as has been pointed out, the frequent updates of the gm made it difficult to maintain the game.
Game jams are great, and ironically the rules of game jams prevented spamming the gallery with entries or similar experiences, something that should have been explicitly stated when bc2 started.
I didnt participate in bc1 as if you were in an event at the time you were precluded from entering, but i saw how the leaderboard was gamed in some of the top experiences.
I don’t buy into the if you can’t beat them join them approach, as it brings the whole system down to the lowest standards, and we really must push past that in order to have the platform taken seriously. That said, i do understand some of the stances taken to try and keep up with the questionable tactics implemented to to the LB. They literally have no other choice if they want to exist as a studio.
I feel for the individuals and studios who literally live and breathe full time inside the ecosystem, and are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The tsb team has responded in the past to our passionate and vocal community who want this platform to thrive desperately, and i expect that this thread will also have the team reconsidering and adjusting. Will things be made right for this round? Maybe? Like whack a mole, will some other problem arise? Most definitely .
so long as the conversation is a two way street, i think that’s a positive thing, and I’m okay with all the passionate points made here. They do need to be made with thought and respect though. I do suspect the team is understaffed and doing what they can with the resources at their disposal, and with a few simple tweaks suggested in the thread, could really improve the legitimacy of the leaderboard, the more even distro of rewards and the banning/ penalization of sketchy studios , builders.
I take exception with the ridiculous payouts going to these teams who have figured out how to game the system and diminish the platform. I’m a by the book / follow rules type of person and in this type of environment, don’t see how i can truly compete with the odds, so i simply don’t
I’m content to just build my ip, take in what small rewards i can, but i will speak up firmly and respectfully when i see things are clearly broken.
@TobeyU I think the answer is that the marketing is there, the outreach is there but the financial results arent due to small user base. Pickaxe Master has had one of the most consistent marketing campaigns on this platform and if what they are doing cant pay the bills full time, then we are all in trouble if our hope is to turn this into a full time gig.
Thank you, for that explanation. Its all I needed to understand.
Selling stuff, doable, but hard, hence one needs to also rely on Game Jams and BC.
‘If you can’t beat em, join em’ was somewhat tongue in cheek, but I guess the ‘do whatever it takes to surive’ was also something I considered, since employee’s livelihood depend on it.
I do hope TSB resolves the issue with the top 3 or 13ish ranking. I, for what it’s worth, also believe that only the best should win.
Perhaps its realistic for businesses that intend to take this full time to also have other non-core operations.
The metaverse hype definitely took us all for a ride.
I wish everyone well, including those whom i’ve rubbed off the wrong way. I hope you find something that works for you in this market.
I see you didn’t answer my question and I will take that as a deflection and now I know your answer ty
Well sorry for missing your reply, was reading through what Joncrow said.
But man, that is such a childlike response.
The questions you ask are… childlike as well, but I’ll indulge.
Am I planted by TSB? No
Am I a TSB agent? No
Would I rather keep your concerns to yourself? No