Is the 3D platform the same game as the original mobile release?

The blockchain-based 3D platform is a later evolution of the original 2D game. The original release launched in 2012 with pixel-art creation. The later platform combines voxel worlds, Game Maker, and token-based ownership. They share a product history, while their game environments and creative systems belong to different generations of the product.

Can I customize an avatar without buying an NFT?

You can create and save a free custom avatar using preset parts. Some parts also allow customizable highlight colors. This avatar option lets you change your character’s appearance without purchasing a collectible. A free design does not satisfy an experience’s requirement to own a particular NFT avatar, so access restrictions still apply where the creator uses them.

What happens to my NFTs when I disconnect a wallet?

Disconnecting a wallet leaves its tokens in that wallet. You can no longer view or use the disconnected wallet’s NFTs and SAND through the account. Connecting another wallet shows the holdings associated with that address. This changes the account connection, without transferring assets between wallets or recovering access to a wallet whose credentials you have lost.

Do I have to transfer tokens to delegate DAO voting power?

Delegating DAO voting power does not transfer ownership of your SAND or LAND to the delegate. Your tokens remain in your wallet. Delegation lets someone else vote on your behalf, and you can change the delegation or override the delegate’s vote by voting directly. Delegation itself is an on-chain action and requires a network fee.

Who stores the identity documents submitted during account verification?

Sumsub stores the identity documents submitted during account verification, while the platform records the result and related session information. The platform does not store the submitted document image or its contents. Verification therefore involves sharing personal information with a separate service. Requests concerning that service’s stored documents belong with Sumsub.

When do distributed reward claims expire?

A reward must be claimed before the expiration date shown with it on the Claims page. The expiration window for new claims runs from their distribution date. Once a claim expires, its reward becomes unavailable. Distribution, eligibility, and an applicable claim deadline are separate conditions, so completing an event does not remove the need to collect a distributed reward.

How can I hide a published Experience Page?

The Experience Page Editor has an Unpublish control for hiding a published project page. Page publication and the game’s launch status have separate controls. Closing a launched experience removes it from play and also unpublishes its page. If you want to stop visitors from entering, closing the experience is the control governing game availability.

Sandbox lets you start playing and creating games without connecting a wallet

Sandbox is a virtual world where you can play games and build block-style 3D experiences without connecting a wallet. Its free Game Maker and VoxEdit tools cover no-code game design and voxel art. Blockchain ownership, NFT trading, and eligible reward claims require a wallet, while some experiences restrict access.

In short: Creating a world, sharing it in the gallery, and publishing it on LAND have different ownership requirements.

Free experiences, creative tools, and NFT ownership

Playing uses the Game Client, while Game Maker builds experiences and VoxEdit creates the objects those experiences contain. These programs share an account, although their functions differ: the Game Client runs published adventures and social spaces. Game Maker provides an editor and a community gallery of projects. VoxEdit focuses on modeling and animation. Starting with the activity you actually want to try avoids buying something unrelated to it. A LAND purchase, for instance, is unnecessary for exploring free games or learning the creative tools.

Connecting a wallet adds access to holdings such as tokens and collectible items. It also enables blockchain transactions associated with ownership and reward claims. Some published experiences require a particular NFT for entry or selected gameplay. The access rule belongs to that experience, so free access elsewhere does not establish access to every event or area.

Game quality comes from the individual experience’s design. Token ownership alone says little about its puzzles, controls, or social activities.

SAND, LAND, and game assets have different roles

SAND is the platform’s fungible utility token and currency, originally implemented using the ERC-20 standard, so its units are interchangeable. LAND represents a particular virtual parcel through an ERC-721 non-fungible token, or NFT. Its purpose includes hosting published experiences on the world map. Owning currency and owning a place to publish therefore provide different capabilities. Neither is necessary simply to begin designing a game.

Game assets include interactive objects and equipment, which creators can mint using the ERC-1155 token standard. Equipment can alter an avatar’s appearance or supported gameplay attributes. An avatar is the character representing a player. Experiences themselves are game projects stored by the platform; a playable game and an NFT used within it are different objects with different ownership arrangements.

Game Maker turns blocks and logic into playable worlds

Game Maker combines drag-and-drop world building with configurable logic, allowing creators to design gameplay without writing program code. Game Maker is free to use for personal, educational, and commercial projects. Blocks form terrain and structures, while assets populate the environment. Behaviours govern an object’s actions, and components add interactions. Quests give players objectives. These systems support different types of content, including solo adventures, puzzle games, and multiplayer social spaces.

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Templates provide a starting structure, and free assets reduce the need to make every object from scratch. Testing within the editor connects the layout to its actual gameplay. Testing also checks whether the objectives and interactions you include work as intended. Creators can combine quests and interactions into linear or branching gameplay within an experience.

VoxEdit builds and animates the objects inside a game

VoxEdit creates voxel art from small three-dimensional cubes, providing custom objects and terrain blocks for Game Maker experiences.

Models and terrain blocks

The Modeler shapes individual objects, including props, characters, and equipment. The Block Editor creates reusable terrain pieces for structures, paths, and boundaries. Their outputs serve different purposes: an animated character needs a model and motion, while terrain needs suitable building blocks. Existing templates can provide a starting point for custom creations.

Animation inside VoxEdit

Rigging

The Animator connects model parts through a skeleton system. Rigging establishes how those parts relate during movement. A model’s appearance and its rig are separate aspects of the same asset, so editing a shape alone does not define how it moves.

Keyframes

Timeline keyframes specify poses at different points in an animation. VoxEdit supports creating multiple animations for an asset. Game Maker then uses compatible creations within an experience. An animated object supplies motion; the experience’s logic determines its role in gameplay, including when an interaction occurs.

Gallery sharing and map publishing serve different purposes

The Game Maker Gallery shares creative projects with the community, while map publishing launches an experience on virtual LAND. Those destinations have different requirements.

Sharing a project without LAND

Creators can share experiences in the gallery without owning a parcel. They can also create a free Experience Page describing their project. This separates making content discoverable from hosting it on the world map. A project page can present work before a map launch, and the gallery provides a place for community creations and contest entries.

Launching an experience on the map

Publishing an experience on the map requires LAND owned by the publishing account. The parcel must fit the experience, and the publishing account’s connected wallet must own any third-party asset NFTs used in the experience. The platform’s free Basic assets can also be used. The Experience Manager brings together the project page, map location, asset review, and access settings. A previewed marketplace object can therefore work during development without meeting publication requirements. LAND ownership supplies the hosting location; it does not settle the ownership of every object in the game.

Marketplace trading begins with a minted asset

The Marketplace exchanges tokenized items such as equipment and avatars, connecting creative content with wallet-based ownership. An editable asset and its minted NFT are separate stages. Creators can use their own unminted objects in their own experiences. Minting becomes relevant when creating tradable token copies. The Polygon minting system consumes a Catalyst for each copy, and the Catalyst determines the asset’s rarity. That consumption gives minting a cost absent from ordinary modeling.

An item listing also identifies its practical use. Equipment, scenery, and access passes have different functions. A token’s rarity does not establish compatibility with every experience or prove demand for resale. Listing an asset for sale creates an offer; payment requires a buyer.

Wallet balances follow their blockchain network

Ethereum and Polygon both support SAND and LAND, with balances and transactions belonging to their respective networks. The platform’s public LAND sales use Polygon. Marketplace transaction requirements also depend on the listing and venue, especially for older NFTs traded elsewhere. A wallet address can hold assets on different networks, so an account’s connection to that address does not make every holding available for every transaction.

Switching the network displayed in a wallet does not move tokens between blockchains. The platform’s bridge supports transferring SAND and LAND between Ethereum and Polygon.

Wallet connection, permission to spend tokens, and a completed purchase are separate states. Connecting an account does not itself buy an item. A token-spending approval can let a marketplace contract transfer the approved tokens, so its scope matters alongside the purchase details. Wallet passwords and recovery secrets belong outside account support conversations; platform support cannot reconstruct a lost wallet key.

Does playing Sandbox automatically earn SAND?

Playing does not automatically earn SAND; rewards depend on the event and whether its eligibility conditions are met. Some seasons track quest progress or points, while other opportunities use contests or raffles. A quest score records progression rather than a transferable token balance. Official event and contest rewards require a KYC-verified account. Event rewards also require participants to be at least 18 and to meet any geographic eligibility rules. KYC means Know Your Customer and involves identity verification. Partner-run contests can set separate entry requirements, while claiming rewards through the platform requires account verification.

Distribution and claiming happen separately from gameplay. Eligible rewards appear as available claims when the platform distributes them. Entry into a raffle does not mean selection as a winner. Access to a free experience also does not establish eligibility for its rewards.

SAND governance continues beyond the closed staking programs

Qualifying SAND or LAND holdings can provide voting power in The Sandbox DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization for community governance. Its proposals address decisions within the ecosystem. The voting strategy determines which holdings count and their weighting. A wallet connection for governance identifies the relevant holdings.

Staking previously offered a separate way to receive rewards from token pools. The platform’s staking pools stopped generating yield on June 26, 2025, at 15:30 UTC. The closure preserved the ability to withdraw existing staked assets. Older descriptions of staking yields and LAND-based multipliers refer to those ended programs. Buying SAND or LAND does not restart their reward distributions.

Free editing and blockchain transactions have different costs

Software downloads and creative editing are free, while purchasing NFTs or minting tradable assets can introduce costs. A transaction can include the item price and a network fee. Polygon transactions use POL for gas when an applicable gasless transaction is unavailable. Wallet Settings displays the remaining gasless allowance and its renewal information. The feature for paying gas fees in SAND ended on January 23, 2025; that change did not end gasless transactions. A SAND balance therefore does not replace POL for a transaction requiring payment of Polygon network fees. LAND purchases add a separate acquisition cost, and selling an NFT later depends on finding a buyer.

Keeping a draft editable when an asset blocks publication

Game Maker allows a creator to keep editing a draft while an asset ownership issue prevents map publication. Consider a project whose creator wants to try its gameplay before committing to a purchase. With their own assets, they can continue building and testing. Publication becomes a separate choice once the project has suitable LAND and its required assets.

A previewed marketplace item can change that choice. Asset Review distinguishes ready objects from NFTs requiring purchase and unavailable objects requiring replacement. Waiting does not restore an unavailable asset. Replacing it in Game Maker lets the creator change the project without buying that item.

Continue testing when the project uses your own usable assets and you are still developing its gameplay.
Keep the draft if you have no suitable LAND; gallery sharing does not require a map launch.
For an item marked NFTs to Buy, obtain ownership or replace it with a usable asset you own or a free Basic asset.
Pause publication while Asset Review still reports unresolved ownership; a successful preview does not resolve that requirement.
Stop launch attempts for an Unavailable asset and replace it in Game Maker before reviewing the updated project.

Asset changes require another review. A ready asset list clears that part of publication preparation; the project must still satisfy its location and page requirements.

Sandbox: reader questions

Is the 3D platform the same game as the original mobile release?: The blockchain-based 3D platform is a later evolution of the original 2D game. The original release launched in 2012 with pixel-art creation. The later platform combines voxel worlds, Game Maker, and token-based ownership. They share a product history, while their game environments and creative systems belong to different generations of the product.
Can I customize an avatar without buying an NFT?: You can create and save a free custom avatar using preset parts. Some parts also allow customizable highlight colors. This avatar option lets you change your character’s appearance without purchasing a collectible. A free design does not satisfy an experience’s requirement to own a particular NFT avatar, so access restrictions still apply where the creator uses them.
What happens to my NFTs when I disconnect a wallet?: Disconnecting a wallet leaves its tokens in that wallet. You can no longer view or use the disconnected wallet’s NFTs and SAND through the account. Connecting another wallet shows the holdings associated with that address. This changes the account connection, without transferring assets between wallets or recovering access to a wallet whose credentials you have lost.
Do I have to transfer tokens to delegate DAO voting power?: Delegating DAO voting power does not transfer ownership of your SAND or LAND to the delegate. Your tokens remain in your wallet. Delegation lets someone else vote on your behalf, and you can change the delegation or override the delegate’s vote by voting directly. Delegation itself is an on-chain action and requires a network fee.
Who stores the identity documents submitted during account verification?: Sumsub stores the identity documents submitted during account verification, while the platform records the result and related session information. The platform does not store the submitted document image or its contents. Verification therefore involves sharing personal information with a separate service. Requests concerning that service’s stored documents belong with Sumsub.
When do distributed reward claims expire?: A reward must be claimed before the expiration date shown with it on the Claims page. The expiration window for new claims runs from their distribution date. Once a claim expires, its reward becomes unavailable. Distribution, eligibility, and an applicable claim deadline are separate conditions, so completing an event does not remove the need to collect a distributed reward.
How can I hide a published Experience Page?: The Experience Page Editor has an Unpublish control for hiding a published project page. Page publication and the game’s launch status have separate controls. Closing a launched experience removes it from play and also unpublishes its page. If you want to stop visitors from entering, closing the experience is the control governing game availability.

Last updated - Wed, Oct 7, 2026