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The Club Doors Are Open 2.0šŸšŖ

 Public post
Aug 19, 2024  111

This is one of the very first posts here. Hi, everyone!

What is the purpose of this club? Finding a simple and clear answer wasnā€™t easy, mainly because I donā€™t want to box myself in. This post has been rewritten several times, and each revision made it even harder to pin down a definitive answer.

The community should be useful and fun.

This is the fourth reincarnation of the club and yet another attempt to create a space for collaborative creativity and the exchange of ideas.

Before this iteration, there were previous attempts: a Discord server, a blog on Ghost.org, and another community experiment on Circle.so. The Discord server showed promiseā€”there were signs of lifeā€”but the platform wasnā€™t quite suited for meaningful, in-depth interaction. The chat-based format just isnā€™t the best solution for working on complex ideas.

What is going on here?

It's simpleā€”this is a community for creative people. Many of us are passionate about game development: creating models, writing scripts, coding, exploring technologies, and experimenting with them.

A lot of us are veterans of the gaming industry, indie developers, artists, 3D modelers, participants in art and UGC communities, and game jam enthusiasts. And I'm not just talking about The Sandbox but also Ludum Dare and other creative circles.

Starting this club is a leap of faith. There are countless communities in the world, and thereā€™s no guarantee that people need yet another place on the internet to spend their precious time. Thereā€™s no promise this community will grow or survive, but why not give it a shot?

The starting point for the club was exploring what the world calls the "metaverse"ā€”that buzzword everyone was talking about, which drew millions of dollars from eager investors. Now, even Mark Zuckerberg avoids using it because AI has taken the spotlight.

Nevertheless, the "metaverse" phenomenon still exists and continues to evolve. Just look at Fortniteā€”those folks clearly have a vision, know what theyā€™re doing, and arenā€™t planning to stop anytime soon. There are other projects too, like Roblox, The Sandbox, and many others.

The Vision

Iā€™ve spent a lot of time thinking about the vision and positioning of this club, and Iā€™ve come to the conclusion that itā€™s best to simply startā€”no need to overcomplicate things, be pretentious, or fool myself.

For a while, I thought this club would only focus on The Sandbox, but it feels more meaningful to make it about creative people and their projects.

One of my initial ideas was to create something like "Sandfam 2.0"ā€”a more connected The Sandbox community, like a P2P creative workshop. I still love that concept, but it felt too self-centered when considering all of youā€”the members of this club. So, I decided not to limit the club to just The Sandbox. There are far too many amazing technologies and tools out there to confine ourselves to one platform.

Dobby is free!

šŸ§™ā€ā™‚ļø Gandalf says: A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

Club Team Plans

We want to have fun, support the project, and explore the world through this club. The club is a great starting point, but we also plan to work on our own non-commercialā€”and maybe even commercialā€”projects in The Sandbox.

For instance, one of my big dreams is to unite all Land owners and create The Realms Networkā€”a network of independent Lands connected by a shared, open lore where anything can happen. This is the vision my team and I plan to work on.

Why? Simply because we're curious, we enjoy the process ourselvesā€”there is an opportunity to explore The Sandbox together and create something bigger. For example, a network of lands, dungeons, and worlds connected by a common core but unique and evolving independently, all while remaining part of a greater whole.

Essays

To unlock the potential of The Sandfam, I write essays on all things UGCā€”one day, they may spark something amazing... I hope.

Writing essays will help Creators and Land owners to understand the how, what, and why: they explore key aspects of land development, from story creation to character design, architecture and animations. The essential elements of game development are also covered ā€” from creating fun for players to the user journey and game flow.

And of course, we go beyond that.

šŸ§™ā€ā™‚ļø Some essays will stay hidden behind the clubā€™s velvet rope, keeping our club exclusive with a sprinkle of rare knowledge. After all, a little mystery makes everything more fun and mYsTeRiOuS!

The Realms Network

The Realms Network is my big dream. Imagine hundreds and thousands of Lands with dungeons, quests, portals, and endless stories that we can create together, where each Land owner and Creator can build their own experience, and all of them will be connected to a shared network of such Lands. šŸ°

Everyday I'm establishing communication with the most awesome land owners and creators, encouraging them to join the club and connect our lands together.

Letā€™s build and connect all the Lands into a great network ā€“ the players will be thrilled!

Join the club, create your realm, and connect it to the realms network.
Join the club, create your realm, and connect it to the realms network.

šŸ§™ā€ā™‚ļø Without creating something epic, there can be no epic result, right? In a few years, weā€™ll either have achieved something or not, and to avoid leaving disappointed, we have to start building.

Is the Club Only About The Sandbox?

Iā€™ve had time to think about this, and I can confidently say that focusing on just one project would be a big mistakeā€”a classic echo chamber.

No, the club doesnā€™t limit itself to a single platform. Every member is free to share what excites themā€”whether itā€™s about building game worlds, AI, programming, their own YouTube channel, or even hobbies like markers and 3D printing.

Folks, letā€™s build a fucking awesome community thatā€™s truly fun and inspiring!

Members Content

The club was established as a space for communication and enjoyment. We encourage club members to be bold and engage more with each other, share interesting content, and to organize your own events if you wish. Donā€™t wait for the club team ā€” feel free to start your own posts, threads, initiatives and share your story!

Every member has the opportunity to write to the club. Take advantage of this and experiment!

Alright, now Iā€™m 100% satisfied with this post.

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