Chapter 209: A Wave of Sandbox Games (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

The current game content is definitely not ready for officially launched.

Some features are still not implemented, and the MOD tools are still undergoing internal debugging.

Additionally, there's the matter of censorship for the Workshop.

Previously, the Workshop mainly hosted MODs for Overcooked and Fall Guys. These player-developed MODs were based on the existing game materials and components, so they rarely caused significant issues. However, the situation has changed now—especially after the release of Don't Starve, for which Chen Xu granted players far greater permissions.

Players could not only modify in-game text descriptions but also alter certain gameplay rules, provided they were willing.

Whether these changes would be good or bad, interesting or dull, entirely depended on the individual MOD maker's skills.

This also made Don't Starve's MOD content far more complex.

Compared to Don't Starve, Minecraft has an even more pronounced nature.

Therefore, constant attention must be paid to the Workshop and the player community.

This aspect involves a massive volume of content, necessitating a dedicated review team.

According to Chen Xu's plan, Minecraft would launch in early February, coinciding with the New Year.

A limited number of testing slots would be released after New Year's Day, allowing them to gather player feedback on game content and collect detailed user experience insights.

For example, would players understand Minecraft's completely free gameplay mode? Would they need guidance from a new player tutorial to grasp the game's basic operations during the early stages?

Additionally, they needed to identify any issues in gameplay direction, operations, or content that might make players uncomfortable—these were all critical pieces of information to collect during testing.

After testing concluded, Chen Xu and his team would use the feedback to decide whether any modifications to the game content were necessary.

The period between testing and the official launch would serve as a buffer.

Of course, even if changes were made, they would mostly be limited to operations and tutorials.

Because the overall gameplay and framework had already been finalized and would not change.

…………………

While Minecraft was gradually fleshing out its content,

the market also saw the arrival of numerous sandbox games.

Game developers were racing to promote their titles, hoping to capitalize on the still-ongoing sandbox game trend.

Amid this wave of promotion, NetDragon and TengHua, two major studios, stood out the most.

Though their games hadn't launched yet, they had already garnered significant anticipation from players.

Why?

The reason was simple: as major game developers, NetDragon and TengHua had allocated substantial budgets for this new genre.

Although for companies of their size, these budgets were merely a trial run, their financial strength meant even a trial run involved investments far beyond what ordinary companies could match.

This caused the two companies' new works—Voyage and Wasteland (Game)—to generate high expectations among players.

Voyage focused on nautical adventure as its entry point, while Wasteland (Game) was set in a post-apocalyptic worldview.

TengHua's Voyage emphasized adventure content, promoted as the first nautical sandbox game. NetDragon's title, on the other hand, centered on survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

The specific gameplay details remained unclear due to limited information—only the themes had been revealed.

But undeniably, both concepts strongly attracted players.

While post-apocalyptic games were relatively common, few focused purely on survival. Nautical-themed games were even rarer. Adding sandbox elements instantly made these two titles stand out.

The producer of NetDragon's Wasteland (Game) was none other than Chen Xu's old acquaintance—Teacher Meng, known for his passionate personality.

Among contemporary games, these two titles captured the most player attention.

With appealing graphics, backing from major studios, and clear selling points, it was naturally difficult not to attract players.

During this period, following Don't Starve, several second- and third-tier game developers also released their new works.

However, most of these were merely jumping on the trend, often repackaging old games with a new skin and branding them as sandbox titles.

They were heavily criticized by players, with the highest rating among them barely reaching 7 out of 10.

Yet ironically, this backlash made the industry more optimistic about the future of sandbox games.

Such intense criticism indicated that players genuinely had high expectations for this genre.

The criticized games were merely attempting to profit quickly. In terms of gameplay and setting, they were fundamentally unchanged—calling them sandbox games didn't alter their core quality.

In fact, labeling them as sandbox games only drew more attention to their shortcomings.

As a result, the industry continued debating the direction of sandbox games.

"Feels different from the meta-game trend Chen Xu started back then. Could the sandbox genre become a major category in gaming?"

"Indeed. The popularity of TengHua's Voyage and NetDragon's Wasteland (Game) keeps rising. I heard both companies have increased their budgets accordingly."

"It's interesting how, in recent years, whenever one of these two companies develops a game, the other quickly follows with a similar project."

"Haha, old rivals. But now I'm tempted to make a sandbox game myself."

"I'd advise caution. Although the sandbox genre appears promising, only Don't Starve has been validated by the market so far. The core aspect of what makes a game truly 'sandbox' is still up for debate. Given the current hype, unless you can launch before TengHua and NetDragon, it's hard to gain traction. Better to observe the genre's evolution first!"

"Exactly. Though the gaming industry isn't zero-sum, with so many sandbox games flooding the market now—and with giants like TengHua and NetDragon involved—if they succeed, they'll inevitably capture a large share of potential sandbox players. It's wiser to wait and at least understand the core of sandbox games before entering."

"Right. For now, it's best to hold off and observe."

"But hasn't Chen Xu been inactive recently? He launched the Game Design Competition not long ago. I thought he'd participate like he did the past two years."

"Yeah, after finishing Don't Starve, he's been quiet."

"Probably developing a new work?"

While the industry debated the market and future of this wave of sandbox games,

inside Nebula Games' office, Chen Xu, Qin Yi, Ruan Ningxue, and other team members were busy building houses.

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