Building Enugu City in the Metaverse

The Spaces centers on “Build Enugu” — a community-driven game project bringing Enugu City on-chain in The Sandbox. The host and lead developer Mufa recount the journey from idea to a working first quest: why they chose Enugu, how they want to move beyond traditional shooters toward fun, culturally grounded, and educational gameplay that teaches Web3 (DAO, wallets, Ethereum) while players explore recognizable city landmarks. They detail the game design process (GDD, story, interactions, NPCs like Kevin Chiboim), mapping Enugu into three zones with UNN features, and capturing references under real-world constraints. A major thread is the technical shift to Sandbox Game Maker 0.12 — new UI/logic, voxel grid limitations (e.g., diagonals), version instability, scarce tutorials — and how iterative practice and documentation helped. Mufa emphasizes making the game truly fun for all age groups and even explores NPC-to-NPC transactions. The team invites community ideas and brand collaborations, announces an imminent beta test (Google Form signup; playable on standard laptops), and plans an IRL launch event with prizes. Long term, they aim to expand to other Nigerian cities and train more creators under Sandbox Africa, leveraging games as vehicles for education, culture, and marketing.

Building “Enugu City” on The Sandbox — Community Space Notes

Who Spoke (as identified in the Space)

• Host (Sandbox Africa project lead/PM; name not clearly stated): Igbo, from Imo State, grew up in Lagos; initiator and project manager of the Enugu City game; community facilitator throughout the session.
• Mufa / “Daddy Mufa” / “Mufasa” (Lead Game Developer; Namibian): Principal developer building the game in The Sandbox Game Maker; shared technical journey and constraints; documenting processes for future Sandbox Africa devs.
• Victor (referred to as “big boss”/Victorine): Core team/lead at Sandbox Africa; acknowledged for support (no extended remarks captured).
• Gloria (Digit Space): Present; acknowledged for content/brand role; no extended remarks captured.
• Other attendees/handles mentioned: Golden Song, Dollar General, Prof(essor) AC, Unique, Graph FSB, Acidify, VT, GUSA/Camerana (context unclear), Kevin Chiboim (appears in-game as an NPC: “SM of Blockchain”).
• Note: Multiple ASR mis-hearings in the transcript render “samples” as “Sandbox”; discussion clearly centers on The Sandbox ecosystem and Sandbox Africa.

Session Context and Energy

• Purpose: Announce and discuss the “Enugu City” game being built on The Sandbox; share the origin story, dev progress, technical hurdles, and invite community co-creation.
• Tone: High-energy, community-driven, rallying call for testers, contributors, brand partners, and city-focused metaverse advocates.

Vision and Why Enugu

• Cultural and educational ambition: Move beyond shooters/RPGs; create a fun, educational, culturally grounded experience that teaches Web3 concepts (Ethereum, wallets, DAOs, on-chain coordination) through quests.
• Localization: Build recognizably local environments so players learn through familiar places (streets, gates, landmarks) and feel ownership: “bringing Enugu on-chain.”
• Ecosystem claim: Position Enugu as a tech hub (“Silicon Valley of the East”); aim to make it the first African city to enter the metaverse at this fidelity via Sandbox Africa.
• Roadmap philosophy: Start with Enugu, then extend to other Nigerian cities, enabling people to play in representations of their hometowns while learning Web3.

Game Structure and Content (current scope)

• Zones: City mapped into three distinct zones to scope production; realistic landmarks and campus areas prioritized.
• Phase 1 setting: University of Nigeria environment (discussion suggests balancing between Nsukka and Enugu campus gates). The team planned drone/photo capture for references; cost and logistics led them to prioritize a nearby “mega gate” for the first build pass.
• Quest model: Story-driven quests where players solve campus issues using Web3 systems (e.g., DAO participation, wallet actions). Clear quest progression (e.g., 0/1, 1/3 indicators) was a milestone solved under new tooling.
• NPCs and education: Notable NPCs like “SM of Blockchain” (Kevin Chiboim). Intent is to teach fundamentals of Ethereum/Web3 by embedding concepts into interactions and objectives rather than tutorials.
• Audience target: Designed to be enjoyable for all age groups; a key design constraint is making it genuinely fun beyond the novelty of recognizing places.

Development Journey and Team Workflow

• Origin: Host had long-standing curiosity about turning local city concepts into meaningful, educational gameplay. After attempts to find external devs (e.g., a Philippines contact), collaboration with Mufa began via a gaming community call.
• Roles: Host acts as PM (sprints, GDD, coordination); Mufa serves as lead dev but operates cross-functionally (execution, systems design, problem-solving, documentation).
• Game Design Document (GDD): Team formalized the narrative, environment references, interaction design, and scope segmentation into zones before asset production.
• Work cadence: Intensive sprints, late nights, learning-by-doing under a shifting toolchain.
• Mentorship culture: Sandbox Africa encourages documentation and knowledge-sharing so future devs can avoid repeating the same discovery costs.

Technical Stack, Constraints, and Breakthroughs (The Sandbox Game Maker)

• Platform: The Sandbox voxel engine (intentionally pixelated for broad device support) with Game Maker, migrating from an older major version to a newer one (referred to as Game Maker 2 / 0.12 in the conversation).
• Rationale for Sandbox: Lower barrier than engines like Unreal; no-code logic; runs on modest hardware; accessible for builders and players.
• Migration challenges:
  • Early-stage instability in the new build; repeated updates and installation issues.
  • No backward compatibility: once a project is started in the new version, you can’t revert to the old one.
  • Sparse documentation and tutorials for the newest version; most videos covered older versions or gameplay, not building.
  • UI/logic paradigm shift: designed to simplify complex logic but required muscle-memory re-learning under time pressure.
• Grid/geometry constraints: Everything is grid-aligned; creating diagonal or off-grid illusions required custom techniques and careful composition.
• Logic system examples:
  • Inventory and equippable items (e.g., pick up a sword to inventory vs. wielding in real time) demanded explicit message-passing between logic nodes and assets.
  • Embedded media/animation (e.g., animated frames/pictures) required asset-linking patterns within Sandbox constraints.
• Process response:
  • “Fail fast” learning: daily, deliberate practice to internalize the new UI.
  • Documentation-first mindset: capture workarounds (e.g., diagonal builds, logic linkages) for reuse by Sandbox Africa devs.
  • Milestone wins: Restored quest counters and state tracking under the new toolchain; established block-outs and city layout memory maps for consistent buildout.

Gameplay and Design Priorities (from Dev)

• Universal fun: The hardest ongoing task is ensuring replayable fun for all ages—not just the “wow” of local recognition, but core loops that keep players returning.
• Novel interactions: Exploring whether two NPCs can perform transactions among themselves, hinting at simulated economies or teachable on-chain patterns through NPC behavior.
• Guidelines adherence: Stay true to Sandbox’s content guidelines while preserving Enugu’s character and player safety/appropriateness for younger audiences.

Community Co‑Creation and Brand Integrations

• Open call for ideas: Audience invited to suggest features, story beats, landmarks, or mechanics; decentralization ethos—community contributions can be featured.
• Brand partnerships: Actively seeking brands to integrate as educational experiences aligned with their services (e.g., transaction brands, fintech, identity). The game can teach users about a brand’s product while they play.
• Identity/personalization (participant suggestion): Link user experience to a profile/ID for more personalized progression. “Near ID”/identity system was mentioned as an example to explore.

Testing, Launch, and Events

• Beta test: A Google Form sign-up will be posted on Sandbox Africa’s page; the build is expected to be playable on any laptop.
• IRL launch event: Planned live gaming event at launch with on-site gameplay and cash prizes for participants; intended to drive local adoption and excitement.
• Ongoing waves: First quest/zone is complete; second and third quests to follow.

Future Cities and Capacity Building

• After Enugu: Extend the city-on-chain model across other Nigerian cities.
• Talent pipeline: Train and onboard more creators under Sandbox Africa, scaling regional capacity for Sandbox builds (level design, logic, branding, events).

Highlights and Takeaways

• Educational-first game: Learn DAOs, wallets, Ethereum concepts organically through quests tied to local context.
• Technical grit: Team navigated a major Game Maker version shift with minimal documentation, re-implemented quest logic, and established robust build patterns under grid constraints.
• Community engine: Strong reliance on community feedback, brand co-creation, and open testing to shape content and adoption.
• Cultural fidelity: Landmarks and local stories are gameplay—the sense of place is a core design pillar, not just a backdrop.

Open Questions / Items Under Exploration

• How to simulate or represent “transactions” between NPCs within Sandbox constraints.
• Best approach to integrate identity/profiles for personalized experiences while remaining platform-compliant.
• Balancing authenticity of Enugu’s spaces with Sandbox’s aesthetic and gameplay guidelines.

Calls to Action

• For players/community:
  • Watch Sandbox Africa’s feed for the beta sign-up link and participate in testing.
  • Submit ideas for landmarks, quests, mechanics, and educational Web3 moments you want to see.
• For brands/partners:
  • Reach out to explore in‑game branded quests/education aligned to your product’s value proposition.
• For builders:
  • Engage with Sandbox Africa on documentation and training if you want to contribute to future city builds.

Acknowledgments (as shouted out in the Space)

• Victor (leadership), Daddy Mufa (lead dev), Gloria (Digit Space), Golden Song, Dollar General, Prof. AC, Unique, Graph FSB, Acidify, VT, and the broader Sandbox Africa community.

Closing

• The team reaffirmed the difficulty and importance of the work, thanked attendees for their support, and reiterated the near-term beta testing and IRL launch event with prizes. The guiding principle: make learning Web3 fun, local, and accessible through a city you recognize—and want to come back to.