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S&box
S&box (pronounced Sandbox) is an upcoming game engine and platform developed by Facepunch Studios, intended to be a spiritual successor to Garry's Mod. It aims to surpass Garry's Mod rather than simply being a modern version of it. The platform is designed to allow users to create, share, and play a variety of games and experiences.
In September 2015, Garry Newman, the creator of Garry's Mod, first mentioned that a sequel was in development.
In September 2017, Facepunch Studios officially unveiled S&box as a prototype. This early version was built using the Unreal Engine 4 (UE4), incorporating a hotloading C# layer. The developers used UE4 for core features like rendering, networking, and physics. At this point, it was uncertain whether S&box would be released as a moddable platform or used internally by Facepunch.
In March 2020, it was suggested that S&box was the Garry's Mod sequel. However, the project was put on hold while the team decided to switch engines, considering Source 2 or Unity. The team eventually chose Source 2 by February 2021, the same engine used to create Half-Life: Alyx. This decision was made to make it easier to transfer tools from Garry's Mod and to update the engine with tools like ModelDoc and AnimGraph.
By July 2021, a developer preview queue was established, granting access based on Garry's Mod and Half-Life: Alyx workshop activity. This allowed users to create custom game modes, maps, models, and Source Filmmaker projects.
In July 2023, Facepunch introduced an invite system, distributing codes on Fridays to existing users based on their game usage. These codes were not Steam keys, and had to be entered on the asset.party (now sbox.game) website. This system was implemented to test the backend systems and to grow the user base. However, a major shift in the development process occurred in August 2023. At this point, Facepunch undertook a significant retooling of S&box, moving away from the traditional Source engine's client/server architecture. The goal was to create a more flexible and intuitive development environment, and this involved replacing the entity system with a scene system similar to that used in Unity and Godot. They began using C# to control the engine, allowing greater control over the game loop. As a result of this retooling, new invites were paused, and old ones were expired. The developers focused internally on making the engine more flexible, aiming for an engine that would go beyond the Garry's Mod community.
In July 2024, S&box opened for public preview access, allowing developers to test and provide feedback on various game modes and projects. Facepunch stated that they plan to make iterative improvements for the next few decades.
By November 2024, S&box launched its Steam page, confirming the inclusion of an official sandbox mode. Facepunch has stated that S&box would not be released without it.
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S&box AI simulator
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S&box
S&box (pronounced Sandbox) is an upcoming game engine and platform developed by Facepunch Studios, intended to be a spiritual successor to Garry's Mod. It aims to surpass Garry's Mod rather than simply being a modern version of it. The platform is designed to allow users to create, share, and play a variety of games and experiences.
In September 2015, Garry Newman, the creator of Garry's Mod, first mentioned that a sequel was in development.
In September 2017, Facepunch Studios officially unveiled S&box as a prototype. This early version was built using the Unreal Engine 4 (UE4), incorporating a hotloading C# layer. The developers used UE4 for core features like rendering, networking, and physics. At this point, it was uncertain whether S&box would be released as a moddable platform or used internally by Facepunch.
In March 2020, it was suggested that S&box was the Garry's Mod sequel. However, the project was put on hold while the team decided to switch engines, considering Source 2 or Unity. The team eventually chose Source 2 by February 2021, the same engine used to create Half-Life: Alyx. This decision was made to make it easier to transfer tools from Garry's Mod and to update the engine with tools like ModelDoc and AnimGraph.
By July 2021, a developer preview queue was established, granting access based on Garry's Mod and Half-Life: Alyx workshop activity. This allowed users to create custom game modes, maps, models, and Source Filmmaker projects.
In July 2023, Facepunch introduced an invite system, distributing codes on Fridays to existing users based on their game usage. These codes were not Steam keys, and had to be entered on the asset.party (now sbox.game) website. This system was implemented to test the backend systems and to grow the user base. However, a major shift in the development process occurred in August 2023. At this point, Facepunch undertook a significant retooling of S&box, moving away from the traditional Source engine's client/server architecture. The goal was to create a more flexible and intuitive development environment, and this involved replacing the entity system with a scene system similar to that used in Unity and Godot. They began using C# to control the engine, allowing greater control over the game loop. As a result of this retooling, new invites were paused, and old ones were expired. The developers focused internally on making the engine more flexible, aiming for an engine that would go beyond the Garry's Mod community.
In July 2024, S&box opened for public preview access, allowing developers to test and provide feedback on various game modes and projects. Facepunch stated that they plan to make iterative improvements for the next few decades.
By November 2024, S&box launched its Steam page, confirming the inclusion of an official sandbox mode. Facepunch has stated that S&box would not be released without it.
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