The Ultimate Deathmatch PVP Tournament – Expansion Proposal

[sandsquad]

I. About The Sand Squad

• Team Name: The Sand Squad
• Main Contact (Name & Role): Temio (Game Designer)
• Team Members & Roles: no other team members currently
• Are you a known builder in The Sandbox community?
  Yes
• Are you an existing studio?
  No
• Team location:
  Germany

The Sand Squad launched in early 2022, founded by voxel artist and game designer Temio and supported by community of creators and partners. We released our first experience, Dysto GN Club, in May 2022 and became one of the first creator-led projects on the Sandbox map in July 2023. In April 2024, we launched The Lost Desert PVP – the first-ever PVP shooter in The Sandbox, with breakthrough logic enabling real-time combat even in older GM versions. With over 5,000 players and 50-minute average session times, it remains one of the most popular games in the Sandbox. The game was in the top in the Builders Challange 2 and was nominated for different awards 2024. We’ve proudly collaborated with top creators and communities such as Dystopunks, Octohedz, Sandstorm, AtariX etc.
More info here

II. Project overview
The Ultimate Deathmatch (DET) is a premier PVP tournament, launched in November 2024. It features elite 1v1 and team battles inside the Lost Desert.

The tournament is currently paused after DET1 due to lack of sponsorship – this proposal aims to reignite and expand the series.

Tournament Structure

• Leaderboard: Ongoing points system based on shooting match participation and wins. Matches are best-of-5 rounds.

• Monthly DET Events: Top 16 players battle in a knockout format for the title, prizes, and glory. Here are some details and structure of the DET1 event as example
  

  

• The Champion: The reigning champion earns a legendary NFT belt and can be challenged by the current #1 player on the Leaderboard anytime.

Player Engagement
Players are driven to climb the leaderboard, join weekend specials and participate in themed events. Matches are streamed on Twitch and X with recordings available here

III. Growth Plan
To scale the tournament, we propose 4 pillars of expansion:

1. New Arenas & Game Enhancements

• Partner with creators to develop new high-quality PVP maps beyond the Lost Desert. We want to add the suitable locations created by other studios or solo creators who can offer a high quality arenas to host the tournament fights. We believe that extending the content and adding new fight elements can bring more fun and activate more players. Also we want to motivate creators to build special locations and grow the shooting segment in the Sandbox adding more veraity and fun for the players. We want to rewards creators of the hosting locations to support them.
• Additionally we aim to improve the Lost Desert adding new logic and assets.

2. Dynamic Rewards System

• Offer attractive SAND rewards and exclusive assets to incentivize competition.
• Collaborate with sponsors and Sandbox to expand the prize pool.
• Reward not just winners but active community participants.

3. Long-Term Player Engagement

• Expand existing layered reward system tied to gameplay, Discord activity and XP.
• Build progression paths with claimable exclusive assets

4. Marketing & Outreach
Attract new players from the broader Web3 and gaming world.
Key strategies:

• Livestreamed events with giveaways
• Campaigns with high-profile streamers
• Golden Tickets & limited-edition rewards promos

IV. Budget Proposal – 50,000 SAND over 6 Months

A detailed budget breakdown to support 6 DET tournaments and continuous leaderboard action over 6 months:

1. SAND rewards
The SAND rewards are based on the current SAND value and can be adjusted if the value changes.

Main event prizes (each DET event - similar to DET1 event - see link to details above)

• winners each fight 1st round 60 SAND (480 SAND pool)
• winners 1/4 finals round 100 SAND each (400 SAND pool)
• winners 1/2 round 200 SAND each (400 SAND pool)
• winner final 300 SAND

1580 SAND per event / 9480 SAND for 6 events / 6 months

2. Assets rewards:

• for all who reach semi-finals speacial rare wearable sets 4 assets each > 4 players x 4 assets = 16 rare catalysts needed
  Costs currently: 160 SAND for event / 960 SAND for 6 events / 6 months
• Legendary asset for the winner

Costs currently: 200 SAND for event / 1200 SAND for 6 events / 6 months

If we can get the catalysts cheaper the remaining budget will be added to the Leaderboard & speacial fights pool

3. Leaderboard & speacial fights:
Fix budget for different special fights like champions challange fights etc: 600 SAND per month / 3600 SAND for 6 months

4. Creators support

• Fix budget for the creator who hosts the event on his location: 4000 SAND per month / 24000 SAND for 6 months

5. Special claimable assets (s. Long term enguagement)

• Create asset sets (voxel artist): 4 sets (uncommon, rare, epioc and legendary) = 16 assets. Fix budget 5000 SAND
• Catalysts costs:
  40 uncommon (free, we have enough already)
  20 rare - 200 SAND
  12 epic - 480 SAND
  4 legendary - 800 SAND
  Total: 1480 SAND

If we can get the catalysts cheaper the remaining budget will be added to the Leaderboard & speacial fights pool

6. Marketing

• For different events, streams and giveaways:
  Fix budget: 2000 SAND

7. Dev costs

• Extending the web page and adding logic to connect the logic for Leaderboard and event. Fix budget: 2280 SAND

Total: 50000 SAND

V. Strategic Benefits

• Player Retention – Daily, weekly, and monthly goals keep players returning.
• Creator Ecosystem Boost – Incentivizes UGC and arena development, growing the Sandbox shooter genre.
• Brand Visibility – Streams and social activations offer premium exposure for sponsors.
• Sustainable Growth – Reward system and game improvements ensure long-term value creation.

Let’s bring the next era of competitive PVP to The Sandbox together!
With your support, DET can grow into the flagship esport of the Sandbox!

Questions or interest in partnering? Let’s connect!

[Geraldine]

Hello @sandsquad could you edit your submission following the template in “new discussion”. This will help @KamiSawZe review your submission more efficiently. Thank you.

[sandsquad]

@Gerardo I have checked and I am not suggesting here one particular game but the tournament which will be hosted by many creators. I will extend the description and add missing points but hope its ok to leave the general structure as its here above. The template does not match the proposal well.

[Geraldine]

@KamiSawZe is the domain allocator, he will let you know it that works.

[KamiSawZe]

Hey @sandsquad, glad to see you making a proposal. I’m going to be reviewing the submission over the weekend and will have feedback for you likely Sunday.

[sandsquad]

Thanks Alex!

[cloudversify]

I hope this gets approval from the DAO - you’ll have my vote!

[aamus]

Finished the Deathmatch DET1 Tournament, That was really so much fun ! So many cool weapons, crazy fights, and good vibes all around. Definitely looking forward to the next one @sandsquad

[KamiSawZe]

Hi @sandsquad, you know I’ve greatly enjoyed playing your games on stream. I’ve got some feedback and questions on your very detailed proposal. I’ll [note] the relevant sections as we go:

[I] This isn’t a sticking point, but I would be careful for accuracy when talking about play metrics. You’ve had over 5000 plays, and nearly 2000 UNIQUE players. The distinction is important as it points out that not only have you had this large number of plays, but a significant number of players have RETURNED for nearly hour long sessions. Those numbers are impressive, and being more transparent about them gives even more credibility than simply “5000 players” which isn’t quite accurate.

[II] Make sure to keep Panda and me in the loop on when events will be going live so we can promote them on official channels as much as possible.

[III] This all sounds great. How many maps do you plan to have made? Something important to keep in mind is that we’ll be checking milestones with you and distribute to you, and you’d pass that on to creators. So it will be good to have an established roadmap of your own milestones for these creators. They will need to report their progress to you, and that will be part of your report to us. Proof of you paying the allocated SAND to these creators will be needed to pass to your next milestone.

[IV] Currently the grant program is set to last till the end of August, giving us only 3 months. Would your plan still work being split in half with $25,000 over three months and only 3 DET tournaments? As several of the points below reference the 6 month timeline, just adjust accordingly for each.

[IV-1] I was confused at first with the 1580 total and decreasing payouts per event. Update the wording to show that it’s a 480 SAND prize pool with 60 SAND per winner, and so on - just for clarity.

[IV-2] I was writing a note about shopping for catalysts on secondary but I see you already thought of that. Good thinking ahead!

[IV-3] I originally wrote this note for [II] regarding the champion challenges. I love the concept, and it’s okay to have a budget item here. For the sake of sustainability past the time of the grant, and also for making it a more web3 integrated project, I have an idea: have an incentive in place to ensure the fair transfer of the belt. Would you consider a challenge fee of 100 SAND (something low enough challengers aren’t too discouraged to try)? Challengers would deposit this to a dedicated Sandsquad wallet. The champion lists the belt for sale on OpenSea with it only open to the Sandquad wallet for 50 SAND and Sandquad buys it to initiate the match. Either way if the champion wins or loses they receive the 50 SAND. Sandsquad then transfers the belt to the current champion, cementing the record of victories and reward payouts all on chain. This incentivizes the champion to play their best and accept challenges to keep winning the victory SAND, and gives a 50 SAND benefit to the Sandsquad wallet to be used to grow the platform. After 4 challenges, the Sandsquad wallet will have 200 SAND which could be used to buy a new Legendary catalyst if the champion ever gets out of contact or refuses to accept challenges, ensuring the game can move on with a new belt. It would stink to have a champion ghost on the platform for any reason and the belt to no longer be in the ecosystem.

[IV-4] Same note as above, need some more details on who you plan on working with, the timeline for their creation of these experiences, milestones you want them to hit in order to progress.

[IV-5] I’m unclear how people will claim these assets. They are prizes for stream viewers and Discord community members?

[IV-6] It would be good to have more marketing details. Do plan on having paid advertisements on social media?

[IV-7] Are you the web dev? I know web dev can get expensive, so I want to make sure you have enough in this part of the budget to cover anything that’s needed. Does this require anything on TSB side we might not be able to guarantee like API?

[V] Looks good. One thought here as I look at “brand visibility”. You could consider some special matches open to specific communities like Rabbids/Snoop/etc. Maybe a gated event with each brand having a champion. I could reach out to brand account manager to see if this is something the brands themselves might like to promote, though that can be a tricky road to travel and take a lot of time for approvals. Maybe something to consider at the end of the three months as an extension after we can show how well the events did already.

Added note about budget amount: we’re calculating things in USD so for the sake of the conversation for now we’ll talk about the budget being $15,000 USD with SAND being at 30 cents.

[sandsquad]

Hey @KamiSawZe thank you for your feedback! Will give you all the details next few days. We can also make a call to discuss some open questions.

[sandsquad]

Hey @KamiSawZe, thank you for the evaluation and feedback! I really appreciate your work and approach and glad you were chosen to be in charge of this category! I think not only me but the whole TSB community trust your opinion and it’s very important in this kind of submissions.

Now regarding the points you mentioned.

1. Yes, correct - you are totally right - so we are talking about these metrics and I just somehow took what we have there on UI - it’s saying „5.602 Players“. The numbers are here again - just for transparency.
   

   

2. Yes, of cause. Thank you! Will be glad if you support with the event promotion and also actually wanted to suggest some Event related giveaways for your streams.

3. Regarding the Creators involvement and Maps for the Tournament - The idea was to trigger the creators and offer this SAND rewards for the chosen locations where we will agree on hosting the DET event. I wanted to do it as following:

• Announce in different channels that we are searching for suitable event locations and share the requirements (shooter, pvp logic with 3 rounds to be won for the match win, high quality game)
• Deadline would be set 2 weeks before the event start.
• The locations would be tested by me and some DET fighters and we will vote on discord for a location for the next round
• If no suitable locations are found we will host it on the Lost Desert (in this case the Creator rewards will be saved for the next DET round)

So as you can see we are not going to monitor the Creators progress on building the location. They will only get the rewards after the event was hosted on their location.

4. Yes I think it can work also for 3 months - even better to start like this and see how it works and how high the engagement and effort will be. But I guess this will mean we can do the first event (DET2) on the Lost Desert in June and the 3rd in August - the creators get some time to prepare their locations during the DET2 is running. That would also mean that some of the assets and asset rewards will not be available in DET2 (not enough time to build them). But it would work. I will attach the adjusted calculation for the 3 months time frame below.

Also as you requested I adjusted the prize pool description to avoid misunderstanding.

Oh yeah, it’s a good idea with the belt. Sure we can try this way and it would also follow the existing usual process with the champions belts irl. The only issue we can get that the winner can just sell the belt or disappear :).. in web3 people come and go… But yeah we can than replace the belt with the new one. The initial idea was to grant the different belts DET1, DET2.. 3 and make them very special with different design and maybe from different artists. But that’s also more expansive and would take time to find the artist and to build a new belt every time. I would try the way you suggested here for the DET2-DET4.

5. Regarding claimable assets. The model is pretty simple - we want to get few special assets which players and community members can claim. We have XP points (CREDz) on discord which are given for active chatting and leveling up on discord + for claiming Crates with CREDz (XP points). Additionally after each PVP match players are getting also CREDz / XP points to their discord balance depending on the results of the match. More details on our discord. We have currently these assets for claim: The Sand Squad
   The new assets will additionally motivate the players to be active. We also plan to do some XP / CREDz drops for social media activities etc I would try to find creators who could build them for the defined budget. N progress tracking needed - the assets will be paid when we get them. If not possible to cover all with defined budget, I would order only few and build the missing ones myself.

6. Regarding Marketing Budget - I would just act within this budget and try to find suitable streaming partners and organize some special streams where we would provide giveaways and for some special collabs maybe pay to the streamers. Here I don’t have a detailed plan and would be than if needed approve each action.

7. Regarding dev costs - yes they are pretty low and I am not going to build a platform or something very complicated. I have a good web dev who can support because he is also very enthusiastic about the project. We would need to adjust the thesandsquad.com page and add the PVP Tournament related section with dynamic Leaderboard and event details. I think the budget would work for current requirements.

8. Regarding the Brand visibility - yeah that sounds great - would be amazing to make a special gated event for any brand! I tried to reach out to Cyberkongz few times but no success. We did a lot with Dystopunks in the past event - was really cool and I am pretty sure they will also support the future events and maybe we will do a special event with them. Also Octohedz are supporting much with the assets and AtariX did few meetups and I think we can do a dedicated event maybe in the future as well - can ask them also.

In general as you can see from the application we are not planning any financial benefits / profits for us. This initiative is currently an attempt to organize the PVP Tournament which will persist. The form and content can evolve in the future but we want to do our best and try to build a long term attraction and community around it.

It was also planned for transparency to use a dedicated wallet so that all the transactions can be easily tracked there.

I hope I have answered all your questions. We can talk about some details if you like. Thank you for your support!

[sandsquad]

Hey @KamiSawZe
Here is the budget recalculation if we go for 3 months time frame:

1. SAND rewards
The SAND rewards are based on the current SAND value and can be adjusted if the value changes.

Main event prizes (each DET event - similar to DET1 event - see link to details above)

• winners each fight 1st round 60 SAND (480 SAND pool)
• winners 1/4 finals round 100 SAND each (400 SAND pool)
• winners 1/2 round 200 SAND each (400 SAND pool)
• winner final 300 SAND

1,580 SAND per event / 4,740 SAND for 3 months

2. Assets rewards:

• for all who reach semi-finals special rare wearable sets 4 assets each > 4 players x 4 assets = 16 rare catalysts needed
  Costs currently: 160 SAND for event / 480 SAND for 3 months
• Legendary asset for the winner - 1 transferable Belt

Costs currently: 200 SAND for event

If we can get the catalysts cheaper the remaining budget will be added to the Leaderboard & special fights pool

3. Leaderboard & special fights:
Fix budget for different special fights like champions challenge fights etc: 600 SAND per month / 1,800 SAND for 3 months

4. Creators support

• Fix budget for the creators who host the event on his location: 4,000 SAND per month 2 months (1 month is covered free on Lost Desert) Total: 8,000 SAND

5. Special claimable assets (s. Long term enguagement - this assets will cover many months activity around the tournament)

• Create asset sets (voxel artist): 4 sets (uncommon, rare, epic and legendary) = 16 assets. Fix budget 5,000 SAND
• Catalysts costs:
  40 uncommon (free, we have enough already)
  20 rare - 200 SAND
  12 epic - 480 SAND
  4 legendary - 800 SAND
  Total: 1,480 SAND

If we can get the catalysts cheaper the remaining budget will be added to the Leaderboard & special fights pool

6. Marketing

• For different events, streams and giveaways:
  Fix budget: 1,000 SAND

7. Dev costs

• Extending the web page and adding logic to connect the logic for Leaderboard and event. Fix budget: 2,300 SAND

Total: 25,000 SAND

Here its very important to understand that we are investing in few things like web dev and assets which can be reused in the next events later and would reduce costs in the next cycle.

[sandsquad]

Hey @KamiSawZe one question, as mentioned above we are not planning here any financial benefits or investments in our game. But maybe its possible to ask for additional 10K SAND for extending The Lost Desert logic and assets for the new type of PVP action (delivery date would be August). This new logic will be used then in the events in Q4. If its possible I can provide the details on calculation. We can make additional submission for this to separate.

[KamiSawZe]

Quick reply regarding this last bit before I go through the rest. I think it might be easier to separate into clearly defined milestones if this is a separate request. That way if all of the teams working on their own experiences are dragging their feet, you can still tackle this aspect at your own pace and not be held back by their milestones.

[KamiSawZe]

1. Yep, I have access to see those. Just explaining the difference between those last two numbers, and the fact that nearly 50 minutes average playtime with 2000 unique players is actually really good!
2. Of course. Let us know how we can help.
3. That makes sense. My note earlier about making a separate proposal I think still stands. It will be easier to approve separate milestones.
4. Great! Yeah I wanted to make sure you had “insurance” for the belt going missing. But also an incentive to the holders to keep the tradition going an I’m a big fan of provenance.
5. Sounds good.
6. Also good, though I wouldn’t be opposed to a slightly larger budget. That’s only about $250-$350 depending on what SAND does. I’d rather allocate you an extra $500-$1000 that ends up not being needed and can go into the prize pool than leave you without enough resources to get the word out to new players.
7. Excellent!
8. Wonderful. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to the Cyberkongz team, but it sounds like something they might be interested in. I’ll try to reach their attention as well.
9. I’m glad for your enthusiasm and dedication to the project. I don’t like making people work for free, but if you plan to carry the responsibility for this project without compensation I will not get in your way.

Regarding budget numbers:

Best thing to do is once the money has been transferred and you know exactly how much it is, figure out what might need to go into USD for certain expenses, and keep the rest in SAND. This way the whole project can run whatever SAND does up or down, you’ll have the exact amount of the token you’ve promised while being able to stably cover other expenses like advertising and web design which may not accept SAND. Check with the event hosts how they’d prefer to receive the funds.

I consider this budget and overall plan approved, just let me know if you want to adjust the marketing number. Let’s set the specific milestones set for the payouts and get everything formalized. If you’d like to have a call you can DM me for a Calendly link to schedule.

[sandsquad]

Hi @KamiSawZe, thank you for support and quick replay. Awesome. I sent you dm on discord to set up a call.

Yeah regarding the Marketing Budget - sure if possible I would better plan more and if not used add it to the prize pool. Lets count than better 3,000 SAND instead of 1,000 for marketing.

Yes, agree - will use SAND only for catalysts and Prize pools and keep everything in USDC.

Regarding the milestones - here is my suggestion:

1. Step - Event launching
Event communication and schedules for Players are shared on all channels
The Builders challenge to host DET3 & DET4 and build a suitable game is scheduled and communicated.

Prize pools: 4,740 + 1,800 SAND
Marketing: 3,000 SAND
Total: 9,540 SAND

ETA: June 23rd

2. Step - Assets
Assets ordered and created and ready to be delivered (as files to be minted)
Creator fees: 5,000 SAND
Mint costs: 2,160 SAND
Total: 7,160 SAND

ETA: July 14th

3. Step - Web Dev costs
The web page thesandsquad.com is adjusted and new PVP section with the leaderboard and event Infos added.
Total: 2,300 SAND

ETA: July 14th

4. Step - Experience for August defined
The creators game / experience to host the PVP tournament in August is chosen
Total: 4,000 SAND

ETA: July 21st

5. Step - Experience for September defined
The creators game / experience to host the PVP tournament in September is chosen
Total: 4,000 SAND

ETA: August 18th

It can though happen, that steps will come not in this order. But I hope its ok.

If you confirm it I would start with the communication - the creators would need time and I must communicate asap to give them more time to build.

[KamiSawZe]

Congratulations @sandsquad !

Your grant of $8000 (USD) is approved. At today’s average of $0.28 (USD) per SAND, this covers the 27000 SAND request at 28,571 SAND.

Please complete the DAO KYC process with Blockpass here.

Next we need your regular wallet address for KYT (Know Your Transaction), and if you elect to use a dedicated wallet for this project, that address as well.

Thank you!

[sandsquad]

That’s awesome! Thank you for fast and smooth process @KamiSawZe Let’s make PVP great again!!!

Here is the main KYT wallet:
0x112061f31ea7b9ee67a4864f1c2c615b0eeeb6bb

For transparent project handling and rewards distribution I would use this new wallet:
0xc3Ed71bDeCd1942dac8bDF9beC26471655A73362

[KamiSawZe]

Pinging @Geraldine and @Paul for tag.

[sandsquad]

All verifications are done on my side