The Valley of Belonging is one of the projects supported by The Sandbox’s Game Maker Fund. Learn more about this incredibly beautiful and diverse experience that is exclusive to The Sandbox metaverse.
The Valley of Belonging is one of the most diverse experiences in the metaverse. A safe place for everybody of all backgrounds and identities.
The Sandbox is extremely proud to be a supporter of Pride, diversity, and freedom of identity & expression.
About The Valley of Belonging Experience
The Valley of Belonging is developed by Hermit Crab Game Studio in partnership with People of Crypto, a creative and innovation lab dedicated to increasing diversity, participation, and representation in the metaverse.
This experience takes place in a valley where equal is different, hate doesn’t have any place, and empathy is the new “good morning”. The Valley of Belonging is a diverse community that aims to embrace every single ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.
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Evelyn is the mayor of the valley’s city, where she and citizens from all backgrounds, including the drag queens, work very hard together to build the valley into a space where people can be true to themselves, true to their essence, and express themselves freely. The player will help them to organise the Pride Parade.
The Objectives Of The Experience
The player arrives at The Valley of Belonging and discovers that they are going to be hosting a Pride Parade very soon. The player then helps organise the Pride Parade, by completing tasks given to them by Mayor Evelyn, Trinity, Finn, and some of the drag queens.
There are 25 collectible items that the player can find and collect. There are also four major points of interest, and the player can help with the decoration of the city for the event, which changes right in front of their eyes.
In The Valley of Belonging, you will get to know the valley, explore beautiful places, meet beautiful diverse characters, meet the community, and, most importantly, learn more about diversity.
A Safe Place In The Metaverse
“The player will enjoy The Valley of Belonging because it’s a safe space that welcomes and celebrates everyone and their ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identifications. This experience aims to make a movement of change in a space where some people are misrepresented and/or not represented at all, making everyone feel like they belong in the metaverse. The land is colourful, fun and full of energy, with a unique pink lake, a Pride Parade on the clouds, a rainbow path to guide the player, a parkour area, a playroom, and a giant monument to celebrate LGBTQIA+, people of colour, and disabled communities.” — Hermit Crab Game Studio
KimChi, Asia O’Hara, and NYX Cosmetics
Amongst other characters, The Valley of Belonging features two NPCs who are based on the real-world drag queens KimChi and Asia O’Hara, which are two names whom many people may recognise from the hit reality TV show, RuPaul’s Drag Race. Their visual and narrative concepts were recreated in the experience through real-life research of their personas and styles.
The project has also worked with NYX Cosmetics, which is again another well-known and heavily featured partner of RuPaul’s Drag Race. NYX Cosmetics, with the “Paint Your Own Story” campaign, is the first cosmetics brand to integrate into The Sandbox and inspires people to freely express themselves through makeup.
Gallery
Let’s take a little peek inside The Valley of Belonging experience.
About The Creator
The Valley of Belonging is designed and developed by Hermit Crab Game Studio, which is based in Brazil, in partnership with People of Crypto. Here’s what they had to say.
“We are Hermit Crab Game Studio, from Brazil, and we specialise in the production and development of games and digital experiences. We work with sport-themed mobile games for the biggest football clubs in Europe, as well as with publishing of more than 120 projects from 40 different studios. We recently partnered with The Sandbox to develop experiences in the metaverse using the Game Maker and VoxEdit. It’s very exciting to be part of this new era of game development, and our highly qualified team has been working with the software and continuously discovering new ways to make the best experience for the players.
We most enjoyed creating a fun and beautiful space to welcome everyone, creating a story of pride and the characters to live it. It was really gratifying to work in a project guided by diversity and representation, that celebrates love and the right to be who you are. It was challenging to accept that we wouldn’t be able to represent everyone in the time we had for development, but this will be something we will always be working to increase representation in next seasons.
The Sandbox Game Maker and VoxEdit software are beginner friendly and very easy to get used to. The Game Maker is a very practical software that allows you to build levels and mechanics in a very short time. And VoxEdit makes it possible to work in a very convenient way with other software, like MagicaVoxel.”
Follow Hermit Crab Game Studio & People of Crypto
- Hermit Crab Game Studio on Twitter
- People of Crypto on Twitter
- Hermit Crab Studio Website
- People of Crypto Website
#MetaPride
- Article: People of Crypto Colours of Diversity NFT Collection
- Article: People of Crypto Lab (POC) and The Sandbox to debut the first diversity, equality, and inclusivity hub in the metaverse
More Projects
Take a look at some more of the projects that are supported by the Game Maker Fund: Game Maker Fund Projects | The Sandbox Knowledge Base.
Are you an aspiring game designer? Or perhaps an established studio looking for an entry into the metaverse? Learn more about the Game Maker Fund: The Game Maker Fund | The Sandbox Knowledge Base.
Game Maker Fund Presents: The Valley of Belonging 🏳️🌈 was originally published in The Sandbox on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
