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s&box is both a game engine and a platform. It provides the tools to build games in C# on top of a modern Source 2-based renderer, and a platform (sbox.game) to publish, distribute, and play those games. An explanation of its scope was posted on the s&box blog.
s&box is available to everyone through the developer preview. Go to sbox.game/give-me-that, log in with your Steam account, and click the button to add it to your library. Then install both the s&box game and the s&box editor from Steam.
Pricing has not been decided yet. During the developer preview, access is free.
There is no set release date. The team is focused on getting it right rather than shipping on a fixed schedule.
Yes. Monetization is a core goal. Two paths currently exist:
  • Cosmetic items — Create and sell cosmetic items (such as clothing) through the in-game store. You receive a revenue share via Steam Workshop.
  • Games and playfund — Publish a game and receive a share of the playfund.
The goal is to let you charge for whatever you want while avoiding pay-to-win mechanics.
No. s&box uses sbox.game instead of Steam Workshop. The design goal is that players never need to manually install addons — content is downloaded as needed, similar to how you watch a YouTube video without installing it first.
The team is sentimental about the Source engine and wanted to carry that lineage forward. Source 2 has a modern renderer and brings new tools like ModelDoc and Animgraph that weren’t available in Source 1.Building on Unity or Unreal would have been cheaper and faster, but wouldn’t have resulted in the same product.
s&box is narrower in scope than Unity or Unreal. It is opinionated: it uses C# exclusively, it is scene-based, and it is tightly integrated with the sbox.game platform. If you want maximum flexibility or are building something outside of the s&box platform model, Unity or Unreal may be a better fit. If you want a streamlined environment for building and publishing multiplayer-capable games on a live platform, s&box is designed for that.
  • s&box forums — for longer questions and discussions
  • Discord — for quick help, especially in the #beginners channel