Release

After years of development, several false starts, and multiple engine iterations, we are finally live on Steam.

store.steampowered.com

s&box on Steam

Our spiritual successor to Garry’s Mod, this is a game creation platform built on the Source 2 engine. Play, create, and share games, explore community creations, and experience endless sandbox fun with powerful modern tools.

I recently remarked to someone how embarrassing it feels that our journey to this point took so long. Theoretically, if I were to build it from scratch today, it would likely take under a year. They countered that this is akin to a songwriter claiming that if they had truly known the song beforehand, they could have penned it in five minutes. It is a fair point.

Taking the easy route by simply porting Garry’s Mod to Source 2 would have been straightforward, but I wasn’t interested in that. I knew we were capable of more, and I knew we would have regretted settling for the path of least resistance.

It is not perfect, and perhaps it never will be. At some point, you have to acknowledge that a project is ready for a v1 release. We are acutely aware that there is still significant work ahead, challenges to overcome, and better solutions needed for content discovery. We also recognize the necessity of addressing the influx of low-quality, AI-generated content.

Regardless, we are thrilled to have you join us on this adventure. We hope you enjoy what we’ve built, appreciate the ingenuity of our community, and feel inspired to jump in as a creator yourself to experience the depth of this engine firsthand.

While not perfect, it is simultaneously at its most primitive state and its most impressive iteration to date.

Our strategy remains unchanged: we will continue our established rhythm. Expect consistent weekly updates, active community engagement, and ongoing development to refine every aspect of the experience. Our public roadmap outlines the major initiatives we are eager to tackle next.

Serving the community remains our central focus. My own career in the gaming industry began with Garry’s Mod, as did the careers of many on our team. My proudest moments are hearing that Garry’s Mod was the catalyst for someone else’s career in game development. I want Facepunch to continue fostering that environment—showing people how rewarding game design can be, and ensuring they have the tools to potentially turn it into a career.

In optimistic anticipation of finally reaching profitability, we are doubling the Play Fund today, with the goal of increasing it steadily over time.

Ultimately, we are sticking to our formula: we release, we listen, and we iterate. It is how we approached Garry’s Mod, how we handled Rust, and how we will continue with s&box.

This is what we love to do. ❤️

It has been an arduous and occasionally convoluted journey. It’s been a long, sometimes taxing slog, but the challenges have been the catalyst for our growth. I have watched this team evolve in strength, proficiency, and confidence. The project has transformed from something I personally had to push forward, into a self-sustaining machine with its own momentum.

To the team: thank you. Thank you for your unwavering dedication, for refining the vision, for the late nights, and for fixing my questionable code and lingering bugs.

Thank you, s&box team, for getting us to this release. I am incredibly excited about what the future holds for us. 💪