What it is, how it works, and what we're actually building.
This page is an explanation of what NEXT is, how we're funding it, and what you can expect.
What is NEXT?
NEXT is a roleplay gamemode being developed for s&box, Facepunch's modern game platform built in C#. It's built and owned entirely by MoatRP, meaning no licensing, no platform restrictions, no borrowed codebase.
The concept draws from what made SantosRP, PERP and GTA RP compelling player-driven economies, persistent characters, real consequences and strips out the decade of technical debt those games carry. s&box gives us a clean foundation with modern networking, a proper physics engine, and in-engine tooling that actually works.
The core idea: you arrive as a Citizen. No job menu, no predefined path. You build a life inside the world through real interactions talking to NPCs in the city, walking into shops, using workbenches. The world is the interface.
How the economy works
Everything in NEXT is player-driven. Items need to be gathered, crafted, and sold. There are no NPC shops with infinite stock. You source materials, you make things, you trade them. The bazaar is a player marketplace. Shops are player-owned. Prices are set by supply and demand.
Jobs — or the lack of them
Most roleplay games give you a job list. In NEXT, most things you'd call a "job" are just how you choose to spend your time. Want to run a shop? Open one. Want to drive rideshare through RYDE? Apply to a player-run company. Want to run a farm at home while also doing deliveries? Nothing stops you.
Whitelisted careers are the exception — Police, EMS, Fire, Government and a few others have real hierarchies and real mechanics behind them. You apply for those. Everyone else builds their own path.
RYDE is a good example. There's no taxi job. Instead, a player can apply to become CEO of RYDE — our in-world rideshare platform — manage drivers, set pricing, and build a business inside the city. Another player drives for RYDE in the morning and tends a crop farm in the afternoon. That's just life in the city.
The plan
We're building this in phases. First: company formation, team, architecture. Then an alpha — a rough but playable world that proves the economy loop. Then beta, with whitelisted careers, RYDE, elections, and contributor access. Then public launch.
MoatRP is forming as a registered company in Sweden. That means transparent finances, actual accountability, and a legal structure that treats contributors like the people doing real work that they are.
We're also positioning early for s&box Playfund — Facepunch's creator monetization program. If we qualify, it creates a sustainable revenue model inside the platform itself. That's the long-term goal: a self-sustaining project that doesn't depend on constant fundraising.
How we're funding it
Honestly: right now, personal investment and community support. Contributions go toward development time, map commission, server costs and tools. We're not pre-selling anything that doesn't exist. We're not promising a launch date.
Beta access is the only exclusive thing — and it's reserved for people who backed the project. Everything else launches publicly.
If you want to support it, you can here. If not, that's fine too. We're building this regardless.
NEXT is ambitious. Building a full roleplay gamemode from scratch is a significant undertaking and we know that. We're not going to promise it ships in three months or that every feature will make it into version one.
What we can promise: we're building this with the intention of it actually working. We're making real decisions — legal company, paid developers, proper architecture. We'd rather tell you less and deliver more than the other way around.
If that sounds like something worth following, stick around.