s&box/field-guide
the symptom, in your words

"Pick org and ident early for sbox.game"

✓ verified on engine 26.07lane: Getting set upposted
▸ SYMPTOM
  • You're mid-prototype and suddenly need a public package name.
  • Editor won't start after someone put a placeholder in .sbproj Org.
  • Org name you picked casually is now the permanent prefix on every package.
▸ CAUSE

On sbox.game, ident is org.package — exactly two lowercase dot-separated segments. The organization name is the public prefix on every package that org ever ships. A freshly created org may not appear in the editor dropdown until you restart the editor.

Separately: .sbproj Org must already be a valid lowercase ident for local editor bootstrap — uppercase TODO strings break package load at startup (sbproj-title-ident-startup).

Title/ident are changeable per getting-started docs, but mutability after first publish is (unverified) — treat first public publish as permanent naming. Whether package names may contain _ is (unverified — check the dialog).

▸ FIX

Day one (dev):

snippet
"Org": "local",
"Ident": "yourgame"

Document the future public org/package in a design note — not in identity fields.

Before first public publish:

  1. Create an Organization (publish dialog → New Organisation, or sbox.game).
  2. Restart the editor if it doesn't appear in the Organisation dropdown.
  3. Set real Org / package ident carefully — two lowercase segments for the public org.package.
  4. Default visibility is org-private until you set Publish State → Released. Unlisted + link is the playtest channel.

Full store checklist: pre-publish-checklist-sbox-game.

▸ WHY IT WORKS

Local Org: local satisfies the package loader without claiming a public namespace. Public org/ident are branding and URL identity — deciding them before the first Released publish avoids renaming pain the platform may not fully support later.

Verified on engine 26.07 — seen in a real project.
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