discussion Never really understood why devs make sandboxs, the concept is a failure yet they keep doing it.

[M0rfi]

99% of sandbox pron games is bad and grindy for 0 content

 

[MihoTakumi]

It usually doesn't work, but some games have tolerable sandbox and actually add small detail that change over time. Sadly very few.

 

[anyplay]

I think sandbox can be good they just have to be done right so they don't feel too grindy

 

[sertw4]

The problem is when it becomes any kind of grind really.

Sandbox is fine when you don't have to make repeat actions over and over.

So Being A Dik never bothered me because every action lead to new content 99% of the time. Big Brother on the other hand, so painful to try and play that or its clones.

 

[psyOP]

I feel like many devs are doing it because they need to worry less about having to fit new content in a chronological narrative

 

[ForeverZero12]

hate sandbox, rpgm and ntr

 

[Shimotsuma]

It can be good, I just think it cannot requeire grinding

 

[razor44888]

As long as the grind isn't terrible then a sandbox game is good

 

[Janneke]

What makes a game a sandbox game? I always assumed it meant a state of a game where no game play element had been added, and you just walk around looking for sex scenes. Like an elaborate gallery. But with the examples given here, and the mention of grind, I guess I'm wrong.

So what does sandbox actually mean?

 

[vanity]

The problem is when it becomes any kind of grind really.

Sandbox is fine when you don't have to make repeat actions over and over.

So Being A Dik never bothered me because every action lead to new content 99% of the time. Big Brother on the other hand, so painful to try and play that or its clones.

I still don't like it without grind. Especially when the navigation arrows are all over the place, and you have to go through multiple rooms / corridors to get where you wanna be. The more I have to click and move my mouse around the less I enjoy a porn game. I feel like the only reason developers do sandbox porn games is so they can feel like "proper" game developers, as opposed to a visual novel creator (haven't played Being a Dik so maybe I'd find that tolerable)

Edit: If a developer made a sandbox game where you can navigate with the keyboard arrows, that wouldn't be so bad

 

[arcanlol]

After having played couple TBs worth of games, I have given some thought as to how I'd make a game.

Option 1 is simple: a visual novel with as little branching as possible. Some refuse to acknowledge that as a game, but I find that visual novels generally make for the best fap material, and more branching leads to less frequent updates as development time is spread thin between them. I usually just play one, maybe 2 branches of any given game. And I often find that games with less branching have a more powerful story, as the dev can focus on his "favorite(s)", instead of trying to appease everyone.

Option 2, while not entirely novel, is a format I don't encounter often in porn, but takes inspiration from rogue-likes. Aim for, say, 1 hour to complete a playthrough if reading everything, 30 minutes if skimming a lot. Many "paths" to take, some of them can intertwine and become new unique paths when combining two or more paths. A bit sandboxy in a way, but ideally without having to repeat events ("grind") within a single playthrough. But the key is to keep playthroughs fairly short, so that development can be focused on one or two paths at a time. The goal is to make each playthrough feel like you're having a new journey. Perhaps have certain paths only be available after playing certain others to completion (of course people will share saves to skip that part, and that's totally fine - might as well provide such save files as a dev).

 

[hardfirestarter]

I think a good sandbox can be interesting if it's done well. The problem is it's so often not done well, it just adds extra clicking. And if the game already feels grindy a bad sandbox just makes that worse. Nothing kills a game faster for me then unnecessary grinding.

 

[Pen15Dan]

I think people lean on open world games because its easier to add content to the world rather than have a set story line laid out.

 

[arcanlol]

I think a good sandbox can be interesting if it's done well. The problem is it's so often not done well, it just adds extra clicking. And if the game already feels grindy a bad sandbox just makes that worse. Nothing kills a game faster for me then unnecessary grinding.

Preach!

 

[Geshtar]

I think the reason it's enticing for a dev to attempt making sandbox games is because when they actually work they work so well. Summertime Saga, Harem Hotel, Being a DIK, Desert Stalker, A House in the Rift, MIST etc. are all some of the most successful porn games ever. They probably fail so often because making them good requires so much extra work coming up with enough variations of events at every location. It certainly doesn't help when there's a morning/afternoon/evening/night system because you're always left with one event that only triggers in a certain place on Saturday evening and you mindlessly click on the bed to advance to the weekend.

 

[Aslatra]

I think there's merit to the system in that if the game has a decent amount of content that you're not interested in, you're not necessarily required to advance in it to get the stuff you want. Much as I like most of the novel style games, not all of them allow the modularity of content that you have with say.. My New Family or something where you get an option to pursue every girl and can skip ones you're not as interested in.
Granted it comes with it's own failings, but there's something to be said to let you go after what you want and leave the rest. Games with a bi protag, or certain types of relationships like femdom or things like that, for example, that clearly aren't for everyone. (Unless it's a sandbox that requires you pursue X character to go after Y, then who the fuck knows.)

 

[accobra427]

I think the reason it's enticing for a dev to attempt making sandbox games is because when they actually work they work so well. Summertime Saga, Harem Hotel, Being a DIK, Desert Stalker, A House in the Rift, MIST etc. are all some of the most successful porn games ever. They probably fail so often because making them good requires so much extra work coming up with enough variations of events at every location. It certainly doesn't help when there's a morning/afternoon/evening/night system because you're always left with one event that only triggers in a certain place on Saturday evening and you mindlessly click on the bed to advance to the weekend.

Yea i do think that every game that has like a map of town for example fells more "put together" but i don´t really like the grind most of those games put you through.

 

[jhassan]

Evidently, enough people like it to make the genre viable.

 

[vanity]

Evidently, enough people like it to make the genre viable.

I reckon that's more to do with the tags / quality of animations etc. I'll play any game with the incest tag if the LIs are attractive to me, but I'll be annoyed through the entire experience if its sandbox

 

[Tigas]

Me neither, just makes me not want to play the game, you can still make your game Game-y without it being grindy and boring