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

[lewder321]

the only bad about sandbox is grinding amount of money that will takes hours to do.

 

[Akeymu]

Frankly is a very hitnor miss style decision. Most devs go for sandbox in concept, but don't make enough content to make the sand box eligible and bassicaly turn the game in to a pointless mess of grinding and mini games to fill the void of story while hey do something else or bleed the consumer dry. The only good sandbox games I've run into or "The Tyrant", Milfy City", "Lewd Town Adventures", "Vae Victus" and "summertime saga". Just games that have good story and purpose for the location details, for basic scene changes and story progression, with no grind elements and such, just a sort of "pass the day" concept

 

[Jude6]

I'm not personally a huge fan of the format but I guess some people build their games open world because it helps to create a feeling of making the events happen (Summertime Saga doesn't give you the content you want until you show up at the right place at the right time with the right prerequisite's met like obtaining a key item or getting information from a different NPC beforehand)

 

[Rogaldorn777]

Well.. some of them must be doing something right since it's still prevalent.

 

[barbarella2021]

I don't feel that the sandbox concept itself is a failure, I just feel that the execution is usually so bad as to make it seem that way for all practical purposes. Slice of Venture 2 seemed to get the sandbox right. The Hunter 2 seems on the way to getting there.

 

[Fuk]

Most of the times it doesn't work well, but when it's well done it's great.

 

[stangnomez]

When done properly it can add an element of ludoeroticism to engage the player in a way that even the most evocative linear text can't.

It is also very hard to do.

Throw in a sprinkle of Dunning-Kruger, and you get a bunch of disappointing sandboxes.

 

[Deleted member 108656]

I think when you're first coming up with a game you have this idea for endless possibilities, and in your naivete make a sandbox without realizing the amount of work it takes to make it good.

 

[barbarella2021]

Frankly is a very hitnor miss style decision. Most devs go for sandbox in concept, but don't make enough content to make the sand box eligible and bassicaly turn the game in to a pointless mess of grinding and mini games to fill the void of story while hey do something else or bleed the consumer dry. The only good sandbox games I've run into or "The Tyrant", Milfy City", "Lewd Town Adventures", "Vae Victus" and "summertime saga". Just games that have good story and purpose for the location details, for basic scene changes and story progression, with no grind elements and such, just a sort of "pass the day" concept

Since you like Summertime Saga, what's your opinion of Taffy Tales as a good sandbox?

 

[Akeymu]

Since you like Summertime Saga, what's your opinion of Taffy Tales as a good sandbox?

aye, sadly my broke ass laptop cant run unity games XD
but largely only do incest games with heavy mom sister daughter focus. very rare to find something i like outside of that, as thats just basic porn, and not really as interesting. largely like the dark shit tho. rape, domestic violence, sleep druggging, blackmail, etc. Can really only find that in the game type of media rather then anywere else. other wise its just a trip to xvid.

 

[Jogur]

My opinion is that they are a failure and that they break immersion, point and click on the other hand are a very nice addition to visual novels.

6There is no blaming the genre when the fault is that the developers don't know how to use it, the sandbox is a good genre as such, it simply does not usually have a good implementation in porn games, the main problem is that porn in a sandbox should not be the main thing but the secondary thing if you want to do it well.

 

[stevetheegg]

Sandbox games are hard to get right -- even for pro studios. Without resources and, honestly, a really good grip on game design, porn game devs have little chance of succeeding here. VNs where choices actually matter with maybe a few minigames thrown in are plenty entertaining.

 

[User_111574]

Probably because there is a demand for them. And if there is demand, there is supply. I, for example, love sandboxes. Not all of them, there are very bad projects (I personally can't stand Foot of the Mountain, Ring of Lust, Sun City), but there are games with great gameplay that you just lose track of time.

 

[misaki002]

Probably because there is a demand for them. And if there is demand, there is supply. I, for example, love sandboxes. Not all of them, there are very bad projects (I personally can't stand Foot of the Mountain, Ring of Lust, Sun City), but there are games with great gameplay that you just lose track of time.

I don't think its necessary a demand thing. I don't see people asking for it on forums. I would say its because with sandboxes and grinding in them it is easy to add game time into your game in cost of basically nothing. This allows game devs to present less content for more. I think such lazy approach makes the sandbox genre a very bad advertisment.

Ye fuck Foot of the Mountain I loved the art style, how characters looked but getting to the good stuff was hard as fuck. I had to drop it and after it got completed I just downloaded some gallery mod. Glad I dropped it cause after seing the gallery I found out the camera angles in scenes are just not for me.

 

[daisend]

Sandboxes are nice when they're done well but they seem too easy to mess up. I'm guessing it's the allure of success or popularity that attracts some devs.

 

[User_111574]

I don't think its necessary a demand thing. I don't see people asking for it on forums. I would say its because with sandboxes and grinding in them it is easy to add game time into your game in cost of basically nothing. This allows game devs to present less content for more. I think such lazy approach makes the sandbox genre a very bad advertisment.

Ye fuck Foot of the Mountain I loved the art style, how characters looked but getting to the good stuff was hard as fuck. I had to drop it and after it got completed I just downloaded some gallery mod. Glad I dropped it cause after seing the gallery I found out the camera angles in scenes are just not for me.

The ultra-popular Summertime Saga is also a sandbox game.

 

[misaki002]

The ultra-popular Summertime Saga is also a sandbox game.

Yes good point. I forgot about this one. Never understood why people like this one But I would say having 1/2 ultra-popular sandbox games doesn't mean it is demanded. As I was saying I dont see people asking for it, quite the opposite there are more threats that talk about how bad the genre is

 

[User_111574]

Yes good point. I forgot about this one. Never understood why people like this one But I would say having 1/2 ultra-popular sandbox games doesn't mean it is demanded. As I was saying I dont see people asking for it, quite the opposite there are more threats that talk about how bad the genre is

Totally disagree, but it's a matter of your preferences. I noticed in one of your recent comments that you like kinetic novels. That settles it, I download games to enjoy the gameplay, not to view the pictures.
As for popular and successful sandboxes with varying degrees of difficulty but still with interesting gameplay - there's also Man of the House, Bright Past, Straitened Times, Amnesia, Love and Sex Second Base. And this is by no means a complete list.

 

[misaki002]

Totally disagree, but it's a matter of your preferences. I noticed in one of your recent comments that you like kinetic novels. That settles it, I download games to enjoy the gameplay, not to view the pictures.
As for popular and successful sandboxes with varying degrees of difficulty but still with interesting gameplay - there's also Man of the House, Bright Past, Straitened Times, Amnesia, Love and Sex Second Base. And this is by no means a complete list.

It surely is about prefferences To clarify ts not about only viewing pictures but to feel the story which gets easier via kinetic novels than via sandboxes. Ofc I am not saying its impossible.

The list of popular sandbox games surely is big but the number of failures is big too same as with kinetic novels. But the numbers dont necessary mean that sandbox is popular among the players moreover it means it is popular among developers. Yes the developer wants money and if sandbox is that wanted it might be a good reason to develop such a game and then your point stand. But the games are mostly created in free time and not as a main source of income so not sure the developers are thinking about this that much.

But without some real statistics it is hard to know why they are made. Maybe creating some poll could be usefull for this and for future developers.

 

[Azil]

(repeated text, scenes...)

The repeated scenes are, for me, part of the point of playing a sandbox game. When I play one, I like to feel like I'm playing through daily life which occasionally means making the choice to just do the same-old-same-old that I liked before.