I love sandbox games. Absolutely love them. However it is extremely difficult to explain why that is. The games I am referencing include minecraft, terraria, harvest moon, hell even CowRP is a low budget guilty pleasure. So what exactly makes a sandbox game so much fun despite the fact that there is usually pretty limited content?
I want to solicit opinions from the community on what they think is the key fun factor of a sandbox game, my personal opinions are below:
- Unfettered creativity, the ability to visualize and completely create a unique environment based on your ideas. Even if this is limited in some way, the ability to create your own home/town/castle/kingdom leads to obsession for me.
- Cost and economy. If creating things was free and easy, the game would lose my interest quickly, there needs to be a cost associated with building, such as in minecraft when we spend hours digging or chopping to get stone/ores and wood. It doesnt even need to be complex to be enjoyable, but the accomplishment felt in building something needs to be anchored with some sense of value, and trading and accumulating wealth is always something that gets me very interested and obsessed with a game.
-Cooperation. I love playing these games with my friends, in fact if griefing could be controlled I would love any game in which the player-count and interaction increased and my feats and creations were appreciated by a wider audience. Of course the concern is how to moderate griefing which is extremely difficult in creation games.
So what are your thoughts?
ID:972903
 Sep 10 2012, 5:28 am
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Sep 10 2012, 5:55 am
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NNAAAAHH
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The freedom of doing/going what/where you want?
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I think your points are spot-on. What's difficult to explain?
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The difficult part is that, with games like minecraft with no end goal, no reason to build more than a shack, what is it exactly that makes the game have so much replay value? The value of items/commodities comes from the time commitment required to get them, but there really isnt any sort of a fun gameplay mechanic that makes amassing resources a game, it is quite an interesting thing that the gathering part of the game is considered fun by everybody (myself included).
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I would have to say that that aspect is due to the 'random' factor, where as you'll never do the exact same thing multiple times, it's near imposible to re-create anything in most sandbox games because they have things that are random. Even in Minecraft, you can use the exact same seed twice and attempt to do the exact same thing but get done over by creatures, lava, drowning, hunger, or falling.
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I think so too! I am working on a sandbox game and Ive invested some time (not enough yet) in to a random map generation component. What I was thinking of doing is having a large geographical area that is randomly generated as well as some pre-programmed landmarks (or potentially, randomly generated/located landmarks) which would include some additional RPG content. I think randomization is super important, vegetation/resources/animals/mobs need to be able to self-sustain themselves and act randomly in the world too in order to create an engaging environment in my opinion. Quite a chore to implement though.
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Right, I didn't consider replayability in your first post. Randomness is definitely a key factor in replayability because you'll never have the same experience twice, even amongst your friends. Even if you use the same seed, good AI are random as well and act depending on your actions. A lot of content isn't required for long playtime, as long as it's presented differently every time.
And, of course, depending on the complexity of your persistent sandbox simulation, BYOND may not be powerful enough. | |
I disagree! if games like CIV2 can run on such meagre platforms, I believe that a 2d sandbox game programmed on BYOND with some clever programming can conquer any hurdle. We are spoiled if we think we have constraints here compared to what fantastic sandbox games had in the 1990s.
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I think building Sandcastles in a sandbox is fun.
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DvK87 wrote:
The difficult part is that, with games like minecraft with no end goal, no reason to build more than a shack, what is it exactly that makes the game have so much replay value? The value of items/commodities comes from the time commitment required to get them, but there really isnt any sort of a fun gameplay mechanic that makes amassing resources a game, it is quite an interesting thing that the gathering part of the game is considered fun by everybody (myself included). That's human instinct. Humans are programmed to hunt and gather. Minecraft appeals to a basic hunter-gatherer and exploratory urge that our species is built with. We always want to see what's over the next cliff, and always wonder "just what's under that hill?". We're inquisitive creatures by nature, and as such, minecraft is largely appealing because it capitalizes on a lifestyle we remember in our genes, but have little to no connection to in our shared reality. | |
Thats some good gameplay discussion Lou.
I fully agree, it is challenging to emulate these things, but I think it is a fantastic genre. | |
Oh, apparently Minecraft has a end goal, it was included with the official release. You have to travel to the entirely orriginally named 'End' and kill a dragon. Then the credits roll.
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Oh.. thats too bad. Honestly a sandbox game should not feel pressured to include such things. It makes no sense for Minecraft to focus on a story or endboss, it should be played like a bin of lego; without a conclusion.
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It doesn't end. The End Dragon just keeps you from, you know, living in the End.
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The End is the name of the place you go to kill The End Dragon, I wasn't attempting to say that's the end of the game. But that's the only real objective in the game.
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Right. Meaning you do whatever the hell you want. You don't -have- to go to the End.
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Blah.
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In all fairness, Minecraft got alot of criticism for it's end boss and credits. I thought it was a bad fit, especially considering how many unfinished other goals there were.
As to the OP, sandbox games are fun to the degree that they offer interesting activities. A game where all you can do is walk around wouldn't be very interesting. Minecraft and Terraria both offered combat, crafting, and explorations as activities as well as gathering of resources. Basically, a bunch of mini goals. Randomness can help add variety, but is no good if the core activities aren't any good. Procedural content is its own topic, though, and can add alot to different genres. My opinion is that it helps keep the novelty factor, which is key in maintaining game interest. | |
Good point Jmurph. A straight up building game wouldnt be successful if there werent other challenges which made the completion of a project an accomplishment.
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