Linear or Sandbox

[DawnCry]

I prefer sandbox, overall having to grind a bit isn't a bad thing, in many RPG games I had to grind mobs to level up a bit because I was weak for the current boss or whatever, overall the important thing would be that the grind isn't too heavy and try to break the routine by having global events and things happening, this part is the one in which many sandbox game creators fail, because they just focus on the grind and in ends up being annoying to the player.

 

[Anyone else]

I would say I generally tend to prefer Sandbox, as while the game is telling the story, I enjoy having the freedom to make that story my own and pick the flow, to some degree. In harem games, or games with a fair amount of characters, I enjoy having the freedom to focus on one character i like specifically and experience their story, or to jump around between characters at my own pace should I desire that. My opinion on the grinding aspect of some sandbox games, however, depends entirely on my mood at the time, which can lead me to focus on a more linear game for a while if I just want to experience a story as it was written.

 

[SlLePER]

For me it highly depends on the actual complexity and enjoyability of the gameplay - a real sandbox game* requires immense focus on the actual mechanics and the interacting systems which is hard and makes creating and actually finishing a game, which already needs a staggering amount of man-hours for anything enjoyable, at least an order harder. Finding an adult game which actually works as a game is rare, I have yet to a find one that I would call a sandbox.
Making a passable linear game, or at least a game with some more constrains on complexity is easier, making interactive story with or without choices and branching paths is even more so, even if it is still a major accomplishment for a small teams or a one-man studio. While I would like to see an adult sandbox game which is not a modded something, for the most part the most enjoyable erotic games for me were interactive stories with at most light gameplay.

*Not the usual event hunting/banality simulators. One of the most complex sandbox games(sfw, or at least nothing erotic) I know would be cdda, in recent releases it seems to going further from enjoyable and more into realistic where it is not needed, but it is incredibly developed and vast.

 

[eluddia]

I do enjoy sandbox style games because I enjoy having freedom to experience and do what I want. The problem with sandbox style games is that sandbox style games tend to be more wide than deep. The reason for this is that increasing the freedom given to a user in a game tends to exponentially raise the effort required.

If you know the user will do one thing and one thing only, you only need to create content for that. If you give the user the ability to select different choices, than you at least need to add some flavor text for each choice. So if you gave the user 3 dialogue options to choose from, than you would need to write 3 different responses.

 

[joecoe]

The problem of most adult "sandbox" games is that you have the "freedom" to browse through many locations and in most of them absolutely nothing happens at any given moment. And you have to go through tons of repeatable events and other grind to see something new.

 

[whiskeyrose]

I personally prefer sandbox. I like going at my own pace and focusing on the characters I prefer. It also feels like I'm 'playing' rather than linear.

It's also because 99% of the linear projects on f95 were written by someone with English as a second language and are terrible reads. Some don't fit this category but it's not worth the risk of wasting time personally.