- Jun 5, 2020
- 33
- 24
Hello everyone.
So last Sunday a few of us were talking about Sandbox/Simulation games and how developers could try tweaking some of the genre's conventions to improve pacing and reduce grinding. I already started work on my own project some time ago so I thought I would elaborate on a few more of my ideas to get a better sense of what some of you might be looking for in a project like this.
Right now I'm working on a rather lewd life simulation engine in which players can create and control the daily activities of one or more virtual characters in the same world. Players establish their character's personal life goals and work towards meeting those goals in an open world sandbox. At the start characters are dropped into the world without much context where they must figure out how to survive/thrive in it.
I'm not ready to show any gameplay or development assets yet (The image I used as my avatar is not my work). I'm not making this an official development thread. To be honest, I'm still working out whether or not I can even afford to keep making this game at all, but I still wanted to hear your thoughts and make as many people part of the process as I can. So lets get started:
Issue #1: Who is it for?
Most users start a sandbox game with certain expectations and interests. Some users are interested in the story and lore to contextualize in-game relationships they can pursue at their leisure. Some users consider this a burden and would like to gain access to erotic content as soon as possible. Other users want more in-depth management systems that they can master.
The biggest problem with designing a sandbox game is knowing how to accommodate users when you don't know exactly how they intend to play your game. This problem can be solved by eliminating obvious fixed player progression paths and emphasizing user led discovery.
Discovery can be as simple as figuring out how to find shelter from enemies and the elements (minecraft) or finding an armory of items (zelda), or covering as much ground as possible (No Man's Sky). What you do in the game should depend on what you discover. What you discover the first time should lead to more gameplay opportunities similar to what lead to your first discovery.
Issue #2: What about the lewds?
The issue of grinding came up a lot. When people talk about grinding, they're usually talking about their time playing through the portion of the game they don't find compelling to get to the portion of the game they want. Obviously nobody wants to feel as though they're experiencing a grind in order to access erotic content. It's an erotic game. The whole damn thing should be erotic. On the other hand, for some, the grind is part of the erotic experience.
Players want to experience virtual relationships. Relationships are a huge part of what makes an adult story erotic. After all, what makes incest so interesting to a lot of people are the dysfunctional overtones and the feeling of exploring taboos. They enjoy this content as a drawn out narrative because it can seem more immersive to feel like you're getting to know these people, the world they inhabit, and the relationships they're partially driving. It's why people can enjoy games that could be entirely text driven. It gets grindy when this gets too slow.
I'm not interested in incest as a fetish in particular, but I am interested in making relationships a huge part of the game's life simulation element. The word "sandbox" implies an object to play with. Something meant to be lived in - not a story to experience per se. In this sense, I don't believe a decent sandbox game should require the player to sit through too many compulsory walls of text. In a sandbox game players need to be able to create their own context for what they're doing most of the time rather than feeling as though they're passively experiencing a pre-recorded story.
The lewds should be available no matter what at whatever time. Players should be able to choose not to be sexually active if they want to. There should be plenty of game there regardless.
Issue #3: What about gameplay?
There's room for conventional gameplay here. I'm aiming for a high fantasy sword and sorcery setting with anthropomorphic characters. In other games (Zelda) conventional gameplay mechanics appear as a means of giving the player challenge as they figure out how they travel from where they are currently to where they'd like to go. In this game, I intend to enable the player to run, jump, glide, and even climb to areas of interest.
Additionally players can assemble a hunting party, gather food, and create shelter from the elements and competing clans. When you find someone out in the bush trying to survive, the two of you certainly will have enough time to get to know each other. As I mentioned, you can play as your own creations any time or even play as any of the NPCs you discover along your travels. If done well, I believe this can give players plenty to do outside of a linear context.
And that's everything I can talk about so far. As someone who's been working on this pretty much on my own, I need to hear from fresh ears. Does this sound like someone anyone out there would actually play. If not, I guess...what's wrong with it. What would you add to it? What are your concerns? Thanks for reading, I look forward to hearing from you.
So last Sunday a few of us were talking about Sandbox/Simulation games and how developers could try tweaking some of the genre's conventions to improve pacing and reduce grinding. I already started work on my own project some time ago so I thought I would elaborate on a few more of my ideas to get a better sense of what some of you might be looking for in a project like this.
Right now I'm working on a rather lewd life simulation engine in which players can create and control the daily activities of one or more virtual characters in the same world. Players establish their character's personal life goals and work towards meeting those goals in an open world sandbox. At the start characters are dropped into the world without much context where they must figure out how to survive/thrive in it.
I'm not ready to show any gameplay or development assets yet (The image I used as my avatar is not my work). I'm not making this an official development thread. To be honest, I'm still working out whether or not I can even afford to keep making this game at all, but I still wanted to hear your thoughts and make as many people part of the process as I can. So lets get started:
Issue #1: Who is it for?
Most users start a sandbox game with certain expectations and interests. Some users are interested in the story and lore to contextualize in-game relationships they can pursue at their leisure. Some users consider this a burden and would like to gain access to erotic content as soon as possible. Other users want more in-depth management systems that they can master.
The biggest problem with designing a sandbox game is knowing how to accommodate users when you don't know exactly how they intend to play your game. This problem can be solved by eliminating obvious fixed player progression paths and emphasizing user led discovery.
Discovery can be as simple as figuring out how to find shelter from enemies and the elements (minecraft) or finding an armory of items (zelda), or covering as much ground as possible (No Man's Sky). What you do in the game should depend on what you discover. What you discover the first time should lead to more gameplay opportunities similar to what lead to your first discovery.
Issue #2: What about the lewds?
The issue of grinding came up a lot. When people talk about grinding, they're usually talking about their time playing through the portion of the game they don't find compelling to get to the portion of the game they want. Obviously nobody wants to feel as though they're experiencing a grind in order to access erotic content. It's an erotic game. The whole damn thing should be erotic. On the other hand, for some, the grind is part of the erotic experience.
Players want to experience virtual relationships. Relationships are a huge part of what makes an adult story erotic. After all, what makes incest so interesting to a lot of people are the dysfunctional overtones and the feeling of exploring taboos. They enjoy this content as a drawn out narrative because it can seem more immersive to feel like you're getting to know these people, the world they inhabit, and the relationships they're partially driving. It's why people can enjoy games that could be entirely text driven. It gets grindy when this gets too slow.
I'm not interested in incest as a fetish in particular, but I am interested in making relationships a huge part of the game's life simulation element. The word "sandbox" implies an object to play with. Something meant to be lived in - not a story to experience per se. In this sense, I don't believe a decent sandbox game should require the player to sit through too many compulsory walls of text. In a sandbox game players need to be able to create their own context for what they're doing most of the time rather than feeling as though they're passively experiencing a pre-recorded story.
The lewds should be available no matter what at whatever time. Players should be able to choose not to be sexually active if they want to. There should be plenty of game there regardless.
Issue #3: What about gameplay?
There's room for conventional gameplay here. I'm aiming for a high fantasy sword and sorcery setting with anthropomorphic characters. In other games (Zelda) conventional gameplay mechanics appear as a means of giving the player challenge as they figure out how they travel from where they are currently to where they'd like to go. In this game, I intend to enable the player to run, jump, glide, and even climb to areas of interest.
Additionally players can assemble a hunting party, gather food, and create shelter from the elements and competing clans. When you find someone out in the bush trying to survive, the two of you certainly will have enough time to get to know each other. As I mentioned, you can play as your own creations any time or even play as any of the NPCs you discover along your travels. If done well, I believe this can give players plenty to do outside of a linear context.
And that's everything I can talk about so far. As someone who's been working on this pretty much on my own, I need to hear from fresh ears. Does this sound like someone anyone out there would actually play. If not, I guess...what's wrong with it. What would you add to it? What are your concerns? Thanks for reading, I look forward to hearing from you.
