Visual Novel o Sandbox?

[Black_Dust]

Hello everyone I am here to ask a question and all you players.
I am a video game dev and I used as software rpg maker MV, but since some time(also under friends advice) I started to approach ren'py software and slowly by doing some tests I started to understand the language and everything.
I have the basics to create a new game and I decided to use precisely ren'py,but here I am at a crossroads i.e., as per the title, Visual novel or Sandbox?
The game I have in mind could be done either way, obviously the sandbox would make it longer and with more gameplay, the Visual Novel would show the same scenes,but without gameplay and done automatically and would focus more on the story and the various scenes with the main characters so I decided to ask you, I would really like your opinion as gamers, what would you rather play Visual Novel or Sandbox?

 

[orellion]

It depends on the development time you are willing to commit. A good sandbox will probably take 1000+ hours to make. If that's happening, I go with sandbox.

 

[Black_Dust]

It depends on the development time you are willing to commit. A good sandbox will probably take 1000+ hours to make. If that's happening, I go with sandbox.

Right now I have a good 468 hours on my game is I'm 1/4 of the way through the game(of course one thing is ren'py another is rpg maker MV)
To tell you that I would be willing to stay even 2000 hours, but it has to come a great game without smearing or plot holes

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

Right now I have a good 468 hours on my game is I'm 1/4 of the way through the game(of course one thing is ren'py another is rpg maker MV)
To tell you that I would be willing to stay even 2000 hours, but it has to come a great game without smearing or plot holes

I'm almost at 2000 myself (At least in RPGM. Double that for other stuff). That translates to about 12-14 hours of gameplay, and almost a year of development. (According to my discord)

 

[Ghosty99]

It depends on each developer but I personally would choose Visual Novel over Sandbox because I play for the story and have an emotional connection with the characters. That's just me

 

[Black_Dust]

I'm almost at 2000 myself (At least in RPGM. Double that for other stuff). That translates to about 12-14 hours of gameplay, and almost a year of development. (According to my discord)
View attachment 3577141

I thought I had several hours, but instead I am a newbie still XD

 

[Black_Dust]

It depends on each developer but I personally would choose Visual Novel over Sandbox because I play for the story and have an emotional connection with the characters. That's just me

Great, I want to hear personal opinions so I can get an idea ^_^

 

[Douve]

I'll go with VN because sandbox in here means time-consuming but absolutely nothing worth playing.
For RPGM I like it tbh (when it's well done tho) but on ren'py it's just waste of time, it's adding "gameplay" for the sake of saying there is some gameplay but it's just "click everywhere and hope something happens" or useless grind or gotta wait 5days for next event but there's nothing interesting in between... idk but most of time when I see "sanbox" tag on ren'py I don't click (there are a few exeptions ofc).

 

[Black_Dust]

I'll go with VN because sandbox in here means time-consuming but absolutely nothing worth playing.
For RPGM I like it tbh (when it's well done tho) but on ren'py it's just waste of time, it's adding "gameplay" for the sake of saying there is some gameplay but it's just "click everywhere and hope something happens" or useless grind or gotta wait 5days for next event but there's nothing interesting in between... idk but most of time when I see "sanbox" tag on ren'py I don't click (there are a few exeptions ofc).

I totally understand your point of view, I if I am going to make a sandbox I will definitely not put grind (I find it useless to say the least) and if I have to put a future event first of all I will never put more than one day(always waste of time) also I will put something to do to entertain the player.
For rpg maker there are few of us who like it, I work with it because I have always loved the software,also it has huge potential for both customization and capabilities,but many people don't think so and dismiss it out of hand
PEr now I was thinking to start with a Vn and afterwards move on to sandbox(I start with something easy before moving on to something much longer and more difficult)

 

[massifteetees]

Both, but hear me out.

VN is usually preferable for me, especially if the story is very good. If the writing is bad, and the story is nonsensical, then a VN has zero to offer to me. I would play kinetic VN too, if the story is good enough and it has my preferred fetishes.

Sandbox if there are enough interesting mechanics, and low grind (or at least available cheats like in Love Sex Second Base). Usually I would play linear sandbox (like What a Legend, Prince of Suburbia and Kingdom of Lust) because they have almost zero grind and a good enough story to keep me interested. Open-ended sandbox is often a hit or miss imo.

 

[Black_Dust]

Both, but hear me out.

VN is usually preferable for me, especially if the story is very good. If the writing is bad, and the story is nonsensical, then a VN has zero to offer to me. I would play kinetic VN too, if the story is good enough and it has my preferred fetishes.

Sandbox if there are enough interesting mechanics, and low grind (or at least available cheats like in Love Sex Second Base). Usually I would play linear sandbox (like What a Legend, Prince of Suburbia and Kingdom of Lust) because they have almost zero grind and a good enough story to keep me interested. Open-ended sandbox is often a hit or miss imo.

I usually before writing a story I go over it 20 times,the game I have in mind I have been working on it since August 2022 and being a D&D Master now for 10 years and having written many stories I have some experience, for goodness sake I don't consider myself an expert, however I think I have a good stora to offer.
Of course I agree,a Vn MUST have a good story with specific Kink(maybe each girl a different one) without going too far out of the plot.
For Sandboxes I hate grind in fact I will put little or addiritura none, of course you will be able to turn and have different interactionsbased on the choice of the player example advance with one girl instead of another, discover something useful for the plot that maybe will come up again in the future without going too far beyond the story point
obviously a lot of diversity between the girls both aesthetically and in terms of character
This is my idea of the two genres

 

[Lewd Asshole]

Can't play Power Point presentations, but making it a sandbox for the sake of having the player click on "continue" every once in a while isn't real gameplay either.
If you want to tell a story, make your presentation. If you want to make a game then you wouldn't need to ask this.

 

[nulnil]

If I had no other information about what two games were about other than that one was a VN, and another was a sandbox, I'd have to take sandbox. There's a possibility of it being well done, but well, you know. Most sandbox games are simply not thought out.

Anyways, Ren'py is really only for visual novels. If you want to make a real game, use literally anything else.

 

[massifteetees]

I usually before writing a story I go over it 20 times,the game I have in mind I have been working on it since August 2022 and being a D&D Master now for 10 years and having written many stories I have some experience, for goodness sake I don't consider myself an expert, however I think I have a good stora to offer.
Of course I agree,a Vn MUST have a good story with specific Kink(maybe each girl a different one) without going too far out of the plot.
For Sandboxes I hate grind in fact I will put little or addiritura none, of course you will be able to turn and have different interactionsbased on the choice of the player example advance with one girl instead of another, discover something useful for the plot that maybe will come up again in the future without going too far beyond the story point
obviously a lot of diversity between the girls both aesthetically and in terms of character
This is my idea of the two genres

Sounds good. You have developed 1 game so far right? And because this new game idea has been in development since August 2022 you should create a small prototype or demo to test out the gameplay so far. Collecting ideas is all and good but I'd love to see a demo. Look at games like What a Legend and Confined With Goddesses for examples of minimum to no grind. WaL is in development hell and CwG has changes in direction but they are good examples of grindless sandbox. My opinion, of course, take it what you will.

I support the idea of different girls for different fetish. You can have some trope characters/regular favorites and then you can have some more than are more specific. I agree with comment above me. If its a VN or a smiple sandbox, use Renpy. If its more complex, use other engines.

 

[Black_Dust]

If I had no other information about what two games were about other than that one was a VN, and another was a sandbox, I'd have to take sandbox. There's a possibility of it being well done, but well, you know. Most sandbox games are simply not thought out.

Anyways, Ren'py is really only for visual novels. If you want to make a real game, use literally anything else.

I agree, in fact I am using ren py as a growth.
I started (and am continuing) with Rpg maker MV with koikatsu sunshine, the next step and use ren'py, then later I would like to land on unity and replace koikatsu sunshine with blender(however 3D graphics) one step at a time

 

[woody554]

if you want to tell a story, you write a VN where you can control the story flow. if you want to make a game, you make an rpg where player controls it. a game needs to have something to play, a story is about telling the story in the best way.

 

[Black_Dust]

Sounds good. You have developed 1 game so far right? And because this new game idea has been in development since August 2022 you should create a small prototype or demo to test out the gameplay so far. Collecting ideas is all and good but I'd love to see a demo. Look at games like What a Legend and Confined With Goddesses for examples of minimum to no grind. WaL is in development hell and CwG has changes in direction but they are good examples of grindless sandbox. My opinion, of course, take it what you will.

I support the idea of different girls for different fetish. You can have some trope characters/regular favorites and then you can have some more than are more specific. I agree with comment above me. If its a VN or a smiple sandbox, use Renpy. If its more complex, use other engines.

Apologies for answering now, problems in real
So yes for now i have only one game at development(Biological Lust, rpg maker Mv) and this project i have in my mind since 2022(and in these years it has expanded putting in ideas and advice) i wanted to create it using ren py as software, unfortunately I don't know the language used(it should be phyton slightly modified to addat it to the software) on the site is explained very well the VN but SB less I have seen something online,and it is much more complex(buttons maps etc) as soon as I understand how to use ren'py well I will post the demo/prologue with explanations and various pg.
The way the VN is organized it seems like a very good choice, each main pg has a background that will be deepened and finalized at the end of the story, each secondary pg will have a mini story to be integrated into the plot(I don't want pg put there just to make the NSFW scene), however many players might be interested on some character to interact first and here instead would convere the sandbox.

I agree for the software situation, obviously ren'py is great for VN,but if you want to do something “SERIOUS” you should use something else(unity, UE5), but those are games of another lever and there the languages are quite different and also a bit dated(c#,C++)
in the future I would like to get there,but it will take time

 

[Black_Dust]

Thank you all for your answers and for participating in the survey, in the end I decided I will make a Vn, in the future who knows,
Thanks again to everyone

 

[Doorknob22]

If you're asking: a Visual Novel.

Use Sandbox only when you have a great idea for the implementing of one.

 

[brahsir]

VN. The continuity of the story is more important than game play tricks to increase play time.