VN vs Sandbox/Free roam: The Poll

[Adabelitoo]

I couldn't find any thread about it (at least not a poll) so I decided to make the definitive (?) poll about it.

I usually read people complaining about how much they dislike this kind of Sandbox/Free roam games and how much they try to avoid them, but in the other hand I noticed an increase in this kind of games (or at least most of the games that caught my attention) and a "well done" Sandbox/Free roam take way more effort to do than a "well done" Linear VN so there must be a reason why those developers (most of them are new developers doing their first game) are willingly doing the extra work.

Personally I think that this kind of Sandbox/Free roam are just linear VN in disguise but even with that I enjoy a "well done" Sandbox/Free more than a "well done" Linear VN.

 

[joecoe]

Both groups have games that I liked and that I didn't like.
But in general I would say that there is a higher percentage of poor quality games among sandbox games. Sandbox / free roam is more prone to grind and in some cases the grind is really terrible.

 

[Oshitari Azumi]

Personally I enjoy a lineaer VN more than a sandbox VN, if only because it feels like the inclusion of a sandbox-esqe world could take away from the story that's being told. Granted, if I had to choose between a "well-polished" version of either, I'd agree with you in that a sandbox game is more interesting with the replayability. My opinion is probably jaded since I've just played so many games that have a sandbox or pseudo-sandbox feature, but the main story doesn't go too far because of the creator working on both at once.

 

[Niteowl]

Why not both?
Actually I voted Sandbox....just in the sense that it's nice to have some freedom.
Still, many sandbox games are not very good because they often involve hours of pointless grinding.
I know games like witch trainer and 4 elements trainer are popular.....but I feel like they are way too grindy and not very rewarding either.
There are some games that combine elements of both, so it's possible.....but I guess it will be challenging for a solo dev.

 

[Archronique]

I'm kinda confuse because Linear VN and Sandbox are not mutually exclusive, in fact they aren't even in the same category. The first is a storytelling format, the second a game mechanic.

A sandbox game can contain a linear VN and to be honest a large part of AAA games work like that (openworld games with ONE plot and a lot of shit around you can pretty much ignore).

A sandbox game may not even have an actual plot (more than the beginnings I mean) in it (I think about SuperPowered, Rogue-like, Corruption, Jack-o-nine-tails, Glassix etc).

 

[riktor]

I tend to prefer VNs, as you note 'good' sandbox games are much harder to make. Also in my own experience sandbox games tend to have far less developed stories (most of them are contrived to the point of being ridiculous). Show me a sandbox game with a good story, no grinding / repeating scenes, a questlog, and a UI that doesn't suck ass and I'll happily play it.

 

[Captain Kitty]

I tend to prefer VNs, as you note 'good' sandbox games are much harder to make. Also in my own experience sandbox games tend to have far less developed stories (most of them are contrived to the point of being ridiculous). Show me a sandbox game with a good story, no grinding / repeating scenes, a questlog, and a UI that doesn't suck ass and I'll happily play it.

I think Babysitter is okay, right? I intended to develop a game like that, free roam with story. But I was too dumb in coding so I couldn't make it.

 

[Beanjam]

I think porn "games" that are just there to read you a story are boring as fuck. Even the AAA VNs with excellent gameplay like Rance and Kamidoori are pretty useless as porn. If I'm playing a game then my attention is going to be on the interactive portion, and if I'm looking to watch/read a poorly thought out story revolving around sex then there are better options.

 

[Ataios]

Porn games that deserve the name sandbox are wishful thinking, no existing porn game is anywhere close to that. Those which are advertised as sandboxes are usually VNs with grind in the shape of annoying minigames. Therefore my choice is linear VNs. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see an actual adult sandbox game. But I'd also like to have super powers and be rich, it's just not going to happen.

 

[Homilion]

To be honest a good sandbox porn game is almost an impossibility. Good smut needs a set up and sandbox works heavily against it. I guess you can try and make a solid and fun base system and then add multiple locations with their own quests Skyrim like but, I feel that you would need someting more to make it a good porn game.

 

[Hadley]

I hate Sandbox Games. I really see no point in that. It just makes you click through backgrounds until you find the next Event. Its just annoying as fuck and adds really nothing to the Story.

 

[HarveyD]

Linear. By far. "Sandbox" games tend to be just scenes spaced apart with ridiculous grind between them. Or just walking/map travel. Plus in "sandbox" games, updates tend to focus on one or two girls, so if you're not interested in those girls it's easy to say the grind isn't worth it. Whereas with a linear game, even if an update is focused on a girl you dont like, it can still advance the plot.

 

[Ataios]

While I don't think, that a porn sandbox game is entirely impossible, it would require resources like other actual sandbox games. No company capable of creating a sandbox game would waste their money on a porn game though.

The closest thing to a porn sandbox IMO is Sims 4 with Wicked Whims.

 

[Chameleo]

Sandbox! VNs are like a 1 FPS porn video with extra clicking effort. I'm here to play games, not to look at some slideshow. I want to feel the freedom to do what I want to do, interact with characters I want to interact with and make decisions that matter.
If you want to make a game, make sandbox and if you won't make it grindy, you will satisfy both sides.

 

[HopesGaming]

I like both

 

[Nelythia]

I don't mind free-roam when it's like milfy city.

I absolutely HATE free-roam when it's like in indecent desires or what it's called.
Stupid grinding, horrible free-roam with no tooltips as to what you're actually clicking, no hints whatsoever where to go.

All in all, if free-roam is a devs way to delay the game's progression by introducing stupid and useless grinds just to get a boob scene after 3 months of updates, I won't ever support it and I'll instantly delete it from my PC.

Usually I do prefer VN's though, haven't seen any that I hate like I do with some free-roam games.

 

[Patchez]

I generally won't play a game if there is NO choice, like why even bother? It's not a game, it's basically watching porn(doujinshi pretty much) with more animations

 

[khumak]

Both types have their pros and cons. If I had to pick I'd probably go with VNs overall.

VN pros:
- usually better story
- usually more interesting choices
- usually better character development

VN cons:
- usually too short
- frequently requires a walkthrough or significant note taking to get the results you want unless you want to start over every time you get something wrong
- frequently does not give enough context when making choices so you're effectively crossing your fingers and picking at random from something that may determine the path you're on for the rest of the game

Sandbox pros:
- usually easier to play casually without a walkthrough (since pretty much everything is repeatable, it's fine to fail a few times)
- usually better selection of repeatable scenes that progress to hotter and hotter scenes as you progress in the game
- usually easier to see all of the content
- length isn't really a thing since it's a sandbox you can play it as long as you want
- failure is usually temporary rather than game ending or something that puts you on a guaranteed path to an ending you don't want

Sandbox cons:
- frequently story is replace with grind
- above mentioned grind is frequently unreasonably burdensome
- frequently, choices amount to picking (and remembering from) some random arbitrary list of choices instead of being story driven

 

[RogueKnightUK]

People get almost as confused about what the actual differences are between a sandbox game and a multi-linear game as they do about what is or isn't NTR.

In general, a true sandbox lets you decide your own adventure/story. Consider a game like Fallout 4, where sure it had the three main story paths, but if you wanted, you could just abandon the story and simply build settlements, or just go monster-hunting, and effectively make up your own game and conditions of 'victory'.

Being able to ignore side-quests is not enough. Being able to ignore one or more girls, is not enough. Really, you are looking for whether a game has provided enough mechanics, with enough freedom, for you to effectively create your own game within it.

Repeatables alone do NOT make a game a sandbox. You have to be able to build your own gameplay - that's literally the building element that earned the name.

Like HopesGaming I kind of like both. I love games that allow me the freedom to effectively go completely off script and make a completely different kind of experience. But I also love to explore a good story.

The only true 'sandbox' I can immediately think of in adult VN style games is Lab Rats 2, where if I want to play it as a pure business simulator resource management game, and not have a single sex scene, I can do just that, with no penalty. Or I can just get the business to a basic sustainable point and go off seducing and corrupting every woman in the game.

So, I'm thinking you mostly mean non-linear VNs, or multi-linear VNs, with lots of repeatable days/weeks/scenes.

The trick there is that everytime content is added, it also adds context to the character and gameplay that was not there when earlier scenes were created. To do it right then, you need to be constantly aware of where context has changed, and thus an older repeatable needs to be updated to some degree to still work as well. VERY few devs go this far, and that is a shame, because it means their scenes stop being truly repeatable, and instead of a small tweak keeping scenes fresh as content that can be played, they get effectively wasted.

 

[215303j]

I don't like the term "linear VN" because it doesn't need to be linear. Instead it should be branching.

In terms of game design, GGGB is in my opinion the best game on this site:
- There are a lot of choices
- They make sense in the context even though they may have unintended results later
- They lead to wildly different paths
- But the paths are locked only to a certain extent: you can have scene X on path A and on path B, but maybe with some variations.

In the end, GGGB has a lot more freedom to "choose your adventure" than a lot of the free-roam "sandbox" games.

Actually, a lot of the free-roam "sandbox" games are extremely linear in terms in story, with some exceptions of course.

And true sandbox is extremely hard to keep interesting. The Sims is a very good example, but e.g. Fallout 4 I would not call a good sandbox game because the story is still branching/linear. Fallout 4 is a very good game with an excellent story and meaningful choices, but not an excellent sandbox in my opinion.