Modern Day Sandbox game?

[Eurgh]

What would you all think about a sandbox game about a normal high school student.

 Nothing special. Just a giant sandbox world where you can catch the bus to go to places, for bus fare of course. Unless you're going to school of course. Of course you can skip school and go to the arcade or maybe go fishing in a lake, or try to steal a car or mug somebody hire a prostitute, seduce your classmates, join a gang, etc.

Would you find this interesting despite there being no actual goal, or does it sound like a waste of time?

 

[Wavelength]

Would find it interesting, of course, but people here always forget how long it takes to build up the content for a game like this and perfect the pacing.  Build a quarter of the eventing that you're envisioning in your game, then let's talk mechanics.

 

[Sketch XII]

I partly did something like this, but it was more similar to Animal Crossing (with it having small separate rooms that link together) and it was mostly for testing purposes.

(There was actually only one room though but it constantly changed based on variables that would save to give the illusion of being different places. This is to save space and keep events to the minimum.) It's certainly not impossible, and as far as if there are any other game like it, of course there are.

It would be as much of a waste of time as any other game to play,

but if you're asking if it would be a waste of time to make, it probably would be since there are going to be likely better alternatives already.

People likely won't be interested in an RPG Maker game like this when there are games like Animal Crossing and GTA which already have a set-spot.

 

[Eurgh]

Would find it interesting, of course, but people here always forget how long it takes to build up the content for a game like this and perfect the pacing.  Build a quarter of the eventing that you're envisioning in your game, then let's talk mechanics.

I guess. I has a few giant maps that are going to be filled with minor events, I.E cars driving around roads.

That won't make things lag, will it?

I partly did something like this, but it was more similar to Animal Crossing (with it having small separate rooms that link together) and it was mostly for testing purposes.

(There was actually only one room though but it constantly changed based on variables that would save to give the illusion of being different places. This is to save space and keep events to the minimum.) It's certainly not impossible, and as far as if there are any other game like it, of course there are.

It would be as much of a waste of time as any other game to play,

but if you're asking if it would be a waste of time to make, it probably would be since there are going to be likely better alternatives already.

People likely won't be interested in an RPG Maker game like this when there are games like Animal Crossing and GTA which already have a set-spot.

That really puts a damper on my motivation. Oh well, thanks for your input.

 

[Wavelength]

I guess. I has a few giant maps that are going to be filled with minor events, I.E cars driving around roads.

That won't make things lag, will it?

If your events are well-written (use of Parallels only when necessary, etc.), then the biggest concern will be the sheer amount of events on your map (since it needs to check each one's conditions every frame, even if there are no conditions).  Beyond about 200 events on a map, you can start to expect some lag.  But there are anti-lag scripts that you can use to reduce this - you just have to be careful about compatibility with other scripts.

 

[guywhodidstuff]

Honestly I like your idea. One thing I think it would need though is some consistency of tone and genre. It would be odd to have a funny event happen while hanging out at the mall and a far less funny event a few minutes later whilst joining a gang.

Even so, I think that idea has a lot of potential for it.

 

[Eurgh]

Honestly I like your idea. One thing I think it would need though is some consistency of tone and genre. It would be odd to have a funny event happen while hanging out at the mall and a far less funny event a few minutes later whilst joining a gang.

Even so, I think that idea has a lot of potential for it.

I'm just trying to find a way for it to work. I've had the idea for a long time, and I just want to make a game where you can truly do whatever you really want to, within reason.

I'll probably end up adding a morality meter or something to it, just so it will change what things you can do. 

That being said, that's another 6000000000 hours of work I need to put in the change EVERY last thing to shift around the player.

 

[Sketch XII]

a game where you can truly do whatever you really want to, within reason.

What is within reason though? On your own, you can only do as much as can be done with your own limited knowledge of the world around you, even excluding the idea of the countless hours it would take to make tiles and sprites for every type of fish you can catch, every object in the game with looks changed based on season and/or weather, every variation of clothing, hair, etc. for NPCs and the player, etc. and then having to make interacting conditions for all of those things.

I can guarantee a game like this will fail without a decent sized team working on it because I don't think you would be able to (on your own) give all the answers your game needs to work, such as the basics of how this fictional society works, is structured and all the little questions.

To quote myself from another topic;

I would like to eventually make a sort of skill system that combines real world knowledge of physics, general programming logic and Paper Mario's style of "Action Commands" to make something to where learning and mastering a skill actually means the player has to learn and master that skill for themselves... as in, they could do it in the beginning of the game if they know how to and have the experience to pull it off. This of course can be limited by having a limited amount of magic power or whatever and certain "spells" requiring certain resources, while levels and dungeons would have to have different harder/easier versions of themselves based on skill "paths" taken in-game.

This sort of system is something I don't plan to have in my first game (RPG Maker VX), but once I start making a future game, possibly second or third in an engine that isn't RPG Maker, I would like to

try something like it.

this would just be a small task to do in comparison to something as big as you seem to want,

and that still requires knowing about a lot of things.

 

[Capitán]

Would find it interesting, of course, 

I see what you did there,

Anyway, interesting idea, but seems like a lot and overwhelming .

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere]

Screw the haters. Make the game you want to make. If you find it fun, others might too. Just because someone said there is GTA or other open world games doesn't mean they won't try yours out. That's like saying people won't play any other JRPGs because theres Final Fantasy. If you think its a great idea, make it. Dont let other people block your flow. To be honest, the only great high school Sim I've played in RPG Maker was Heartache 101. Its a way more unique idea than your standard RPG.

 

[Sketch XII]

Screw the haters. Make the game you want to make. If you find it fun, others might too. Just because someone said there is GTA or other open world games doesn't mean they won't try yours out. That's like saying people won't play any other JRPGs because theres Final Fantasy. If you think its a great idea, make it. Dont let other people block your flow. To be honest, the only great high school Sim I've played in RPG Maker was Heartache 101. Its a way more unique idea than your standard RPG.

I'm not necessarily saying it's inherently bad because there are other things like it, I mean, look at all the Mario clones out there.

But with something like this, if you're going to go through all the trouble for it, you should probably first think of some quality of it to stand out.

What makes your game special? Even if it's just a gimmick. There's a difference between hate and constructive criticism.

It would suck to go halfway through a project and then realize you don't have everything it takes to complete the vague yet seemingly brilliant concept originally envisioned.

It's something that happens to a lot of developers of all kinds and it ends with a sloppy half-done product which even the creator will regret making if it doesn't end up completely scrapped.

Again, I'm not saying this will happen, but that more thought and consideration should go into it and to realize it's not something that will be easy by any means or something that even a single person should attempt completing on their own. The best way I think to go about it is to start a project with similar core-concepts but on a much smaller scale.

Test the waters ya' know, but don't just dive right in.

 

[Wavelength]

Would find it interesting, of course...

I see what you did there,

I don't even know what I did there!!

What did I do there?

 

[Oddball]

A good example of a sandbox game (which is a flawed masterpiece, i might add) is ledgend of zelda for the nes. This provides a good example of how to make a sandbox game that wont overwhelm

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

You could always play Bully for inspiration!