Are there any sandbox games that let you create your own sandbox? If not, why the hell not?

[MajorTomServo]

This week I had a $20 surplus in my food shopping money, so, as usual, I bought some games. I went to my local shop and got Sim City for SNES and Just Cause 2 for PS3. Both are great tastes, but it made me wonder if they would taste great together.

I like Just Cause 2 for the most part, mostly for the grapple feature, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed that the massive play area is 70% same-y jungle. I thought to myself "You know what'd be awesome? If we could use a tile set to make our own areas." I mean, I used to spend HOURS on create-a-park in Tony Hawk. Has any game done this before? I imagine at this point everything has been done at least once...

Maybe Saints Row 4 could implement it. They always have been known for the freedom they give you, plus they've been promoting that the Saints would be running for president in this one. Being able to build my own city and tear it apart at street level would be awesome.

EDIT: I guess I should have specified, I meant a crime sandbox. Like, put some skyscrapers here, some highway there, a diner with all-glass windows there, etc. Something like Minecraft is to meticulous and peaceful for something like that.

 

[DoPo]

"You know what'd be awesome? If we could use a tile set to make our own areas."

So-o-o-o...

Yeah, Minecraft is there, I believe Terraria is like a 2D version of it. From Dust, I think allows you to teraform, however it's a god game, so, I don't know if it counts. Dungeon Keeper, though, is similarly a god game, however, you can possess a creature and explore and interact your dungeon in the first person perspective. And there are various world/map editors, too.

 

[Savagezion]

DoPo already hit the nail on the head. This is exactly why Minecraft became the phenomena it has. I mean people make computers and stuff in it. As well, look at Gary's mod.

 

[The Madman]

Dwarf Fortress lets you create entire worlds with history spanning thousands of years and its own mythos of culture and religion.

 

[DoPo]

Dwarf Fortress lets you create entire worlds with history spanning thousands of years and its own mythos of culture and religion.

Right, I forgot to mention Dwarf Fortress. I mean, I know there are more games that have teraforming and stuff but I don't remember any names. Except DF - I meant to have it there but it slipped out of my mind as I was writing the comment.

 

[hazabaza1]

Garry's Mod?
Not really what you're asking I think but it got a bunch of downloadable community maps and you can put shit around in places.

 

[nicky]

Why would you need anything else than minecraft. The game is huge, you can make shit tons of things with it, just look at what people have been making with it.

 

[MajorTomServo]

Why would you need anything else than minecraft. The game is huge, you can make shit tons of things with it, just look at what people have been making with it.

I can't drive a sport car 120mph into a group of innocent pedestrians in Minecraft.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Why would you need anything else than minecraft. The game is huge, you can make shit tons of things with it, just look at what people have been making with it.

I can't drive a sport car 120mph into a group of innocent pedestrians in Minecraft.

Actually, there's probably a mod for that.

Somewhere.

You're looking for a GTA map editor it seems. Yeah, I got nothing.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Far Cry 3 has an editor I believe, but I'm not too sure how robust it is.

 

[Giyguy]

Dwarf Fortress lets you create entire worlds with history spanning thousands of years and its own mythos of culture and religion.

as long as the religion is focused around cheese, anyway. the game is quite fun!

 

[Fayathon]

Dwarf Fortress lets you create entire worlds with history spanning thousands of years and its own mythos of culture and religion.

as long as the religion is focused around cheese, anyway. the game is quite fun!

SO, Nachofarians? If that's the case I need to play Dwarf Fortress, they sound like my kind of people.

OT: Others have said it, but it bears repeating, get Minecraft.

 

[lacktheknack]

Since OP is looking for a third-person-shooter meta-sandbox, the answer is no.

Because doing that type of meta-game is BLOODY hard.

There's simply too many factors, too many ways to break the game, too many variables. At least in Dwarf Fortress, everything sticks to the set variation it starts with, and Minecraft doesn't have much of an actual game to meta.

Also, if you think all of Just Cause 2 is samey jungle, get off the east section. The south area is desert, the west area is urban and archipelago, and the center-north is mountainous.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Just get a map editor for your favorite sandbox game, and yes it will quickly get old.

 

[BytByte]

Didn't toy story 3 have a toy box mode where you could add in a whole bunch of anything you wanted? That game got pretty good reviews but I have never seen anyone talking about it before, not even me.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I think Garry's Mod is probably the closest the OP will find. There're apparently loads of mods on Steam Workshop and you can do whatever you like in it.

The Bethesda games all come with toolsets on the PC to make your own areas, though while they have havok physics, I don't think they incorporate destructibles.

There might be some games that, while missing a toolset, do include a dev console (and/or are otherwise moddable). Often the dev console can do some snazzy things too.

Maybe you want a God game? I wouldn't recommend SimCity based on the sheer amount of bullshit you have to wade through to play it. I don't often play these games TBH so can't recommend much in this category.

 

[King of Asgaard]

"You know what'd be awesome? If we could use a tile set to make our own areas."

So-o-o-o...

Yeah, Minecraft is there, I believe Terraria is like a 2D version of it. From Dust, I think allows you to teraform, however it's a god game, so, I don't know if it counts. Dungeon Keeper, though, is similarly a god game, however, you can possess a creature and explore and interact your dungeon in the first person perspective. And there are various world/map editors, too.

Dwarf Fortress lets you create entire worlds with history spanning thousands of years and its own mythos of culture and religion.

Yup, these are probably the best examples of what you want, OP.
Be warned that Dwarf Fortress is rather tricky to get a grasp on initially, and that the frame rate tends to tank when you've got a few hundred dwarves doing their thing, but these are small things.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Just install Unity or the Unreal engine. Ultimate sandbox right there!

You can create your own character, your own enemies, your own weapons, your own vehicles, your own cut-scenes, your own world, your own missions - heck, even your own game mechanics!

(Of course, you better make sure you also have Photoshop, Flash, half of the traditional Autodesk software, a knowledge of object oriented scripting and graphical software experience.)

 

[Strazdas]

yeah minecraft is the biggest contester there. sadly there arent more refined choices for this, but it is partly udnerstandable due to it being very demanding. there are world creators in multiple simulation games, but they usually are very primitive and not worth mentioning.

A sandbox within a sandbox you say...
Sandboxception?

Sounds like a good idea

please stop misusing inception. inception means putting a though into someone else mind, not something inside something else. Sandboxception would be putting sandbox inside your head. hm... no wait bad though.