Sandboxes: How big is TOO big?

[Magicmad5511]

Just Cause 2 is a bit massive but a while in you do unlock a quick travel thing.
Also if traveling is boring then just steal a jet and crash it into your destination, jumping out at the last moment.

 

[GamerKT]

That's what she said.

I kinda hated Fallout 3's huge world, mostly because I had to WALK IT.

 

[sooperman]

In regards to raw size, your game world is too big once you've run out of content to fill it with. JC2's copy/pasta Stronghold design is a perfect example of this.

And as far as an appropriate size for any specific game, transportation is the big issue. Once it takes longer to get to a mission than to complete it, your game is tool large.

JC2 had problems with both, but I can't help love that game. Good times, indeed.

 

[Pinkamena]

As long as it's interesting, filled with detail and have a good way of transportation, there's no such thing as "too big".

 

[Cpt-Dysprosa]

The problem with Sandbox game size is how much of the space is actually useful or interesting from a gameplay perspective. TES II: Daggerfall, for example, has the largest in-game map of any game to date (?) - 1.5 times the size of England - the problem with this is that, much like real life, there were miles on miles of nothing much going on.

So, Sandboxes should be as big as games companies want, so long as they fill them with stuff worth doing ... and a decent fast travel system.

 

[thelonewolf266]

Its not about the size of the map its about what's in it.If its just empty space there's not really much point to it whereas if it has meaningful stuff to do then no matter how big it is its ok in my eyes.

 

[DarkRyter]

It shouldn't be more than a foot or so deep.

I've heard stories about kids drowning in the sand. Small children are especially at risk.

With proper adult supervision, though, and size is appropriate.

 

[Vendayn]

Depends...I prefer large+ world sizes. But, if the world itself looks boring or has copy-paste textures...then I probably wouldn't enjoy exploring the world.

Just Cause 2 had a really nice world size. But besides the view distance, it kind of seemed...bland to me. Oblivion and Fallout 3 were really nice, though.

I doubled or tripled Oblivion by adding new land mods to it. Loved the desert one, but I had a few other really large new lands I added, as well. Hopefully new land mods come out for Skyrim eventually.

 

[Bobbity]

So long as there's some sort of way of getting around quickly, and it's not all copy pasted, then the sky's the limit.

 

[MeatsOfEvil]

[ ___________________________________________________________ ] This big.

Well maybe a little bigger than that. I got bored of Just Cause 2 as well - I ended up using the transport helicopter to go everywhere, and when getting there got repetitive I stopped playing. While driving was still fun I enjoyed it a lot. Helicopters are OP, but relying on them kind of stifled the fun a little IMO.

 

[RanD00M]

The scale should depend on the liveliness and activity of the world, as well as the amount of things that can be done in said world.
Having a big world with nothing to do in it accomplishes nothing, but a medium world with a whole lot to do with is infinitely better.

 

[krazykidd]

I rented Just Cause 2 awhile back because I heard that it's game world was colossal and until I played the game, I never thought a huge game world could ever be a bad thing.

Needless to say I returned the game after playing it for a couple of house, most of that time being spent traveling between mission objectives. The size of the world in that game is just insane, and not in a good way. I swear, even in a helicopter it took me over 15 minutes to get over that one big mountain.

So, what in your opinion is the perfect size for a sandbox?

I came in this thread ready to say just cause 2. That game is just too big , not that it's not fun , just way too fucking big . Oblivion, saints row , WoW ,GTA all good , but just cause2 god diggity damn.

 

[ABadOmen]

For me, the Sandbox Should be like GTA4 or Saints Row2. Fun to get around and packed with nce squishy people to have fun with. As long as I can justify stopping and doing something fun (like slam through a police station or Skydive off a building) then it doesn't matter how big it is.As long as it's not like Red Dead Redemption's Wastleland, or Fallout 3's Fallout.... You see what I mean?

 

[halfeclipse]

Well if you're using vehicles to get around in JC2, you're already doing it wrong. With a bit of timing you can use the grappling hook and the parachute to get around stupidly fast.

 

[viking97]

bigger the better, but your sandbox is only as good as your movement system. JC2 could have solved this by just having vehicles cost so little that you could have one whenever you wanted. imo this would have made the game much better.

JC2 had a lot of balancing problems, actually. which is why i don't think its nearly as good a game as it could have been.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Like many people have said it's not the size of the sandbox but what's in it that either make sit "too big" or not. Therefore I can't actually think of a sandbox that I personally find too big. I loved (and still love) going around Just Cause 2 in the various manners that it gave. And if I ever wanted to get to a mission quickly, I'd just use the fast travel system you get a couple of missions in.

On a side note: For the £8 I got Just Cause 2 for, I think it may be one of the best deals I've ever had

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

As big as can be as long an mission objectives and vehicles facilitate the maps size.

 

[Something Amyss]

I rented Just Cause 2 awhile back because I heard that it's game world was colossal and until I played the game, I never thought a huge game world could ever be a bad thing.

Needless to say I returned the game after playing it for a couple of house, most of that time being spent traveling between mission objectives. The size of the world in that game is just insane, and not in a good way. I swear, even in a helicopter it took me over 15 minutes to get over that one big mountain.

So, what in your opinion is the perfect size for a sandbox?

I'd argue, however, it's not really the size of the map that's the problem, it's (as you already hint at) the space in between.

And actually, playing the demo, that seemed like an awesome idea. It soon gets tiresome, but not because of the overall size. Imagine a game world that large, littered with tons of stuff to do. Imagine if Stillwater was that big, or Vice City.

I found a similar problem with the much smaller city in Crackdown 2. There just wasn't much to do, outside of Orb hunting, and even that can be fun. But still, the lack of interim activities kind of makes things pointless. At least there are a lot of bad guys, I guess. Still, mowing them is quite...*yawn* after a while.

Although, even Liberty City had problems with this, because some objectives would be "drive fifteen minutes, die, start at beginning of level." That can be alleviated with checkpoints, and more games offer fast travel. Which may defeat the purpose of a large world on some scale, but not if the world is beefy as well as big. If they just copypasta the same five buildings, it's gonna suck no matter what.