Posted in: Movies, Video Games | Tagged: Elite, entertainment, Far Cry 2, Far Cry 4, grand theft auto, Just Cause 2, sandbox games, video games

Sand Between Your Toes – Why Sandbox Games Work

By Phil Harris

As I threw a rock to distract a guard and it bounced off the horn of a rhino I could tell, with significant factual evidence, that it was unlikely my character was going to be around too much longer. Such is the, "hunt or be hunted" nature of Far Cry 4 as Ubisoft yet again show they understand how to develop an almost perfect sandbox game; for this particular franchise at least.

Those words come with a heavy heart though as other stable mates published by the same company often seem to have lost some understanding of the fun a completely open world can bring – Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs I'm looking at you. To create a great sandbox game you need to develop the special sauce that binds it together and the Far Cry team from Ubisoft Montreal know exactly how to mix it.

Sandbox games get their name due to the open world they allow the players to engage in. To express their own thoughts and feelings like a child in a sandbox and decide the nature of the world they are creating about them. They evoke a feeling of play and creation, something I have discussed in previous articles, and also a significant degree of player control – ensuring that the elements of play can be enjoyed by the player.

This does not mean they are devoid of limitations but more the fact that if those limitations are well hidden the player should be having such a good time they will never restrict their enjoyment through the length of the experience. One of the other factors to consider is how to create a world so rich in character that merely taking part in activities there gives you a thrill.

In Bethesda's follow up to the excellent Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, mountain ranges that would have seemed easy to traverse in its predecessor had impossible blocks on them, taking away player engagement and providing the tautology of blatantly clear invisible walls. This was not the only problem about the game but it certainly showed that these games cannot be created with ease and that the slightest imbalance will often annoy the player to such a degree that they simply quit or, worse still, shout and moan across a variety of different media.

Considering the freedom we are discussing you might consider the technology needed to create such a world means that sandbox games are a modern invention but this is simply not the case. The Ultima series and still brilliant Elite, where you played a space trader battling enemies, the police and the difficult space station docking process to get the best deal, provided a vast amount of possibility in a few kilobytes of data – a mere fraction of what a modern phone application uses today. Laying most of its cards on the table in the first act and then simply saying to the player, "Hey, it's your adventure."

This is actually an essential part of what defines a bog standard sandbox game from a great one, giving the player an open hand. Allowing them to explore and develop their character and play style whilst not expecting them to have to follow the main plot – if there is one – unless they want to. Creating the story for themselves and providing so many enjoyable experiences that they fall in love with the world and want to explore it more and find the true limits of what is available; because its theirs now, all theirs.

Even Grand Theft Auto (GTA) learned that players continually wanted to break the invisible boundaries the older games had set up. Limiting access to islands (Far Cry 3 did this with one island too), until certain quest missions opened these areas up, merely meant players looked for ways to break them and finally Rockstar North reneged and just gave us the full world to play with. In fact GTA V does represent the most open world this studio have produced but many of the ideas formed in this playground were earlier imagined in Avalanche Studio's classic Just Cause 2 – a game where almost no holds seemed unbarred.

In fact Just Cause 2 all but abandons story for fun. There is a story there but it has its tongue heftily in its cheek and makes numerous nods to a variety of super spy films, novels and games on the way. What Just Cause 2 gives you is a virtually unbreakable grapple which becomes the crux of the games play. Climb mountains, hang from helicopters, drag yourself over to a nearby car, attach a moving enemy to vehicle to anything, the list starts to become endless as destruction rains down about your character. You want to swim to the airport and steal a jumbo jet – you do that.

What's more the best sandbox games have the signature of the developers all over them. Those classic touches – such as the ghostly rider in Skyrim, who can never be caught but is often tantalizingly near – and easter eggs which show how much attention they have given to their baby, to ensure it will be remembered long after other games have become a distant memory. This merely enhances the player experience, making you realise how much time the designers have poured into their product to make it right, considered feedback to earlier products and ensure they can provide even more options for the players to engage with.

As the technology develops the options grow and whilst sandbox may not be at the forefront of the story, design, technology, code or art it does represent a place where new ideas can be tested, approved and developed further to engage players in the future and make them explore new realms. Where jaws can hang open as you leap from one cliff face to another, fly gyrocopters, stampede elephants and walk into a pride of Bengal Tigers… with fatal consequences and where the possibilities seem endless.

Phil Harris (@PhilipGHarris) is a games developer and writer currently working with One Thumb Mobile on their MMORPG Celtic Heroes. He also helped design Nevistech's Pet Roulette for Android devices and is the story writer for Blazing Griffin's new space strategy game Distant Star: Revenant Flee.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!