What do you prefer?
Do you prefer sandbox gameplay (Travelling around a map, through rooms and interacting with the world) or a Linear VN (Just reading the story, occasionally making choices)?
Comments (11)
Visual Novel for what Wants currently is. The Sandbox is just extra clicks that don't add anything. The VN approach allows you to control the pacing better, espacially when you get to the point in the story where individual character arcs start to overlap. It's also just less points of failure for Bug Fixing. If you aren't planning any actual gameplay elements like something NLT Games does then the Sandbox doesn't add anything to Wants's Strengths which are the Visuals and Writing.
Linear VN?! So close to kinetic novel?! Feel free to make something that isn't very interactive but sorry not sorry, you can't call a game something that is more close to a book or a movie... So what kind of audience do you want? Gamer or reader/watcher?
What you're making is a game, and a visual novel is not a game — that's the bottom line. If we dig into the reasons why, here they are: First: A sandbox game allows you to create numerous repeatable events, giving players a reason to keep playing even after completing the main content, rather than just deleting the game afterward. Second: Sandbox games offer an extremely high degree of freedom. They often include various gameplay mechanics such as earning resources, completing quests, and wooing characters. When designed well, these elements provide strong gameplay, making players enjoy the game even without the adult content. A visual novel, by contrast, is nothing more than clicking through slideshows. Third: Developers can create different interactions for the player character and other characters during the same repeatable event, depending on the stage and state they're in. For example, early in the game, when a certain character is cooking in the kitchen, the player might only be able to chat with her. But once she has accepted the player's love, the player can have sex with her directly while she's cooking. Or if she's drunk and cooking in the kitchen, entirely different interaction options become available. Furthermore, a sandbox game lets players change characters' outfits — for instance, the character could be wearing loungewear while cooking, or a naked apron that the player gave her. Since these are repeatable events, developers only need to create the main scene once and can later add various interactions through updates. This involves far less workload than producing a large number of different events. Fourth: If the story in a visual novel isn't captivating enough, it's hard for players to feel immersed. In a sandbox game, however, players must do many things to progress — earning resources, completing quests, and gradually winning over characters step by step. This naturally provides players with a strong sense of immersion. The sense of achievement and satisfaction gained from earning a character's affection through effort is incomparable to simply reading a story and receiving that affection instantly. Moreover, as players complete quests bit by bit, getting closer to their goal, and ultimately make the girl theirs, the pent-up emotions and desires erupt all at once. That kind of pleasure is something a visual novel could never provide.
I'd also like to add one more point: as a harem enthusiast who absolutely hates replaying through storylines I've already seen, I want to experience all the plots, collect every image and scene in a single save file by simply playing through from start to finish — no repeated saving, loading, or backtracking required. And the sandbox game accomplishes this perfectly. A visual novel, in order to forcibly inject some sense of player agency and control, has to create numerous branching paths — otherwise it's just a kinetic novel, not a game at all. A sandbox game, on the other hand, derives its sense of agency and control from mechanics like exploration, quests, and resource management, so the developer only needs to create a single path.
I tend to prefer sandbox for an adult game, to have the option to play through all content in a single save file, without mutually exclusive paths based on choices. Although, there will probably always be some overlap & some trade-offs either way.
Grandma!! ohh wait.... Is this??? never mind. (( Soooo embarrassing. )) ;)
sandbox its nice to repeat sex scenes
I agree with this point
VN 70/30, but a sandbox that makes it clear what the next steps should be is very nice.
Generally VN is better in building up the mood for relationships and sex scenes.
I don’t mind the sandbox style but sometimes in wants it gets kinda confusing where you should go and what’s the best next step for story and scenes i feel like you should implement a better objective system or at least a in game guide that either hints where to go next or just tells you because i follow the instructions and sometimes It doesn’t work,may just be a glitch but im not sure.