Sandbox gameplay is a type of gameplay that offers a large variety of mechanics and game systems for the player to explore and toy with, from Sidequests to Mini Games.This is in contrast to games featuring No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom (like Half-Life). Open world design is a level design paradigm characterized by the lack of artificial constraints to the player's movement within the game world, typically ranking high on the Sliding Scale of Linearity vs.The terms 'open world' and 'sandbox' are applied interchangeably to such design, but they are actually two separate aspects of a Wide Open Sandbox that have to be distinguished: Well, okay, there are goals if you actually want to, you know, finish the game, but why bother when there's so much to do beforehand?Īs computer technology evolves, video games gradually move away from the traditional sequential level design towards letting their players loose onto a vast virtual world devoid of designated transition choke-points and loading screens. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want. No compulsory objectives, no requirements.
No restraints, other than the occasional Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence.
