Optimum gameplay areas in wide open sandbox games

[SunJumper]

It is known that a gameplay area that is too big either results in overkill with level storage, or tedium with respect to long travel times. What would you consider to be the optimum gameplay area?

[spudman2]

Ideally, neither of those should be an issue, if the sandbox game has procedurally gen'd levels then an entire planet doesn't need to be saved, only the explored area (Minecraft). And depending on how the game is meant to be played, the areas the player needs to travel to could be near to each other. (Again, MineCraft.) Or teleporters.

[Aghanim]

About Minecraft...

With vanilla there are 2 options for long distance travel:

1. Nether portals

2. Rail network

With mods......

1. IC2 teleporters

2. Mystcraft dimensional relay

3. Mystcraft direct teleportation

4. Portal gun

5. High speed rail networks (Railcraft)

6. TF2 teleporters

7. Modular power suits jetpack

Pick your desired balance/OPness

And in again some Minecraft mods requires emerald for its recipe, and if you are unlucky the nearest village are far from your home, necessitating some sort of exploration

[SkyHook]

For a game like KSP, moving around on a surface the size of Minmus via ground methods is perfect. Any larger, and aircraft/rockets are required to stave off the incredible boredom of getting around. In a normal sandbox, at maximum I would like an area the size of a large city to move around in. Any larger is unusable and tedious. Minecraft is somewhat of an exception to this, because of natural resources and biomes. If I can teleport/fast travel, that greatly increases my tolerance for excessive world size.

[shand]

I think the key is - the map needs to be big enough - minecraft is great because its only as big as you need it to be - yes you may need to go venturing off for a specific resource, but that is the cost of the resource. in ksp the further you go the more science you get. gta 5 is odd - and it does suffer from map bloat, but only in some situations. in some missions you race the length of the map or what have you, and that really adds to the game, the story uses practically all locations, so they are needed. but in free roam, driving from a) to might feel excessive. there is no benifit, and this is why you see most online players hanging round the city.

KSP has the added benefit of having different modes of transport - you wanna go a long way, make a powerful rocket, you want to go 1km? bring a rover, you just wanna go from one side of the ship to the other, use EVA.

Summary: so long as there is a reason for the extra bit of map, a gameplay reason that adds to the enjoyment, go for it. but make sure there are adequate travel methods for it, tedium sets in if you have to commute from a) to just because.