What is a SandBox Game?

A SandBox is a type of game that imposes minimal character restrictions on the player so that he can move freely and change a virtual world at will. It has long played an important role in the creation of a 3D configurator. Unlike a progression style game, a sandbox game emphasizes roaming and allows a player to select tasks. Instead of playing with segmented areas or numbered levels, a sandbox game usually takes place in a “world” to which the player has full access from start to finish.

A sandbox game is also known as an open world or free roaming game.

Sandbox games can contain structured elements – such as mini-games, tasks, submissions, and storylines – that players can ignore. In fact, the nonlinear nature of the sandbox game creates a challenge for game authors. For this reason, tasks and side missions usually follow a course in which tasks are unlocked after successful completion.

The game types of the sandbox game are different. Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) generally include a mix of sandbox and progression games and depend heavily on the emergence of interactive user gameplay to keep non-progression-focused players.