Sandbox / crafting / building games

**procne** · 2011-01-21, 02:30 PM

Hello,

I am looking for some sandbox games which place emphasis on building / crafting and economy. I don't really care if those are free / paid games or single / multi player. I just like having a game where I can gather some raw materials, build and craft stuff, possibly increase some skills and generally slowly build up and progress. So far I have tried following games:

Wurm
Minecraft
A Tale in the Desert
Dwarf Fortress
Stranded II
Simcity 4 / Cities XL
Transport tycoon
Haven & Hearth

While Wurm and Tale in the Desert were closest to what I'm looking for, they seemed bit too grindy :S

Does anyone know some other games like this?

**Grable** · 2011-01-21, 02:42 PM

One word: MINECRAFT

**procne** · 2011-01-21, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by Grable

One word: MINECRAFT

Already tried, not enough crafting / building in it. Just moving blocks. I prefer my LEGO blocks

**Fateofman** · 2011-01-21, 02:44 PM

gmod is epic for construction, not so much for gathering, but it taught me coding.

**Dethspawn** · 2011-01-21, 03:07 PM

if you have a PS3 i highly recommend Little Big Planet 2.

its a sidescrolling platformer/puzzler that can be mixed into tons of other things.

heres a 6 part video (i think its 6 parts, i just randomly looked for something that showed its create mode)

it says beta in the video title but the game was released on the 18th and exclusively to the PS3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdef41xzJZM

**Appelcalypse** · 2011-01-21, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by Dethspawn

if you have a PS3 i highly recommend Little Big Planet 2.

I got my copy today! Played LBP1 for hours and hours

**llDemonll** · 2011-01-21, 03:22 PM

Garry's Mod and Minecraft are my fav's

**sleekit** · 2011-01-21, 03:25 PM

as you mentioned sim city and transport tycoon you might like Tropico 3.

**Betterbeliever** · 2011-01-21, 03:25 PM

yezz Gary's mod, 10$ on Steam of not, then less.
Had so much fun with this game, it allows you to build your wildest imagination, download additional packages like maps, weapon, npc, props and what so ever.

**Dethspawn** · 2011-01-21, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by Appelcalypse

I got my copy today! Played LBP1 for hours and hours

i just recently bought a PS3 because i wanted to play LBP but then i noticed LBP2 was coming out and i got really excited lol, its got such a deep creative system... its almost overwhelming when im sitting there tryingto think of something awesome... im not creative and all i came up with so far was straight up platformers mario style.

overall i give the game a 10/10 for limitless creation! hell they even have a music sequencer for musical people... i cant even do good in that because im near musically challenged

**peggleftw** · 2011-01-21, 03:27 PM

Gary's mod is pretty fun

**procne** · 2011-01-21, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by sleekit

as you mentioned sim city and transport tycoon you might like Tropico 3.

played that too, was very fun indeed, although quite limited (by timeframe, population and space limit)

But that's not really a sandbox, it's a mission based game where you have to fulfill certain goals. Anno 1404 would be better here, since it's much more open and just... bigger.

**georgevonfranken** · 2011-01-21, 05:21 PM

Garrys mod. Iv spent 600+ hours on that game

**Apolaan** · 2011-01-21, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by procne

Already tried, not enough crafting / building in it. Just moving blocks. I prefer my LEGO blocks

did you play CLASSIC, or the actual Beta/alpha client

**sleekit** · 2011-01-21, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by procne

played that too, was very fun indeed, although quite limited (by timeframe, population and space limit)

But that's not really a sandbox, it's a mission based game where you have to fulfill certain goals. Anno 1404 would be better here, since it's much more open and just... bigger.

i have the gold version of Tropico 3 and it has a random map generator and sandbox mode. i guess maybe that wasn't a feature in the standard game ? anyway i have question about Anno 1404: i have heard its quite buggy. is it ? ive always kinda liked the look of it...

**procne** · 2011-01-22, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Apolaan

did you play CLASSIC, or the actual Beta/alpha client

I played CLASSIC only myself, but spoke with people playing Beta, saw videos, checked minecraft wiki and still believe that it's mainly moving blocks. There is just not enough crafting and builbing of useful stuff.

---------- Post added 2011-01-22 at 11:35 AM ----------

Originally Posted by sleekit

i have the gold version of Tropico 3 and it has a random map generator and sandbox mode. i guess maybe that wasn't a feature in the standard game ? anyway i have question about Anno 1404: i have heard its quite buggy. is it ? ive always kinda liked the look of it...

But still Tropico i mission based game. In 4 hours you will build a city, reach population cap (or your machine's hardware) cap, and there is not much left to do. You can only go into quantity by building more factories, getting more citizens and money.

As for Anno, I don't remember too many bugs. Sure, sometimes game crashed or ship for random mission spawned inside an island, but in the end it was perfectly playable.
It surely has much more complex economy than previous Annos or Tropico, it looks great indeed and quests are nice addition

**madara092115** · 2011-01-22, 10:37 AM

Yes, those are nice games, me also finding new games : ) I want to try crafting games, and I think I'll try also mmorpgs with awesome crafting and building features. May i ask you guys for suggestions about new building/crafting/mmorpgs games? I forgot, Hello everybody, I'm new here =) thank you if you have suggestions for me : )

**Drakthan** · 2011-01-22, 11:21 AM

What about Mortal Online ? Sandbox MMO

**procne** · 2011-01-22, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by Drakthan

What about Mortal Online ? Sandbox MMO

It looks like it might be promising if the crafting / building aspect is good enough. Can you say something more about it? I hope crafting is not limited to "make better armor / weapon". I have it in WoW...

Edit: Looks interesting, but there is no way I am paying 30 euro for completely unknown game... It's weird that so "unique" game doesn't offer any trial accounts, 6 months after release. If it is so much different than other MMOs that it's impossible to compare it to anything, how are potential players supposed to know what kind of game it is...

**madara092115** · 2011-02-07, 11:36 PM

Hey guys I found out this nice games as I look for new games: CardMon Hero, Aika Global, Rift, GodsWar. And now I'm on CardMon Hero, Aika Global and Aion =) They are quite nice like CardMon Hero, cute summons and cute characters, Aika Global has nice graphics and environment and Aion, I like those flying things =D I think I'll play them for quite a while because I'm enjoying the scenery =). And also, I almost forgot, crafting is also quite fun and those rolling objects like in casinos, you called, slot machines for crafting ^_^

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