- A "BASE" or "HOME" mechanic, I believe this is the number one aspect of a game that HUMANS will like because as humans we all have a place to call home, our very own personal space. and FOR KEEPING THINGS we found or bought. Since this is a game with robotic theme, it's probably in the form of AN AIRCRAFT or A SHIP, upgradeable and buildable. It would be great if we can even craft and design the body like building a house in minecraft or ark , then add the machinery to make it able to fly in the air or sail on the sea or even dive in the sea. Also put in furnitures and objects in it like cupboard, refrigerator, bed, workbench, grill, etc. There can also be a fixed mothership if needed.
(I just found a game called SCRAP MECHANIC or TERRA TECH that fits to what I describe, we can build something and put engines to drive it like a car, fly it like an aircraft too, from what I watched on utube)
- Variations to Monsters, or in a game like this, it's probably Robots or a mixed like Cyborgs or Animal-cyborgs or Monster-cyborgs.AS-MANY-AS-CDPR-CAN-MAKE ( a specific team dedicated and assigned for this would be great! ). If you think 10 kind of monsters is enough to populate a HUGE WORLD, ask your players, the answer is HELL NO, 20 ? SAME ANSWER, 50 ? still a BIG NO NO ! 100 ? We can live with that but we want MORE.The key here MORE IS BETTER, unlimited is best xD , I was hoping CDPR would keep adding monsters to the Witcher 3 at its prime time but maybe it has enough to keep up with the story, but Cyberpunk is a sandbox, I expect more.
(Just for reference, let me ask google how many animal species are there on earth, this is one of his answer : Species count put at
8.7 million. The natural world contains about
8.7 million species, according to a new estimate described by scientists as the most accurate ever. But the vast majority have not been identified - and cataloguing them all could take more than 1,000 years.)
(another question to google is How many types of dinosaurs are there in the world? At present over
700 different species of dinosaurs have been identified and named. However palaeontologists believe that there are many more new and different dinosaur species still to be discovered.)
A picture usually tells a thousand words, but in this case, these words reflect a thousand pictures or monsters to be exact xD
- Crafting and building, gathering resources, just like minecraft or Ark Survival Evolved or RTS game. Some materials are harder to get, guarded by a BOSS or even acquired by killing this boss or specific monster/bot.
- PET system, with animals or monsters that need to be tamed first, with mutations or added cyborg stuffs on them but with real purpose (like in Ark game, every dino has its own specialty, as utility or for gathering resources.)
- Cosmetic items / fashions / decorations for aesthetics, people love those stuffs especially in mmo.
- A mod tool dedicated for CREATING OBJECTs to be transferred and put in the game would be a plus, there'll be UNLIMITED supplies of objects to what we can see IN the game.
- Customizable objects/weapons/etc via a workshop or workbench which is an item that provides crazy customizations, the idea is like building a base above, but it's for objects, we build the objects ourselves but the mechanics is provided by the game, we just customize the "casing" , eg :
* a sword, we can make and shape the look, the color, and everything, and in the end the game asks which would be the sharp edges to make it work with the sword mechanic.
* a gun, same like above, we build the objects, then the game asks where the magazine should be, then the barrel and muzzle, etc
that's an awesome customization and I think has never been in any game or cmiiw., it can be applied to many things. The game provide the game-mechanics for specific item, the players create "the casings". People love customizations even if it's just cosmetics, but usable custom objects is a very strong ingredient to a sandbox game.
- Fishing, bugs collecting for collectibles like in Zelda game, well...bugs would be weird in cyberpunk, but fishing is always welcome in a game.
- A lot of interactions with objects in the game even though they won't serve any purpose are also great additions to make it more alive
- Recipes for medicines, foods, drinks, etc.
- Slave or maid system. With a lot that can be done in the game, some of them will feel like chores even though we can still enjoy it ocassionally, it'd be great to add a slave or maid system so we can just order him or her to make stuffs or do basic/daily stuffs, and also add routines if needed.
- Skill based stuffs, learn stuffs from a person, from situations, from experiences, or from books or whatever. Don't use level especially for gears. A sword is a sword and used for killing, be it a sharp sword, a blunt sword, a level 1 sword or a level 150 sword, using level-based gears ruin the immersion, we all can even kill using just a needle if we have the stomach xD. An armor is also just an armor, everyone can wear it and get the protection it provides, be it a baby or a big person, well..probably not a baby, but you get the idea xD. To me Level based armor is just silly. Just use the law of physics, even if it's just fiction and only apply to this game world.
I think some of those above are key ingredients for a sandbox game that makes it interesting. A personal space to keep stuffs that can be modified to our heart's content, great numbers of creatures, crafting system, building system, taming system, etc
Oh and the most important thing is make this game so wild and unexpected, I hate a game that has a "pattern", once the pattern is figured out, boredom builds up real quick.
(that's all for now, I'll probably edit this post some more until the game is ready
)