Implementing Car "Looks" to the Tycoon

[Drake]

The correlation should be big enough to battle the fact that I can now fit a 10 litre V8 into 70's medium sized 4d family car. If the correlation is not big enough, then the best selling "sports cars" in Automation world are going to look like Ford Taunus, not Jaguar E-Type.

Typical american attitude. Why does everything have to come down to what has the biggest engine?.. There are far more important stats when it comes to sports cars than how big the engine in. The Sportiness stat takes into account alot of different aspects, and a large V8 motor is not a very sporty choice. Infact, I don't see any reason to use a 10L V8 ever unless its for a truck or van and has a super low cam profile just to maximize torque.. Light weight, high revving, small engines will be much sportier than a large V8..

I also expect that by the time the game is released that chassis rigidity will play more of a factor than it currently does. You can't just throw a 10L v8 in a 4 door family car and expect the chassis to handle the torque. It should have a massive penalty to sportiness with such a design unless you strengthen the chassis, which would add even more weight.. Nevermind the penalty for drag, poor handling for weight, etc..

If the developers do as good of a job on the Demographics as they have with the engine designer(and I fully expect they will) there will be a market and a reason for every car body. But There will also be good designs like the 'not a 240Z' with a lightweight high revving motor, or bad ones like the same car with a overly large V8 with far too much power to make use of..

Now what you've mentioned as your idea of a 'sports car' fits more in line with a Muscle car. There is a huge difference, and there will be different markets for these cars..

That said, there is no reason why you can't take the Ham-fisted, Powaaaahh!! focused, engineered with a hammer by Jeremy Clarkson approach to sports car engineering in Automation, I just wouldn't expect to be very successful at it..

As for the whole "looks" thing I think what daffy has planned with the Prestige should work nicely.. Also I imagine that the image of your company will play a fairly large role as well. There are other factors like body material which can make a big difference too. Take the Corvette for example. It is fast, it handles, its got alot of power... But it isn't a very prestigious car; its just a plastic sports car. It will never be a Ferrari, or a Lamborghini, or even a Jaguar. The game should reflect this sort of thing with a combination of your choices in design and the image of your company as a whole. GM cannot possibly ever make a car as prestigious as a Ferrari. They just can't; not possible. This should be reflected in the game... That's why companies have sub brands. That's why Acura, Lexus, Infinity, Cadillac, etc exist.

[FordManFromHell]

There are far more important stats when it comes to sports cars than how big the engine in.

Exactly. But currently, in the game, that’s the ONLY difference between a sports car body and a ”normal” body. That you can fit a bigger engine in it. I also never said that I would want to put a 10 litre V8 into a sports car.

I also do understand that devs do NOT want to restrict peoples creativity, and therefore they want to allow players to produce sports cars from whatever s*tbox body available, that is able to fit big enough engine. (Like the middle sized 70’s 4 door saloon that is able to fit a 10 litre V8, -which of course is a complete overkill-, but showing that this body is not really too restricted in engine size. Which is the only "pro" that the Z body currently has over it. Also not saying it should be too restriced in that department.) But this kind of “freedom of creativity” creates a problem. So currently, the middle sized 4 door has only pros vs the Z body. This means that right now, with this kind of system, creating a company such as Ferrari or Aston Martin, you would be only producing 4 door "sportscars". Since there’s no real point of producing good looking sleek coupe bodys. Because the customers are obviously blind, but they do seem to have a need for utility. So hardly a “freedom of creativity”, more like restricting in the most unreralistic way. That was the point I was trying to make.

Also, im obviously not trying to bash your favourite game here. I was just voicing my concern.

[Daffyflyer]

We're starting to develop the different buyer categories right now in fact. And trust me, we'll do our very best make sure that there are certain buyer types that will want sporty shaped coupes and won't go for sedans.

/Thread.

[RobtheFiend]

We're starting to develop the different buyer categories right now in fact. And trust me, we'll do our very best make sure that there are certain buyer types that will want sporty shaped coupes and won't go for sedans.

/Thread.

Newly divorced men in their mid 40s early 50s?

[PMP1337]

I already suggested this somewhere but here it goes again. Why not have a system online for people to vote the best looking cars? Like a Hot or Not type of vote. " cars appear, people vote, repeat. Everytime poeple vote they get some small amount of something to incentivate voting.

[WizzyThaMan]

I already suggested this somewhere but here it goes again. Why not have a system online for people to vote the best looking cars? Like a Hot or Not type of vote. " cars appear, people vote, repeat. Everytime poeple vote they get some small amount of something to incentivate voting.

And here I am again, ready to shoot at your suggestion with a big cannon (like you claim )
What makes this people not upvote their friends or people they know, and downvote others? You never get a 100% fair system, no matter if you get incentives or not. It's something that is subjective and you cannot reward or penalize people for being subjective. The same thing happens on AutomationHub.

As for taking looks into the mix, you could do the following:

Give cars extra safety points for adding atleast 1 taillight pair, and headlight pair. Right now, aerodynamics get taken into account already for sportiness, and the same goes for rims/tires for comfort.
Bigger rims could also mean more prestige. The thing is though, you shouldn't be able to place 20 headlights and get a huge bonus out of that. Maybe max. 2 headlights get you extra safety points. This won't restrict you for using more headlights and thus creativity of the player, but it makes sense to add lights to the car and reward a player for using a bit of common sense. Utility value could be added for adding doorhandles probably (and thus comfort?) Same could go for other fixtures that could give you more sportiness, prestige or comfort.

[PMP1337]

And here I am again, ready to shoot at your suggestion with a big cannon (like you claim )
What makes this people not upvote their friends or people they know, and downvote others? You never get a 100% fair system, no matter if you get incentives or not. It's something that is subjective and you cannot reward or penalize people for being subjective. The same thing happens on AutomationHub.

Shoot at will. That is actually a valid point. Well, first on my idea it should just display the model either in front/back photo or 3d model and nothing more, no other info. Yes, people like Norman with his cars would immediately be recognized. But that actually bring up more realism because real brands have fanboys too. I bet if we made a vote between a 911 and a GT-R for most pretty alot would vote on the GT-R.
Also. Having to deal with people's opinions is part of the car market too. And would provide a nice dilemma for players. Should I do a car that people like or a car that I like?

As for taking looks into the mix, you could do the following:

Give cars extra safety points for adding atleast 1 taillight pair, and headlight pair. Right now, aerodynamics get taken into account already for sportiness, and the same goes for rims/tires for comfort.
Bigger rims could also mean more prestige. The thing is though, you shouldn't be able to place 20 headlights and get a huge bonus out of that. Maybe max. 2 headlights get you extra safety points. This won't restrict you for using more headlights and thus creativity of the player, but it makes sense to add lights to the car and reward a player for using a bit of common sense. Utility value could be added for adding doorhandles probably (and thus comfort?) Same could go for other fixtures that could give you more sportiness, prestige or comfort.

I was thinking about this the other day too. Depending on the market there should be rule to what lights you car should have. And there should be minimum requeriments for fixtures. As you say. 2 headlights, 2 taillights, 1 pair of handles.
Also IMO, wings should be restricted to the back of the car.

[WizzyThaMan]

I dont think you really should make them requirements, but more like, get rewarded for common sense. So not that your car MUST have 1 or 2 lights etc. but get extra points on safety for example for having them. If you want to make a car with just 1 grille for cooling, you should still be able to. The developers (and I agree on that) want to restrict creativity as little as possible. So this idea makes it able to do so, yet still reward those who put in a little effort. Ofcourse limited to 2 headlights giving you rewards, or else you can put 20 headlights.

So in short, no restrictions, just rewards to a certain extend.

On your idea on the voting: I think you shouldn't integrate it into the gameplay. Here is why:
1. Players do not get motivated, and if they do, it should be only something that doesn't give an advantage. If it does give (big) advantages to vote, people could as well just random click votes for cars quickly to continue playing.
2. Voting will disrupt the actual gameplay and flow. Here you are busy building your company and then you have to vote for other peoples cars. If not for the good of your own company, why would you? That leads back to point 1.

Getting subjective stuff into the gameflow is not a good idea overall. it CAN work on let's say AutomationHub, but even there it's quite a struggle as people don't really vote. The only reward could be being ontop of the ranking list of the website at this point, and there is trolls downvoting with 1 star on cars that just look amazing, like Normans.

[TrackpadUser]

There is one issue with the headlight thing, at least if fixtures stay the way they are currently.

The only way to make pop-up headlights right now is with vents, since you cannot stamp headlights on most hoods.

And even if they make it so headlights can be stamped on hoods, giving us the ability to make pop-up headlights appear as headlights, you still run into issues if you want to make something like the 69 Charger R/T, where the popups are hidden in the grille.


As for the doorhandles thing, we also run into issues for those who want to make cars with shaved handles.

Edit: Also, for the wings on the hood. There are some cars that were sold with them.

IIRC some USDM Countachs had one to get around minimum bumper height laws.

Like this

[maffc]

IIRC some USDM Countachs had one to get around minimum bumper height laws.

Like this

ruined it

[RobtheFiend]

The Ferrari Testarossa had to have the slats in the cooler intakes on the side, just to be able to sell the car in the US.
Apparently there was a risk of damage without them.

Edit: If you look at the profile on the front wing, in the picture above, the profile is neutral. It doesn't provide any downforce or lift.