A general note on Tycoon-style games

[Mesa88]

I`m an old Tycoon-fan. (Mostly the old classics)
What I like about the this type og game can be summed into 3 points:

1 - The feeling of creating a company
2 - The economics of the company
3- Creating something new (like the rollercoasters in RCT, or the car models in Detroit)

Notes on point 1 - This is where most games suceed in my experience. However a lot of games contain so much micromanagement that the game stops beeing fun when your company grows to big.

A few notes on point 2 - I have seen that a lot of the new low budget tycoon games the last few years have horrably bad economy controll. I want to be able to see prospects, detailed cost/income, be able to recive advice and have the tools to plan the companys finances. This is whare a lot of games in my experience go wrong. This part of the simulation tends to be to simple, and simply not satisfy me.

Notes on 3 - Looks like youre doing a bang up job on this! the engine video released recently looks great! Can`t wait to see how you make a car model!

Good luck! This game promises to be the spiritual succsesor to "Detroit" I have been waiting for!

(PS: Sorry for my poor english, I seem to have another language for my motherstounge )

[ChristianHA]

Have to say that I agree an all of those points. There are loads of work to make a proper tycoon game, and hopefully this game will succeed.

[Daffyflyer]

Good points, you sum up what a tycoon game needs to be very well there.


We haven't started work on the company running side of the game yet, but there will be a lot of design work to make it play nicely I think.


You seem to have some interesting thoughts about this, so I have some more questions for you

In terms of having a good economic management system, and being fun to play, what would you say your favorite tycoon game is?


What economic stuff do you think is fun, do you like games that have a stock market, or is that taking it too far?

[Mesa88]

I have never really used the option to buy shares in competitors companys in Tycoon games. And speculating in shares in a tycoon games just doesn`t appeal to me. So I think adding a stock market is not needed to make a great tycoon game.

When it comes to good economic management system I can`t really say I have been blown away by any game yet. But as I recall the economics of Transport Tycoon was pretty good. The income/expendure was OK, but you could see prices for transport, and running costs.

However what I would like is to get all the information I need in the game when I need it. Like with the engine building part. To be able to se tings as material cost, required manhours, cost distribution (like the cost for individual parts), and total cost. I would also like to be able to ask my R&D, or marketing dept. what they think about the car/engine.

It`s all about making it close to RL, but in a fun games-way for me. (Whatever that means )

I also like in RCT that you can see what rides/boots are making profit and how much. Also that you are able to test rollercoasters, (however it would be better if instead of building it, then test, that you could "design" it and then test. And after that build.)

Ok, now I am rambling... I am not really sure how to make a perfect economic sim part in a tycoon game. But I hope my comments have been helpful! Don`t hesitate to ask more!

[ChristianHA]

What economic stuff do you think is fun, do you like games that have a stock market, or is that taking it too far?

There is a game called Airline Tycoon, which is more of a "kids game", where you create your own airline. This included a stock market for the four airlines in-game, it was quite nice and simple, but it worked.

[Daffyflyer]

However what I would like is to get all the information I need in the game when I need it. Like with the engine building part. To be able to se tings as material cost, required manhours, cost distribution (like the cost for individual parts), and total cost. I would also like to be able to ask my R&D, or marketing dept. what they think about the car/engine.


I also like in RCT that you can see what rides/boots are making profit and how much. Also that you are able to test rollercoasters, (however it would be better if instead of building it, then test, that you could "design" it and then test. And after that build.)

Yep, all those things will be displayed for engine building in fact if you look at the video it already is (well... for the finished products, we haven't got it displaying for each part yet, but we will do)


Asking marketing and R&D about an engine would be cool, and if we can make it work well, we will do it

Our current thoughts are that it wouldn't cost much if anything to design an engine, but once you wanted to put it in production, you'd need to pay a "tooling cost" which depending on how complex the engine is might be hundreds of thousands, to millions of dollars


I like the input you've given us here, if you think of anything else, please do post it

[Mesa88]

This is a bit offtopic:

Will you release the engine builder as a teaser for the game?
(Kind of like the creature creator beeing released before Spore)
I think i could spend hours on end just making engines

Our current thoughts are that it wouldn't cost much if anything to design an engine, but once you wanted to put it in production, you'd need to pay a "tooling cost" which depending on how complex the engine is might be hundreds of thousands, to millions of dollars

This sounds like a great idea!
And one more tiny thing. I see that you use KW to show an engines power output. I would love to see it in Horespower, as that is the usual way of showing engine power here in Norway at least

Keep up the good work. Cant wait to get my hands on this game! (Or the alpha og beta! )

[zeussy]

yes the engine designer will be released as a demo on its own.

Yes there will be unit type selection. So you can select horsepower, cubic inches, etc

[Mesa88]

Great!
Looks like you guys know what we want!

[Daffyflyer]

Great!
Looks like you guys know what we want!

We hope so!


But feel free to tell us what you do want, we won't always do it exactly how people suggest, but we are open to considering most ideas

[Mesa88]

I have one more idea that i think would be neat!

Models come and go, and it would be great if you could have your own "Company museum" where you can see the cars, how many produced, reweivs and a picture/3D model of the car.

I would love a feature like this!

Hope you will consider adding something like this to the game

[conan]

I have one more idea that i think would be neat!

Models come and go, and it would be great if you could have your own "Company museum" where you can see the cars, how many produced, reweivs and a picture/3D model of the car.

I would love a feature like this!

Hope you will consider adding something like this to the game

And how many car left on the road would be good too.

[Mesa88]

It would also be nice to be able to offer the car models you make with different engine options, and other optionals (like optional AC for a car ment for the emerging markeds)

[zeussy]

It would also be nice to be able to offer the car models you make with different engine options, and other optionals (like optional AC for a car ment for the emerging markeds)

When designer a car you have a couple of steps.

You first design the platform. E.g. A Ford mondeo

You then design models for that platform. With various options, trim levels, engine options etc.

I have one more idea that i think would be neat!

Models come and go, and it would be great if you could have your own "Company museum" where you can see the cars, how many produced, reweivs and a picture/3D model of the car.

I would love a feature like this!

Hope you will consider adding something like this to the game

That is a neat idea, maybe we will incorporate it!

[Kubboz]

There should be also some kind of gallery showing cars, which were important for automotive industry in that game, i.e. first road car, which broke the 250 mph barrier, the most advanced 80's car, the best selling car ever.