Re: Coming up with ideas for a new game project.
Hi All.
Thank you all for the ideas on and off forum.
It looks like Sims are very popular and I’ve got a great list of ideas you’ve all suggested so thank you for your time.
The idea that has captured my imagination, as you can see below, is a city building simulator. I’ve been letting my mind run wild a bit and have pulled together an idea of what I’m thinking. It’s potentially quite a big project so don’t expect anything in the next month or so, <grins>
Also at this moment in time this has captured my imagination and I’m quite enthusiastic about it however I’ve got a folder of projects sitting on my computer that I’ve started and didn’t really go anywhere. I’m hoping this won’t be another one of these. But I don’t believe in miss leading people so consider the below a set of ideas which “could” turn in to a game, there’s no promises.
Take a look at the brain dump below. This isn’t a complete set of features I think the game may have, it just some ideas I’ve had as I’ve been reading the various replies I received. Are there additional things you’d like to add to the wish list? Again, no promises that any of the below or any ideas will make the final cut but if we’re thinking big then why not add things. It’s much easier to add ideas in at the design stage rather than trying to squeeze them in at a later date.
So my ideas:
Concept
You start in an empty field. Your task is to take your empty field and turn it in to a city. The main scoring mechanism is the population of your city.
The terrain of your city plot will be randomly generated. Somewhere on the field will be an interstate/motorway which you need to connect your road system to for contact with the outside world. There may also be a river, lake, mountains, sea shore, national railway link, natural resources such as coal, iron, copper, gold, stone, ETC.
The environment will be randomly set at the start. This will include factors like average yearly temperature, rain fall, wind.
Game play.
I was thinking 2 modes of game play. A city planner part where all of the money stuff is managed for you and it’s all about laying out your city and designing the environment. In this mode every time you build a road it'll automatically include the utility supply systems. The idea is that this mode is more casual.
The second mode is city mayor where all of the below is up to you. More complex but allows for more interesting game play.
You'll be able to move around your plot of land in a 3d sound environment, similar to how you did in Park Boss. Depending on what players think a future update may include the ability to drive around the city.
Most spoken text will be done using screen reader/tts however there'll be a spoken guide that is able to give context sensitive hints, this is the help system.
I'm planning that there will be basic textual information on screen. Interaction will be via keyboard or game controller.
You'll be able to build multiple cities at one time and the mode, planner or mayor, will be set on a per city basis.
In a future version you may even be able to tour other player’s cities.
Utilities
For water supply, power, telephone/internet service, natural gas, water purification, ETC., you start out by getting this from the national grid. Each will have a cost associated with the supply of the utility. You will be able to build industrial facilities for all possible utilities which can reduce the need for the national grid. There will be different types of industrial units you can build. For instance, for power you could build different types of power plant, nuclear, coal, gas, wind, hydro, sola. Each will have an associated cost for building and then ongoing generation. You’ll be able to sell services back to the national grid to make money. You’ll also be able to sell your services back to other real world players using some sort of online being and selling system. You’ll be able to set your prices and undercut other players and the national grid. When building your city you’ll need to build supply lines for the utilities to the development in your city.
Transportation:
Your city will be linked using various transportation systems. Roads, Metro train system, busses, cycle and walking paths, ETC. you’ll be able to Control schedules and routes for busses and trains. Roads will be different types from major high ways to more suburban routes. You’ll be able to place gas stations and be able to select the mix of gasoline to electric charge points.
Buildings:
The main point will be building. There’ll be industrial buildings, factories, farms, offices, ETC. basically most of your population are employed at the industrial buildings, these will be privately run and once built you won't need to manage each industrial building. There'll be city facilities, schools, garbage collection, city hall, leisure centres, parks, police, fire service, ambulance, hospitals, ETC., which will have employees who you'll have to pay.
There'll be houses, shops, entertainment areas, universities, libraries for your residents to live and use. Each building will have various options to do with quality or size. There’ll be a building and maintenance cost associated with each as well as a time to construct. It'll be a major part of the game to balance the cost of things against the desirability and how attractive it makes your city to its residents. For instance cost of living will need to be balanced against the pollution in the environment.
Average house prices will be monitored and you'll need to balance the types of housing and ensure enough capacity of city facilities for the population you've got. You’ll also need to ensure that the housing matches the types of workers you’re employing. For example if your building a very industrial town you may want to keep your house prices down to allow those that work in the industrial areas to be able to afford housing.
Money:
You’ll be able to set taxes like a residence tax, sales tax, and business rates. You'll be able to sell utility services to other players. Fundamentally the game is about city planning and balancing the books. You’ll be able to build buildings that are for national services like prisons, waste processing facilities, military bases, ports, financial services and sell their services back to the government.
If your trying to build a particular type of city you'll be able to set tax rates for particular sectors, for instance if you get a map which includes a sea shore you could build a doc, give low business rates to shipping companies and try to become a national shipping hub.
Tourism
Depending on the type of train that gets generated for your city it may lend its self to a tourist industry and you'll be able to build buildings that encourages tourism, again this could be encouraged using the business rates and infrastructure projects like airports.
Events
There'll be some kind of random event system, you get chosen to host a sporting event, there's a severe winter so building has been slower. Similar to how there was in Park Boss but with less severe consequences. I used this system to really drive park boss, I don't see this as being the big driver for city boss.
City Monitoring.
Basic information such as population level, city monthly income and outgoings ETC. will be available but you'll be able to drill down in to the numbers, employment rates, cost of living, and amount of commercial premises which is unoccupied, and so on.
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