Hi All.
Thank you all for the ideas on and off list.
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.
