12 replies to this topic

[PiXeLinDiE]

I've been brainstorming on this genre idea for quiet a while. My vision is in this tycoon game there would be several different scenarios as well as a sandbox mode and 'challange of the week' scenario. The different missions would all have different starting backgrounds such as in one you would be a brand new CEO to a very small cellular company taking a loan from the Government and borrowing some towers from an already established cellular company. In other missions you would come as an already huge tycoon that was split up by the government and must re-build your entire infanstructure with the use of your already gained knowledge such as future radio spectrum and new devices.


Mock-up image for Cellular Tycoon.

So here is a basic mission idea.

~ Smaller is better! ~
-
You start out as a brand new cellular provider and was grateful enough to be aloud to hitch-hike on a sister companies tower for the next few years. Each year in the game would go by obviously much faster then real time. Say every hour in real life equals a year? Anyways you would have a main objective to build your very own tower BEFORE your loan on the sister tower ends. You would start the mission with a decent loan from the US government in an attempt to churn more competition in the country. There would also be a smaller objective such as gain your first one thousand subscribers in the first quarter of the financial year. Each mission would also have environmental challenges along with society challenges. In the earlier missions these would either be much more frequent or just not happen at all. But later on you would have to deal with randomly spawned black-outs or thieves stealing the copper out of your towers and you must spend money on repair costs.

~ Sandbox ~
-
You start as a new provider with no set goals other then to make the most money and beat your competitors! Random environmental and society problems would happen more frequently as your business becomes bigger to keep things challenging. The sandbox mode would theoretically never end unless your company goes into debt. If two full game years goes by and your business is still in debt the Government would bid your company out to competitors. Afterwards a random portion of your infanstructure and employess as well as subscribers would be given to the buyer. Between 0%-40% of your infrastructure would be generated for the first buy out. The second time would see 0% to 75% and the third buy-out and beyond would allow the buyout to generate a random portion between 0% to 100%. If your entire business is bought out you lose.

So what do you guys think about my idea so far? I have been brainstorming non-stop for weeks now and finally decided to see what the community would think.

Edited by PiXeLinDiE, 02 October 2011 - 07:12 AM.

[metalblessing]

First I will suggest you check out Game Dev Story for Android as your idea has some similarities to it and it may give you more ideas. Sim games can be fun but can also very boring so you have to be sure you can keep the player interested.

Personally a cell phone company sim does not appeal to me, but it may to someone else. Then again I loved Game Dev Story and I'm sure others may have hated it.

There are alot of great ideas that turned into bad games because they were poorly executed, and there have also been some seemingly terrible ideas that turned into great games. I mean look at FarmVille, its huge now, so they did something right. Also a gardening game does not sound good to me but Viva Pinata pulled it off pretty nicely.


I think: If your passionate about the idea go for it, because there may be a gamer out there who has been waiting for a cellular sim. You never know

Edited by metalblessing, 01 August 2011 - 07:50 PM.

[PiXeLinDiE]

Well I originally got the inspiration from an iOS game known as 'Telecom'. The game has a similiar idea to mine but lacked any in-depth concept and all you did was build an unlimited amount of towers with no challenge such as debt issues or natural/un-natural occurrences. Telecom was also filled with advertisement with no option for a paid version so I now have decided to create a much better game to beat it myself. Thanks for your feedback. I'm aware that many do not play tycoon games and even more would most likely turn a 'Cellular' tycoon down, but I myself searched the internet and besides Telecom there is no other game like this.

[metalblessing]

I'm aware that many do not play tycoon games and even more would most likely turn a 'Cellular' tycoon down, but I myself searched the internet and besides Telecom there is no other game like this.

I actually do like Sim/Tycoon style games, some I am able to get into and some never hook me. I liked Sim City but never did really get into it much. However back on my Sega Genesis I was addicted to Theme Park and I have many fond memories playing it. I bought the paid version of Game Dev Story some time ago for Android and I find it quite addictive as well as there is also a leveling element. You can level your staff, and your genres.

There are successful sim games that I didnt like, but again it doesnt mean they werent good, just that I didnt like them. The Sims games, cant stand them, but they are very successful.

I may have a biased opinion on the game subject as I work in IT for a telecom company

Just remember if the person who made the "Telecom" game you played didnt make the game for lack of interest, then you wouldnt have gotten the chance to play it.

Its an original idea though and you have my support for that. I'll give it a try when you have something put together

[eolos]

PLEASE WORK ON IT! fantastic idea!!

[True_Predator]

I enjoy all and any Sim games, you'll truly see something different with each and honestly a Cellular tycoon would be fun to play. I made a fossil hunting sim..still working on it just slowly... very slowly, almost done(Fossil Tycoon: Arctic Expedition). I think its a great idea and you should work on making it, I'll play it

[eolos]

fossil tycoon, amazing!
please work on it, is a incredibly different tycoon game! no more zoo tycoon... now we can manage a Phone Manufacter and sell our phones... will be fantastic the option to build the phones on Android or different system, increase or viceversa the production quality, customize the company logo....
so many ideas for this game! if you find suggestion, well, i'am here

[eolos]

uhm? any news about it? sad

[PiXeLinDiE]

uhm? any news about it? sad

Nothing to report. I've sketched out the menus and drawings of the towers and icons but no actual development. This would be a major project to tackle alone so the entire thing is still on the discussion table. Besides, I'm pretty knowledgeable in GML, but I'd have to experiment on how to implement some of these ideas.

[eolos]

ok, i hope you or someone can work on it... in gm is easy to make a platform.. but it isn't with tycoon game

[PiXeLinDiE]

So to anyone reading this.. I actually had a dream of this creation being finished last night. Whether it will turn out to be a serious case of Déjà vu or just a coincident we shall see but it sure did kick start my motivation.

EDIT: All discussion for Cellular Tycoon will be shifted over to the WIP section for Windows once a sufficient demo is ready to go. Until then all discussion can stay here.

Edited by PiXeLinDiE, 02 October 2011 - 07:14 AM.

[Yal]

Super Yal Advice: rename the game "Cell Phone Tycoon" - "Cellular" makes most people think about the inside of people's bodies (I personally expected something about nanobots when I clicked the topic) rather than the thing "cell" in "cellphone" is an abbreviation for. Or why not, even better, "Communication Tycoon" - it is two words never combined in a game title before, and it makes the gameplay even more strategic!

- Do you want to get into LCD-advertising-screen business or concentrate on your phones? Sure, marketing gets you less money for the same effort, but you can market your own products for a very reduced price! You can even let your opponents market their phones... if they pay enough. Risk vs reward, because if consumers start to like their phones more, the money you lose on phone business is more important than the money you get for ads.
- Can you get a foot into the analogue telephone net of a country when they un-monopolize it? Sure, it's not that useful for cellphoning, but it gives you a lot of customers that are too stupid to change their phone company (elderly people that missed out on the un-monopolizing altogether and don't know about that they could change their company to save money)
- You might even start to make notebooks for communication to spread your brand and logo to as many people as possible. You won't earn much money, but perhaps you can get some trusty schoolchild fans if your notebooks are good enough?

[Neckername]

I DEFINITELY WANT THIS! I am especially interested in service based games where you have to maintain stuff and roll out services in different areas based on population. I proposed a game called Telecom Tycoon a while ago with the same idea. I would love this game and I would definitely pay for it.
Suggestions
Tower placement/service area expanding:
-Allow for different types of towers and different heights (based on environment)
-Allow for different types of ranged antennas
-Allow for tower upgrading, and allow to tell how many workers to hire, where to hire from, or to hire your own people (this will have impacts on build/upgrade speeds and expenses)
-Allow tower space renting, or tower buying (the wealthier companies will be able to buy/build a tower, and rent it out to other companies as well to make money)
-There are fiber lines connecting these towers, allow hubs to be built and managed, or if in a remote area, allow for microwave relays from the remote tower to another tower that is connected to a hub.
-Efficiency ratings: give a rating from 0 to 100, which will tell the spending efficiency of placing a tower in an area. Example: A high capacity tower in a city area would be around 100 rating, a high capacity tower in the middle of nowhere would be rated closer to 0.

Others:
-Allow for different plans, allow for international plans and eventually even satellite phone plans.
-Get certain developers to develop solutions, phones, and software for your company.
-Control costs (obviously)
-Name it to Telecom Tycoon, Sounds better, and can cover a wider range.
-Eventually allow for other services other than cell phones. Example: You can choose to make a Wired phone company, or a wireless company, possibly even a cable company or something along those lines.

I am willing to support this fully, email me at Neckername@gmail.com or better yet, get me on steam ([HZ]Pvt. Neckername)