What games don't exist but should...

[deanwinchester]

It seems to me that a lot of this can be achieved with mods, using the engine of games that already exist.

 

[Pifanjr]

I thought that was the reward!?

Does anyone actually enjoy city management in Civilization?

What if there was a space 4X where there were no other space empires out there? (I guess that would make it a 3X game.) You expand away, but there's no need to worry about a military at all. You'll find life out there, but nothing that's interested in space travel. Just plants, not-very-sentient critters, and weird life forms (think Lem's Solaris).

Making new space colonies won't be easy. You'll need to make decisions about whether to colonize that so-so system that's close by, or spend more time reaching for that distant system with high specs.

I would give it a series of tech trees, along the lines of Sword of the Stars. You'll have the bottom tech for a few of them, but there will also be a bunch that can only get started via finding weird stuff out in space. Once you get up into the "canopy" of the tech trees, they can start boosting each other - so maybe learning how to make your own wormholes will make research into logistics go much faster.

Goals... let's see... how about keeping personal records? Track how many turns it takes before every solar system in the galaxy is scanned, how many turns until any tech tree gets to level 10 (or whatever), biggest percent population growth over the course of any 10 turns, largest population on a single planet, and so on. The more, the better, but I would stay away from any that you can improve simply be playing the game long past the point of populating the whole galaxy. When you play a second time, you'll beat a lot of your previous records, but not all of them. Give the ability to see your Steam (?) friends' records, too, if you want some hopefully-friendly competition.

Like a mix of Stellaris and Anno. Or maybe more like Factorio. I'm not sure whether to lean more in the direction of management sim or 4X on this. I feel like you'd need more management to offset not having the extermination part of a 4X.

You could introduce competitors if the player is playing as a corporation. You wouldn't have a military to fight them, but perhaps like in Railway Empire you have some options to sabotage your competitors. Maybe a mechanic to take over parts of a competitor through various means might be nice in case they manage to grab something you really wanted.

As for goals, I would suggest something like Factorio or Satisfactory. Some kind of system you're building towards that needs tons of resources.

 

[ZedClampet]

Does anyone actually enjoy city management in Civilization?



Like a mix of Stellaris and Anno. Or maybe more like Factorio. I'm not sure whether to lean more in the direction of management sim or 4X on this. I feel like you'd need more management to offset not having the extermination part of a 4X.

You could introduce competitors if the player is playing as a corporation. You wouldn't have a military to fight them, but perhaps like in Railway Empire you have some options to sabotage your competitors. Maybe a mechanic to take over parts of a competitor through various means might be nice in case they manage to grab something you really wanted.

As for goals, I would suggest something like Factorio or Satisfactory. Some kind of system you're building towards that needs tons of resources.

If the systems and stuff were deep enough, I wouldn't need any competition from other aliens or corporations. I think it would be incredible to just take on the challenge of space and colonization and managing a far flung civ.

 

[Pifanjr]

If the systems and stuff were deep enough, I wouldn't need any competition from other aliens or corporations. I think it would be incredible to just take on the challenge of space and colonization and managing a far flung civ.

Where would the challenge come from in your opinion?

 

[ZedClampet]

Where would the challenge come from in your opinion?

Picture something like Roller Coaster Tycoon. There are no enemies, no competing theme parks, etc. The challenge is building out tied to economics, time and keeping your guests safe and happy, doing maintenance and keeping your park clean, etc. Just translate this into expanding into space. Colony ships, by themselves, would pose many problems. New colonies on alien planets would also have many challenges. You would have space stations to deal with, shipyards, mining stations, etc.

Also, there could be many objectives you need to meet.

 

[Pifanjr]

Picture something like Roller Coaster Tycoon. There are no enemies, no competing theme parks, etc. The challenge is building out tied to economics, time and keeping your guests safe and happy, doing maintenance and keeping your park clean, etc. Just translate this into expanding into space. Colony ships, by themselves, would pose many problems. New colonies on alien planets would also have many challenges. You would have space stations to deal with, shipyards, mining stations, etc.

Also, there could be many objectives you need to meet.

So you would also go for a management sim route?

Roller Coaster Tycoon is a good example. And I like the idea for objectives. Something like the grants from Prison Architect for example,

 

[Johnway]

What saddens me is how Games workshop has a strong IP but does absolutely no justice for it. i would love to see a COD Sp campaign for the WH40k universe. Play as the IG for the mass shooty bits and when you switch to space marines it plays more like gears of war (or space marine 2 i guess) in a narrative campaign. the game has plenty of epic battles to implement. Hell don't make it a narrative campaign and just call the greatest/epic battles of the imperium and just simulate key battles/wars.

 

[Pifanjr]

What saddens me is how Games workshop has a strong IP but does absolutely no justice for it. i would love to see a COD Sp campaign for the WH40k universe. Play as the IG for the mass shooty bits and when you switch to space marines it plays more like gears of war (or space marine 2 i guess) in a narrative campaign. the game has plenty of epic battles to implement. Hell don't make it a narrative campaign and just call the greatest/epic battles of the imperium and just simulate key battles/wars.

I've also wondered why there are so many bad Warhammer games. Hopefully at least one of the upcoming games will be decent:

Warhammer Skulls 2022: Everything Announced at the Games Workshop Event - IGN

From Rogue Trader to Total War to a new Doom-like FPS, here's everything announced at Warhammer Skulls 2022.

www.ign.com

 

[ZedClampet]

So you would also go for a management sim route?

Roller Coaster Tycoon is a good example. And I like the idea for objectives. Something like the grants from Prison Architect for example,

I was just trying to think of how to do it without enemies as @Zloth suggested. If you take the threat out of a 4x, then you have to add depth somewhere else, so including management style colonies, etc. would be one choice. I was just now thinking about Stellaris, and as it stands, it wouldn't be very interesting without the other factions, at least not for long. Civ and Old World would be pretty boring as well. And they wouldn't actually be 4X games. It's probably just a bad idea. Zloth sucks.

I've also wondered why there are so many bad Warhammer games. Hopefully at least one of the upcoming games will be decent:

Act now and you can try all those craptastic games on a budget during Steam's Warhammer sale:

Warhammer SKULLS 2023

Skulls themed content, updates and launches for many of your favourite Warhammer games. Plus up to 80% off selected Warhammer games during this time.

store.steampowered.com

The new Darktide game is almost guaranteed to be good, but it's not for everyone.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Ok, I just remembered a game that doesn't exist, but should.

I worked 11 years in a factory, and I quit there about 17 years ago. My idea is from back when I worked in the factory, so this has been brewing for a while. I worked a lot with various machines and robots, and part of my job was troubleshooting when the machines and robots went down to keep them running smoothly. They paid me a decent wage, plus insurance and benefits to do that and keep the lines going.

So why not make a stupid, addicting app game where people have to do what I did in the game. The robots and machines go down, and the player has to troubleshoot what is happening, and keep it running smoothly. Obviously this wasn't available back when I came up with the idea, but the player could earn points and even cheap NFTs or stickers for keeping the robots and machines running smoothly, and we could have streaks to motivate people to keep playing.

Now here's the kicker. The people playing don't know that they're actually troubleshooting for real robots and machines. They think they're just playing a game, but the game is connected to the factory's network, actually controlling what is happening there. So not only does the factory get free labor if it's an addicting enough game, but we could even introduce things like in-game purchases. We could set this thing up so that people are actually paying their own money to do factory work, and they don't even realize it! With people already playing games like Satisfactory, we're already halfway there!

 

[ZedClampet]

Ok, I just remembered a game that doesn't exist, but should.

I worked 11 years in a factory, and I quit there about 17 years ago. My idea is from back when I worked in the factory, so this has been brewing for a while. I worked a lot with various machines and robots, and part of my job was troubleshooting when the machines and robots went down to keep them running smoothly. They paid me a decent wage, plus insurance and benefits to do that and keep the lines going.

So why not make a stupid, addicting app game where people have to do what I did in the game. The robots and machines go down, and the player has to troubleshoot what is happening, and keep it running smoothly. Obviously this wasn't available back when I came up with the idea, but the player could earn points and even cheap NFTs or stickers for keeping the robots and machines running smoothly, and we could have streaks to motivate people to keep playing.

Now here's the kicker. The people playing don't know that they're actually troubleshooting for real robots and machines. They think they're just playing a game, but the game is connected to the factory's network, actually controlling what is happening there. So not only does the factory get free labor if it's an addicting enough game, but we could even introduce things like in-game purchases. We could set this thing up so that people are actually paying their own money to do factory work, and they don't even realize it! With people already playing games like Satisfactory, we're already halfway there!

Everything was going so well, and then something must have hit you in the head right before you wrote the last paragraph...

However, a factory maintenance game would be a huge success. We should probably try to make it before PlayWay half-arses it.

By the way, my nephew kind of has a Satisfactory job in real life. He's an engineer in the auto industry and his job right now is to determine exactly how fast the machines can go before they start making faulty parts.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Everything was going so well, and then something must have hit you in the head right before you wrote the last paragraph...

No sir! The diabolical plan only works if it's secretly controlling real machines and robots.

 

[mjs warlord]

i cant think of any particular game type that has not been covered but what i would like to see is longer play times on games that have an ending.

I am fortunate enough to be able to buy any game i want but £25 to £30 for 12 hours to complete compared to same price for multiplay and open ended that will keep you going for years.

That said i have done the wolf amongst us , blacksad and beyond a steel sky to name a few

 

[ZedClampet]

i cant think of any particular game type that has not been covered but what i would like to see is longer play times on games that have an ending.

I am fortunate enough to be able to buy any game i want but £25 to £30 for 12 hours to complete compared to same price for multiplay and open ended that will keep you going for years.

That said i have done the wolf amongst us , blacksad and beyond a steel sky to name a few

It's bizarre how some games are priced these days. Multiplayer only games are selling for SP game prices now, which is ridiculous when the game is an arena shooter or something and cost a small fraction of what an SP game cost to make. Personally, I think multiplayer only games should be free to play and just sell cosmetics. People buy those like crazy, so the more people you have playing, the more you got buying.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

It's bizarre how some games are priced these days. Multiplayer only games are selling for SP game prices now, which is ridiculous when the game is an arena shooter or something and cost a small fraction of what an SP game cost to make. Personally, I think multiplayer only games should be free to play and just sell cosmetics. People buy those like crazy, so the more people you have playing, the more you got buying.

There is definitely a trend for more free to play multiplayer games. Even the multiplayer of Halo Infinite is F2P.

 

[Zloth]

So you would also go for a management sim route?

eXploration, eXpansion, and eXploitation - so you've still got three of the four X's. Might be able to throw Logistics. That's it! An XXXL game!

No sir! The diabolical plan only works if it's secretly controlling real machines and robots.

Ender's Game, the Game!

 

[ZedClampet]

Ender's Game, the Game!

One of my all-time favorite books.

 

[Brian Boru]

The diabolical plan only works if it's secretly controlling real machines and robots

You probably know the book's been written—Ender's Game. Strange tho that a game of the Game never made it out of the stalls.

Edit: Oops, beaten to the punch

One of my all-time favorite books

It's really good.

 

[mjs warlord]

Hello ZED .... i agree with your comments about multiplayer being free and as you know some of them already are , their is a flaw in the plan though , yes you can add things by choice through micro payments but if you keep getting beat by somebody who has spent more than you , you have 2 choices you either spend more money yourself or give up. A few years ago PCG did a devs survey on micro payments and most said they only need 3% of a games users to spend money to make it worth while.

A funny one for you ...... Many years ago i saw a young kid in a games shop ask staff to put some money on some sort of world of warcraft payment card ..... The staff refused and said your not old enough .... the kid replied ok i will give my dad the card and he will do it for me BIG LOL

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Ender's Game, the Game!

Great book! I didn't think of it, but you're right. It's a lot like that, only giving free labor to a factory, instead of fighting a stellar war.

 

[ZedClampet]

Great book! I didn't think of it, but you're right. It's a lot like that, only giving free labor to a factory, instead of fighting a stellar war.

This would be easy to do with lawnmowing. I should make a game where people do nothing but mow my lawn. Or maybe I could start an entire lawn care business.

 

[deanwinchester]

It seems to me that a lot of this can be achieved with mods, using the engine of games that already exist.

 

[Zloth]

It seems to me that a lot of this can be achieved with mods, using the engine of games that already exist.

It would have to be a HUGE mod. It some point, it becomes better to just make a new game.