Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
In addition to warning of emergencies, an advisor can give the player information
about the general state of the game: “The people need more food,” or “Prices are
too high.” This lets the player know of global problems without requiring her to
consult the analytical tools.
To design an adv isor, define both the local and the global problems that you think
are important to let the player know about and then set the threshold levels at
which the advisor will pop up. If the advisor will interrupt the player or say some-
thing aloud, don't set these thresholds too low, or the constant interruptions will
become irritating. You should also make it possible for the player to turn off the
advisor or to consult it only when he wants to. Playing without the advisor adds an
extra challenge to the game.
TIP
You can also
create an advisor fea-
ture that consists only
of an indicator that
remains constantly on
the screen, displaying
the most urgent global
need at all times. It
doesn't have to be a
character.
Pure Business Simulations
Pure business simulations allow players to construct only financial fortunes, not
visible worlds. A game like
Theme Park World
is a business simulation because it's
about attracting customers and making profits, but because the player builds struc-
tures that exist in the virtual world, it is not a pure business simulation. Compare
that with the game
Hollywood Mogul
, for example, which is a pure business simula-
tion about the business of making movies. It consists only of a series of menu
screens about hiring stars and making deals. The player never sees a set or a cam-
era.
Mr. Bigshot
, shown in
Figure 18.4
, is a fairly simple stock-market simulation
and is even more abstract than
Hollywood Mogul
.
Most of the challenges of designing a pure business simulation are the same as for
any other management simulation: You must devise an economy and mechanisms
for manipulating it. The real trick is to find some way of making the subject visu-
ally interesting. Spreadsheets and pie charts have limited appeal, so if you're going
to do a management simulation without a construction element, try to give it some
kind of a setting or find a visual representation of the process that will make it
attractive and compelling.
Mr. Bigshot
accomplishes this with lots of animation,
voiceover narration, music, and cartoon characters representing the player's oppo-
nents; the player feels rather like a contestant on a TV game show.
Capitalism II
(see
Figure 18.5
), a huge, sprawling business simulation covering all
kinds of products and industries, develops in a different direction. In addition to
showing pictures of the products and all the raw materials that go into them, the
game allows players to construct or purchase buildings in cities, so there's an
attractive
SimCity
-like view as well.
Pure business simulations never have the pulse-pounding excitement of a first-per-
son shooter, but fans find them highly enjoyable games. As the designer, you need
to work closely with the art director to make the essentially numeric nature of the
gameplay as lively as possible.
