As for games getting boring in the middle, there are tons of ways to improve that, from simply giving the play a new and interesting way of shooting the enemies, to a setting change. I think the game that is best at offering ways of keeping it fresh would be fallout 4. If you're getting bored of the main plot, there are hundreds of side quest available, all with their own story arcs. Getting tired of the same part of Boston, pick a direction and go exploring. Wish there was a giant, cyber-punk-esqu, leveled city in the middle of the wasteland, build it. Just want to shoot waves of bad guys, walk for a minute in any direction. That is a game that knows how to keep it fresh.

Interesting. How would you implement this in a game like Sim City or Capitalism or any kind of business/management sim ?

I think that the success of those games, is in giving the player a chance to make their own stories. Tropico gives a clear setting, with plenty of ambiance. Civ allows the player to lead a nation with enough options to make every play through feel distinct. Minecraft lets the player do one thing so well, that they will make sprawling cities all you have to do is give the players the tools, and they'll come up with the stories.

The author seems to make the same argument in the chapters of the book that deal with the linear property of a strong directed story vs. the open world concept and the replayability factor. It's interesting that the way you described those games make them sound more like game toolboxes rather than actual games. The same way a sandbox is not really a game but kids make their own games inside of them. I guess it is mostly a question of control; does the player control the experience or does the game designer.

I think the real challenge is to strike a balance between the two. For the player, control for control's sake doesn't necessarily equal fun. I noticed one thing with this type of game and my way of playing them: I often don't finish a game. Why? At some point mid to late game there is no excitement left. No uncertainty. I know I built a lean, mean, (killing/money making) machine and there is nothing the CPU players can do to change the outcome of the game, yet I still have many turns or minutes/hours of play to actually see this through and all I get for drudging through the rest of the game is a lame ass "you won" kind of screen or animation that I have already seen a dozen times on previous playthroughs. I'd like your thoughts on that. Is it also what you (or others) experience when playing this type of game? Can you think of good ways to fix this without breaking the game (taking away too much control from the player)?

No problem, here are a few that I find are generally not very well implemented or not at all in most Tycoon/Management Sim (Patrician, Sim City, Tropico, Capitalism, etc.) type games:

• Lens 4: Surprise: is your game filled with interesting surprises?
• Lens 11 & 12 : Theme and Resonance: Your game should be built around a unifying resonant theme, that touch players deeply.
• Lens 21& 38: Flow and challenge: does my game provide a steady stream of gradually increasing and varied challenges.
• Lens 29: Secrets: Hiding some information from the player makes things interesting.
• Lens 32: Goals: Does the game have a well defined end goal and short and long term goals?
• Lens 42: Head and Hands: Does the game provide a good mix of mental and physical challenges? Are there places where the player can relax their brain, and just play the game without thinking? Can I give the player a choice; either succeed by exercising a high level of dexterity, or by finding a strategy that works with a minimum of physical skill? If "1" means all physical, and "10" means all mental, what number would my game get?
• Lens 43 - 45: Competition and Cooperation.
• Lens 46: Rewards: Are they varied in their type and frequence? Are players excited about them? Do they understand them? Are they related to one another?
• Lens 47: Punishment: Punishment make games more meaningful but them must be fair and well balanded with rewards.

Lens 48: Simplicity and Complexity: Is there a way for elements of innate complexity to be turned into emergent complexity instead?

Lens 57: Pyramids: can I have a hierarchy of ever more challenging puzzle elements, gradually leading to a final challenge?

That's enough for now, I will add more as the discussion unfolds.

Interesting post. I'm sorry I am not familiar with the book. If you would like to mention some of the other taking points of the book I will gladly give my thoughts or respond to any questions on my comments.

Thanks for your input. I invite you to download the free companion app to the book on the Google Play or the App store. It has all of the important principles arranged in some sort of card deck.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... nses&hl=en

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/art-gam ... 31319?mt=8

Just finished the Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell and i loved it. I would like your thoughts on how you see it applying to Tycoon/Management Sim type games. I find it very difficult to apply many of the principles (lenses) to this type of game. Games like Sim City, Patrician, Tropico, Capitalism 2, Civilization etc., often don't have a very clearly defined end goal, don't really feature a meaningful story, have very complex game mechanics and seem to fly in the face of many of the books teachings about what makes a game fun for players. Yet, I love playing them and I know I am not alone. Indeed, some of them sell very well. What is your take on that? What would you change about these games to make them seem like more fun and less like work?

I have built a very VERY simple agent-based market simulation, as a test, very loosely based on this article (if any one is interested) : http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LarsDouc ... Engine.php

How do I build a simple line graph/chart so that I can have a visual representation of the evolution of prices over time?

Brilliant! That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

I have one type of enemy. They all have the same instance variables values. They all act the same, have the same health etc... and they spawn in every few seconds. How do I make it so that they spawn in with a slightly different looking uniform (different color)? Do I have to create a different object type of each different enemy color, even though they are really all the same (except for their look) or is there a simple way to make each new instance of the same object type look different?

Thank you

We've been working on a game where a natural ecosystem is represented, and you survive as part of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jcn9ORJWDg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW_SWqS3CQ8

It's not a "big game" in term of levels, story or content, as it's totally sandbox, but the game mechanics (or to better say, simulation mechanics) are extremely sophisticated.

Wow Dan wood, your game looks great. I will buy it as soon as I get home from the weekend. You're clearly a major geek and I would love to pick your brain. Can you PM me you're email address, would like to ask you a few questions about your experience with building this game.

Hi, I'm also thinking about doing a management/tycoon/simulation type of game. The game would have many of the looks and feels and features of Patrician 3, Capitalism 2 and Sim City 4. I have designed on paper most of the game mechanics but now realize, from some of the many astute and wise comments on this board, that since I'm new to game programming and Construct 2 it is probably better for me to first tackle some smaller projects, much smaller projects, before I start work on my masterpiece.

I don't want to build a platformer, I hate those games. I have very little interest in RPGs and adventure games. Those games a so different from what I ultimately want to achieve. Is there a way to create a super, super, super simplified version of a strategy/simulation game? Do you have any suggestions of such a potential project that would serve as a learning experience and stepping stone?

Hey KTML5, congrats on building a Space Strategy Simulation. I'm a big fan of the genre and I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress. I've sunk an unholy amount of hours in Master of Orion and Master of Orion 2 as well as Sins of a Solar Empire. Is your game going to be turn based?

As for your query, when you say that you "don't know how to even begin to animate it", do you mean technically, or simply that you don't know what sort of animations could be added to make the game look more dynamic and alive?

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated. Was wondering if you could recommend any good books or online resources about coding for games, especially simulations. So far, I've used Javascript for simple Web site applications and function. I'm quite familiar with the language and have a basic understanding of coding in general, but would be interested to read about coding architecture for gaming.

I've never had to write much more than a few hundred lines of code at at time and never had to put much thought into code structure. Now I'm looking at building a program (game) that will no doubt require thousands and thousands of lines of code doing very different things that are sometimes quite unrelated. I don't want to end up with a big confusing jumbled mess of code. Any advice on the topic or resources you can point me to will be greatly appreciated.

Also, do you know if and how it would be possible to get my hands on some coding examples of economic models simulation, whether from a game or from an actual business application. I have some ideas of how I would code this but am curious to see how others might have done it and it there are some leaner ways to do it.

Thank you.