Roadmap of Computer Tycoon
Updated – 04.23.2023
Tartalomjegyzék
Introduction
What is Computer Tycoon?
Computer Tycoon is a Grand Strategy
& Business Management Hybrid. Grand Strategy games tend to have a top down view on
things, they tend to be about handling resources and of course maps are always
important. Seeing as your “empire” grows on a map is always one of the most
rewarding aspect of the genre. If you are not familiar with them, Grand
Strategy games are often very similar to board games. These are all core
elements in Computer Tycoon.
The
biggest difference in Computer Tycoon compared to other Grand Strategy games is
that it is not a war-game. Instead of controlling a kingdom or empire etc. you
control a multinational computer manufacturing company. This is where the
“Business Management” part starts.
As
Computer Tycoon is also a Business Management game, you have to research,
market your products, and find the best price points for your products and aim
for different user groups on the market, On the market that has preferences,
limitations and competitors.
But Computer Tycoon is not a Business Simulation. It's important. The aim of Computer Tycoon is not to create a historically and/or economically accurate simulation of how computers are designed/produced/marketed. Realism is not the ultimate goal of the game although there are certain simulations and you can definitely learn about the industry and the business while playing.
What happened since the start of development?
Originally
the game was planned to be a small, one or maximum 2 years long project,
staying in Early Access for only maximum half a year. As of 2023 February the
game is in Early Access for around 6 years. This is mostly due to the community
feedback that encouraged me to extend the game’s scope greatly.
I have a great community and I’m very thankful for your support, especially for your understanding while I had health/life issues shortly after the Early Access phase started. While the project financially is not lucrative, I’m willing to finish the game – while I can't promise for 100% that everything you find on this roadmap will be implemented, the goal isn't far away now. A LOT has been implemented since the first versions of the game.
What is in this document?
In
this document I will give you an overview of the game’s current plans - I'm
not listing the things that are already implemented, and I'm trying to
simplify things down here, so that you see only the big picture about what's
coming still.
Things in orange are under development. Things in black are still in front of me and may be or may not be still changed or implemented.
Your friend:
Andris aka Progorion
Homepage: https://www.computertycoon.com/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/686680/Computer_Tycoon/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IndieAndras
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/cG63JD
Discord: https://discord.gg/VbUQNTd
01
- CEO Negotiations System
This system
is coming with the next major update of the game. It makes you able to
communicate with your opponents. Make deals about blueprints or technology, get
loans, make contracts, promises about market sharing etc. Also, it will enable
you to make demands or even sue your opponents for the grievances. The
opponents have their own style and personalities.
02
- CEO Stuff
You will be
able to buy things for the CEO, such as cars, animals, a house or funny luxury
items... Making money just to make more money was always a flaw in these kind
of games. In Computer Tycoon you will have a chance just to enjoy your money a
bit that way. The items you buy will NOT affect the gameplay at all - just cost
money...
03 - Research System Modifications/Extensions
1. Ability to buy technology from opponents.
2.
Dynamic RP
Prices - We had fixed RP prices for everything meaning that the more RPs you
gather, the faster you research new stuff. While it remains true, the advantage
will be smaller, because the RP points won't be fixed, they will be modified by
an era bar. If a technology comes too early then you will have to pay an RP
penalty.)
04 - General GUI, and some small other improvements
1. You will have a pop-up window for the hardware elements on the computer designer screen to show the name and attributes of the hardware part.
2. Delete Button for components that were never used in a computer. Once they get used in a computer, they will turn into an Archive Button. Likewise, the same thing goes for computers that have never been put on the market. This will allow you to delete your mistakes.
3. Date format will be selectable in the settings.
4. Help button in the top toolbar (the F1 button remains as well).
5. Budget will automatically open up when it is the end of the year (and time will also stop)
6. A screen to list all of your sponsored games
7. Players will know if a tech is new on the hardware design screen, probably by color coding.
8.
Ability to
save game settings (like CEO names)
05 - Dynamic World and Additional Features
1. Changing economy statuses
2. Changing design interest
3. Buying into a country should take time. It won't be automatic as it is right now.
4. Random events will affect different parts of the game, such as research, production or marketing.
5. Different building speeds for the departments/levels.
6.
Messages
about interesting historical facts / jokes.
7.
Scenarios.
Things like “How fast can you reach Singularity?” or “How money can you make by
selling only in the United States?”
06 - Selling & Designing Hardware
1.
Selling and buying all kinds of hardware blueprints to
and from opponents. The latter will be created by contracts.
07 - AI & Simulation Improvements
1. Competitor AI: - we should have opponents joining the game in mid and late game
2. More difficulty levels are needed! At least 6. Also a custom difficulty mode.
3.
The game
will have to decrease the snowball effect – or provide a dynamic difficulty
setting to make it more challenging for hard-core players. (Ability to have less
aggressive but more resilient AI).
08 - Statistics and Feedback
1. Text description of your results, giving a CIV like rank at the end of the game. (such as "John the great")08 - RPG Elements
1. Giving interviews for the media. (answering simple questions about future plans)10 – Localizations
1. Making the texts available for volunteers to translate. At the moment I think the game will have more than 50.000 words in it which is a LOT. I will do my best to have all languages from this list, but I'm afraid, that due to financial reasons, I can support only German and Chinese with professional translators - so without translators the rest are not guaranteed.
a. German
b. Chinese
c. Japanese
d. French
e. Spanish
f. Turkish
g. Italian
h. Russian
i. Portuguese
j. Hungarian
It is important to mention, that localizations
can come _only_ after all texts are finalized – so basically when all the other
features are finished in the game. Unfortunately, a solo dev like me cannot
afford localizations remade all the time in a text heavy “under development”
game. I hope for your understanding!
09 - Steam and Social Features
1. Score Lists
2.
Achievements
10 - A few Illustrations/Screenshots
