Tycoon Games

Steam store page (in development, demo available)

Steam store page

I just saw this post (with video) from @[email protected] on Mastodon, and figured it might be worth sharing. Looks pretty neat.

Hello Mastodon! I'm a power engineer who is trying out solo game development and on the way to release Power Network Tycoon - a game where you build and manage your own electrical grid with real physics simulation.

If you've ever wondered how power systems actually work (or why they fail), this might be your jam. I built it to be technically accurate while still being fun. To say it's been a challenge is an understatement...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26669376

Ooh boy, a sim/management game! I have a weakness for these types of games dating back to the good days of RCT, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, and so on.

So this looks and plays much like the Two Point games, in where you create rooms in your hotel, fill it up with props, assign some staff and have them at it. The interesting part here is that instead of immediately building the necessary rooms and placing the props, you actually have to call for construction workers to come and execute the job for you.

This approach adds a fun layer to expanding your hotel or building some props, as you actually have to plan construction jobs with the workers being paid by the hour. Calling in 2 workers is free, but if you call in larger groups, there's an upfront cost making expanding and renovating a more challenging (and also fulfilling) element of the game. It also makes it a bit more realistic, as you can't just magically make walls, flooring and wallpaper appear out of thin air. You really have to wait until some worker finishes it for you.

You can fill your hotel with restaurants, kitchens, gyms, communal bathrooms and of course bedrooms, and the amount of customization (especially for a demo) is quite insane. There's so many options to decorating and placing props that you can really make every hotel a unique place. Really cool for those who like to get creative.

As for criticisms, I will admit the game is a bit slow-paced, but at least you can fast forward time to make up for this. Also sometimes you don't really have a good grasp of what's working and what's not; so you just gotta trial & error sometimes to figure out if you're actually doing well. Also, the NPCs' visual design is somewhat of a sore thumb. They are kinda just eggs with a head, and it distracted me from an otherwise pleasant experience.

Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1602000/Hotel_Architect/

Website: https://hotelarchitectgame.com/

Steam store page

Steam store page