This post is assuming that you are an experienced game developer with the interest of creating an forerunner expanded tycoon that can set a new standard for this (mostly) dead genre with an innate replay value (aka, continued visits) attached.
The current tycoon system is very simple to understand from a developer point of view. By limiting the flow of content, the player's curiosity is perked enough to stay simply to find out what comes next. It's a system that makes the player feel good about unlocking the next item, enough to persuade them to spend two to three hours watching their territory grow slowly. The main reason that this genre received a negative stigma in ROBLOX was that developers failed to recognize the strength of a tycoon and tried to spread out low quality content over a longer period of time in the hopes that players would stay for longer.
Truthfully, the core system of the tycoon is far from dead. While the genre slowed down here on ROBLOX: java, flash, unity, and mobile "Incremental Games", or "Idle Games" have continued to gain popularity within the browser game community. Notably, Cookie Clicker was averaging 200,000 players per day in 2013, and more recently AdVenture Capitalist has 16 million plays as of writing this post.
So what's different? Incremental Games and Tycoons follow the same general formula, both push the user towards the next upgrades. The longer you play the game the bigger your numbers get and generally the user feels like they are making progress. The primary difference is the consideration for replay ability that Incremental Games hold. Their core purpose is to have you leave with a sense that you aren't finished yet. Contrarily, tycoons here are generally single-use games, with the content being very limited and little incentive to continue playing after completion. There is a very specific reason why our tycoons evolved such, but as it isn't relevant I won't go into the details.
If you decide that you're interested in making a game that consistently hold players past the limitations of your content, then following this path may be for you. When placing down your framework keep in mind a few specific things that will help you out. One, you need to have a prestige system. Some call it soft resets, others give a unique name to them. The important part is that they let the user play through the game again with a set of bonuses. These bonuses vary from game to game, Anti-Idle by Tukkun had points to place into a skill tree of very strong bonuses. Other games have a money/xp multiplier that increases the further you make it before resetting. Two, items shouldn't have a maximum that the player can reach, instead experiment with different formulas for the item costs.
This is a very basic case study, and I suggest that you take a look at some of these games (possibly play them for a short period of time, that's part of being a developer mind you!) and synthesis your own original ideas. A half [REDACTED] attempt at making the game will end up being a flop and you will have simply wasted your time. Here are a few different genres that I consider good examples, make sure to note how smoothly they incorporate monetization.
AdVenture Capitalist, unity (HyperHippoGames) -- example of soft resets, upgrades, and achievements (i didn't mention those, oh well, they're important).
Dirt Inc., iPhone/Android. (Digital Panda Studios) -- Example of how physical objects (bricks) could be incorporated into the game without generating a lot of lag
Battle Without End, flash (CritGame) -- one of the best more RPG styled idle games
A Dark Room, website (Michael Townsend) -- no reset, perfect example of perking interest from the player by revealing the contently slowly.
Idle Mine, flash (Crovie) --no reset, but continues for a very long time (think 4 years of playing)
Let me know if you have any questions/comments/concerns and I'll eventually get to them. Happy Building! |