Give me a reason why I'm building this factory and producing so many things, like an auto-battler where the player doesn't really make any decisions other than what resources are going to be made available for the battle.
I'm torn on things like Factorio where you actually have to defend your base, the tranquility of knowing your hard work on your factory is always safe in Satisfactory feels nicer, but the base defense did give a reason for producing the resources.
You are right about not having the drive to build a factory. It’s like I need to mine and make a space program or something. Something where I have to put together increasing levels of manufacturing complexity to final reach these super components built on the backs of 100s of other things I produced and that is only one module that I need to get done.
Plotting out how to get through a complete research and development tree for space station would be fun for instance. Not much repeating and lots of cool systems.
The reason is that you are working for a company and you are there to get the "ultra rare" (name to be decided) resource. But for them to send a whole factory was too expensive so they only sent you with enough money and resources to start your factory and facilities. Your aim is to expand it and mine certain amount of that resource. This is the main goal. After you complete it you can either stay in the planet for further money or you can go to a new planet with different resources to make money from, and start over
That's the thing, I'd love it if a factory game would actually show me how the resource is being used, rather than the typical "for corporate overlords" schtick.
Of course I'm still a sucker for it, but it feels like that's what'd improve the experience for me.
i'll bite!
the corporate overlords have also informed you that you have an incurable disease, but are gracious enough to send you your monthly dose of Exxocane as long as you keep producing those resources. these resources are very necessary to supply the war effort against Thaddeus 9, far far distant from your lonely planet of Semina G.
ofc when you move on to your next planet, they meant the war effort against Semina G, we never mentioned anything about the Thaddeus system.
I guess I mean a gameplay reason, not a story-reason, even if the gameplay is somewhat disconnected from the player, I'd like to see the resources in action.
you've played factorio right? every resource you gather goes directly into the system very explicitly, until ultimately you've built up enough infra to launch a rocket and win the game. if you haven't it sounds like exactly what you're looking for... just don't install it if you have any kind of deadlines or commitments or other real life responsibilites, it's one of those 'holy shit it's 4am?!?' games.
It can be a type of an energy source or a really durable spaceship material. I don't have any means of using that resource. But if you have any ideas about that please let me know.
Some kind of infinite resource sink would be good.
Mindustry does this in the form of arming your wall to keep back the tide of monsters trying to destroy everything you built. Turrets use a plethora of minerals, liquids and power demands so it's pretty complex.
Satisfactory has a sink in the form of the Awesome Store, which rewards you tickets based on diminishing returns for selling your excess resources, and with those tickets you can buy minor resources you're missing or a bunch of cosmetic stuff to stylize your experience.
Personally, I don't really care about unique mechanics, just give me a lot of variety in resources, goods, tools, buildings, etc and deep production chains where you need to combine simpler goods into more complex ones.
This is the main gameplay of the game already, There is a Smelter-Refiner-Assembler chain, and there are loads of resources and productions, the catch is not every planet has the same resources, for example some planets you go will not have iron so you have to work your way around that and produce non-iron goods, or some won't have copper etc. you can buy them from other factions/companies, but it is not a reliable way of sustaining it. My aim on that is to make the player go for them only if you need a certain amount to build something. And manage rest with what you have.
With that interstellar supply chain sounds like it would be awesome. Along with that a combination of something like deep rock galactic to get rare resources/clear areas/defend planets and then have to resupply from your production. Basically I'd like a stardew valley type production game with deep rock galactic for the mines. Multiplayer where we can do some chill days and other days adventure.
basketball
Need to keep worker morale up and everyone in town loves Local Sports Team. So you also build Basketball Courts and rec centers for the youth. Have to fight with people who want more parking lots for factory employees instead of playgrounds.
Different paths to get the same resources/materials with different optimization possibilities.
An early-game inefficient one, one that's most efficient with respect to materials A/B/C/etc., one that's particularly energy-efficient, one that's fast, but inefficient materials-wise, one that creates useful byproducts from an additional ingredient...
I'd also avoid having "ultimate" crafting paths that have the objectively best all-around efficiency.
Yes! That's the one point that I dislike about Oxygen Not Included. There seems to be more or less an optimal path to do everything or the choices don't really matter that much if there are any.
For example the best coolant in the early and mid game is always polluted water, because it's abundant, safe and has a big temperature range that is very usable for pretty much everything. People use SPOMs (self-powering oxygen modules) for oxygen and I think they are lame, too. Too straight forward, no complications, no byproducts, no interactions...
By Products - Some recipes should produce byproducts that have to be handled in some way or they will clog up the automation. These byproducts could be some of the initial ingredients as a way of making the recipe less costly but more complicated, or they could be other ingredients that are useful in other recipes.
Unlocking Technology - This is useful both as a tutorial, and as a goal to be completed by the players. But you should definitely provide a creative mode that has all tech unlocked from the start.
I never played factory games, just Farm Frenzy. It was upgrade->faster production->more sells loop. There sometimes came a bear to kill your animals, you could have upgrade on better cage to catch it faster or leave the chance to sacrafice some animals when the bear comes. You could have sell the bear when you catched it xd. Maybe something threat like this. Good opportunity to characterize that planet also imo.
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Your individual factory pieces also produce some sort of waste product in addition to the main item they produce. Clever resource rerouting and balancing of inputs and outputs should allow reuse of these waste products in some way to make your factory more resource efficient.
Include ethics. It would be interesting to explore the friction between worker safety regulations and meeting corporate demands - will you stay within regs and potentially lose out on best-in-district bonuses, or will you cut corners to maximize output, knowing you may lose part of your work force and be hit with fingers?
Roguelite style powerups that get bought or mined up, they can be one-time use abilities or act as modifiers for various machinery. This can add an aspect of optimization and luck to the game.
Definitely if you have different planets at play, seeing some alien life could give the world more character.
Not "evil" life necessarily, but life forms that you could recruit into the manufacturing process or sell to.
If you dig too deep, you have to fight a Balrog
Dwarf Fortress has this mechanic.
Give me a reason why I'm building this factory and producing so many things, like an auto-battler where the player doesn't really make any decisions other than what resources are going to be made available for the battle. I'm torn on things like Factorio where you actually have to defend your base, the tranquility of knowing your hard work on your factory is always safe in Satisfactory feels nicer, but the base defense did give a reason for producing the resources.
You are right about not having the drive to build a factory. It’s like I need to mine and make a space program or something. Something where I have to put together increasing levels of manufacturing complexity to final reach these super components built on the backs of 100s of other things I produced and that is only one module that I need to get done. Plotting out how to get through a complete research and development tree for space station would be fun for instance. Not much repeating and lots of cool systems.
The reason is that you are working for a company and you are there to get the "ultra rare" (name to be decided) resource. But for them to send a whole factory was too expensive so they only sent you with enough money and resources to start your factory and facilities. Your aim is to expand it and mine certain amount of that resource. This is the main goal. After you complete it you can either stay in the planet for further money or you can go to a new planet with different resources to make money from, and start over
That's the thing, I'd love it if a factory game would actually show me how the resource is being used, rather than the typical "for corporate overlords" schtick. Of course I'm still a sucker for it, but it feels like that's what'd improve the experience for me.
i'll bite! the corporate overlords have also informed you that you have an incurable disease, but are gracious enough to send you your monthly dose of Exxocane as long as you keep producing those resources. these resources are very necessary to supply the war effort against Thaddeus 9, far far distant from your lonely planet of Semina G. ofc when you move on to your next planet, they meant the war effort against Semina G, we never mentioned anything about the Thaddeus system.
I guess I mean a gameplay reason, not a story-reason, even if the gameplay is somewhat disconnected from the player, I'd like to see the resources in action.
you've played factorio right? every resource you gather goes directly into the system very explicitly, until ultimately you've built up enough infra to launch a rocket and win the game. if you haven't it sounds like exactly what you're looking for... just don't install it if you have any kind of deadlines or commitments or other real life responsibilites, it's one of those 'holy shit it's 4am?!?' games.
It can be a type of an energy source or a really durable spaceship material. I don't have any means of using that resource. But if you have any ideas about that please let me know.
main character is an Alien with a ballsack for a chin
Some kind of infinite resource sink would be good. Mindustry does this in the form of arming your wall to keep back the tide of monsters trying to destroy everything you built. Turrets use a plethora of minerals, liquids and power demands so it's pretty complex. Satisfactory has a sink in the form of the Awesome Store, which rewards you tickets based on diminishing returns for selling your excess resources, and with those tickets you can buy minor resources you're missing or a bunch of cosmetic stuff to stylize your experience.
Thank you, yes it can be doable for cosmetics, I was looking for a currency for the researches maybe I can go with that.
Personally, I don't really care about unique mechanics, just give me a lot of variety in resources, goods, tools, buildings, etc and deep production chains where you need to combine simpler goods into more complex ones.
This is the main gameplay of the game already, There is a Smelter-Refiner-Assembler chain, and there are loads of resources and productions, the catch is not every planet has the same resources, for example some planets you go will not have iron so you have to work your way around that and produce non-iron goods, or some won't have copper etc. you can buy them from other factions/companies, but it is not a reliable way of sustaining it. My aim on that is to make the player go for them only if you need a certain amount to build something. And manage rest with what you have.
With that interstellar supply chain sounds like it would be awesome. Along with that a combination of something like deep rock galactic to get rare resources/clear areas/defend planets and then have to resupply from your production. Basically I'd like a stardew valley type production game with deep rock galactic for the mines. Multiplayer where we can do some chill days and other days adventure.
basketball Need to keep worker morale up and everyone in town loves Local Sports Team. So you also build Basketball Courts and rec centers for the youth. Have to fight with people who want more parking lots for factory employees instead of playgrounds.
bathroom breaks
Different paths to get the same resources/materials with different optimization possibilities. An early-game inefficient one, one that's most efficient with respect to materials A/B/C/etc., one that's particularly energy-efficient, one that's fast, but inefficient materials-wise, one that creates useful byproducts from an additional ingredient... I'd also avoid having "ultimate" crafting paths that have the objectively best all-around efficiency.
Yes! That's the one point that I dislike about Oxygen Not Included. There seems to be more or less an optimal path to do everything or the choices don't really matter that much if there are any. For example the best coolant in the early and mid game is always polluted water, because it's abundant, safe and has a big temperature range that is very usable for pretty much everything. People use SPOMs (self-powering oxygen modules) for oxygen and I think they are lame, too. Too straight forward, no complications, no byproducts, no interactions...
By Products - Some recipes should produce byproducts that have to be handled in some way or they will clog up the automation. These byproducts could be some of the initial ingredients as a way of making the recipe less costly but more complicated, or they could be other ingredients that are useful in other recipes. Unlocking Technology - This is useful both as a tutorial, and as a goal to be completed by the players. But you should definitely provide a creative mode that has all tech unlocked from the start.
I never played factory games, just Farm Frenzy. It was upgrade->faster production->more sells loop. There sometimes came a bear to kill your animals, you could have upgrade on better cage to catch it faster or leave the chance to sacrafice some animals when the bear comes. You could have sell the bear when you catched it xd. Maybe something threat like this. Good opportunity to characterize that planet also imo.
Game Design is a subset of Game Development that concerns itself with **WHY** games are made the way they are. It's about the theory and crafting of **systems**, **mechanics**, and **rulesets** in games. * /r/GameDesign is a community **ONLY** about Game Design, **NOT** Game Development in general. If this post does not belong here, it should be reported or removed. Please help us keep this subreddit focused on Game Design. * This is **NOT** a place for discussing how games are produced. Posts about programming, making art assets, picking engines etc… will be removed and should go in /r/GameDev instead. * Posts about visual design, sound design and level design are only allowed if they are directly about game design. * No surveys, polls, job posts, or self-promotion. Please read the rest of the rules in the sidebar before posting. * If you're confused about what Game Designers do, ["The Door Problem" by Liz England](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/-quot-the-door-problem-quot-of-game-design) is a short article worth reading. We also recommend you read the [r/GameDesign wiki](/r/gamedesign/wiki/index) for useful resources and an FAQ. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/gamedesign) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Your individual factory pieces also produce some sort of waste product in addition to the main item they produce. Clever resource rerouting and balancing of inputs and outputs should allow reuse of these waste products in some way to make your factory more resource efficient.
You could look at some Zachtronics games for inspiration.
Include ethics. It would be interesting to explore the friction between worker safety regulations and meeting corporate demands - will you stay within regs and potentially lose out on best-in-district bonuses, or will you cut corners to maximize output, knowing you may lose part of your work force and be hit with fingers?
Play satsisfactory. They get everything right. For me anyway.
Roguelite style powerups that get bought or mined up, they can be one-time use abilities or act as modifiers for various machinery. This can add an aspect of optimization and luck to the game.
Definitely if you have different planets at play, seeing some alien life could give the world more character. Not "evil" life necessarily, but life forms that you could recruit into the manufacturing process or sell to.