by Gideon, HSM team writer

It’s seems it is time for yet another session of superfluous Home Tycoon speculation. If you have read the series from the beginning you are no doubt aware of the sorts of suggestions that are being tossed about like a wanna-be space walker with faulty propulsion boots. Many of the suggestions were born from actual Home Tycoon announcements; many are derived from concepts introduced by other PlayStation Home offerings, while others were birthed completely from wishful thinking. The ideas have ranged from the practical (let players create their own race track routes) to the improbable (voting for Governor to have dominion over Mayors) but they have all striven to keep within the spirit of Home Tycoon.

Need a refresher on the heap of ideas already that has already been offered up? Say no more! You can find the intro HERE, vehicular concepts HERE, fun inner-city ideas HERE, and thoughts about how friends can be of use HERE.

While the Home Tycoon Potential series has aimed to suggest ideas for the program that could widen the breadth and depth of the game, it has, for the most part, refrained from presenting ideas that go directly against what has been announced about Home Tycoon thus far. There doesn’t seem to be much use in suggesting ideas that don’t pertain to city building, ones that would simply introduce another game type into the program, or would-be concepts that seem like obvious future expansions, such as the implementation of a train system, populating cities with virtual pedestrians or allowing users to upgrade and modify cars with specific car components. Many of the ideas in these articles have revolved more around data-management and interactivity between and interaction with the various known components of the known program. There have been, however, a few concepts that suggest features for Home Tycoon that are beyond or are in contrast to what has already been announced — namely, resource cultivation and trade.

This fifth, and final, entry to the Home Tycoon Potential series ideas will make a greater departure from what is known to exist within Home Tycoon. The following concepts will explore a few elements that could be implemented into this upcoming program that could bring it to a level that could compete with a decade’s worth of near perfection in the Sim/Tycoon genre. It should be noted that some of these concepts have been discussed and have been announced by Hellfire games to NOT be part of Home Tycoon in any way when it launches this fall or in subsequent updates. The others depart greatly from the core of Home Tycoon to offer a few concepts that would introduce game-changing elements to Home Tycoon that are very likely to never see the light of day in any way, shape or form.

So let’s just consider these last few ideas the guilty pleasures of this five part series.

Whether to Whither Weather

While it may not be a feature when released, the possible inclusion of weather could play a significant role on the long term impact of Home Tycoon. Hellfire Games has shown that they understand the importance of the inclusion of real-world environmental effects by implementing a day/night cycle in Home Tycoon and seems to have given Mayors the ability to change the time of day at will. Hopefully there will also be an automated day/night option for those who wish to experience a more realistic city cycle. Either way, this sort of power for the Mayor could go a long way and introduce new game play possibilities for Home Tycoon.

Initially, Weather could be a purely cosmetic addition to Home Tycoon. Rain, Snow, wind could do little more than offer a few visual alterations to the landscape of the city. Snow needn’t be volumetric and could be a simple texture overlay. On screen weather could be presented with a screen filters and light changes that makes the city look as if it’s under adverse conditions. A game such as Home Tycoon needn’t exhibit the weather system of large, expansive games such as Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption. Hopefully, over time, weather will be a means to include new mini-games and dynamics into Home Tycoon itself.

Snow buildup could be combated with Snow Plow races to clear the roads; rain could wash away pollution or cause a too-close garbage dump to contaminate city water. Roads could become slicker during rainy weather and affect the ability of vehicles to drift around corners and building construction could be brought to an untimely halt when inclement weather hits. The impact of these weather systems could be combated with the purchase and construction of weather-controlling structures. At its most basic level, the weather machines could simply shorten the duration of weather; at their most advanced they could generate weather, brining rain to a dry period or making it snow on Christmas eve.  These sorts of controls over the weather of a city, while unrealistic, would be one of the many features could be implemented into Home Tycoon to add to the overall value of the experience and allow players to construct a city that meets their expectations and needs.

The addition of weather systems into Home Tycoon could have a significant impact on the life of the virtual citizens, players and Mayors of any Home Tycoon city. Severe weather could have a negative impact on the happiness of citizens and could offer a conduit to introduce yet another denounced feature of Home Tycoon: disasters.

An Inconvenient (But Awesome) Truth

Even though it has been announced that there are no plans to introduce disasters into Home Tycoon, the truth just can’t be ignored:

Disasters are awesome!

Well, at least when they come to Sim games they are. Some of the most memorable moments that happen in city building simulations are when disaster strikes. Watching buildings crumble and having to rebuild them is an important part of giving the player a sense of ownership and compassion for their city. If their city is invulnerable to random or orchestrated damage then there is a layer of attachment to the city that will never be achieved.

As a Mayor in Home Tycoon, a player will painstakingly build their city from the ground up and, without disasters, could reach a level of balance to their city that will involve no further interaction on their part. This balance could lead to Mayors building their city and losing interest. A city that is self sustaining and requires no involvement on the part of the player will lead to diverted attentions and weaning concern for the city.The inclusion of disasters could not only add depth to a city-building simulation but could also encourage the player to maintain their city regularly. This dynamic could also foster further expansion of cities via store purchases and could very well lead to a whole host of friend interactions that would invigorate the overall Home Tycoon experience.

The disasters within Home Tycoon could range from realistic to fantastical. Floods, tornados, earthquakes and fires could be a few of the mundane disasters that level buildings while alien invasion, man-penguins and the apocalypse could take the disaster concept toward a level of absurdity not seen since last week’s SyFy gem. These disasters could have an effect on the structural integrity of the buildings, the virtual population of the city and be a source of much frustration and fun for players and Mayors alike.

Keeping Up Appearances

The buildings in Home Tycoon don’t have to be static structures that are impervious to damage and wear. Having buildings that experience degradation could be a way to balance the economic systems of the simulation. This dynamic could offset the effect of the multitude of suggestions within the Home Tycoon Potential series that would generate a steady influx of Tycoon Tokens for each Home Tycoon Mayor. Using this concept, the steady revenue of Tycoon Tokens garnered through mini-games played by Mayors and visitors would have a greater purpose than buying new buildings and roads.

By default, each building could automatically draw its regular maintenance fees from the coffers of each Mayor on a regular basis. Having expenses implemented within Home Tycoon would no doubt turn off many Home Tycoon casual players, so there would be a need for a form of play in which the players don’t experience the negative effects of building aging and decay. This could be simply accomplished using the free structures of Home Tycoon. This doesn’t mean, however, that free structure should be free from the rigors of the city. Free structures should take damage and age much in the same way that all other buildings within Home Tycoon would but their damage could be fixed for little to no Tycoon Tokens, in this way a regular financial investment isn’t required of casual play Mayors to keep their free city pristine.

The status of each structure could be tracked with a simple status bar that slowly depletes as time marches onward. Once the status bar depletes a certain amount, the buildings skin could change to a more dilapidated façade. This would also have an effect on the happiness of the citizens of the city and the effectiveness of the building. If the building houses citizens, its capacity could decrease, if the structure produces a product, then its output could take a hit.

This dynamic could also be the method in which city damage could be displayed when disasters ravage a Home Tycoon city. When a building becomes damaged by a calamity, its status bar could deplete more rapidly. The amount of damage could lead to condemnation and if left unattended, the destruction of structures within each city.

Each Mayor could have the option to have the tokens required to keep their city running efficiently automatically deduct from their coffers. If the cash reserves happen to contain less than their city requires, certain buildings would begin to degrade. This balance would be an important management tool that could add a challenging dynamic to city growth. Want that stadium? Better make sure you have the funds to support and sustain it! There would likely even be situations in which it would be more financially feasible to tear down a dilapidated building and start with a fresh new architectural canvas.

Damage caused by disasters, such as residual fires left in the wake of a cataclysmic event, along with the initial damage and long term effects of neglect could be a way for friends to involve themselves in the survival of cities. While free buildings should only require time to renovate, more advanced building could require tokens, resources and time. Mini-games could be implemented that allows players to assist in fighting fires and rebuilding damaged buildings, which would not only decrease the amount of time it would take to rebuild structures but could also save the Mayor of the city some Tycoon Tokens and earn the player a few in the process.

Monster Mash

While most destruction within Home Tycoon should be doled out randomly and without malice or aforethought there is one method of city wide panic that should be opened for the sadistic tendencies of players, Monster Invasion.

Home Tycoon could feature a mini-game in which players are expanded to gargantuan proportions to thrash and bash cities to a pulp. Players could wear a monstrously marvelous costumes when the mini-game begins the Home Guard could be called in providing a slew of offensive mini-games to fight off the invading goliath. Hellfire could also choose to have specific items that would have to be purchased in order to thrash a city.

These items could come in many possible forms. An embiggening facility could be purchased and placed within a city that could grow an avatar to monstrous proportions. One-time consumable potions could be produced and sold by Mayors to allow city-wide hysteria. Wearable costumes that give the player access to the Monster minigame could always be a possibility. The minigames available during a monster attack could also be dependent on upgrades for certain structures.

If the monster attack concept was one that had a more specific goal than to wreak havoc, it could even become a minigame in and of itself; one with a specific purpose and goal. Imagine a city designed in such a way that it mimics a tower-defense type of game with a friend playing the monster trying to destroy the mayor’s office and the mayor quickly gathering resources through trade to upgrade the automated turrets along the monsters inevitable path only to have the mayor take charge of one of turrets themselves to finish their friend off and get them to shrink back to normal size. At that point, the Mayor and their friend could work together to play the repair minigames of the damaged buildings to try to speed up the healing process of the city.

It would be a safe bet that the concept of friends being the cause of citywide destruction and mayhem is a one of the concepts that is least likely to ever be implemented in Home Tycoon. However, it would be an immensely unique and entertaining source of major rivalries and friendships within Home. Allowing players the chance to destroy a friend’s city could bring an interesting dichotomy to the Home Tycoon formula. If a friend acted out of line, they could simply be de-friended and their access to the destructive power of the monsters of Home Tycoon would be taken away, as they pertain to their ex-friends city anyway. If the concept of one player damaging another player’s city is too far removed from the ideologies of Home Tycoon the monster concept could be implemented only for mayors within their own city. In this way, players would be given the chance to re-live imagination fueled adventures of building up and knocking down block towers and bullying would be controlled and angrily bitter revenge couldn’t be served up hot.

Either way, the actual players within the city could be given the chance, when a monster attack begins, to defend the city by manning specific structures placed around the city or through vehicles owned by the mayor to protect the city. It could be one against a dozen in the defense of a city. If the city’s Mayor is under the rule of a Governor then the Mayor could have the authority to call in the Home Guard to protect their city.  The Governor could also help with the repair of the city by offering resources and token loans to Mayors that would only have to be repaid in full as long as the Mayor was still in power. Loans would create yet another economic layer to Home Tycoon.

Theme Packs

Over time, Home Tycoon will no doubt evolve to encompass diversity with the way each Mayor runs their city. This diversity could be reflected in theme packs released for Home Tycoon. While, in the beginning, each building will be a beautiful modern art-deco there is little reason as to why these aesthetics can’t be altered as the game finds its place within Home.

The best thing about this concept is the various ways it could be implemented. Theme packs could be built through the selling of entirely new buildings that are easily incorporated into any Home Tycoon city. This concept would allow Mayors to mix and match the styles of their buildings within their own city. Medieval towers could be built alongside skyscrapers which are both across the street from an anti-gravity park, all of which would help create unique and varied cities. This would require separate buildings be created, modeled, sold and purchased for Home Tycoon.

Another possibility would be to release skin packs that act much like the style packs for the recently released Blueprint:Home. These would be simple skins that would change the outward appearance of the structures of Home Tycoon without changing their functionality. In this way a regular modern city could be changed to a bustling Steam punk dystopia or a sterile and futuristic metropolis.

There is also the possibility of offering total conversions for cities that would begin with different landscapes on which to tycoon a city. As far as it’s understood now, each Home user will be given the free blank canvas of a grassy plane on which to begin their city when Home Tycoon launches this fall. It is possible for other foundations to be sold that could offer a different aesthetic experience. These, just as the disasters mentioned before, could range from realistic deserts, mountains, and forests to the completely wondrous locations of the Moon, underwater, heaven and hell. Each local could allow the player to use all the buildings that can be used within the basic game, but would offer landscape specific structures and features. Vehicles and player movement are a couple examples of aspects that could change depending on the landscape the city is being built upon. An underwater landscape could offer players mini-subs to race with instead of cars and a space environment could feature lessened gravity which would slow down player movement considerably or allow the same type of anti-gravity movement found in the Novus Prime spaces.

In fact, it would be ideal if the space landscape was an actual tie in with Novus Prime itself. Specialized buildings could offer Nebulon refinement and could act as a way station for Novus Prime adventures. A Mayor’s progress and success in the Novus Prime landscape in Home Tycoon could award them with boosts within Novus Prime itself. Purchasing weapons factories or research labs could provide players with unique opportunities for Home Tycoon specific upgrades for Novus Prime players which in turn could award Tycoon Tokens for Home Tycoon players.

This sort of game tie in wouldn’t have to stop with Novus Prime. With a bit of deal-making Hellfire Games could feasibly license other properties to feature within Home Tycoon. Imagine an Aurora space set in mid air where all the buildings floated on islands and the roads was a series of teleportation tunnels. A Sodium space could offer a glimpse of what a city within the Lockwood apocapunk world could look like. If Lucasarts were willing, many would salivate at the opportunity to make an imperial city or rebel base out of the buildings of Home Tycoon. The possibilities of the licensing opportunities of the varying landscape concept are staggering.

All Together Now

While this last article has explored some concepts that would takes many months to implement — and in some cases would be outright impossible based on the current memory restrictions of Home — it’s always fun to imagine. If every single one of the concepts outlined in the Home Tycoon Potential series were brought into this upcoming game, players would be in for a mighty treat. Simultaneous mayhem would run rampant down the streets of Home Tycoon. Giant avatars would be attacked as an alien invasion destroyed a few buildings. Below, racers would be drifting around corners and crashing into one another because of the slickness of the road due to the torrential downpour the city was experiencing. Fires would be fought as buildings were repaired. Trades would be taking place while an armored vehicle that was swiped is chased by an army of cop cars. Friends could dance in the street while ice cream trucks looked for the next profitable spot. While this sort of adjacent action will most certainly not be part of Home Tycoon, the underlying message it conveys holds just as true as it did on Part One of this article series:

The key to the survival of Home Tycoon, as it is with any Home game, is variety.

Giving Home players a new space, some road to lay down as a racetrack, and a couple of buildings that have an upgrade or two to raise the happiness or population of your city will indeed be enough, initially. Many players will purchase Home Tycoon on day one and will love to play with the initial city building offering from Hellfire games. It won’t take long, however, for those players to move through Home Tycoon’s assets; without a great variety within the Home Tycoon itself, Hellfire games will run the risk of losing repeat and residual customers. This dynamic, however, is one of the reasons Home is the ideal platform for a game such as Home Tycoon.

Each one of the ideas presented could be released as an upgrade pack. It is already known that Home Tycoon will offer a stunt pack for racing that will include jumps and looped sections of road. This sort of release could be used to accomplish almost any upgraded system that could be programmed into Home Tycoon.

No matter what  content is delivered — and there is little doubt that the creative gurus at Hellfire Games have ideas up their sleeve for this program that will shock and awe many of us — Home Tycoon will require regular updates to keep customers returning to its streets for months on end. With those updates, Hellfire would do well to remember that PlayStation Home is host to a very real society and culture, and whatever they have in mind for Home Tycoon could only benefit from tapping the one resource that can keep the program from being a watered-down entry into a genre that has been solidly established for almost two decades: friends.

The interactivity and interconnectivity between friends wthin Home Tycoon will keep users coming back between content releases and will make Home Tycoon a part of their regular Home schedule. Hopefully Home Tycoon will involve a varied and robust friend interaction system to command the player’s interest, as other social network simulations have over the past few years. Not only should users be able to visit and experience their friends’ cities, they should be able to have an impact on their development, directly and indirectly. If the success of one city is partly dependent on the success of another, everyone involved will work more diligently.

The friend interconnection of Home could truly set Home Tycoon apart from the readily available city-building simulations already lining the bargain bins of game stores around the world. Without a doubt, the ability to connect and interact with friends could very well be the single greatest resource Hellfire Games has at its disposal. If they utilize that resource appropriately, Hellfire Games could have a real impact not only on Home but the Sim genre itself, making Home Tycoon something unique instead of a feature-poor clone that just happens to be within PlayStation Home.

Share

http://psho.me/yC

Tweet