Sim Something

[Jake]

I am considering making a Sim game, because Sim games are VERY addictive, It may sell good for shareware.

Do you guys think this is a good idea? If so have and ideas for the game, sim "SOMETHING"?

[Dr. Light]

How about a helicopter sim? They are virtually non-existant on the Mac.

About everything else you can think of was taken by MAXIS durring the early nineties. Sim farm Sim Ant Sim Safari Sim City Sim City 2000 Sim City 3000 Sim Copter Sim Farm Sim Earth Sim Town Streets of Sim City Sim Tower Sim Dim Flim Shim Skim.....Blah. Did I get 'em all? :blink:

Hmmm. How about a Mac Shareware Developer sim? Submarine Sim? Those are pretty popular. How about a sim of a company that sells Sim games? It could be called Sim Maksis.

I dunno. Just a few tired thoughts. I started out serious but lost it when I started naming all the Maxis games.:rolleyes:

[skyhawk]

SimCohol (sounds better than SimBar). Your job is to build a bar. You have to buy better drinks, but you can't necessarily have the "best drink" to do good. You have to diversify. Plus you have to train new bartenders to mix drinks and such. Perhaps even make it Coyote Ugly like and allow people to have bar dancing, and lighting bars on fire. Of course you have to deal with bar brawls and the maffia and prohibition. Just a start.

[DoG]

How about Sim Car, where you would have a car factory right next to the bar, and had to deal with all kinds of manufacturing errors due to excess alcohol and your cars blew up because of that? You might as well start sim police, where you would have to manage a police station and send your cops out to the streets or undercover chasing drug dealers. Maybe you could even include some cool car chases.

[flipflop]

So many Sim's to choose from! I thought about Sim Pimp but thought that wouldn't cater to the female audience. How about Sim Ocean, Sim Aquarium, Sim Stadium, Sim NASA, Sim Water Park, Sim Heaven, Sim Hell, Sim Limbo, Sim Nuclear War, etc...

[David]

I would like a police sim, kinda like gta but the other way around. Yes I know you can do 'vigilante missions' in gta3 but they're pretty lame.

[David]

SimPeasant
For everyone who wants to see what it was like to be a peasant (i.e. nobody)

SimSpaceStation
Like SimCity, but in space!

SimArmyBase
Build an army base and buy guards etc... and then try and infiltrate it James Bond style
Or attack a friend's...
Or have a huge online game where everyone is a guard except one, and you take turns infiltrating.
Or whatever.

Symnastics
Like THPS but without the skateboards! Can increase abilities to matrix/crouching-tiger-esque moves.

SimFencing
Yeah...

SimWilderness
Pick an animal and try to stay alive for 5 minutes avoiding predators and/or catching prey to unlock more...

Ok that's enough random stupid ideas from me for today

[Jake]

Lots of good ideas, I like the SimSpace idea, where you build a space colony.

I will think about these:)

[Dr. Light]

I like that one too jake. Jump on it before someone else does!:D

[GameDev]

SimSpace already exists...



...remember the Space Colony graphics pack for the original SimCity? :D

[GameDev]

Sim U Dev Games
Develope a virtual game going throug steps that real programmers need to go through (built in graphics, sound, etc)
It would be kind of like a game wizard but a lot simpler. You wouldn't need to see your finished game. It could be set up like SimCinema. At the end, instead of releasing your movie, you would send your game into a virtual U Dev Games contest.

You could also remake Sim Cinema. It would be about 3x easier than U Dev.

Anyways, whatever you choose to do, good luck. Sim Space Colony sounds cool, but the minute you release it you're going to hear from EA's legal department :D

[Dr. Light]

This would be more than a graphics pack, it would have completely different financial/gameplay models.

For instance, Jake could have a special part of the game do a missile command like thing whenever the station passes through an asteroid belt, or simulate a fire that has to be contained as well as damage control there after. Just don't call it Sim Space.:D

[w_reade]

Cym Space? You'd have to put up with people saying "kime space"... actually, you could tell the lawyers that it was meant to be pronounced "kime", just in case...

Actually, faintly interesting digression... can you get away with that sort of thing? I've heard of Redbook trainers and so on, so presumably it's legally ok... but what if you have something that is actually meant to be pronounced (but not written) the same as some big name?

[GameDev]

Call it SpaceSim. They can't get after you then :D

[Jake]

Hum, what name should I go with that won't get me in trouble:D...

Mabey I should go with homers idea, Sim Sandwhich

[codemattic]

Originally posted by Jake
Lots of good ideas, I like the SimSpace idea, where you build a space colony.

I will think about these:)

there was a sim space station game called Startopia.

<http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20011027/imlach_pfv.htm>

[beeduul]

How bout Sim Dim Sum? You have to manage a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant, start a franchise, hire and fire employees, and keep up the wildest range of delicacies that your clientele demand (pigs feet chicken feet ox tail dumplings woo!). I would suggest this would be a great opportuntity to localize your project from the start - I suspect this might go over better in the eastern gamers market.

And as a bonus you could write off your visits to the local Dim Sum place on your tax returns as research!

[Jake]

More good replies, keep the ideas comeing :D :)

[aarku]

SimClub (nightclub)
SimSurgeon (treat patients with wacky wacky problems by surgery)
SimPowerPlant (you could be Homer!)
SimFirefighter (save people from burning buildings!)

and my personal favorite:
SimSquirrel

-Jon

[DoG]

Originally posted by Jake
Hum, what name should I go with that won't get me in trouble:D...

Mabey I should go with homers idea, Sim Sandwhich

Sim Beer should be rather interesting, and addictiveness would be built in, too. :rolleyes:

[Zachary]

simcasino. You could start out with some tiny back-alley casino, and you have to outfit it with all the best gambling stuff. As you gain more money and customers, you could move to bigger and better places, until you own a huge gambling empire.

or how about sim 2nd-hand car salesman?

[Dr. Light]

My money is still on Sim Space Colony. Ward off aliens and asteroids to build your trading empire and dominate the universe!

[Matt Brown]

How bout Sim Gang? Or Sim Mob? Sim Don? You have to manage a mob\gang and compete with rival gangs over night clubs, bars, casinos, even stuff like gun running.

[Shivers]

i am really liking the mob idea.

sim firefighter strikes me as a bad idea. windoze users had the pleasure of getting NYFD Firefighter. PC Gamer gave it < 10. ouch.

[AJ Infinity]

SimHamster or SimMac. SimPhotoshop :). SimSchoolhouse. SimDisco. SimBeach. SimFlash. SimAJ Infinity. SimPlanet.

:D :D

RoboWorld: Build robots and design them to build their own world, and other robots. Program them in a visually oriented system (think Cinema 4d or Lego Mindstorms robots). Program them to attack enemies, defend themselves, gather resources, build colonies, etc.

Oh wait. That's Crystal War. :D Why do all my games sound alike? :D

[AJ Infinity]

Sim Stock Market. I'd love one like this. :D SimApple. :)

SimSoccerTeam. SimGameDeveloper (there's a game like this one)
SimStarWarsGalaxy.

SimKidWithOverdueSchoolAssignment. (aka: I've gotta go:D)

[skyhawk]

Originally posted by AJ Infinity

SimSoccerTeam.
OOH! I could pretend I'm the famous Carlos Camacho and manage a successful japanese soccer team that RULES THE WORLD MWHAHAHHA! ahem

my other contributions

simrpg: design your own rpg
simlife: but this time for OSX, and A LOT more complex and powerful, with better graphics to boot
simsim: design your own sim game
simjournalist: write column for the paper and compete online with others to get to the best jounalist salary
along with that, simphotojournalist

[Dr. Light]

Space Colony, Jake, Space colony. Good graphics and a little arcade to go with it and you've got a good one.

[macboy]

Dr. Light's idea does sound really good. Everything else is starting to get (just a bit :D ) odd.

[Dr. Light]

Shoot, I like the idea so much I'd even help with the graphics and SFX if you wanted.:rolleyes:

[Zwilnik]

Originally posted by aarku
SimClub (nightclub)

and my personal favorite:
SimSquirrel

-Jon

That would be a good one for Shareware. nice and simple, but cute graphics. Control a colony of red squirrels, gather and store nuts, find suitable trees to store them and live in and fend off attacks from grey squirrels and predators.

[macboy]

Originally posted by Zwilnik
Control a colony of red squirrels, gather and store nuts, find suitable trees to store them and live in and fend off attacks from grey squirrels and predators.It would be nice, but I wouldn't pick that if you're trying to be realistic (squirrels don't live in groups)

[AJ Infinity]

SimSpaceColony sounds very good. I'd like to play a sim like that. And I'd also want to play SimHamster and SimSoccerTeam.

SimHamster is sorta like SimSquirrel.

[Zwilnik]

Originally posted by macboy
It would be nice, but I wouldn't pick that if you're trying to be realistic (squirrels don't live in groups)

That would be even better then. With only a single Red Squirrel hero you can run it as a pet type sim, but in a platform game style.

Another aspect of squirrels is their ability to learn and defeat almost any method of stopping them getting at nuts. Maybe an AI type game ? :)

[David]

conker's bad fur day has a neat squirrel character.

[DoG]

There is already a platform street-fighter like game called "Squirrel Kombat". Its the bestest squirrel game I know of.

- D.G

[Dr. Light]

Look to the heavens for your answer Jake! Space Colony Sim!:love:

[Jake]

Originally posted by Dr. Light
Shoot, I like the idea so much I'd even help with the graphics and SFX if you wanted.:rolleyes:

Ok, I want to make this game REALY good, mabey you could help code it :). I will think about this game, then write down all the feature/ideas I think of and post it on the forum.

I think it would be cool if everyone here made one of those sim games so I could play them :)

My friend came up with the sim game "Sim Whore House", you get to manage it and hire different workers, avoid cops ect...:oops:

[macboy]

Originally posted by Jake
My friend came up with the sim game "Sim Whore House", you get to manage it and hire different workers, avoid cops ect...:oops: That wouldn't be acceptable for a younger audience that may be playing. I played SimCity when I was about ... I think 7.

[Mazilurik]

How about SimCongress? You can create a character (read: white male between the ages of 55 and 70), align yourself with one of two roughly identical political parties, campaign for office by running obnoxious TV commercials and issuing propaganda of varying degrees of facticity, and, if elected, write pointless bills and bicker endlessly with members of the other party until you are selected as Senate Majority Leater!

I hate American politics... :rolleyes:

[Jake]

Originally posted by macboy
That wouldn't be acceptable for a younger audience that may be playing. I played SimCity when I was about ... I think 7.

I know, He was just joking around.

[skyhawk]

Originally posted by Mazilurik
How about SimCongress? You can create a character (read: white male between the ages of 55 and 70), align yourself with one of two roughly identical political parties, campaign for office by running obnoxious TV commercials and issuing propaganda of varying degrees of facticity, and, if elected, write pointless bills and bicker endlessly with members of the other party until you are selected as Senate Majority Leater!

I hate American politics... :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Jake
That wouldn't be acceptable for a younger audience that may be playing.

[GameDev]

How about SimTrentLot where you make racist statements and then defend yourself by saying that you really believe the exact opposite! Seriously, some of the people in congress are the most racist people in the world. One of the senators (I forgot who) was even a KKK. I don't know how some of these people even get elected.

[skyhawk]

they get elected by people like you and me... imagine that.

[Dr. Light]

That idea was just a bit too raunchy to post Jake, even for a forum composed mainly of males in their 20's or so. "Hire 'different' workers"? :sneaky:

However, I'd be happy to get my hands dirty in some code, especially if someone else is doing the graphics.:D We can perhaps put our heads together here and there.

[Matt Brown]

Ya know, I'm starting to think Jake sould just go with the space colony idea, and then delete this thread. It's getting, I'm being generous here, out of hand. It went from a simple request for a sim game idea, to being just plain annoying. I started on these boards thinking they were clean. They were. Let's keep them that way, aight?

[Jake]

Sorry for posting what I did, I thought it was kind of funny, and I WAS NOT SERIOUS ABOUT MAKING THE GAME. I was thinking mabey the person who read it would say "hehe that would be a weird", not "These dirty forums and games!!!".

I am making the Space Colony game, I have been thinking about it alot today.

Do you think the game should be at a angled view (like in sim city 2000) or a strait on view? I think that a angled view like sim city 2000 would be good.

[AJ Infinity]

Yeah. Let's keep the forums clean.

/ / moderator begins to edit / /

[Zwilnik]

I think a side on view like Sim Tower. Make it so that you can walk around your space station (or float around when the grav plates fail ;) )

[macboy]

Originally posted by Jake
Do you think the game should be at a angled view (like in sim city 2000) or a strait on view? I think that a angled view like sim city 2000 would be good. I'd like to see an angled view, but how are you going to implement that? ;)

[AJ Infinity]

isometrics tutroial

1. draw graphics from side
2. rotate 45 degrees
3. scale by 50 percent
4. draw z plane onto graphics
5. collision map graphics

method I'm using for isometrics in H2O. thanks to Jobe Makar for help. use photoshop to do this.

[macboy]

I mean, how would you set the sprites so they appear angled correctly?

P.S. He's going to create it in MetaL, which can be easier or harder, depending on your point of view.

[Matt Brown]

The obvious way would be to simply draw the graphics from the appropriate angle. I've never seen SC2000, but SC3000 has very nice angled graphics.

I could try making some building graphics like the kinds in SimCity...

[Matt Brown]

Originally posted by AJ Infinity
isometrics tutroial

1. draw graphics from side
2. rotate 45 degrees
3. scale by 50 percent
4. draw z plane onto graphics
5. collision map graphics

method I'm using for isometrics in H2O. thanks to Jobe Makar for help. use photoshop to do this.

If my memory serves me right, (and it probably dosen't) I don't think Jake HAS Photoshop. Could be wrong though.

[skyhawk]

isn't graphic coverter just as capable at rotating and scaling?

[AJ Infinity]

Originally posted by Matt Brown
The obvious way would be to simply draw the graphics from the appropriate angle. I've never seen SC2000, but SC3000 has very nice angled graphics.

I could try making some building graphics like the kinds in SimCity...

I don't have Photoshop either. Any graphics app (Flash, GraphicConveter, FreeHand, Photo-Paint, Bryce, etc; I used Flash) will do. Look, that iso. tutorial came from a book :D. So I know I'm not wrong (it worked in H2O. This method is easier than any other method (in my opinion). actually, you should use C++ and OpenGL and position the camera at an angle in a 3D world.

Just follow the tut.

[Jake]

Originally posted by Matt Brown
If my memory serves me right, (and it probably dosen't) I don't think Jake HAS Photoshop. Could be wrong though.

I have PS 7 :)

[Jake]

hum... whats so hard about making a picture from an angled view? Just draw it like it would look like from an angle.

[kelvin]

My money is on the "Sim Dim Sum." It already even has a good name :) I imagine aisle and table spacing would be a key part of the strategy. As well as kitchen and bathroom placement. Table 14 hasn't had a cart pass it in 20 minutes, business is floundering!:D

[macboy]

This is getting really off topic. If possible for the moderators, this should be split into 2 different threads. One with the "on topic" Sim Something thread and the other about entertainment violence, sex, etc.

P.S. If you do do that, delete this post.

[w_reade]

Ok, all the sex and death controversy has been split off. For explanatory purposes I've left your post, macboy, so that latecomers have some idea what's going on.

Continue to post here about Sim Space Colony, or whatever it turns out to be, but for sex, death, etc., go here (http://www.idevgames.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2052).

Cheers
william

[AJ Infinity]

The iso tutorial is the fastest iso way. And also the best. I got it from a book by a pro web game developer. :D No, I didn't plagarize. I summarized and revised a chapter.

[GameDev]

Originally posted by Matt Brown
...I've never seen SC2000...
Then you've missed out on a LOT! SimCity 2000 is easly the most fun of the SimCity games. (not counting SC4000) It was complex, but not too complex. It was angled was just like SC3000. It's graphics were somewhat detailed. Think 2D SC3000 with all brown dirt and a little less detail.

[Shivers]

sim city had too little replay value, believe it or not. When you figure out what to do, every game is just a matter of doing those things, over and over.

[skyhawk]

Originally posted by Shivers
sim city had too little replay value, believe it or not. When you figure out what to do, every game is just a matter of doing those things, over and over.

same with The Sims, or SimAnt or any other simplistic game in those natures. This rarely takes away from the first 4 months of fun.

[Shivers]

well, in my opinion, simcity 2k and the sims entertained me for no more than a week. no doubt i was entertained well for a week, but only a week. but that is only me

[GameDev]

I like sim games because how open the game is. Every time you build a city in SC, it won't be the same.

[w_reade]

Ok, all the terrorism has been split off too. It's not related to game design, so it's in Free Talk.

Cheers
william

[WaaMatt]

Sim Sandwhich

[AJ Infinity]

You own a sandwhich shop. Build the world's greatest sandwhich and make it good enough so everyone likes it. Make it like Rollercoaster Tycoon, where you must keep people happy.

[Carlos Camacho]

There is a good Sim game in Japan for convenience stores. You open a franchise in a choice location. You then need to spread out and open new stores. A bit like SimCity. If you have ever studied the business of convenience stores it is interesting, because of logistics, store layout traffic patterns, suppliers and so on. Another game in Japan is called Bistro. You manage a restuarant. Setting the floorplan, menu, prices and so on. Other big sim game here is horse racing. It is called Winning Post. It is like a Soccer Management Game.

Speaking of which, why not make it easy on yourself. Work on a soccer, baseball, football, basketball simulation. I think shareware sales would be nice. The Mac has one soccer management game. It is so-so from what I saw. Someone here also mentioned a WWE (pro wrestling) simulation game. I think that is also good. I suggest rather than people shooting out JUST names for a game.... Make a thread in game design, and make a rough design doc instead. That is more helpful then just saying "SimSanta."

[Jake]

A sim soccer game sounds fun, mabey I can add your teams carlos :D

Also, can you add that green smile again, I liked him :wow:

[skyhawk]

I would LOVE to see Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 (or 1) ported to the mac. Or at least have something on our platform than rival it in ease of contruction, speed, graphics, and fun factor.

[AJ Infinity]

RCT's written in Intel assembly code so it'll never be here. :(

[macboy]

Originally posted by AJ Infinity
RCT's written in Intel assembly code so it'll never be here. :( Uck. Who would program in assembly for a huge game like that? :blink:

[Jake]

Originally posted by macboy
Uck. Who would program in assembly for a huge game like that? :blink:

Wow that is realy weird... I don't know much about assem but I think that would be absolute HELL to code.

[AJ Infinity]

So the game would be fast. (Assembly is fast)

Also, 3ds max won't ever come to the Mac because it started out as the assembly app, 3D Studio DOS. :envy: :mad:

I dunno much about assembly either but from my GBA gamedev test, it's fast.

[OneSadCookie]

Assembly isn't fast. Well-written assembly may be faster than compiled code in certain circumstances (usually when the compiler doesn't know how to generate a particular instruction).

[ERaZer]

I'd say that assembly is faster if you are great at writing it, and know alot about the processor you are writing it for.
But then again, I'm no mega pro at assembly programming so this is just what I've heard.

[OneSadCookie]

Almost always, if your C code contains all the information you have (for example you may have to use restrict), GCC will generate optimal code.

It's not completey fool-proof, but in my experience the reason for compiled code being slower than hand-assembled code is that the hand-assembled code makes more assumptions than the compiler can.

[AJ Infinity]

I heard that RCT was written in assembly a few months ago. I was Googling for "Rollercoaster Tycoon for Mac" and I found an old article (on MacCentral or another Mac site that reviews games) that was released some time after RCT was. It was an interview with the RCT developers. The interviewer asked when the game would come to the Mac and they said it never would because it was written in assembly. Sad but true... :(

Since RCT's in Intel assembly, it's going to the Xbox. (recently heard about that)

[griffin239]

Overlooked Sim ideas:
SimCreator: In the beginning....
Create the universe one solar system at a time, until you are worshipped by my masses of hairless apes across the cosmos.

Would require careful balances of creativity. Oops I made that Gas Giant a little too giant and sucked my Gaia-like planet right into it!
"Doh! My Lovely comet crashed into my evolving civilization!"
"Yeah, the little monkeys are colonizing worlds!"


SimMMORPG.
Its not multiplayer, and its not online, but you can sure pretend that is :)

SimPsycheWard.
Manage a physciatric ward. Rewards for good play would be better and larger facilities, more experienced and skilled staff, famous nuts, salted and unsalted.

SimSuperPowers
A world of regular sim people meets the fantastic world of super heroes and villians!!
Try to Maintain a world that goes SMASH BOOM CRASH in super slugfests.
Or try to build up superhero or supervillian team, ala, Freedom Force. (oh joy!)

SimCivilDefense
Build, stock, and maintain the lives of your citizens then as many of them as you can
into the bomb shelter before the big one hits.

SimAftermath
The Sims or Sim City, after the bomb.

SimCannibal Isle
Can you keep your race of cannibals happy and well fed, without becoming extinct?

SimHomeless
Maintain a population of homeless people while the world around them gets richer
and less tolerant of their existance.

SimGameDeveloper
As was said before, the game developer version of SimCinema. Only you release your games
either freeware, shareware, commercial, or open source and see how it raises your standing in the community and industry. For instance releasing an astounding shareware title might land you a mutli-million dollar contract for your next commercial title.

SimAngel of Death
Hey its not easy processing all these souls. Some of them don't want to leave and become poltergeist, eventually causing more work for you. Maybe Just Sim angles, so you could
manage the angels who are trying to manage the affairs of men from the inbetween dimensions.

Ok..my baby wants to learn the VIAO, I better get her back to the G3 before she is permentantly damaged by Windows.
SimBaby would be fun too, take it from Dad who knows.