Interstellar Tycoon will be a transport tycoon game heavily inspired by Transport Tycoon Delux, set in space and hopefully bring new elements to the table.
I have started to conceptualise the game and try to think how exactly the game will function in space, so here is a mockup i built to examine one way of displaying the universe map.
the planets themselves are flattened, this will allow me to easily make it so that the player could also build on the planets themselves, and it gives a unique look to the game. the interface will be almost exactly like TTD, diffrent theme, but the same functions.
Mechanics:
just like in transport tycoon, the player will be given a starting captial in which he could invest in building interstellar and planetary transport lines in order to gain additional capital to rule the transport buisness in the universe.
there will be 4 types of transportion vehicles:
1 - planetary transportation - those travel on set roads that are being built by the player or the local planet goverment. they cannot travel outside the border of the star. these are very small and cheap vehicles who require small stations to load and unload passengers quickly. their main function is to either transport passenger/cargo inside the colonies or from the colonies to the big station on the planet outside of the colony.
types of vehicles - hover bus, hover truck ,metro, urban skyscrapper mini train.
2 - short range space vehicles - those are a slow moving space shuttles who's basic role is to transport travellers and cargo between close ranged worlds or space stations, they can be used to transport locally, but it wont be as efficient as the planetary transportation sytems. they do not require specific routes, however, certain route elements can enhance their speed (intersteller highway for example).
3 - long range space vehicles - these are big, fast moving space vehicles who's main purpose is to transport passengers over large distances, their stations can be built on planet, but they are so big it would be unadviced, atleast for the later bigger stations, they load and unload really slow and need energy recharging after a certain distance, can be done in a space station for quickier recharge or on planets. they do not require routes to travel on, and also benefits from the interstellar highway, and more even from the most expenseive wormtunnels. their downsides is thier slow loading and unloading speed, their stations size in comparisions to the planets and their relatively small cargo space. can be used to move cargo or passengers.
4 - space trains - these are custom sized trains who are relatively more versatile than the long range vehicles, they can tow cars in order to enhance their capacity in the cost of speed and loading/unloading time. they require an energy route to travel on and they do not benefit from the highways, but they do, however, from the wormtunnels, they can be either expansive or cheap depending on the model and number of cars. their stations are also custom built, and as bigger they get, the faster it will take the train to load/unload in them.
(any ideas for other types of vehicles will be greatly appreciated)
- colonies will expand in a birth/death rate and migration from other colonies, which depends on the quality of life in that colony. so it will be wise to leave room for them to expand on and support the colonies with their demands.
- there will be several types of industries, such as farms, minerals, water, gas, diamonds, hunting grounds, and other that remain to be thought upon.
these will supply the cargo elements of the game and will be interdependent on each other to function.
some of those produce goods which is needed by the colonies in order to expand.
their will be variuos types of lines:
dangerous lines - those transport lines move within dangerous teritorry, they are much more profitable, but in the risk of maybe losing the vehicle.
touring lines - those who are built near "beatifull" planets and locations will benefit from increase in profit per ticket for passengers but at the cost of longer routes.
regular transport lines - the usuall passengers line.
one more complex thing i wanna implement is target oriented passengers. in TTD the passengers are just like any other resource, they are produced and transported regardless of anything. so a line from a megapolis to a deserted town will produce the same passenger rates from the starting town just like a line between 2 megapolises.
i want it that there will be few types of passengers:
tourists, business men, passengers and danger jockeys. each will have a diffrent desire as to where he wants to travel to. for example, a planet with a big trade center will draw more buisnessmen, planets with zoos and stadium will draw tourists, but also a route which just circle in space near a beauty location will draw those. passengers will be travelling between desired colonies and will not get aboard lines who do not reach their desired destination. they will however be able to make transport connections, so they may very well travel to a planet only to switch line to another planet they couldnt reach before.
space stations - those are artificially built in space and require demanding resources and are very profitable. they could also be built by the player, but they are so interdependent that it will be profitable to invest in building one only at later stage when the player can supply all that it needs. they are expandable to a certain size and function almost as colonies.
i made a few colony buildings and transport concepts which i will show later on.
let me know what you guys think of this idea so far.
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Topic: Starting development of a new game - Interstellar Tycoon (Read 1632 times)