games for building support

I think that such a game should consider have attracting settlers as a core. SimCity sort of assumes that there is a pool of people who will show up. This is less certain for early settlements as the cost of transport to the settlement is high.

On May 2, 2014, at 5:44 AM, Joe Strout wrote:

> Thanks all for the thoughts.
>
> I've had some more thoughts about it myself -- I no longer believe that
> a Minecraft-style editable world within each hab makes sense. That's
> too small a scale for even a moderately-sized habitat. I now think
> something like SimCity would be a better model. You directly build
> municipal buildings and public works like parks; you also zone land for
> private development, but don't control exactly what gets built there.
>
> So each plot of land would either be empty (apart from a terrain type),
> or be part of a "building" (which would include things like playgrounds
> or whatever). The game would need to include a large number of building
> types, each with a 3D model, and simulation stats: how many residents
> and employees it supports, its CO2 -> O2 conversion rate (and
> direction), its power and food consumption (or production), its money
> burn rate, etc.
>
> So the overall game flow would be:
>
> 1. Design a habitat by combining parts from a parts library.
> 2. Deploy a design by selecting an orbit. (The orbit you select will
> impact the build cost; material sources and delivery costs will vary
> over the course of the game as folks here would expect.)
> 3. Manage a habitat, SimCity style. The chief high-level variables
> you're managing are residents, power, O2/CO2, food, and probably water.
> (Water is recycled, sure, but we could divide it into "potable" and
> "unpotable," so you have to make sure you provide sufficient recycling
> capacity for your population.) And of course money -- I'm imagining you
> can set tax rates, which impacts prices for your residents but also
> funds the whole enterprise.
> 4. Go back to step 1 at any time, or check in on a previous habitat at
> step 3.
>
> Cheers,
> - Joe
>

On May 2, 2014, at 5:44 AM, Joe Strout <
joe@...
> wrote:
Thanks all for the thoughts.
I've had some more thoughts about it myself -- I no longer believe that

a Minecraft-style editable world within each hab makes sense. That's

too small a scale for even a moderately-sized habitat. I now think

something like SimCity would be a better model. You directly build

municipal buildings and public works like parks; you also zone land for

private development, but don't control exactly what gets built there.
So each plot of land would either be empty (apart from a terrain type),

or be part of a "building" (which would include things like playgrounds

or whatever). The game would need to include a large number of building

types, each with a 3D model, and simulation stats: how many residents

and employees it supports, its CO2 -> O2 conversion rate (and

direction), its power and food consumption (or production), its money

burn rate, etc.
So the overall game flow would be:
1. Design a habitat by combining parts from a parts library.
2. Deploy a design by selecting an orbit. (The orbit you select will

impact the build cost; material sources and delivery costs will vary

over the course of the game as folks here would expect.)
3. Manage a habitat, SimCity style. The chief high-level variables

you're managing are residents, power, O2/CO2, food, and probably water.

(Water is recycled, sure, but we could divide it into "potable" and

"unpotable," so you have to make sure you provide sufficient recycling

capacity for your population.) And of course money -- I'm imagining you

can set tax rates, which impacts prices for your residents but also

funds the whole enterprise.
4. Go back to step 1 at any time, or check in on a previous habitat at

step 3.
Cheers,
- Joe