Text Sim Ideas

[Danny]

Guys, I have a text sim slated for release in October of 2008. The problem is I don't know what the idea is for the game yet :).

Anyway, I am a college student who is really going to start getting into computer science next semester. I have taken a couple classes, but not gone towards computer science as a major until now. The text sims I love combined with aptitude testing has driven me towards changing my focus in school.

I’m a person who learns better when doing something, so I would like to start working on a text sim while I am learning. But, I also want this to be a project and I can eventually turn into a very good sim (I’m sure all creators want that).

So, what I am looking for are suggestions for text sims. Given some consideration should be if there is a market big enough to support a sim in that genre. Obviously I would prefer to create a game that a fair share of people would be interested in. A game doesn't necessarily have to be sports related and since I am a weird and twisted individual, even crazy suggestions will be given consideration :D

So far on my list of ideas I have the following

Hockey
Tennis
Stock Car Racing
Drag Racing
Gladiator/Coliseum

I tried to avoid sports with two or more solid career games already in Football, Baseball and Basketball.

My favorite of the ones listed above is hockey, but EHM is pretty strong. I would likely focus on customizability and online league play, so it would target a different crowd. Even still, with the sport of hockey fading, is there enough of a market for another hockey sim?

All discussion and idea's are appreciated.

[The_herd]

Personally, I think there's enough room for a game in any sport. The important thing is to choose a sport you want to make a text sim for.

Anxiety has a great thread on things to add to a football game, but I think something like this could be added to any sports sim. Definately worth a read if you are interested in making a sports sim.

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=12288

[korme]

make a softball or wiffleball sim

[gstelmack]

The important thing is to choose a sport you want to make a text sim for.
I'd like to echo this statement as STRONGLY as possible. You need to be interested in the project and want to use it to have it keep your interest. But this is a GREAT thing for you to do while in school. Not only will it help you learn, but a finished project like this you can show off will be a big help when trying to find a job afterward (unless, of course, it's good enough that you can make a living selling it).

[KWhit]

How about something like simgolf that doesn't suck?

[sachmo71]

Hockey!

[Zippo]

hockey but you should do one that you are the most familiar with.

[Danny]

I had an interesting idea and was curious of some opinions. What about a battle game like coliseum that is based in the future. You could have different human and alien fighters and you manage them and try to manage your planet/race or something to success.

Would anyone be interested in this? Any other thoughts?

[Scholes]

College Hockey or College Baseball would be sweet, something akin to TCY.

[SFL Cat]

If you wanted to tackle football, maybe you could go for a niche like:

Canadian Football League
Arena Football League
Semi Pro/Minor League Football
Rebel League Football (i.e. AFL, WFL, USFL, XFL -- in competition for players against the NFL).

[The_herd]

Ohhh, an AFL sim would be interesting.

[General Mike]

I still want a stock car racing, or any racing sim for that matter. :(

[Sharpieman]

Somebody needs to tackle the Arena Football or College Baseball market. College Baseball has always had some kind of market, plus the College World Series is one of the best events in sports. You could also allow people to customize the regionals or CWS to 5-7 game series or single elimination.

The AFL market is growing, albeit slowly. It doesn't seem like Arena football is going to leave anytime soon, and its a fun sport. But College Baseball would probably be the best choice. Either that or a fighting type game like you said. No one has really made a good game like that.

[The_herd]

I still want a stock car racing, or any racing sim for that matter. :(

TC Dale from over at .400 is working on a NASCAR sim (seperate from .400 studios). There is a thread about in the PC/Game Impressions forum.

[SFL Cat]

The way MLB is structured, with all its minor leagues, the college game really suffers. I don't know a lot of people who give a rat's a$$ about it. And most of these are people who follow MLB.

[amdaily]

NASCAR.

[Bee]

I had an interesting idea and was curious of some opinions. What about a battle game like coliseum that is based in the future. You could have different human and alien fighters and you manage them and try to manage your planet/race or something to success.

Would anyone be interested in this? Any other thoughts?

Definitely sounds interesting to me. Like others have said, do something that interests you. I think any of your ideas would have a market (although I wouldn't expect to retire after one game ;)).

[wade moore]

I wanted to chime in for tennis or golf... I think both of these could prove very interesting as careeer sims, particularly if it's multiplayer online...

[sachmo71]

I had an interesting idea and was curious of some opinions. What about a battle game like coliseum that is based in the future. You could have different human and alien fighters and you manage them and try to manage your planet/race or something to success.

Would anyone be interested in this? Any other thoughts?

I would definately be interested in this, or even on based in ancient Rome. It would have to be deep, but if you were able to make the fighters distinct enough, it could be a really fun game. Maybe you and Derek from Stormcloud could get together and make a game! :D

[General Mike]

TC Dale from over at .400 is working on a NASCAR sim (seperate from .400 studios). There is a thread about in the PC/Game Impressions forum.

:eek: Thanks for the info.

[miked]

Bring back ZORK! The 1st or 2nd one ruled!

[sabotai]

I think there is a market for several ideas. Mostly untapped markets.

1) Tennis. Of course I think there is, or else I wouldn't be working on one (Ahem...that should read "Don't step on my toes mofo!" :D)

2) Hockey: While EHM definately has the hardcore, day-to-day, worldwide single player experience locked up completely, I think there is definately room for a game much more like FBCB or FOF. A game that offers mutiplayer (online leagues) in the same way FBCB and FOF do. A game that functions similarly to FBCB and FOF, such as basically "getting on with it".

In EHM, depending on how much time you put into your team, it can take hours just to get to the Regular Season when starting a new game. And that's fine. I love it. It's great. But I also love being able to jump into a game and "getting on with it". The fast-paced hockey sim is not there right now.

3) Horse Racing: A new one just came, I haven't really looked at it. But according to Franklin and QS, none of the previous attempts have really done it for them. I think this one is still open, even though there are several out there.

4) NASCAR/Racing: Any kind of racing really. There are no racing sims. I know an F1 is being worked on, and that it's in Alpha (?) right now. But NASCAR, Drag Racing, IndyCar, they are all still left untapped (Come on TC Dale! :) )

5) Boxing: Yes, I said boxing. I know OOTP makes one of my favorite games, Title Bout Championship Boxing, and it's a great sim. I love this game. BUT...it's still a conversion of a board game. The sim engine is good, the results are great, the outcomes of real fighters are almost spot on (and in cases where they are not, they are fixed by the community). HOWEVER, I question how this sim will work as a career sim. For several iterations, it has been strickly a conversion of a replay board game. I am skeptical (and hopefully am wrong) that this engine will hold as a career sim.

What I'd like to see is a boxing sim that starts from scratch and creates a sim engine that is based on physics and real action, and not a conversion of a board game that used dice to determine outcomes. I hope that makes sense. IOW, I want a computer simulation of the sport, not a conversion of a board game. I hope I'm wrong and that the career mode, using this engine, is superb. But in the mean time, and until they get it done, career boxing is open.

6) Curling: Duh!!! Next..

7) I like the idea of a futureistic gladiator game. Where you have aliens fighting humans. Where you can genetically engineer you fighters. Give the human poison breath or spitting venom. Or a tenticale, or claws and jaws...IOW, a remake of Mail Order Monsters

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I know I have many more ideas, but I want to get back to working on my tennis sim.