Zvarinograd
04-06-2004, 18:30
http://img58.photobucket.com/albums/v177/Zvarinograd/knootosscolored.jpg
How do you design a business simulation that is complex, utilizes a sophisticated economic model, is accurate enough to be used in university business schools, and is a great, enjoyable game? Ask Ren Myler, the designer behind Knootoss, a game the belies the notion that business sims have to sacrifice reality in order to be fun.
While the trend in business games these days tends to be specialization (there's a Tycoon game for everything imaginable: Car Tycoon, Casino Tycoon, Lava Lamp Tycoon), Knootoss displays remarkable breadth. If you'd like to open a department store in a bright, colorful depiction of downtown Atlanta and make a go selling a variety of products (such as cameras, toys, clothing, etc.) with the hopes of making enough money to create a chain of stores, you can do that. Or perhaps you'd like to become the computer king of the world, manufacturing your own systems and selling them through specialty stores around the world. You can even try to make a living raising livestock and selling their meat, milk, and hides. The game is filled with a plethora of such options, giving Knootoss a lot of replayability and many strategic options. The ultimate challenge is to start small and wheel and deal your way up to Global Mogul, selling every type of product and owning everything from raw material sources to the factories to the retail stores to the media outlets on which you advertise. You can even dabble in real estate investments and the stock market on the side.
All of these options might lead you to think that the learning curve is steep and slippery. It would be, were it not for the slick interactive tutorials. This learning tool comes in the form of a campaign, with each scenario teaching different aspects of the game. By the time you complete these, you'll feel comfortable enough to jump into either the "Capitalist's Campaign" or the Custom game mode. The former allows you to select one of 5 scenarios, and then after successfully completing any of these you are presented with a new one, eventually revealing all of the campaign scenarios. The Custom game mode lets you set up an open scenario in which you can control almost every aspect of the competition, such as the goals, the strength of the competition, the economic environment, the types of markets available, and so on. You can also just hit the "random" button and play with whatever the computer selects. Again, the name of the game here is breadth of options.
While the breadth of Knootoss is obvious from the first screen, even more impressive is the game's depth. Every aspect of the simulation has layers upon layers of interrelated variables. For some products (and there are a few dozen products available) the potential customers are more interested in price than anything else, so paying to establish a well-known label with which to differentiate your product is likely a waste of money. On the other hand, some items (such as jeans or colas) are heavily brand dependent. If you want to build an empire based on these products, you will need to coordinate heavy marketing campaigns and establish well-recognized brand names.
Even here there is yet another level: if you create a brand name for a range of products, such as apparel, and sell high quality products, that branding will give you a sales boost. But introduce a new product under the same brand name and let its quality slip, and customers' opinions of all of your products under that brand will drop. Another example is the stock market: you can ignore it if you like, but if you do decide to delve into that piece of the game you will be able to issue IPOs, develop mergers, attempt hostile take-overs, and much more.
Knootoss is a lot like a great flight sim. At its heart is an extremely complex and realistic modeling of real life systems, ensuring the fidelity of the simulation. But it is configurable enough that novices can set it up for a relatively simple game, blissfully ignoring the powerful engine running underneath the interface. Those looking for a more intricate challenge can dig into all of the layers that the best business simulation on the market has to offer.
ESRB RATING:
Everyone
PUBLISHER:
Hague Soft Entertainment
DEVELOPER:
ZA Games
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Pentium II 233, 64MB RAM
MULTIPLAYER INFO:
2-7 players; Internet, LAN
Price: $12.95
OOC:
This is originally posted on the KIST forums, then I decided that to share the humor to the rest of NationStates. Enjoy as much as you can, I'll be making more funny fictitious game titles later on, if I have the time to draw. ^^
Regards,
Ren Myler (Zvarinograd)
- Artist of the NationStates Kindergarten (http://img58.photobucket.com/albums/v177/Zvarinograd/)
How do you design a business simulation that is complex, utilizes a sophisticated economic model, is accurate enough to be used in university business schools, and is a great, enjoyable game? Ask Ren Myler, the designer behind Knootoss, a game the belies the notion that business sims have to sacrifice reality in order to be fun.
While the trend in business games these days tends to be specialization (there's a Tycoon game for everything imaginable: Car Tycoon, Casino Tycoon, Lava Lamp Tycoon), Knootoss displays remarkable breadth. If you'd like to open a department store in a bright, colorful depiction of downtown Atlanta and make a go selling a variety of products (such as cameras, toys, clothing, etc.) with the hopes of making enough money to create a chain of stores, you can do that. Or perhaps you'd like to become the computer king of the world, manufacturing your own systems and selling them through specialty stores around the world. You can even try to make a living raising livestock and selling their meat, milk, and hides. The game is filled with a plethora of such options, giving Knootoss a lot of replayability and many strategic options. The ultimate challenge is to start small and wheel and deal your way up to Global Mogul, selling every type of product and owning everything from raw material sources to the factories to the retail stores to the media outlets on which you advertise. You can even dabble in real estate investments and the stock market on the side.
All of these options might lead you to think that the learning curve is steep and slippery. It would be, were it not for the slick interactive tutorials. This learning tool comes in the form of a campaign, with each scenario teaching different aspects of the game. By the time you complete these, you'll feel comfortable enough to jump into either the "Capitalist's Campaign" or the Custom game mode. The former allows you to select one of 5 scenarios, and then after successfully completing any of these you are presented with a new one, eventually revealing all of the campaign scenarios. The Custom game mode lets you set up an open scenario in which you can control almost every aspect of the competition, such as the goals, the strength of the competition, the economic environment, the types of markets available, and so on. You can also just hit the "random" button and play with whatever the computer selects. Again, the name of the game here is breadth of options.
While the breadth of Knootoss is obvious from the first screen, even more impressive is the game's depth. Every aspect of the simulation has layers upon layers of interrelated variables. For some products (and there are a few dozen products available) the potential customers are more interested in price than anything else, so paying to establish a well-known label with which to differentiate your product is likely a waste of money. On the other hand, some items (such as jeans or colas) are heavily brand dependent. If you want to build an empire based on these products, you will need to coordinate heavy marketing campaigns and establish well-recognized brand names.
Even here there is yet another level: if you create a brand name for a range of products, such as apparel, and sell high quality products, that branding will give you a sales boost. But introduce a new product under the same brand name and let its quality slip, and customers' opinions of all of your products under that brand will drop. Another example is the stock market: you can ignore it if you like, but if you do decide to delve into that piece of the game you will be able to issue IPOs, develop mergers, attempt hostile take-overs, and much more.
Knootoss is a lot like a great flight sim. At its heart is an extremely complex and realistic modeling of real life systems, ensuring the fidelity of the simulation. But it is configurable enough that novices can set it up for a relatively simple game, blissfully ignoring the powerful engine running underneath the interface. Those looking for a more intricate challenge can dig into all of the layers that the best business simulation on the market has to offer.
ESRB RATING:
Everyone
PUBLISHER:
Hague Soft Entertainment
DEVELOPER:
ZA Games
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Pentium II 233, 64MB RAM
MULTIPLAYER INFO:
2-7 players; Internet, LAN
Price: $12.95
OOC:
This is originally posted on the KIST forums, then I decided that to share the humor to the rest of NationStates. Enjoy as much as you can, I'll be making more funny fictitious game titles later on, if I have the time to draw. ^^
Regards,
Ren Myler (Zvarinograd)
- Artist of the NationStates Kindergarten (http://img58.photobucket.com/albums/v177/Zvarinograd/)