Business sim games on Facebook

[David]

Are any of you aware of any business sim games on Facebook?

Internally we have briefly discussed the possibility of making Facebook or web-based version of Capitalism. Nothing has been decided yet as the decision is very preliminary. We just want to know your thoughts and if you are aware of any competing products.

One of the biggest changes for the Facebook/web-based version of Capitalism will be the time scale. In Capitalism 2, you can control the game speed and a game can finish in hours for a virtual game time of tens of years.

But for the Facebook/web-based version, the multiple aspect will be very important and the time scale will be constant for all players. One web-based business sim I played actually equals the game time with the time in real world. In other words, you will only see a whole month of incomes from your company after one month has passed in real time.

If you have played a web-based MMO game like www.travian.com, you will know that things happen slowly in those kind of games, unless the player pay to buy virtual coins which can speed up certain activities.

And there are more tedious things to deal with in a single day, like training staff, micro-managing your stores, factories and etc.

Do you see any other design approaches that may work for web-based business sim other than such a slow-paced game design ?

Just let me know any thoughts that you may have on this.

[businessteacher]

interesting idea only issue that it might bring is not being able to alter the games time, for lessons this might be a big drawback. what is good at present is that the student can say decide on a stratergy for example to diversify into a new industry (if they turn the game down or pause it to set up their plan) once the plan is decided on the student can put the game on a faster setting to see how their stratergy plays out very quickly.

if you didnt have the ability to alter the time it might make it more difficult to use in an education perspective or at least make it more difficult.

[bijou666]

businessteacher I believe that the Facebook game would not be used for teaching/learning, im quite sure that it is to get some publicity for the game, to get it known a bit more so more copies of the game can be sold.

As for the timeline, im not sure if this would work, but I would think adding a single player game aswell as a multiplayer game would work well. The singleplayer game would work more like the original game but stripped down, such as less items, only one city ect... and the scores do not count ie fun/practice only. The multiplayer game would work by having a set number of turns/actions that one can do done per day. Im not sure if this is possible as it would require changes to be made and it might change the game entirely.

As for an online multiplayer game I assume you could do it a bit like industryplayer(http://www.industryplayer.com), But to be honest I think that the capitalism performs the best as it is, Web based demo's/ stripped down versions are good for publicity and getting the game better known but much might need to be changed to make it work properly with hundreds/thousands of online players. As for Travian, those kinds of games are mostly cash grabs, as everything can be done by paying, in my opinion it alienates the players that cant afford to spend alot of money in order to stay competitive and also causes a high quit rate among newer players who feel they will never catch up without paying vast sums.

Although I could be wrong, depending how much work everyone is willing to put into a web based game, and how many changes you are willing to do, Capitalism online is always a posibility

[anshuk]

David,

AI-assisted gameplay can make an online / facebook version of Capitalism viable, smooth and enjoyable. My thinking on this is as follows:

The two primary issues with online business sim game, as you and other contributors rightly mentioned, are:
1. Determining the appropriate time scale that would suit all players
2. Minimizing micro-management and making it possible for people to stay in control of the game even if they cannot engage in the game for long periods every day

The resources available in Capitalism II that can address these issues are the AI COO, CFO and other staff of headquarters. These AI agents can be enhanced as follows:
1. The Player can set more detailed parameters on pricing, marketing and sourcing policies
2. AI takes operational decisions in the game on the Player's behalf, based on these parameters
3. AI submits a daily report to the Player (say, an email) on events in the game, financial position, AI decisions etc.
4. The Player can then choose to enter the game at their leisure, take action where required and adjust AI parameters if necessary

I must say that a facebook game can be a significant source of revenue for your company. Given the nature of its audience, it would be an appealing advertisement channel for business magazines, business schools, financial institutions and other premium products and services.

Cheers
Anshuk

[NoFace]

Great idea! Please make it so you can play as much as you want. I mean so many facebook games have lame "energy" meters, once that runs out you cant do anything at all! On should be able to at least do something useful whilst waiting for that meter to recharge. Also I love electric cars so if that could be in the facebook game that would be awesome! One thing I know a lot of players like to play on the global map but a lot of games turn me off when they force you to play against the whole world, I mean some dudes can crank out the cash and they just hash you to bits after your "new player" protection wears off.
There has to be a way to make it so one can play globally and/or in a little more protected market with just there friends and not all of facebook. Say your friends and you can compete in a "local" economy or the "global" economy. That way if you just want to play with friends you can or if you want to play against the whole of facebook its all there, your choice.

to answer your question there are several business sim games on facebook but most are cheesy or just dont have the scope of your game.
A fun but cheesy game on facebook is "PONZY"

Love the game

P.S.
I wish there was a business critics that would comment on products/businesses that are in the game so one can judge ones performance like in the old car business sim "Detroit" (that game rocks, just found it a little over a year ago, even though it was made for DOS way back when I was a small fry- if you have not played it David check it out) also being able to at least change the color of ones products would be cool

The Rail Road Tycoon series rocks, one thing that is nice is that if you crash and burn one company you (as said else where) can switch to start/tack over another, nice

Also GOOGLE+ rocks so if you do make a game especially this kind of game that would be a good place to put it-lots of business people/students/professionals/academia fertile ground in which to plant

Just some ideas!

Thanks yall for building an awesome game!

[NoFace]

Also yall need a facebook page we can like you hahaha

[David]

We have created a Facebook page for Capitalism 2. You may check it out at http://www.facebook.com/capitalism2

[David]

We actually have been developing a "very lite" version of Capitalism for Facebook. It targets mainly at casual gamers and experienced Capitalism 2 players may find it too simple.

But it is a different kind of fun. For those of you who don't mind playing a fun, lite and social multiplayer version of Capitalism, you may find it interesting.

We will post more information about the game in the coming year.

[BizKey]

One thing I like about Facebook games such as this one is the ability to use multi-player to take part on the game. Facebook games such as capitalism plays a great role of entertainment and on-line hangouts.

[ndkid]

Are any of you aware of any business sim games on Facebook?

I'm surprised nobody on these boards has mentioned it yet, but for several months now, a game that hooks into Facebook has existed: Economies of Scale. It is very obviously an homage to the Capitalism series; it is effectively Capitalism built from the ground up for multiplayer, tick-based gameplay. It's slowly gaining new players, and definitely seems to fill the sort of thought space that is being discussed.

(I hate making a link to another game my first post, but I've been a forum lurker without an account for ages, and kept expecting someone else to mention EoS. Plus, it's a topic David seems particularly interested in.)