Introduce design into products

[bundyaxl]

Introduce design as a product stat similar to research quality.

There would be two buildings/stats that would provide total overall product quality. The R&D lab and the Design studio.
The design studio can work exactly like the R&D labs.

Mechanical quality, how reliable is the product.
Design quality, how pretty is the product.

New position, Chief Design Manager.

[au8633]

Love that Idea and make a way where you can name your product brand in unique branding

[David]

Interestingly our dev team has been exploring this idea recently but there is one major obstacle - quality cannot be just divided into Mechanical quality and Design quality. For example, perfumes cannot be adequately described as having a mechanical quality.

Also, the current product's overall rating consists of quality, brand and price, which can be comprehended by a new player without much difficulty. If we are to introduce the new attribute of product design which also affects the overall rating, there may be too much information for the player to keep track and analyze and we will risk overwhelming the player instead of making the game more fun.

Any suggestions for solutions to the above problems?

[counting]

I think if you are worried about overwhelming new players, you can either let the new product design as only a mod only option or a default off option in game setting.

As to the mechanism itself, I think we should follow the current product property first, there are quality affected by tech and raw materials, but also necessity index. So perhaps instead of completely new attributes, a first step can be simply for a "design house" to be able to tune existing product quality distribution, like shifting the raw material / tech ratio / necessity ratio. Then later introduce more differentiate attributes into the quality design, where players can choose from a range of them (mechanical for a series of predefined class, chemical for another like perfume, biological for plant related, etc)

[David]

As to the mechanism itself, I think we should follow the current product property first, there are quality affected by tech and raw materials, but also necessity index. So perhaps instead of completely new attributes, a first step can be simply for a "design house" to be able to tune existing product quality distribution, like shifting the raw material / tech ratio / necessity ratio. Then later introduce more differentiate attributes into the quality design, where players can choose from a range of them (mechanical for a series of predefined class, chemical for another like perfume, biological for plant related, etc)

Let's take desktop computers and cars for example, what kind of quality attributes do you think they should comprise?

[greene345]

Desktop Computers:
Are they big and bulky (bad) or lean and sleek (good)?
Are they visually appealing to the customer? (aka a Gamer might like one of those colored Alienware rigs, whereas a Business would want a black or coal solid color)
Do they have the peripherals placed in a way that maximizes usage and aesthetic appeal?
Do the machines maximize internal real estate?

Cars:
How aerodynamic are they?
How visually appealing are they?
Are their optional features desired?
What is the right balance of optional features to standard features?

The above represents just a small number of questions that should be asked by a Design department. Now, I don't see a reason that this couldn't be put into a mathematics equation.

Design Score = Last Months Brand Rating + (Money spent / 1million) + (global gdp/[something else])
Or, if we don't want it to be that fixed, since money doesn't always translate into a good product, we could have a random success/failure statistic that isn't visible or available to the player, and then have the equation consider that.

[counting]

Let's take desktop computers and cars for example, what kind of quality attributes do you think they should comprise?

IMO, there are layers of attributes, but let's just group them into high, middle, and detail level property.

At high level, just like the OP said, or as in intellectual property rights, there are 2 major distinct types
1. design/aesthetic property
2. function/method related property

At mid-level, we can find even more detailed property under the major group, such as in function related property, we can find mechanical aspect, chemical aspect, etc under function property; we can also find fashionable aspect, stylistic aspect, etc under aesthetic property.

To the detail level, each product will have their own unique attributes, such as in desktop computer, we know the processing power, memory, storage, display, are specific functional attributes that affect the property, and weights, shapes, and sizes affect the aesthetic one. In cars, the engine horse power, fuel consumption, carry capacity, are functional, and obviously there are many aesthetic related ones.

As to what level should be consider and put into the game, depends on how details you want to simulate the design house mechanism. We can either set a general directions, or we can go all the way down to pretty realistic attributes and properties. Although, generally I think Capitalism game itself already present products only at abstract level, so perhaps we shouldn't go into too much detail.

[tosh]

in my mind the RND is enough. I mean, when i research perfume and get a better quality points means to me that the package got a better design and the perfume smells better... i dont really want to keep track on one more thing, it is difficult to keep track of the entire company as it is right now