President, General, Spy #2
I wanted to go a little bit more in-depth today about what I see in this project that appeals to me so much.For one, I find geopolitical sims fascinating, but very intimidating to play because of interface complexities and the minutia of rules. So I would like to play a game with complex AI, but not a complex interface. I also like the idea of having to make decisions with limited information and managing the consequences.
Also, I like the idea of a two-layer system. The first layer is the basic rule set that defines how the user takes actions and their effects. The second layer consists of many, many exogenous events that must be responded to, and these events (along with starting values) are what customize any scenario.
In a geopolitical sense, I think regional conflicts have been severely underrepresented. And I find many of those regional conflicts to be far more interesting than global ones. Researching and releasing these regional scenarios periodically for a small cost ($.99 or $1.99 a pop) would keep the game fresh and make it possible for me to continue working.
Plus, researching these scenarios would be a blast. Users could even suggest scenarios.
This encompasses many of the things I talked about last week. Rapid prototype with early-stage feedback. Lower costs. A longer tail. And I do think there is a solid market (niche, but solid) for a sim like this, particularly with all the crazy things going on in the real world right now.
Now, for this not to be a giant fraud (to myself), I need to actually have a working prototype by next weekend. We'll see.
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