So after some work this week I’m starting to get the systems in Gym Tycoon/Empire into some sort of playable game. It’s very early and clunky but there is already a ‘game feel’ to it. The current systems are in place and currently form the foundation for the game:
- Gym – The gym is a predefined size and style of building that is customised by the equipment placement
- Equipment – Equipment can be purchased for the gym and placed in a grid format. Equipment will have a type which defines the benefits it gives a client e.g. strength, stamina, weight loss. Equipment will also have an effectiveness level, condition and durability. The effectiveness and condition will affect a customer’s satisfaction after using the equipment and the condition and durability will affect how long a piece of equipment last before repair/replacement is needed.
- Fuel – Fuel will be in the form of water tower/protein drink bars etc and will be purchased and placed like regular equipment. The benefit of fuel will be to allow members to replenish their energy whilst exercising.
- New Clients – New clients will appear randomly based on the reputation of the gym. A new client becomes a member when the player actively approaches the new client and begins training them on a piece of equipment.
- Members – Members periodically come to the gym and if they are not addressed by the player or a staff member after a period of waiting, will begin to train by themselves. If the equipment types the member wants to use are in use then the member’s happiness decreases. Members have a competency which affects their ability to train alone. Members with lower competency levels are more likely to suffer an injury and thus sue the gym. An injury also affects the happiness of the member and reputation of the gym. If a member becomes too unhappy they will stop paying for membership and leave the gym. A members energy will decrease during training and can be replenished with fuel. If no fuel is available members may pass out and lose a significant amount of happiness. Members have needs which align to the equipment types (e.g. strength, stamina, weight loss) and if a member is trained on equipment that matches their need, their happiness increases and lowers if it doesn’t. Members pay a monthly subscription fee to the gym based on the cost of subscription when they first joined. The lower band of subscription fee can be increased and any members which fall below that threshold will have to increase their subscription payments or will stop being members.
- Staff – Staff can be hired and paid a monthly salary to help train members. Staff will not turn new clients into members but will begin to train waiting members. Staff will have a skill level which affects their knowledge on which equipment to train a member on and a motivation level. Staff with lower motivation are more likely to stand around and leave members to train themselves.
- Celebrities – Dedicated members who have excelled in their training may go on to become celebrities (e.g. sports personality, action hero). Celebrities bring reputation to the gym.
- Sponsors – Sponsors can approach the gym and offer monthly cash rewards for in turn displaying their logo in the gym. To keep sponsors happy the gym must continue to perform above a certain threshold which considers income/reputation.
- Player – The player is a moveable character in the game world than can approach new clients and members to train them. Through menu systems the player can control the rest of the gyms management.
Something I’ve noticed is that as the player has some form of real time interaction in the game with the player avatar, there is going to need to be a focus on making sure the gameplay doesn’t stray into tedious micro management.
Currently the systems are still functioning in a tabular UI with none of the character movement etc. Now that a foundation for the systems is working the next step will be to start putting some visualisation on to the systems to see how it feels controlling them in a visual way.
If you have any questions or ideas for the way the systems are currently planned please leave a comment. I’m really eager to get as much feedback from you all as possible.