How to create a successful simulation business game

　　

When we started working on "Restaurant 2," We started with a question that led us to make decisions in the development process: Why would anyone play this game?

It may sound simple, but in order to answer it you need to understand who your players are, what makes them choose a game, what they want to see in the game, what content they feel is rewarding or irritating, and what content keeps them coming back into the game. Because we have spent several years getting countless feedback from the player community, we have a certain understanding of the players:

She's always busy, and she doesn't have enough time to play, whether it's work or family. So why does she need to create playtime for herself?

1. A predictable sense of accomplishment: the ability to play a game for a short time (even for a few minutes) and always be able to achieve satisfaction by accomplishing a goal.

2. A brief escape from everyday life: a moment of entertainment and a chance to get a breather in a busy life.

3. A place where you can release yourself: Here she can express her preferences, no one will disturb her.

4. Sense of control: this is a predictable world with the rules she knows, and she doesn't have to be dominated by anyone else.

We always keep our players in mind when it comes to creating a follow-up game of our successful simulation game, "the restaurant Thing".

　　 what's right.

　　 1.Changing the Environment

As you work to create a follow-up to a game that has evolved over time, you need to be clear about how new and different experiences this new game is. Especially in games like "restaurant things", where we have a lot of active players, it makes no sense to create a game that just stretches the original content. Existing players also love the games they have played, so if you want them to also like a new game and bring new players, you need to change the game environment.

The original "Restaurant Thing" is a classic café simulation game in which players can cook food, serve guests, and use new appliances to refine their restaurants to create more delicious food and serve more guests. This is very intuitive and you no longer have to teach the player how to play.

And for the "Restaurant 2", we introduced some new materials to change the game environment. We want this game to be more food-oriented, and we've added what a player wants to see: a sense of control. Now they can choose and buy materials for themselves according to the dishes they want to cook.

Finally, the addition of new materials has successfully changed the environment of "Restaurant 2", but there are still some flaws.

　　 2.Soft Release

The best thing about mobile game development is the soft release capability. As with many of our games, we are beginning to soft-issue "Restaurant 2" from some countries. Based on the market choice, we are able to observe the player's behavior and know which part of the game content is pleasing to the player and which part of the content will frustrate the player.

Based on this information, we are able to modify the system and adjust including gameplay and game images, and so on (note: We found that when we modify the design to make the food more attractive, the player's user stickiness will increase). When we release a game to the world, the game has everything we originally wanted it to have – and we can avoid content that could disrupt the user's retention.

　　 What's wrong?

　　1.over-complex content

Like most game developers, we are gamers ourselves. The result is that we sometimes lose our goals by being too excited. When we started creating material systems for the restaurant 2, all of our inspirations came from the possibility of making the game a great one.

For example, we think it would be interesting to add a system when the player doesn't know what material they can get. They are able to hire buyers, who will then be offered random materials to the restaurant. So they can only cook their meals based on the materials they have randomly obtained.

It seems like a lot of fun in our imagination-it's a surprise and luck element. But we forget what the players really want, namely the sense of control, a world based on predictable rules and where they can accomplish their tasks.

We also added a grocery store. Now the player will be able to access the grocery store, select the material and wait for the material to be allocated. When we started testing the system, the problem quickly arose: it was not a regular way of shopping. This is a lack of intuition. In addition, we found that in the process of placing orders and receiving materials, it is easy for the player to forget to start buying carrots, potatoes and eggs in the end because of the long time.

Based on these mistakes, we finally chose something simpler: a direct system that allows players to go to the store, buy materials, and get materials immediately. We did this by changing the time of the grocery replenishment process. This system is feasible and intuitive, allowing players to plan their own game processes based on a known and predictable time.

　　 2.Removal Control

We tried to implement a fast food cooking system when we managed to change the environment of restaurant 2. We can find many games of fast-food cooking games, and they are also very interesting. But a fast-food cooking game won't let you choose the food you want to cook. So this is tantamount to removing what the player wants to see most--selection and control.

After some testing, we went back to a workable setting, the player-controlled cooking mode we used in the first "restaurant thing". Today, the "Restaurant 2" players can choose the recipes they want to cook and get a sense of accomplishment after they have made their chosen recipes. The new material system can still present an additional complication, just as players can only cook according to the material they own, but even then the player will feel that they are controlling their own gaming experience.

　　 Conclusion

Creating a successful mobile game is always challenging, and creating a sequel to a game will bring a whole new set of issues that need to be addressed. As we look back at the development of Restaurant 2, we have learned some useful lessons for future game creation, and hope you can apply it to the creation of the next simulation game.

1. Use player information-create intuitive systems and take advantage of what players know. Just as everyone knows how to cook, don't change the basics of the system.

2. The importance of iteration-when trying new content and taking risks, you also need to focus on the data. If the data tells you something is wrong, take a bold look back and discard it.

3. Give the player control--so they can create their own story. If you take control, think carefully about why you are doing this and how the player responds to it. These games are for the player to escape from real life, so you should give the player control they have never had in the real world.

Via:kate Stavola, Gamerboom

How to create a successful simulation business game