Tycoon by dob

made by dob for LD 39 (COMPO)

Go for the big bucks, avoid skulls, and defeat your fellow tycoons. You need power to make moves, but you're constantly running out. All this in a hyper-unrealistic simulation full of cubes. So many cubes.

I was going for a weird, different mechanic, which I think I achieved. Not sure I achieved a fun mechanic, but you can judge that. The game was complex enough that I didn't get to balance or tweak it much, so it's a bit unbalanced. You WILL run out of power, though - that part I got down.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think. Here are the links (playable in browser, WebGL via Unity):

http://planktongames.com/TycoonBugFix (this is a bug-fix version I added compliant with the rules on 7/31/17)
http://planktongames.com/TycoonBuild (this is the original submitted version on 7/30/17)

I fixed the following three things in the bug-fix version, which was submitted still within the extended submission period on Monday. There were no other changes. The three fixes were:
- Couldn't win by opponent skulls (see comments below) - I corrected one variable name (EnemyHealth) in one place to fix this. - Rare unclickable boxes - I added one line of code ("blew = false";) to fix this. - Increased sound volume on several WAV files to make them more audible

Source code here: http://planktongames.com/TycoonSources.zip

Tools: Unity, Goldwave, PowerPoint, GIMP, Propaganda free font by Apostrophic Labs

HTML5 (web)	http://planktongames.com/TycoonBugFix
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/tycoon

Ratings

Overall	129^th	3.683⭐	62🧑‍⚖️
Fun	79^th	3.733⭐	62🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	17^th	4.217⭐	62🧑‍⚖️
Theme	217^th	3.717⭐	62🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	271^th	3.433⭐	62🧑‍⚖️
Audio	286^th	2.949⭐	61🧑‍⚖️
Humor	55^th	3.586⭐	60🧑‍⚖️
Mood	250^th	3.14⭐	59🧑‍⚖️
Given		55🗳️	67🗨️

Feedback

stormforce02

31. Jul 2017 · 21:19 UTC

So, I just want to say that I really like this game, and I think it's really original! I tried for a long time to beat Putin, but I think some bug prevented me from winning the match? He should have lost from having too many skulls. I'll post a screenshot.

![39-putin.png](///raw/19b/1/z/6e6f.png)

gonutz

31. Jul 2017 · 21:23 UTC

This has nice graphics and OK sound but the gameplay is rather uninspired and random. This is of course just my opinion but I find it not fun at all. I don't say this trying to be mean and I know the work it takes to create a game in 48 hours. So please do not take my criticism to heart too much.

The game is solid in its controls, it has in-game instructions and is intuitively playable, these are all very important aspects of creating a game. Thank you and keep up the good work :-)

🎤 dob

31. Jul 2017 · 21:27 UTC

Sorry about the bug @stormforce02 - I didn't have a lot of time to playtest, and I was trying right up until the end to fix a bug where cubes wouldn't explode when clicked. I think the skull math is wrong - you need to get one more to win than it shows - but I'm not sure. Thanks for playing it.

- Update - I found the bug and posted a bug fix in accordance with the compo rules. Sorry again about the issue.

Connor Hagan

31. Jul 2017 · 21:29 UTC

Cool game, definitely different than lots of the other games. I got to Uncle Scam but he filled his money meter first. The controls are tight, and I like the board-game look to it.
The sound effects I thought were a little bit silly and somewhat annoying, and it could have used some ambient music. Other than that, really cool game!

gilborn

31. Jul 2017 · 21:30 UTC

I think you totally reached your goal of having a unique mechanic - five points in Innovation for sure!

Spexxilove

31. Jul 2017 · 21:30 UTC

Nice Idea for a game and well implemented!
But there seems to be a bug where the enemy has to have more skull boxes to loose then indicated.
I played against vladimir and he had skull boxes to the bottom of the screen and didn't loose.

kelbg

31. Jul 2017 · 21:44 UTC

I like it, but I also ran into the bug that prevents the enemy from losing if they have enough skulls. I also feel that there should be a way to speed things up once you run out of power, since there's not much else to do it seems. I also really liked art/mood it has.

Draeken

31. Jul 2017 · 21:49 UTC

Very nice and cool game. I'v been defeated by Vladimir :(
The physics is good.

Kichex

01. Aug 2017 · 05:40 UTC

I really liked the mechanic, I find it pretty original. The graphics and the sound were a bit weird but never got in the way of the rest of the game. Great Job dob!

Anno

01. Aug 2017 · 06:11 UTC

Fun Game! I liked the whole topic, the style and the gameplay! Good job :)

TheFlyingKeyboard

01. Aug 2017 · 11:20 UTC

Fun little game with interesting idea, but i think that gameplay needs a little bit more polish.

Mathiouza

01. Aug 2017 · 14:49 UTC

Cool game but the last level is too hard x) Cool idea too, graphics are simple but neat. It lacks musics though, but the sounds are fun x) Congrats ! Keep coding !

sgt3v

01. Aug 2017 · 15:41 UTC

Sir this was a unique game. It may look simple but playing the game depends on ones strategy to play it get the cash and avoid the death also focus on what your opponent gets. I very much enjoyed it.

DrewG8

01. Aug 2017 · 17:28 UTC

Very interesting game with a dash of good humor, Putin beat me every time.

Kthulhu1947

01. Aug 2017 · 19:57 UTC

I win !! Love it. I like the random strategy that I can have with it. Really good.
Keep moving forward.

spacewarp

02. Aug 2017 · 00:50 UTC

Surprisingly fun and difficult game. I feel like the block friction should probably be a lot lower or something since you often end up in a situation where there's a bunch of blocks over the hole but nothing's moving.

piscythe

02. Aug 2017 · 02:41 UTC

This was the most inventive game I've seen so far. The mechanics were a bit tricky to control at first, but once I got the hang of things it quickly turned into a fun game of measured speed and precision. The final boss proved himself to be a powerful opponent, and it was only on my third try that I managed to defeat him. Importantly, I can say in retrospect that I lost the first two times because of a strategic error - I was too worried about skulls and didn't put enough energy toward keeping him from winning by money. It's not too often one runs into an LD game with voice acting, as well. Good work!

Kodiqi

02. Aug 2017 · 07:46 UTC

Oh baby. I like this kind of game, a bit of a puzzle but a bit of randomness as well. You could definitely add more block types and levels to it, I think it would make a great mobile/tablet game. The use of political figures might be a bit divisive though. I actually found the first level the most difficult as I ran out of energy and that was it, at least in the opponent levels they still made moves to keep the game going.

So yeah, the hearts didn't do anything for me. Should they have?

rubyleehs

02. Aug 2017 · 11:21 UTC

Really innovative game - though quite easy, never lost.

The SFX made the game surprisingly immersive. i played the 1st half before realizing my speaker was off but the 2nd half felt alot more immersive simply because of the satisfying exploding sound to go along with the scatter of blocks and the "hueh" sound from the opponent.

Though i would recommend the opponents not be political figures, while i am fine with it, i could definitely see others finding it offensive.

🎤 dob

02. Aug 2017 · 13:45 UTC

Thanks for the useful and kind comments, folks. To @kodiqi: The hearts don't have an effect. Tycoons don't need love, and wouldn't recognize it...

ledez

02. Aug 2017 · 20:24 UTC

Oh Baby! I beated Ronal Rump and Vladimir. This is an addictive game. Excellent job. Added to my favorites.

RisinGoat

02. Aug 2017 · 20:35 UTC

At first I was winning randomly. Then I lost randomly. Finally I won again, by taking decisions!

Great approach to the theme!

MaggardJosh

02. Aug 2017 · 22:01 UTC

This is definitely a different entry. I enjoyed it a lot and couldn't stop until I beat Vladimir :) Did the hearts not have any effect?

elliottd

02. Aug 2017 · 23:17 UTC

Good entry. The cubes feel a bit spongey and sticky and that feel could maybe be altered by tweaking physics or friction settings. I found that I stopped trying to make strategic decisions and fell back on clicking cubes agitate the play space when things felt stalled.

PietPtr

03. Aug 2017 · 10:24 UTC

Very interesting and innovative mechanic, I haven't seen that before! I also liked the audio.

Zarkonnen

03. Aug 2017 · 12:01 UTC

I think it's a really cool mechanic. It wasn't quite clear to me to what degree popping one cube would set off adjacent ones, and it took me a moment to realize how to actually collect cubes, but once I had that figured out, I enjoyed it!

TyGuy

03. Aug 2017 · 14:36 UTC

I loved this game... actually it may have been one of my favorite submissions so far! It was like a new twist on an old puzzle fighter game (like Pokemon Puzzle League or Street Fighters Puzzle Fight). The sounds made me laugh and I found myself very invested in beating all the badies! I would love to see this game multiplayer on a tablet or something could be a ton of fun! Thanks for the submission and FANTASTIC job!

StrangerYann

03. Aug 2017 · 14:55 UTC

OMG this is the most fun I've had playing this jam's games so far ^^ It's really fun! It would work better with spheres (or like cylinders, you know?) for the system you set up but I mean the cubes get stuck and that's part of the challenge innit ^^? Really fun, really enjoyable, really made me giggle, god job sir!

PabloDap

03. Aug 2017 · 15:12 UTC

"It's easy to get killed around this guy." ROLF Well, I won because he died.

KunoNoOni

04. Aug 2017 · 01:30 UTC

This has to be the most innovative game I've seen in the competition. I really enjoyed playing this. And yes your mechanic was very fun! Well done!

bveeramani

04. Aug 2017 · 06:34 UTC

Holy cow! This is great! When I first entered the game, I wasn't really impressed with the UI, but after a minute of blowing up blocks, I was hooked. There's something indescribably entertaining about the challenging Ronald Rump to a symphony of "Aha!"s. Nice job.

benbennett

05. Aug 2017 · 02:22 UTC

Very innovative! The sound effects could have used a little work, maybe a little more variety. I really liked the graphics although I didn't think the portraits fit the look with the blocks, but individually they both looked great. Solid entry!

johnnwfs

05. Aug 2017 · 02:30 UTC

Top marks. Best game yet. I hope you are in the running for the top spot. I really like that running out of power wasn't necessarily the end of the level since your opponent might knock a power cube down your chute. The little cubes were really well drawn. The *only* nitpick I have was that once when a cube was flying from falling into the chute into the appropriate place on my collection board, it knocked into a regular block and moved things around. This didn't affect the game... and for all I know it was a coincidence since I had an opponent, but it did appear to knock a cube a bit. Zero marks down for that. Lots and lots of fun.

🎤 dob

05. Aug 2017 · 05:44 UTC

Hi, @johnnwfs - thanks for the kind words. The cubes should be non-colliding after registering as having fallen into the bin, but maybe I should check on that.

ToadieTechnika

05. Aug 2017 · 06:09 UTC

Vladimir was difficult to battle with... I gave up, lol.
The game mechanics were unique for me, I liked that. Although it took me some time to understand the mechanics without reading the instructions that much. The experience produced from the gameplay supported the game mechanics at any way :D The sounds can sometimes hurt because yeah let's face it... The world can be harsh to us, if you know what I mean. The AI was also unfair, why he doesn't have power like he can just hit the blocks the whole time? (probably adds the meaning, about reality I guess haha). That's all, keep up the good work :)

cnoble

06. Aug 2017 · 15:18 UTC

That was a cute quirky little game! I really enjoyed the premise and the strategy played into it. I agree with a couple of the others that Putin was a little difficult, but other than that, a very well built, solid game that made me want to keep playing for close to 30 minutes. Very well done!! Keep up the great work!! :)

mrboxbox

06. Aug 2017 · 16:32 UTC

All I can say is: HEY!! YA!!

vkmicro

07. Aug 2017 · 20:03 UTC

**First of all:** Thank you for your feedback and for checking out my game. Appreciate it!

**Overall game impression:** Ohh god this is super fun! The physics work great, sound effects are very fitting, gameplay is smooth and addicting, graphics are pleasant and yet simple. Gameplay was really easy to figure out. (As expected from a professional honestly, amazing game). One awesome little touch I enjoyed a lot was the voiced- 'Your power is running out' haha, cool voice :D

**Suggestions and comments on improvement:** I'm thinking really hard but I can't really come up with anything major. Some minor things I'd like to see added / changed: Make the holes in the bottom stand out more, so it's more obvious to see what you have to do. (Or add some kind of quick tutorial in game?). And menu sounds, when clicking a button it'd be nice to have a sound effect (I know I know, I'm being super picky here and most games for LD jams wouldn't have that as there's no time, but I gotta be picky about something else I'll have nothing at all to suggest....)

bombjack

07. Aug 2017 · 20:25 UTC

weird game play. not my kind of game but some could find it fun. very polished. :grin:

LaJazuve

07. Aug 2017 · 21:04 UTC

I like this game, simple and fun, but The energy does not seem so indispensable to me, is too easy, maybe put less energie ?

Jimbly

08. Aug 2017 · 02:09 UTC

Neat! Simple mechanics, but new and refreshing, running out of power is a big deal. I was unable to defeat Vladimir. As far as evil tycoons go, I'm assuming that was Vladimir Harkonnen?

morphine

09. Aug 2017 · 15:58 UTC

I really like the concept here and my main issue is that there is less skill than wishful hoping that blocks will go where you want them to. I could never reliably get them to fall anywhere I wanted so I eventually gave up. I think if you could make it more skill driven you would have a really great game here.

Baby Dino Herd

11. Aug 2017 · 14:26 UTC

The tycoon aesthetic is an excellent take on the theme of running out of power, and I think you've done an excellent job of fulfilling that aesthetic.

The gameplay itself is a little disjointed from the aesthetic, but even so, it was easy to pick up and get started winning. It's a lot of fun! I may have liked a little less friction on the cubes, as they're sometimes easy to get jammed together for a while.

Satanos

14. Aug 2017 · 15:20 UTC

I made of video about this LD and I reviewed your game here : https://youtu.be/Hbr3Mr1TRcQ?t=87 Don't mind asking me for a translation of what I'm saying ;)

tmpxyz

15. Aug 2017 · 02:09 UTC

Very fun game, it's really a brilliant idea to put two players in one cube bin.

This game has good potential to be extended as a nice party game.

🎤 dob

16. Aug 2017 · 05:56 UTC

Thanks for the video review, @satanos! Very cool.

Matt Fabius

17. Aug 2017 · 19:00 UTC

Cool short concept game. I'd love to see it more fleshed out. I'm not sure if this was a bug but the game didn't end after I lost all of my power. It just stopped letting me make moves. Maybe that was part of the symbolism though.

mspawa

18. Aug 2017 · 03:02 UTC

Fun game, I like this kind of games!!
Rump defeated me >:( That's not nice!

Good gameplay and I like the game physics!
Great job!

WillData

19. Aug 2017 · 21:51 UTC

Just barely beat vladimir! I feel as if the random physics with the blocks made the player have far less control but the more I played the more I came to understand that is sorta the point. I enjoyed it and it made me laugh! Nice entry!

Jupiter_Hadley

29. Aug 2017 · 14:33 UTC

Neat game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHHnWvZj4oQ