How do you call these games that let you macro-manage people/creatures/processes and you can watch your engine run?
Examples are Rimworld, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Factorio.
I don’t like fast action-based RTS, micromanaging games, I just love to create a world and watch it running on it‘s own!
Is there a specific name for this mechanic? And what are your favorite examples?
Factorio. The factory must grow.
They’re called management sims, or in the case of Factorio a factory builder.
Rimworld is a colony management sim… check out Dwarf Fortress or Oxygen Not Included for similar games
Rollercoaster Tycoon is a theme park management sim, the obvious suggestions are Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo but also check out City Skylines.
Factorio is a factory builder, I would recommend Satisfactory or Dyson Sphere Program, there’s a few handfuls of those types of games. If you want to get a little wild look into Minecraft (Java edition) w/ mods - most easily something like the FTB Infinity Evolved or one of the new Direwolf packs, it’s arguably where the factory building craze started.
Awesome suggestions, thank you.
If your interested in the minecraft Mods, Skyfactory 3 or 4 are both good for this. There is a bit of startup before you get to all the automation though.
I need to try to get back into ONI. It should be something I would really enjoy. But I got hung up on some details.
Actually, I know it’s a defect in my mindset in approaching that game. I shouldn’t expect certain things like conservation of mass and energy… I also took a while to realize that solubility and diffusion just don’t exist in the game. I don’t want to care so much about this but I struggle.
I loved Tekkit/FTB back in the day! Lots of good times setting up factories and controlling swarms of turtles.
To be honest, I’ve never been able to get over the hump in ONI. I play for hours, have a blast but eventually things start falling apart and I’m not usually able to recover. That being said, I know there’s been some updates since last I played so I may go back to it soon.
Back in 2011 or so I got really into Minecraft mods. I think it was literally just Buildcraft and Industrialcraft. It involved many steps, putting folders inside the Minecraft JAR file, deleting meta INF files, etc. I stuck with it for a few years during which the scene exploded. I actually paid to host a website for my friend’s only server that just included links to the specifics mod versions and step by step instructions how to install them. It was around the same time FTB modpacks came out that I fell off, I played one or two SP worlds with FTB Infinity Evolved and had a lot of fun but Factorio and eventually Satisfactory scratched that same itch.
Dwarf Fortress for sure.
Just started timberborn and it seems to be in this vain. It’s a beaver city builder and you have to manage the river with dams to survive droughts, along with the typical food, water and energy resource management.
Some genre names would be: Colony Sim, Base Builder or City Builder.
Another great one is Dwarf Fortress, you should give it a try if you haven’t already. It probably has the most in depth simulation of any game there is.
Cool, thank you so much! DF is on my list but the graphics … 😅
https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/
In case you aren’t aware, the devs released a version with proper graphics now.
Lord, what have you done
If you’re like me, experience with Rimworld + the new graphics will be what finally pulls you in. It’s really great.
Settlers 2 (and the faithful remake Settlers 2: 10th Anniversary) is pretty old but is still one of my favorite economy building games
There is the Anno series of games, which are technically RTS games but if I’m honest I find them the most fun when I go out of my way to avoid combat/micromanagement. I’ve only played 1404, 2070, and 2205, 2070 being the best in my opinion, but it has a bad history with DRM so I’d suggest 1404 (known as “Dawn of Discovery” in the US because us americans are afraid of numbers apparently).
Edit: looking at the steam page it looks like they decided to take 1404 down and made a new page where the game is (mostly) unchanged besides requiring you to jump through all the BS hoops that 2070 did, so I’d say if you’re gonna spend money get 1404 on GOG, or if you are willing to do unspeakable things go with 2070.
Sounds great, thanks!
I’m trying to make a game in this genre though I describe it as a base-building/simulation/survival game, other favourites include Oxygen Not Included, Timberborn, Factorio and Satisfactory.
I would consider them a few different genres, but they are easily my favourite types of games these days. I cateogrize them in my steam list as below.
-Colony Builders: Games about building well, a colony, often from little to nothing. Often lots of You vs Environment friction, with the natural world. Tends to have a bit more focus on the individuals that comprise the colony. Examples: Rimworld (my favourite game of all time), Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, Stranded Alien Dawn, Space Haven.
-City Builders: A bit broader in scope than a colony builder, working more on the macro level. Friction is often economic, sometimes adjusted with the natural world. Cities Skylines is kind of the prime exampe of this, but also games like Timberborn or Anno.
-Automation: Games about building a factory that…builds things automatically. Challenge tends to be logistical complexity but some games do feature combat as well. Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program (my personal favourite), Satisfactory, and Captain of Industry are the Four Horsemen of this genre to me. Techtonica is very early still but seems to have some promise as well.
For many of these games, there is a whole world of content to explore if you are interested in mods. Rimworld players regularly run hundreds of mods, my current game has about 350. Factorio has extensive overhaul mods that can take literally thousands of hours to finish in some cases (Py’s). Satisfactory has a surprisingly robust mod scene for an early access game too.
I see a pattern of games mentioned here! What do you call games like theme hospital? I’d love to skim a few recommendations for these kind of games that let you hire different employees to run parts of your business.
I probably would group those into the Manamement/Tycoon genre. More economic than colony builders, but smaller scale than city builders.
The Two Point games are pretty good versions of those, if you light the more light-hearted atmosphere.
If you want a simple, casual one:
Your suggestions are great, thank you! What’s still missing is a game that let’s you hire people with different skills and watch them do their stuff (Theme Hospital, maybe? There have to be better examples nowadays!)
A close example could be Game Dev Tycoon I played for a while. But unfortunately you really had to micromanage every step.
You could try ProsperousUniverse. It’s more of a game you play while you play others, but definitely a “wait, I spent 18 hours on a spreadsheet?” type of game.
