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Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

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Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#31

Post by iliketrains »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #4

I’m a sad. No Mac. :-( Looks really good. Congrats man. 84% overwhelmingly positive isn’t anything to sneeze at too. The experience must have been amazing. I learned more about computers in developing games that were 1% of what you’ve done. No matter the financial outcome you are winning at nerd life, which is the only life that matters (other than to your spouse your family and friends).

Thanks and sorry for no Mac support.

The hard truth is that Mac users represents less than 1% of our potential user base and it is hard to justify the time to support Mac. We are planning to revisit this decision soon and see how much effort would it be.

Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#32

Post by ivolimmen »

Dachande663 wrote: post #12
bamazizi wrote: post #9

Oh man, yet another Windows only game! I haven't owned or used a Windows system. I would love to play/pay for this game or Anno-1800 and few others. Is the Mac/Linux community still so small that no one cares about it? I'd think with all the noise & competition for Windows gamers, surely there's an untapped market of other OS gamers! The reason I love a similar style game, Factorio, is that it runs on Mac and other p…

According to Steam hardware survey, MacOS and Linux account for 2.55% and 1.14% respectively. Anecdotally a lot of game devs report a higher percentage of error reports from these users too. So no, not worth it yet but Proton May be changing that. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Softw...

That higher report of errors from Linux users is most likely to be because we are more used to reporting errors not because the game is often buggier under Linux

Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#33

Post by Meowringer »

Great job and everything to get so far!

I like that you actually mine the stuff in the style of mines you use and the stuff is getting removed visually.

What i find disappointing is the trucks/vehicles not needing any streets. I'm not sure if it would make the game more interesting or not though but that i have to build a bridge over a pipe for the trucks but the trucks just drive through each other... not liking it :D

Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#34

Post by thelastinuit »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #4

I’m a sad. No Mac. :-( Looks really good. Congrats man. 84% overwhelmingly positive isn’t anything to sneeze at too. The experience must have been amazing. I learned more about computers in developing games that were 1% of what you’ve done. No matter the financial outcome you are winning at nerd life, which is the only life that matters (other than to your spouse your family and friends).

Crossover probably can run it :)

https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover

Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#35

Post by iliketrains »

CaptainJustin wrote: post #8

Congratulations and all the best for your venture! One of my favorite aspects of Factorio was that the environment constrained your scaling. Grow out too fast and your tech won't be able to hold back the evolved hordes. Build too far away before you can defend it and it you'll be defending too far and wide before you even know it. @iliketrains May I ask if this game will have an environmental component/conflict to co…

Thank you! I think that our game is way more "constraining" your growth than Factorio. Let me explain.

First, you need people to man your machines and vehicles. You need to first get your workers somewhere (takes time) and also take care of them (food, water, trash, etc). If you scale too fast, you might run out of food and people will starve.

Another aspect is maintenance. Unlike in Factorio, you cannot just spam buildings to scale, because you need to spend materials to maintain your buildings. If you scale too fast, your things will start breaking down (later you can recycle spend products in maintenance to recoup the costs).

Finally, there are a many potential dependency "traps". Scaling too fast and ran out of coal => no steam => steam turbines shut down => no electricity => you built backup diesel generators, fine => now they drained all diesel reserves, oops => trucks cannot deliver food => starvation.

There are many ways how to prevent such death spirals, but my point is that in Factorio (or similar sim games), you cannot loose by scaling too fast. But in COI will. :)

PS: There is air/water pollution too! People will get sick and may die.

Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#37

Post by shagie »

Dachande663 wrote: post #12
bamazizi wrote: post #9

Oh man, yet another Windows only game! I haven't owned or used a Windows system. I would love to play/pay for this game or Anno-1800 and few others. Is the Mac/Linux community still so small that no one cares about it? I'd think with all the noise & competition for Windows gamers, surely there's an untapped market of other OS gamers! The reason I love a similar style game, Factorio, is that it runs on Mac and other p…

According to Steam hardware survey, MacOS and Linux account for 2.55% and 1.14% respectively. Anecdotally a lot of game devs report a higher percentage of error reports from these users too. So no, not worth it yet but Proton May be changing that. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Softw...

While the hardware is as the survey says... what is the likelihood that a MacOS customer will buy a MacOS game? Likewise for linux.

As a Mac gamer, I find I buy a good number of the "new release" games that show up for my platform if for no other reason that there aren't other games out.

Re: Show HN: A friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released

#40

Post by Operyl »

aasasd wrote: post #24
fnordpiglet wrote: post #4

I’m a sad. No Mac. :-( Looks really good. Congrats man. 84% overwhelmingly positive isn’t anything to sneeze at too. The experience must have been amazing. I learned more about computers in developing games that were 1% of what you’ve done. No matter the financial outcome you are winning at nerd life, which is the only life that matters (other than to your spouse your family and friends).

I thought that by now game engines just have two extra checkboxes to ’build for Mac’ and ‘build for Linux’. Perhaps the signing requirements changed that, though. Notably also, plenty of games work fine under Wine, but Steam client itself doesn't—on Mac.

It’s not a matter of just having a build, it’s also about being able to support the users who use that build.
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