Hi all,
I’ve been trying the demo for a while and reading the forum… It looks great!
I had played Detroit and Motorcity and I think that maybe good ideas from them can be implemented (as well as car tycoon, but it was so awful that I cannot think of any good idea from it).
I’d like to make some comments and suggestions:
Engine Designer
As at this point it’s almost done, I know that no major changes can be done.
However, I think that it looks fine: easy to use, fun… I’m just waiting for more kind of engines. Not only Otto’s but also Diesels (in the European market is a must), hybrids, and even electrics
Just a few things:
- To add on screen controls for those who uses a laptop trackpad (zooming in and out is very hard as it goes from max in to max out)
- To select crankshaft timing belt or chain (I think it’s a quite important parameter in terms of lifespan, maintenance costs, engine sound and construction costs)
- Turbos: i’ve seen that they will be added soon but, do you expect to add a turbo+supercharger combination as VW and their TSI/TFSI?
Chassis Designer
I’ve seen the videos you posted.
I like the huge potential it has, but as I haven’t tried it, maybe some suggestions are nonsense:
- Chassis material: would be able to change it? Would it be possible to combine several kinds of materials (i.e. aluminum/alloys or different types of steels).
- Chassis zones: would it be able to change the layout of the chassis? For example, to add reinforcements in an old chassis to make it stiffer or to custom the crumple zones.
- Suspension material: use of steel or aluminium, for example, improving overasl weight and suspension responsiveness
- Sub-systems layout: I’ve seen and read that it’s foreseen to install the engine at the engine bay as well as the cooling system, so the size will be important. Do you have thought about other sub-systems? Like fuel (capacity and location of the fuel tank) or electricity (location and size of the battery, which would be more important if you add in the future electric and hybrid cars).
- Car testing: it’s foreseen to add some kind of battery of tests for the final car? Wind tunnel, chassis stiffness, crash test, handling… Also, long term tests (to test lifespan of different parts of the car) at a wide range of places (extremely hot and cold climates, high altitude, offroad…).
The company management
- Facilities: I liked the Motorcity part of buying facilities to our company. However, it may some difficult if you plan to design the game in a more “global” way as Detroit (the office may be placed anywhere, having lots of factories around the world). But I think it’s interesting to invest some money to have an advantage over the other companies. For example: building a train station can give an advantage to distribute our production and to receive parts (less cost, more volume, less affected to strikes…) than if we only trust in road transportation. Other improvements could be wind tunnels, test tracks (oval, general purpose tracks, offroad…), CAD (less costs to design engines and/or chassis)…
-R&D: I’ve read that technologies will be available globally and that research will be very costly. I agree as most technology is available via suppliers (i.e. EFI can be bought to Bosch instead of been researched in house). However, I think that companies must invest in R&D and not just wait seated, so you should calibrate very well the effort needed to achieve new technologies so to be interesting in terms of cost-benefit. - Suppliers: a very important part of the real world is the suppliers. At this moment they are the ones who really develp new technologies. So, do you expect to include that figure? Let’s see it with an example: after designing our car, we could negotiate with the available suppliers different parts of the car (electronics, airbags, headlights…). This will affect the cost and the quality of the final product, so that one design can give different results in terms of lifespan.
- Joint ventures (R&D): would it be possible to collaborate with suppliers or other car makers to research new technologies or products? This will involve fewer costs sharing the final result. As real world examples: FIAT and Bosch with the Diesel common-rail, or BMW and PSA with the small turbo engines.
- Production: how about giving priority at our factories to build faster (mass production kind: faster, less quality) or slower (craftsmanship production model: slower, best quality)?
- Company image: apart from building good or bad cars, would it be also a “company image”? For example, we can try to give our company a “sport cars” halo, by building high powered cars, responsive, with good handling… as well as by using marketing. Thus, making a more complete way of creating different brands.
- Polls, magazines and stats: at some other games, after designing and building your car, you succeeded or fail without really knowing what happened. It would be really appreciated if feedback from the game¡s world is give. For example, magazine reviews, comments from our customers, Car or Engine of the Year awards, cost per car…
And that’s all for the moment.
Again, congratulations!
It’s the game I’ve been dreaming with when I was frustrated with Detroit or car Tycoon