All posts tagged in management game
Dec 12, 2019
A free update (1.1.0) is coming to Planet Zoo December 17th, 2019 which includes a large amount of bug fixes, improvements, and many new features such as more heat maps, menus, information panels, and alerts. Alongside this update, you can purchase The Arctic Pack on Steam or the Frontier Store for $9.99 US which includes two new Scenarios, four new Arctic animals, and new building items. See below for the detailed information via the official Developer Journal.
Free Update 1.1.0
- Slow Animal Aging: Slow Animal Aging is a setting that can be found in the Gameplay section of the Options menu, and you can use it to alter the rate at which your animals age: up to five times slower than normal. This mean fewer births and deaths in your zoo.
- Immediate Family on Animal Information Panels: Through this, you will be able to learn of an animal’s parentage, siblings and direct descendants.
- Animal Pack Behaviour: Alphas are stable within a pack structure, and members won’t normally fight unless they are overcrowded.
- New Heat Maps: These Heat Maps involve crime, staff happiness, animal breeding, habitat cleanliness and updates to negative impacts, such as litter and thrown food. This should really help with your zoo’s prestige!
- Improved Social Behaviours: The Ring-Tailed Lemur and Red Ruffed Lemur now have more social interactions when happy and healthy.
- News Feed: This will let you know about important announcements such as maintenance information and news updates.
- Management Updates: This is an alert system that will let you know what’s happening in your zoo. A new High Alert option will let you know when something needs your immediate attention such as animal escapes or if all Keeper Huts are closed.
- Aurora Borealis: Now you can see beautiful in-game Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) whenever you look up at the night’s sky in the Tundra biome.
- Ice Cream Costume: An Ice Cream Costume is available to all players to dress up their avatars!
- More Creativity: For those of you that love creating amazing habitats, now you’ll have a complete ice and snow rock set, enrichment items like a snow ball and a Christmas present, new winter foliage, and ice pathing to work with.
Planet Zoo: Arctic Pack
- Two New Scenearios: The mountainous Norway set in the Tundra biome, and the arid Mexico, based in the Desert biome. Complete with their own stories and challenges!
- Four new Arctic animals: the Polar Bear, Reindeer, Arctic Wolf, and Dall Sheep.
- Building Items: there are over 200 new building, scenery, and foliage pieces such as snow and ice sculptures.
I’ve played a little of Planet Zoo on Steam and gave my first impressions here. You can also check out my blooper video of all my building mishaps! I’m looking forward to diving back in the game and creating my own winter wonderland!
- Dec 11, 2019
Two Point Hospital, the cheeky hospital management simulation game by Two Point Studios and SEGA, finally has a release date for consoles; February 25th, 2020! Not only will you be able to pre-purchase it digitally right now on the Microsoft Store and PlayStation Store today, with the Nintendo eShop listing coming soon, but there will also be physical copies too!
I enjoyed playing Two Point Hospital on Steam so much that I did a deep dive on how to perfect the game and get all of the stars with some advanced tips and tricks here. Not because the game is overly hard, but that I wanted to pour as many hours into it as possible and enjoy the flood of strange looking patients getting even stranger treatments. For those of you already playing this game, don’t forget you can purchase the Yogscast Jingle Jam Bundle over at Humble Bundle for charity and for some festive goodies.
Two Point Hospital Console Release Date Trailer
- Nov 19, 2019
This previously unnamed dinosaur game got my attention when I saw Jordan’s several concept drawings on Twitter. The adorable art-style and the friendly nature of these reptilian cuties made me want to find out more! Italic Pig, Northern Ireland’s game development studio, has just announced their partnership with publishers The Irregular Corporation, and Northern Ireland Screen. This is great news for this simulation game, now officially called Paleo Pines. Italic Pig has increased the size of their team and are currently working toward a 2021 release date!
About Paleo Pines
Paleo Pines is a casual social/management sim where players can become dinosaur ranchers. In a wholesome, friendly environment, dozens of dinosaur species are befriended, cared for and ridden into the wild to search for more and expand the ranch. The game takes inspiration from the relaxing, nurturing gameplay of titles such as Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, and mixes it with the insanely popular collect-them-all compulsion of Pokemon. Players can tame and care for their new friends, befriend townsfolk, plant gardens, and encounter amazing creatures.
Paleo Pines Photo Gallery
To find out more about Paleo Pines, you can check out the official website here.
- Nov 12, 2019
So far I’m enjoying the improvements of Planet Zoo that Frontier Developments have made since Zoo Tycoon on Steam. However, I wanted to show people playing or currently watching videos not to get too discouraged by the vast amount of building choices and pre-made parks that are all so intimidating. Don’t worry, you’re not alone! I too could not believe how beautiful the parks were and was eager to build some of my own and thought, “this won’t be that hard because I’ve played tycoon games before.” Until I was told to make a fence while playing Career Mode for the first time. I’m still getting the hang of the controls for Planet Zoo, because it’s beautiful and worth it. Although, for now, I’ve added a video below which is a compilation of all of my first attempts and failures for your viewing pleasure.
It’s Hard at First!
At first, Nancy started me off with some pre-builds for my facilities and such. Looking at the amount of choices and possible shapes to utilize to make one building, made me nervous. I was hoping Nancy wouldn’t leave my side any time soon. However, when it comes to fences, you can’t just plop a cage down, you have panels you need to connect. The height also needs to be adjusted according to the specific animals you will be placing inside that habitat. Zoopedia has all of the information, always read Zoopedia. I did eventually learn how to paint the fences different colors but that didn’t really help me at that moment, although it’s a very nice new addition to the game that I’m going to enjoy later.
When I struggled to do the simplest of tasks, everything else seemed so daunting. If I can’t get these controls down, how would I be able to create an entire zoo? Poor Nancy was trying hard to explain things to me and I just wasn’t getting it. This could either mean two things: I’m horribly uncoordinated and terrible at this game, or there’s a very steep learning curve and the controls could have been simplified a lot more. I haven’t ruled either of them out yet since I haven’t gotten very far. It’s probably just me.
Jokes aside, there were some amazing moments of looking at my animals via Camera mode. They’re so majestic and they deserve everything I can afford to buy them. There are a lot of options for items, research, and more, which I’m looking forward to familiarizing myself with!
You can buy the basic Planet Zoo game and/or the Deluxe Edition on Steam right here.
- Nov 10, 2019
What I’ve seen from the developers of Planet Zoo, Frontier Developments, leading up to the Best Simulation Game‘s release, has been very impressive! From the very specific needs and behaviors of all animals to the challenging new modes, you can tell they really put a lot of love into this game! There’s so much more emphasis on animal care and education, including conservation efforts, that has me so excited to be a zoo keeper. I’d like to thank the developers for supplying me with a Steam Key so that I could put my tycoon skills to the test and show you all what you can expect before playing.
Zoo Tycoon Vs Planet Zoo
I’ve been a huge fan of creating habitats and taking care of my animals, all while making sure the guests are happy, for quite some time. I’ve put several hours into Zoo Tycoon back in 2001, which was developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft. They also went on to make a sequel and several amazing expansion packs. There was just the perfect balance of making the zoo your own and having some guidance with several tools at your disposal.
In 2013, Microsoft, along with Frontier Developments, released a Zoo Tycoon game for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I found that game to be hugely disappointing with the lack of animal variety, and almost no layout and design choices for habitats or facilities. For example, you had to place food and water bowls in pre-selected zones. It scaled way too far back on the creative freedom that it became real boring, real fast. However, I could already tell by the Developer Journals that Planet Zoo was going to be a huge improvement and was excited to try my hand at another zoo management game.
When I started to play Planet Zoo, I was already excited at the fact that I could customize my own avatar. Then, I decided to go for Career Mode first as I know I should get some tips before I go off on my own and start from scratch in Sandbox Mode. I could not believe how beautiful the parks were and was eager to build some of my own. It was a little intimidating in fact because there was so much to work with, more than I have ever seen.
Now, not only can you place whatever you want, wherever you want in your habitats, but you can also make everything from scratch. This might make the game harder to get used to at first, if you’ve watched my Planet Zoo Gameplay Bloopers you’ll know what I’m talking about, but it becomes very addictive if you stick with it. Sure the paths and fences are harder to use then they have to be but little changes, such as adding digital boards and speakers for your guests to learn about your animals, makes it worth it.
It is worth mentioning that I lightly touched on the fact that you have to have available power for all of your facilities during my first couple of levels of gameplay, which is also a new feature. Meaning, there’s a bit more to do this time around, similar to Sim City. I’ll be continuing to play Planet Zoo and will write updated articles when I find out how it all goes together! If this already sounds like fun to you, you can buy the basic Planet Zoo game and/or the Deluxe Edition on Steam right here.
- Nov 9, 2019
Neon Noodles is a simulation and management game created by Vivid Helix. Much like Automachef, you’ll need to put together an efficient food factory, with a cyberpunk atmosphere, so that your robot chefs can get to work! Neon Noodles will be available on Steam Early Access here on November 29th, 2019. Furthermore, you can try out the free demo/open beta on Steam (Windows only) and expect regular updates to the game!
About Neon Noodles
Set in a dark and mysterious cyberpunk world, you are put in charge of the futuristic food factory known as Neon Noodles. Inspired by the open-ended machine-building puzzle games of Zachtronics such as Opus Magnum and Infinifactory, you design and build your own fully automated kitchen to prepare meals using robot chefs. Guacamole, bibimbap, ramen, spaetzle, paella and many more recipes are waiting for you to be optimized.
Key Features
- Automate your robot chefs through an intuitive replay and record system where you control the robot that creates the program, then edit it later if needed.
- Customize your cooking loops to be as simple, elaborate or streamlined as you want and compare your wits with other players around the world on the global leaderboards
- Solve endlessly replayable open-ended puzzles with over 100 recipes from around the world consisting of 200 unique ingredients.
- Travel the world and master the art of cooking through technological advancement in a cyberpunk setting filled with mysteries.
It seems that the developers are planning to bring Neon Noodles to consoles, release TBD. You can check out those details, and more, on their official website here.
- Nov 9, 2019
Little Big Workshop is an adorable simulation and strategy game developed by Mirage Game Studios and Published by HandyGames (THQ Nordic division). The game released on October 17th, 2019 on Steam which you can purchase here, for PC or Mac, for only $19.99! Manage your workers, stations, machines, and create awesome toys and items to expand your factory. Moreover, it’s almost as if you get to manage little workshop elves, Santa’s helpers, which makes this the perfect game to play this holiday season!
About Little Big Workshop
Imagine a magical factory, appearing right in your living room. A carefully planned masterpiece, where diligent workers throw together anything customers want. Rubber ducks and dressers, drones and electric guitars, scooters and other wonderful goods can be created from many different materials and sold for hard cash – cash you invest right back into your factory to get more machines, more workers and grow your business. In Little Big Workshop you become a factory tycoon!
Real Factories – Made FUN
You are the Big Boss and it’s time to take charge of your very own tabletop factory. Organize the factory floor, manage your workers, purchase machinery, and design efficient production lines – all within the time-limit and to your client’s satisfaction!
An Open-Ended Sandbox-Experience
Take it easy, it’s a sandbox-experience where you think, ponder and poke at things until you get it to work the way you’d like. Supply products to clients and an ever-changing market, as you produce over 50 unique product types, built from multiple parts and pieces – all of which can be created with different materials and production methods. No two factories should ever look the same.
Tiny Hands, Big Dreams
Start out with just a small workshop and expand to a desk-filling factory. Unlock ever fancier machines, add even more production methods, and most of all, more room. Soon enough you’ll be running multiple production lines, producing hundreds of advanced products each day, and watching with joy as your cute workers do the actual work.
Key Features
- Four unique industries fully simulated
- Focus on practical problems, not on values, economics, or logistics
- Organize all steps of the production on a blueprint
- Factories grow as you unlock more desk space
- Day/Night-cycle with simulated working time
- Take care of your workers! Work them too hard and they may turn on you
- Cute model-town art-style
In the mood for more holiday shopping? Check out my article here: Nintendo Switch Perfect Gift Guide.
- Oct 25, 2019
From now until November 5th, 2019 you can enjoy a spooktacular event with Two Point Hospital, which has improved since last year. Along with this Halloween celebration, the main game is now 66% off on Steam until Monday, October 28th, 2019, and you can purchase a bundle at 55% off that includes the following DLC: Two Point Hospital: Close Encounters, Two Point Hospital: Retro Item Pack, Two Point Hospital: Pebberley Island, Two Point Hospital: Bigfoot. If you’re unfamiliar with Spooky Mode, see below for the details.
Two Point Hospital Spooky Mode
- 9 new spooky tracks
- Fright-headedness: a pumpkin-headed variant of Lightheadedness!
- A gaggle (what’s the collective noun for bats?) of flying bats on some levels
- Spooky and mysterious lighting changes across some levels
- UI updates to main menu and in game HUD
- A pumpkin has infested the Carnivorous Plant to create a true botanical nightmare
- The Newsagents’ stand has been web-adorned
- What’s that in the Brain Jar?
- The Arcade Machine has been cobwebbed
- Orange is most definitely in this season for our beloved Gnome
- The Pink Bird has been defiled with another pesky pumpkin
- Reception has been pimped, haunted house style
- The Display Skeleton’s got a bold new look
- The Cat-in-the-Box head’s looking pretty tasty, too
- Pretty much every picture of a dog now has a rather unusual element to it…
- The Mountain Painting seems to have come to life somewhat
- When it comes to the Nurse Station, don’t look in the bed pan
- And the Ward Bed… whatever you think is under there… it’s probably worse.
If you’re planning on playing Two Point Hospital this weekend, check out my following article for some advanced tips and tricks here: Two Point Hospital Advanced Tips and Tricks. Furthermore, if you’re waiting to play this amazingly hilarious management game on consoles, you might have to wait a little longer.
