All posts tagged in management game
Oct 24, 2019
As you might know from my previous review of Megaqurium, I have really been enjoying playing this tycoon management game on the Nintendo Switch since its release on October 18th, 2019. There are 10 levels in total for the Campaign Mode which I have recently finished on Normal and feel that there was quite the difficulty spike near the end of the game. If you are also currently playing and struggling with meeting the main goals, here are some helpful tips and tricks I learned to running the perfect Mega Aquarium!
My troubles started at Level 7 as ignoring the talents of your staff and placing whatever you wanted in your tanks just don’t cut it anymore. I’ll be specifically talking about Level 10 because if you can beat that level, you can beat the others even when they throw you a few curveballs. At Level 10 you can finally start your entire layout from scratch which is great but this also means you won’t have access to much and you need to research everything. Your ultimate goal is to reach Rank 12 in order to later receive a Huge tank, and the very demanding and delicate Whale Shark.
How to Not Lose Your Prestige
After the end of every in-game day, you’ll probably notice that your prestige will start decreasing quite a lot. This is because every time a guest leaves your aquarium, they take their points with them. Every gust will give you prestige for your tanks only once so this is another reason to always be keeping things fresh. Keep your eyes peeled at all times for the red prestige symbols as this usually means one or more of your fish in the tanks are stressed or there’s trash on the floor which leads to negative “untidiness” points. Everything can escalate quickly if you don’t take care of the problem as soon as possible so I recommend pausing and saving frequently. Here’s how to keep points from decreasing before you worry about increasing:
- Put trash bins where you frequently see your guest littering your floors. Better yet, put a lot around your planned routes, by the food and beverages, and near podiums where guests gather. If there are enough bins, they don’t have a reason to litter.
- When you select a talk for your podiums, be very careful with the ones that earn you prestige because if your guests have heard it a lot, they give you negative points instead.
- Hide ALL of your equipment as your guests don’t want to see any of it, even through the tanks.
- Do not put repeat decorations in other tanks as they get bored looking at the same thing more than once. That goes for fish and plants/rocks as well which will be explained below.
Trash bins, food/beverage machines, and benches everywhere! Planning Out Your Tanks
With rocks and plants you’ll need to cater to your fish’s needs first and foremost so if you’re placing say Plant Lovers, stick to plants only. This way you can save your rocks for another tank that might need a lot of them. Once you’ve chosen the size of your tank, you should place the ones that give you the highest number in small tanks (so you don’t run out of room and still meet the requirement), and place the smaller numbers in bigger tanks since you can put more of them in. Always stick to the same decoration; don’t mix and match. The same goes for fish to a certain extent.
Deciding on Which Fish to Put Together
When you toggle your view for your tanks (the eye symbol), it will give you a percentage on how many guests view the tank and everything in it. You want that percentage to obviously be at 100% to get the most out of it. In order to do that, you not only have to make sure of the basics such as not putting “Bully” and “Wimps” together, but also putting a lot of the same exact fish in the tank.
Fish Visibility
There’s a background percentage in-game regarding visibility for your fish. That magic number is that there’s a 40% chance that your guest can even see the one fish. Every subsequent fish you add (again same one, not a different kind) will give you a 10% your guests will “enjoy” that fish. With that in mind, put 7 of the same fish in your tank to guarantee visibility and to receive the prestige on that fish. This doesn’t apply to the fish that can’t be placed with any fish of the same genus but their visibility percentages are at 60% so they’re still worth it if you have room to fill.
These Fried Egg Jellyfish are for real. They also have to be alone. Feeders and Types
Above is all in regards to your prestige and not stressing out your fish. What you want to also pay attention to is how fast your staff can feed your fish before they go hungry. This can become a big problem later on the more tanks and fish you have in your aquarium like in Level 10. You’ll want fast staff and easy and clear paths from your food to your tanks but something you may not have already thought of is how many different food bins you need.
The more different types of bins you need, the more your staff have to go back and forth to feed all of the fish. Meaning, when deciding on which fish to house together, you’ll have to take into account what they eat. Example: Unicorn Surgeon fish pair up nicely with certain Angelfish as they both eat Green Pellets. Therefore, try not to have more than 2, maybe 3, food types per tank. Once you have access to an Auto-Feeder at Rank 12, this method will be even more helpful.
Auto-feeders need to be directly attached to your tanks and out of sights. How to Gain More Prestige
If you’ve followed the steps above, you will at least not be losing any prestige while you try to gain some. All of that and careful layout planning might even be enough. The best layout for your entire aquarium would be to make it circular and in one direction. If there are too many choices for places to walk around, your guests might walk right past some aquariums. This is especially true if you don’t put enough items to address their needs as they will walk toward the nearest facilities and skip everything else along the way.
Sell shark hats, they’re worth a lot and hilarious to look at. Place a lot of benches or seating items as they tire fairly easily. You’ll also want to place food and beverages along the way near your tanks often enough. Toilets last long so you won’t need as much as the other facilities. Every time your guests use these items when needed, you gain prestige. The gifts may not give you prestige but will earn you much needed money in order to buy everything else so keep everything fully stocked.
A Winning Layout
Other than that, hire staff that have high Fitness for your Gift talents, high Empathy and Precision for your Feeding talents, and high Memory for your Fixing talents. Don’t be shy to hire more than you need to succeed. Hope that helps and don’t forget to enjoy planning and decorating along the way! You can unlock a lot of fun fish the more you gain ranks!
My Entire Aquarium
- Oct 22, 2019
Catadel, developed by Bad Optics Games, is a cute town-building game in early development with cats, for cats, by cats. Wait. In-game, not in real-life. Manage your cat citizens’ wants, needs, and quirky personalities as you help them build a settlement in the wilderness. For more information about the basics of the game, check out my previous article here. Catadel is still set to release sometime in 2020 for PC and Mac, and giving us regular updates such as the new traits and moods feature!
Cat Traits
The developers are almost done working on 35 personality traits for your kitty characters that will affect a variety of things from mood and interaction, to preferences in sleeping location. Here are some examples:
- Optimistic cats have a permanent mood boost.
- Sleepy cats will get sleepy more often.
- Tree cats don’t like sleeping on the first floor of houses.
You’ll be able to select your own traits in the cat customizer for personalized cats.
Cat Moods
Cat moods affect whether they will listen to you or not. You’ll now see their mood on their info bar. Moods are affected through buffs and debuffs, so you can look at a cat’s buff bar to see what’s causing their mood changes. Cats will work faster when in a good mood and will work slower (and even become uncontrollable!) when in lower moods.
Another newly implement contributor to cat moods is their level of dirtiness! Cats will get dirty as they perform work. There’s now an action for each cat to groom itself clean. But beware of hairballs! How adorably cat-aware is this!
For the full update on version V0.8 for the closed Alpha, you can check out the official website blog here.
- Oct 18, 2019
Megaquarium is a management tycoon game created by Twice Circled and Auroch Digital. Become an expert in aquatic life and run your very own theme park by managing tanks and staff all while keeping your fish and guests happy! Megaquarium was previously released on Steam in 2018 with very positive reviews. Now, Megaquarium is available on consoles starting today (October 18th, 2019)! I’d like to thank Auroch Digital for providing us with a Nintendo Switch copy of Megaquarium for the purpose of a review which you can read about below!
In Megaquarium you can choose to play in Sandbox mode where you can play around with settings and random challenges or Campaign mode with 10 levels of main goals and tutorials. You might be thinking it will be easy enough to learn everything on your own if you’re familiar with the genre, however, there’s a lot more to it than just placing fish in tanks! Fish will have very detailed needs and types that will have you taking extreme care with size, temperature and design of your tanks. In the beginning you are very limited with your choices of livestock, equipment and tools and I originally thought the game was slow-moving but the more I unlocked, the more I was thankful for taking smaller steps to make sure I fully understood everything.
Fishy Information
Every fish has a number for their size which has to be taken into consideration when building the size of your tank as it will have a maximum amount it can hold. Not only that, the size will factor in when dealing with predators and the possibility of those bigger fish eating the smaller ones. Although, some of those smaller fish may have an extra size added due to their “armor”. Next, you’ll want to know if the fish requires a certain number of plant-life, rocks or shelters so as not to stress them out.
Read all of the information provided because some extra alerts will be important when you start placing different species together. For example, some fish are “wimps” and others are “bullies” and they obviously can’t be placed together. There are also warnings that will outright tell you if the fish are a danger to softer livestock such as starfish or corals. There are also some fussier fish that need to be the only one of their kind in a single tank or others that need to be with a school of fish with a base number to fulfill.
Choosing and Building Tanks
Different styles of tanks will be unlocked the further you play the main game which will mostly be for aesthetic purposes with the exception of the Kreisel tank which is the only one that can be used for jellyfish. All tanks are pre-built with where the window panes for viewing and the walls that are up for privacy will be. Some tanks will go deeper into the floor and others will be tall and need a platform with stairs so your staff can access them. You have control of where you want to place your tank and the size so have an idea of your aquarium layout and design when deciding on which tank to use.
Your fish will either be tropical or cold and need equipment for the tanks accordingly. All tanks will require filters to enhance your water quality. The amount of equipment needed depends on the size you’re using (small, medium, large), as well as which fish and how many you plan to put in that tank. You’ll soon discover that your guests dislike seeing your heaters, chillers, filters and the like, and therefore you’ll need to hide all of it behind walls! This becomes really fun to place when you have access to pumps which can reach tanks from a distance rather than needing to connect your equipment right next to them. Just attach your equipment to pumps, adding more as needed in order to reach all your tanks. Your individual fish will have a number of water quality and temperature minimum in order to survive.
Guest Needs and Prestige
Your prestige comes from happy guests and everything in your aquarium which is important to increase. This will unlock new facilities, tools, decorations, livestock, etc. After a specific amount, you’ll “rank up” which will either give you access to those items right away or allow you to research them. Research adds yet another layer to your choice of fish and decor because all of them will have points that go toward “ecology”, “science”, both or neither. Ecology research allows you to discover new livestock and science research allows you to unlock more or better equipment. Every single guest that views your individual tanks will contribute to adding up all of these points just once. Therefore, even if your fish don’t require plants and decor, fill up your tanks with them anyway to get the most out of them!
You can really go in-depth with the thoughts of your guests, or you can simply look over their heads for handy icons that display whether they need to eat, drink, rest or go to the bathroom. Vending machines (garbage cans to go with them), seating and toilets will do the trick and they don’t take up that much room either! Your decorations can be placed both in tanks and out but I like to keep my aisles clear for my staff to get to places faster and my guests to not wonder around aimlessly. I do wish I could put up paintings or something on the walls but you can at least change the colors as you unlock them. However, doing that is a bit of a pain because you can’t paint multiple walls at the same time.
Hiring Staff
You’ll need staff first and foremost to feed your fish and fix your equipment when it breaks down. When choosing from a list of a few people you can hire, there are set skills and traits that need your attention. I ignored all of the traits and it hasn’t affected me while playing on “Normal” although I’m sure they have their uses when trying to master the game. What you need to worry about is how many points they already have in the following: Feeding, Fixing, Cleaning, Gift Shop, Talking, etc.
Managing Staff, and Tools
You can adjust the priority of their tasks once you’ve hired them if they are more skilled in specific areas. Eventually you’ll be able to level up your staff and either upgrade their current skills or add new ones. You can also assign them to certain areas but I find that also unnecessary at this stage if you have planned out the layout of your aquarium properly (i.e. tools close by and unobstructed). Also, if you place your equipment behind walls as you should, make sure to create “staff doors” so they can access the rooms.
Everything in this game has been really helpful when indicating in red if something you are trying to do is not going to work out and why. Your staff need to be able to reach all of your equipment and therefore you cannot bunch up everything together. To fix these broken down machines you’ll need to place toolkit stands nearby which allow for only one staff member to use at one time. I find it beneficial to place one toolkit per cluster of pumps and equipment. Your staff will also need brooms for cleaning up trash, sinks for cleaning toilets, among other tools that become available later on. Make sure you have the right food containers out for your fish so your staff can feed them. Again, if your tank needs anything, make sure to pay attention to the icons above them.
Graphics and Animations
At first it bothered me that the background outside of your aquarium is completely bare, however, once I noticed the level of attention to detail of the fish, I’m glad that that’s where the focus was placed. I love tycoon games that allow you to not only have an overhead view, but to zoom in as if you were a guest as well. You can really look inside of your tanks and see your different colored fish move around!
It seems like the developers took extra care in learning the different movements and behaviors of the hundreds of livestock provided. You can really feel like an aquatic-life expert yourself once you have several tanks and fish living in harmony! The guests can use a little more variety in appearance but I find it kind of hilarious when they purchase, say a drink, and there’s a large bottle that appears in front of them while they walk around until they are finished.
Music and Sound
I’m pretty sure there is only one song that continually plays on a loop in the game but I found myself concentrating so hard on making sure none of my fish get eaten that I hardly paid attention. The sound effects are kind of loud and abrupt so I recommend turning that down a little. Since there is quite a lot of text that needs to be read on your screen in several different menus, it can be difficult to see if you’re a potato like me with poor eyesight. It’s a shame that you can’t zoom in on the text and that the menus aren’t color-coordinated to make things much easier.
The amount of intricate gameplay in Megaquarium makes it so that you do not miss taking care of other animals, and rather enjoy specializing in aquatic-life only. With so much to do for your tanks, it can be so much fun designing your entire aquarium! If you’re interested in trying out this game for yourselves, here’s the link for the Nintendo Switch version.
- Oct 11, 2019
In Parkasaurus you’re in charge of an amusement park, and the attraction is dinosaurs! Design and construct exhibits to keep your dinosaurs and guests happy in this management/tycoon game created by WashBear Studio. To learn more about the basics of the game, you can check out my previous article here. Parkasaurus is currently on Steam Early Access here and it just received an update worth checking out for this Halloween. Below you’ll find all of the new items that have been added, which can only be bought from the in-game stores at night!
Ghouly Guests
Check out the Gem Store at night to buy your own Scary Pumpkin to invite an entire new crowd; Vampires, Zombies and Ghosts. Here’s the thing, Zombies love balloons, and Ghosts love dinosaur gazing. Who knew? All you need to do is purchase a Pumpkin from the Gem Store at night.
Pumpkin Toy
Smashing pumpkins in real life is such a mess, how about you let your dinos smash for you? Toy balls are out, pumpkin tossing is in.
Halloween Hats
We all know the true meaning of Halloween is dressing up in scary, hilarious, and weird costumes. Your dinosaurs want in on the fun – so check out the range of Halloween hats you can find in the Hat Store at night. Let your dino best friends pretend to be a witch, or maybe a space-dino.
For more Halloween fun this month, check out the newest trailer of Luigi’s Mansion 3 right here!
- Oct 3, 2019
Potionomics is a magical potions simulator and role playing game created by Voracious Games with the help of Atomhawk with digital art and designing. The developers have mentioned that they were inspired by shop-management game Recettear, and that the focus of Potionomics is on the business side of potion brewing. Potionomics is still in development but will be releasing on PC “soon-ish”.
About Potionomics
Assume the role of a penniless witch named Sylvia who must save her debt-ridden potion shop from the clutches of greedy loan sharks.
Along the way, you will encounter mighty (and not-so-mighty) heroes, classic RPG creatures, and a genius economist trapped in an owl’s body. Potion brewing is as much a science as it is an art. Master your craft while learning new recipes along the way! As every aspiring entrepreneur knows; customers will be fickle, competition will be fierce, and prices never stay stable. Add in some magic and you have a recipe for a magnificent adventure unlike any you’ve ever played before.
Key Features
- Open for Business – Gather ingredients, light your cauldron, and brew up some potions! Master the art of running a potion shop in a fantastical world.
- Wheel & Deal – Barter, haggle, and negotiate with a slew of demanding customers.
- Profit from a Colorful Cast – Interact with fantastic (and not so fantastic) characters that can help you on your way to riches.
Is anyone else getting the high-quality animation vibe reminiscent of the Fable series? You’ve also probably already noticed that I’m a huge fan of witches and wizards, alchemy and potion-making. If you are too, its the perfect time of year to be taking a look at the following articles: Potion Paws, Spellcaster University, Sims 4: Realm of Magic Game Pack, Alchemy Garden.
- Sep 27, 2019
The Crown is a Fantasy Kingdom Builder where you play from the perspective of your Monarch (3rd-person view). Build and manage your Kingdom in unique ways while fighting off invaders. The game is currently in early development (about 7 months) by Brimstone Games with a free demo on PC coming soon in 2019. The company focuses on creating non-realistic system-driven games with a strong emphasis on cozy and charming art styles.
I don’t know much about this game so far, but what I do know, is hilarious. You’ll immediately notice in the video below that this builder is more hands-on than usual. What I mean by that is all buildings require you to throw materials at them. There’s actually quite a lot of throwing involved period; throw your trees, throw your buildings, throw your peasants, throw your wife and kids…Joking about that last part. It is also worth mentioning that the developers pointed that “you can arrest a horse”.
If you’re interested in other games by Brimstone Games, you can go to their official website here. For other town-building games, check out our articles here: Flotsam: Release And Introduction Trailer and Merchant of the Skies Updates, and Early Access Coming Soon.
- Sep 27, 2019
Since I last mentioned Onsen Master’s Kickstarter a couple of weeks ago, a few announcements have been made by the indie developers, Waking Oni. For one, the Kickstarter campaign has been funded 100% with the first stretch goal unlocked. The first stretch goal included additional skins for your playable character Mu. See below for news on this hot spring management game coming to PC and Mac sometime in 2020!
Onsen Master Partners with Whitehorn Digital
This is most exciting news as Whitehorn Digital are the indie publishers behind Calico; the adorable simulation game filled with magical girls, cats, and a cafe! With their support, the developers of Onsen Master can now bring the game to consoles! A more official announcement of platforms and release dates will be coming at a later date. For now, the aim is to bring Onsen Master to PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. If you’re a backer of the Kickstarter, you’ll soon be receiving a survey asking your preferred platform version.
Onsen Master Adds Multiplayer
The developers have announced that for the past month, they have been working on couch co-op for Onsen Master. They have just started testing an iteration with multiplayer now and it looks to be coming along nicely! Both players will each be controlling their own Mu (main character) which makes the stretch goal mentioned above a lot more fun to play around with. Meaning, you’ll be able to differentiate yourselves with additional costumes to wear during gameplay.
More information on the co-op feature will be coming soon as the developers are still uncertain on how it will be implemented saying the following: “Be it through the Main Story or the straight to the point Arcade Mode, you and a friend will soon be able to tackle rejuvenating the Onsens across Izajima!”
Look forward to finding out more as I keep a close eye on this frantic indie game inspired by Spirited Away and Overcooked where you greet customers, mix your ingredients, and heal their ailments!
- Sep 17, 2019
As you all probably know by now, my favorite game is Animal Crossing. Through all of my adventures, I always really enjoyed bringing my fossils, insects, fish, and paintings to Blathers’ Museum and visit Celeste too! There’s just something about seeing my collections on display that make me a pretty proud potato. I’ve also been recently enjoying playing Two Point Hospital and arranging, designing, my rooms from the ground up! That’s why Mondo Museum, developed Viewport Games and published by Kitfox Games (Canadian studio), coming to Steam in 2020 has me tuber excited! In other words, Mondo Museum is a management sim that challenges you to construct, administer, and curate your own museum.
About Mondo Museum
Mondo Museum is a management sim that challenges you to construct, administer, and curate your own museum. Choose what items to showcase, draw in the crowds, and grow your collection of cultural, artistic, historical, and scientific displays to expand from a humble exhibit hall into a world-class institution! This isn’t your average museum. This is Mondo Museum.
Key Features
- Construct a Museum: Create your own unique layout by placing exhibit halls, gift shops, theatres, and more. Then customize the look of each room with different floors, wallpapers, windows, and decor. But plan carefully… wouldn’t want to get lost in your own museum.
- Choose Your Exhibits: Mix-and-match 100+ items across multiple collections, from Dinosaurs to Space Exploration. As your museum gains prestige, you’ll unlock new artifacts from around the world to play with.
- Put Your Creativity on Display: Dive into an accessible modding system to create your own exhibit items to share on the Steam Workshop. Or download collections made by other players to spice up your museum.
- Keep Calm and Curate On: Stay on your toes because you never know situations you might encounter. Meet the demands of a visiting VIP and they might loan you a rare exhibit, but keep an eye on that shaky-looking dinosaur skeleton…
- Manage Your People: Attract visitors, address their comfort, make sure they exit through the gift shop (cha-ching), and manage their experience for maximum prestige and profit! Hire staff like researchers, conservators, and docents; they’ll keep your displays informative and, more importantly, intact.
Science and history are super cool so I wanted to know what are the items you are most looking forward to exhibiting in your museum. These items include: dinosaur skeletons, Ancient Egypt artifacts, space exploration equipment, and more!
