All posts tagged in Simulation Game
Aug 9, 2019
Quench is a story-driven puzzle game set in a colorful world. Help an adorable elephant to guide herds of animals while using the weather to your advantage. Quench is developed by Axon Interactive Inc., an indie studio based in Ontario, Canada. As of August 7th, 2019, you can purchase the game at the following locations: Nintendo Switch (North America), Nintendo Switch (Europe), Steam, and itch.io. Find out more about the game below and how you can help bring clean water to a community in need IRL.
Charity Initiative for the Month of August
Axon Interactive Inc. has announced on their Steam page the following: “We are proud to announce that $1 from all sales in the month of August will be donated to charity: water, an international non-for-profit organization whose mission is to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Up to $10,000 will be raised to fund a water project for a community in need, with real-time progress reported back to all players. We’re super excited to see what we can all make happen together.”
About Quench
Become Shepherd, an avatar of nature, and guide herds of animals on a perilous journey. Each generation, the Elephant Tribe makes a grand pilgrimage. But this time, something is different… Help Shaman, the young Elephant leader, convince the other animal tribes to join her. Protect your herds as they are beset by flood, fire, drought, and the dark smokebeasts that have spread across the land. Control the environment to guide herds of animals and restore their home in this colourful narrative puzzle game!
Key Features
- Change the environment around the animals with the powers of the Elder Tree: grow grass and trees, start forest fires, shift sand dunes, or create new rivers and lakes.
- Overcome treacherous encounters with creatures and obstacles while carefully guiding your animals to safety.
- Fall in love with a papercraft-inspired landscape set to a joyful original score by Adam Sakiyama.
- Through gorgeous illustrated cinematics and in-game dialogue, explore how kindness, compassion, and forgiveness are powers unto themselves in this fable about overcoming differences to restore the world.
For another great game with a great real-life cause, check out our article here: To The Rescue: A Little Help For Our Friends. Moreover, you can still make a pledge on their Kickstarter, which has officially been a success and now aiming for their stretch goals. Know that 20% of the profits of the game will go toward actual dog shelters!
- Aug 3, 2019
In our last article here on this life simulation game about owning your own sushi restaurant and getting to know your customers, created by indie studio Catch & Release, we had mentioned that the crafting mechanics were getting an overhaul. Now when you make your sushi, the flavor, richness, and complexity will change when you switch ingredients. With the most recent Patreon post, Matthew Taylor goes into details with the revamped Customer I.D. card and the “Mood” section.
Customer I.D. Card
As stated, “All of these changes are in an effort to make furniture, food, and customer interactions (both with you the player and with other customers and the environment) as meaningful and interesting as possible.” See below for everything that will affect your customers’ moods and expectations when visiting your sushi restaurant. We’re also loving the wicked name of this wizard character if you catch our drift.
Comfort
Has the customer been standing for a long time waiting for a seat? You’ll see their comfort level fall steadily. Look for some comfy furniture when you’re shopping in town. Customers will be thankful!
Environment
Although the act of expressing yourself through customizing the restaurant’s interior is already fun, knowing that your customers appreciate the carefully crafted ambiance is a big plus.
Fun
In Rolling Hills, you serve a wide variety of customers. That includes children (and playful adults) who value having fun and being entertained. The most obvious examples here are music coming through a jukebox or a pinball machine in your waiting area, but even chatting with customers and serving extravagant dishes can make things more fun for your clientele.
Food
Saved the best for last! Managing a customer’s hunger is your #1 priority in Rolling Hills. Richer dishes will fill this bar even faster, so keep this in mind when crafting your next masterpiece!
Mood
This combines all of the previous stats, weighing food a little more heavily than the rest (it is a restaurant, after all) so that you can see at-a-glance how your customer is feeling.
Appetite and Budget
They are similar in that they determine how much a customer can consume. When a customer has a full belly or an empty wallet, it’s time for the check!
Expectations
These are kind of like the customer’s difficulty level. The reason we display each subcategory is because different customers expect different things. The Caveman character won’t be too concerned about the ambiance of the restaurant, but he’ll have high expectations when it comes to food. After all, he’s used to the freshest ingredients possible!
The developer has noted that there is an “Info” and “More” screen where the former is a summary screen with all the things you’ll want quick access to, and the latter is a secret for now which you’ll unlock as you level up the customer. We’re definitely looking forward to trying this game out on either Steam or through the PlayStation Store whenever it releases!
- Jul 31, 2019
Playful Fox Games Inc is an indie development studio based in Canada. Their main focus is about building a strong narrative experience that creates an emotional connection. In Animal Bar, you play as the bartender and serve all of the drinks to a wide range of adorable anthropomorphic animals each with their own unique personalities. Get to know your customers by interacting with them and solving their problems. Below are the biographies of four characters in development with a plan to add a total of twenty in the final product. Please note that this game is very early in development and is still a work-in-progress. Therefore, a lot of the things mentioned in this article are subject to change.
About Animal Bar
Animal Bar is about understanding and learning about your customers and their personal stories as you try to build and run a successful Coffee/Tea/Soda bar. Create an identity for yourself and your bar, specialize or generalize as you choose whether to cater to your customers or create the experience and aesthetic that you want.
Each customer has their history, their own story, and will deal with some type of dilemma. As you build up a friendship, you can help guide the customers through their stories, and help them make key decisions in their lives. Based on your decisions of décor, the times of day that you show up to run your bar, your interactions with your customers and more, you can guide the experience that you, the player, will have with the game.
Simon
Simon grew up with a lot of siblings. A middle child, he was largely ignored by the rest of his family and struggles with self-worth issues, constantly seeking approval. In high school his grades were on the higher end but did not stand-out. He hasn’t figured out what major to take in college, only that accounting seems to be something his parents might approve of. Simon is very timid, but also very anxious.
Star
Star is a pop-star phenomenon. Bringing back the retro look and sound of the 80s-90s, she was built for the spotlight and performed on stage from a young age. She was the star of her elementary and high school plays and talent shows. In her senior year, a talent agent picked her up and she’s been a star ever since. She goes by her stage name to all but a select few.
Zoe
Zoe is a yoga instructor. She’s been on top of all the exercise trends for women including Zumba, step class, and even had a series of workout VHS tapes in the early 90s. She can only ever be seen in active wear, giving the impression that she’s just coming from or going to another class. She runs her own yoga studio which includes a shop selling salt lamps, candles and diffusers.
Stephen
Stephen once worked as a roadie for some metal bands touring around the country. He has since settled down and started a music shop to spread the tunes to the next generation. Some say he used to be a drummer in a well-known band, but he left because the band went too mainstream. Stephen looks intimidating, but he’s a nice chill guy when you get to know him.
Photo Gallery
You can follow Playful Fox Games on their official Twitter page here and their Discord channel here.
We’d like to thank Ryan from Playful Fox Games for providing myPotatoGames with this information and these exclusive character screenshots! If you love the idea of serving customers and getting to know them, check out our article here: Coffee Talk – Make Coffee & Conversation. This game is about being a barista to fantastical characters. Stay tuned with myPotatoGames as we keep you apprised on these relaxing wholesome games.
- Jul 27, 2019
You are responsible for colonizing uninhabited planets by starting from nothing and harnessing natural resources to build a robot empire! In Autonauts you teach adorable little robots how to world-build so you can sit back and watch them do all of the hard work for you (with fair wages of course – no we just made that up). In truth you can create these little workerbots from humble beginnings and watch them create an entire automated civilization. Moreover, this is all about reaching new heights of technology for our species.
Autonauts is currently being developed by Denki and published by Curve Digital. On July 25th, 2019, the creators announced that the game will be releasing on Steam in Autumn 2019. They also would like to take it to further platforms other than PC but for now you can Wishlist it here.
About Autonauts
Travel the universe colonizing uninhabited planets with the sole goal of setting worlds in motion through the power of automation. Fresh from your spaceship you must harvest stick and stone and begin your colonization efforts. Create rudimentary crafting items from blueprints and slowly build a number of workerbots to aid in your efforts.
Teach and shape their artificial intelligence with a visual programming language. Afterward, instruct them to begin the formation of your colony. Marvel as a planet you’ve shaped becomes home to a civilization of workerbots, happy to do your bidding! Expand further with the creation of colonists; beings that require your assistance to survive. Push your workerbots further by introducing fishing, cooking, housing, and tailoring and help the colonists into a state of transcendence.
Key Features
- Playful Programming. Teach your workerbots requisite steps to complete tasks by asking them to repeat actions utilizing a visual programming language. Designed to be easy to learn but with added complexity there are numerous possibilities.
- Automated Automation. Build an army of bots to automate just about everything in your colony, teach them what to do and expand both their brains and task possibilities with numerous upgrades and options.
- Various Ventures. From gathering to building, cooking, fishing, tailoring, farming, animal husbandry and more – the world of Autonauts is vast with limitless opportunities to automate and colonize.
- Charming Creativity. The world of Autonauts pops to life with a low-poly art-style married with a consistent and bright color palette adding depth and scale, creating a relaxing and attractive play space.
Autonauts is unique in combining agriculture, simulation, crafting, building, production-line, and resource management all in one. If you’re interested in automated production-lines and managing robots, check out our article here: Automachef – Kitchen Puzzle Game with Fast-Food & Robots.
- Jul 26, 2019
Re:Legend will be available for early access in the Steam store starting on August 30th, 2019.
For those of you out there who are like us and just can’t wait to get your hands on Re:Legend, we have excellent news. Developed by Magnus Games Studio, Re:Legend is an online co-op adventure game that features all the goodies we’ve come to love so much at myPotatoGames (i.e. farming, crafting, creature collection). This amazing title is going to be available to try out very soon, and we’ve got everything you need to know about being a part of the early access trial.
About Re:Legend Early Access
Magnus Games Studio has decided to partake in early access on Steam so that they may further develop their title based on feedback. Allowing for early access gives many more gamers a chance to try out the title before it is finished, without having had to back the title on Kickstarter. Magnus intends to keep the game in early access for 9-12 months, giving them ample time to test many of the games nooks and crannies.
The early access version will be a smaller and unpolished version of the finished project. It will include enough features to give the developers an idea as to what needs to change before the full game is released. The final version will include much more content and appear more graphically polished. If you add Re:Legend to your Steam wishlist now, you will get a notification when the game is ready!
Early Access Trailer
For more information about Re:Legend, you can check out myPotatoGames coverage of the title. Also, be sure to check out the official Re:Legend website!
- Jul 24, 2019
Dinkum, an RPG and simulation game is currently being developed by James Bendon and published by The Irregular Corporation. The release is marked as “coming soon” on Steam where you can wishlist right here. Essentially, Dinkum is a life simulator with town building elements. In Dinkum you will arrive with a group of explorers to a previously unexplored island. You will be tasked with building a home for yourself as well as helping the other explorers build their homes and businesses as well. The developer also mentions that you can attract more people to come live in your town.
Dinkum has a very unique premise as the environment is entirely Australian with Australian wildlife. This mean you’ll be dealing with a lot of crocodiles and kangaroos in the wild, and raising farm animals such as giant wombats and turkeys! There will also be several different biomes to explore such as a desert biome, a tropical biome with palm trees, banana trees and ferns, bush-land biome with swamps, etc. The term “dinkum” is even slang in Australia and New Zealand for meaning “genuine, honest, or true”.
About Dinkum
G’Day there! Get ready to start a new fair Dinkum life and build a home on an Island inspired by the wild Australian outback. Explore tropical eucalyptus forests, survive scorching deserts, relax at cool billabongs and discover scrubland filled with adorable Aussie inspired wildlife. Collect valuable resources by hunting, mining, fishing and foraging to expand and customize your town and attract new townsfolk and businesses. Share your new home with friends and protect each other as you explore beautiful landscapes filled with dangerous predators.
Key Features
- Build your town, your way.
- Craft items to help organize and decorate your town.
- Play co-op with friends.
- Go fishing, bug catching, and treasure hunting.
- Start a farm with crops and animals.
- Hunt animals for food and defend yourself from deadly predators.
- Customize your house and character.
If you want to know more about the game you can go to the official website here. For more unique farming simulation aspects, check out our article here: Boundless Gets a Large Update: The Harvest Era.
- Jul 24, 2019
Since our last article on Critter Cove, which was the interview we had with Gentleman Rat including all three members behind the indie studio, there has been a lot more development to the game! You can get the full details from their blog post right here or get the highlights below. We’d like to thank Gentleman Rat for giving myPotatoGames a shout-out on their website and can’t wait for their playable demo to be ready! We’d absolutely love to be a captain of our own ship and go treasure hunting, salvaging shipwrecks, and exploring with the most adorable crew members!
The Main Island
The main island of Critter Cove is the first location that the player will see when starting the game. Therefore, the developers wanted to make sure that it would immediately catch our attention and give us the urge to explore. You can see below that the vast and varied layout is perfect for long-term building of homes and shops, which is a large part of what we are looking forward to at myPotatoGames. This central location is the perfect balance of mountains and lush greenery with large empty spaces for customization. Moreover, the more you build-up this port, the more bustling it will become with more friendly NPCs!
Swimming with the Fishes
In Critter Cove you’ll be spending quite a bit of time on your ship and sailing to new locations such as other islands. You’ll also be diving underwater to explore the depths below. The developers mentioned in their interview with myPotatoGames that the player character will have the chance to stay underwater longer with the help of equipment like re-breathers and diving suits so it should be quite the experience! The sea has many resources and treasure so the creators have made sure the environments down there are fun and interesting. Their blog goes on to say: ” The world of Critter Cove is built on top of the sunken ruins of the old world, so expect to find sunken ships, buildings, monuments, cars, planes, and much more. “
Character Customization
All the characters in Critter Cove have very unique looks and personalities so the developers decided to give us the option to not only be humans but to be critters as well! We now also have the option to mix and match various body parts, to choose new patterns, and to alter colors. This will be a highly creative experience with more plans to include fantasy style characters such as griffons and dragons. Want a human body with a blue fox’s head? Well you can do just that! On that note, players will be able to customize and change the colors of their clothing which can even be gifted to your animal friends.
You can continue to follow Critter Cove’s progress via Twitter here or join the Discord channel here. You can also stay tuned with us here at myPotatoGames as we look forward to more content for this grand adventure on the high-seas!
- Jul 23, 2019
Two Point Hospital is a quirky hospital sim builder developed by Two Point Studios and published by SEGA. For those of you who recall playing EA’s Theme Hospital back in the late 90’s, Two Point Hospital will have you feeling nostalgia as the two games are very similar with Two Point Hospital feeling just like an updated version.
Today SEGA announced that Two Point Hospital will be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch! The game that has more than 97% positive reviews on Steam will now be heading to the big screen.
There are a whooping 15 levels in Two Point Hospital where you build various rooms, hire staff to run them and once you have everything you need, the game will run itself while you watch – if that is something you desire.
But the game really shines when you start micromanaging and treating your patients, making sure there are enough seats in the waiting room and enough doctors on call to treat all the patients.
There are a few other options like making your hospital look visually appealing, making sure your patients don’t get bored, putting sanitation centers to insure the cleanliness of the hospital, and training your staff, but these aspects are also very limited. The simplicity of this game-play led for a very relaxing afternoon but I felt like the game needed more context to keep me playing it.
Two Point Hospital will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch later this year! Check out the fun new announcement trailer below.
For more simulation fun, check out the first real The Sims competitor.
