I have a dedicated server at http://corpstates.com

I want to write a turn-based strategy game called Corporation-States for iPhone and possibly android

The idea is that players will log in each day to complete their turns. The game will be rendered in 3D and the player will only see a small subsection of a huge 1024x1024 world.

I want to see if anyone has images of similar games to inspire me or if anyone has any ideas for game mechanics. My previous single-player project of the same name failed because I made the economics too complicated and real-time.

I've written a prototype map generator on Windows and it approximates how ill render the game on iPhone. So far I'm considering what to do about the water. The sand tile don't gradually blend in but have a sharp edge with the grass. And the mountains are rendered as raised tiles with a rocky texture. I'd appreciate if anybody has images of how to accomplish these effects better on iPhone / android.

I want to create an expansive world that people will log on to each day to play. And to play it with my cous. What are some simple game mechanics I can put into the game? It must be simple because in wary of my experiences from the last project. I was thinking of having trees to cut down (I already added trees to the prototype) and using the wood to build buildings. You select the worker, click the chop icon, and select a nearby tree to harvest. And this would increase your lumber by 1. There's an almost endless supply of wood on a 1024x1024 map (ill show you a video when I get home).

I'm tempted to make the resources localized so that you'd have to order the worker to go back a lumber mill or some kind of base to deposit the lumber. But that's not a good example of what I mean by localized because that's how it works in Warcraft and age of empires. To be truly localized, the resource would also have to be transported to the site where it is to be used (in construction or whatever). But I'm not sure what this would add to the game.

So here's some ideas for buildings:

Factory: where all the units are made
(I want to add "production" as a resource but I'm not sure how it would fit in)

Apartment building: workers would have to move to apartments to regenerate labour, which they spend on doing work like cutting down trees or building buildings.

Come to think of it, why don't I let workers own money, and have them spend it on rent when they use apartments, but not just at your apartments, but any player's so that the money goes to them. And let them adjust the price.

But I'm not sure if that's complicating it again. I'm okay with programming something complex as long as it works. Everything in this design is player controlled, unlike my previous design that was AI- and pathfinding-heavy.

Shopping complex: workers need to buy 1 consumer good every 7 days to stay alive. Consumer goods are generated automatically when metal and production is transported to it by workers. (That's if I make the resources totally localized. But if I don't, I don't know on what conditions consumer goods are produced.) And the transportation would be done with trucks, but that's adding more of the previous design.

I think I'm okay with a complex design as long as it works. That's a realization for me. The complexity isn't the problem, it's the debugging of a dynamic, self-controlled system that was the problem. Anyways, that's me rambling.

I think that's all I want to write for now. I'm at the mall and was writing this while I was waiting for EB Games to open. More when I get home.

I think you need to have a clear and concise idea of what this game is. At the moment it sounds pretty rambling (which you acknowledge). One problem you may have is that whilst thinking of these ideas, you may end up with the complexity you said at the top you want to avoid. For instance, having workers return to an apartment and shopping at malls.

Here's what I'd suggest:
- Describe what you want this game to be in one simple sentence. eg: This game is a turn based role play game that takes the player through each day of their life. This allows you to focus and avoid feature creep.
- Decide exactly what "a turn" simulates: an hour, a day, a week, a year, etc.
- Once you figure out what a turn is, then think of some tasks a player can achieve in that turn which is directly related to your description in the one sentence above, and you want each task to be either finished in that turn, or finished in a couple of turns: chop a tree, go shopping, go to work, build a house.

You should be on a roll from this point on. Let us know how you go.

Describe what you want this game to be in one simple sentence[/quote]

An expansive online turn-based economic strategy game for iOS.

By the way, here's the video of that prototype (this is how it's supposed to look on the iPhone):

Decide exactly what "a turn" simulates: an hour, a day, a week, a year, etc.[/quote]

A month

Once you figure out what a turn is, then think of some tasks a player can achieve in that turn which is directly related to your description in the one sentence above, and you want each task to be either finished in that turn, or finished in a couple of turns[/quote]

Well, since this game is set in the future, I don't think that the primary focus should be on expanding, because we live in a world where all the land is already occupied. Instead it should focus on development of technology and manufacturing of new technologies.

Then again, much of the world is forest and the cities are only dots when you look at Google Earth for example. This gives me an idea. Instead of building individual buildings, the players will have cities that occupy tiles that they can expand. The city models will tile seamlessly and the player will be able to upgrade them. So a couple of boxes to represent buildings will be a city tile. And I can just make them bigger and more impressive for upgraded versions.

So for tasks I'll say:

- Chop down a tile of trees (expands city to newer tiles)
- Build more houses (supports more workers)
- Build more shopping complexes (supports more workers? that's redundant...)

Or maybe not. Maybe I will have buildings after all.

- Chop down a tile of trees (get wood)
- Deliver trees to lumber mill
- Rest (this will represent a month of resting) at apartment
- Shop (this will represent a month of shopping) at shopping complex
- I think I already know... this is basically a modified version of my earlier game.

This is good, a good start.

I would also look at some way of tieing concepts together to make the game more interactive with other parts of the game. For instance, your workers could supply resources (wood, metal, etc) to factories which supplies goods to shopping complexes which supplies luxuries to workers which raises taxes and happiness which translates into more efficient resource collection.

There is the basic foundations of a game economy in one sentence. You may go a different path, but it should help you to work out how each part of the game works with each other part.