Keeping user's attention with tycoon style games

Question

I'm developing a tycoon game, and with most games in the "genre", some in game things just take time. Making money, waiting for things to happen, etc. For mobile gaming (ios, android), how do I keep this entertaining. Without talking specifically about my game, there are day cycles / things that happen at certain points (can I be more general?...)

There's different possibilites, and some I've seen have either a fast-forward button or something in order to not make it boring. (I'm talking about a tycoon game with a little bit of stuff to do; you can't constantly be busy like sim city or something). Do I just have notifications generated at certain times to tell the user a "day is over" or a "power up is attained"? Or would that get too annoying?

I'm open to any ideas on how to keep users interested, but it's really not a game that you can constantly play for hours. Not enough stuff to do, doesn't require that much micro-management.

Answer 1

Being able to speed up time is the easiest/quickest solution to this problem.

That said, most of the enjoyment of Tycoon games comes from the fun of seeing the world you've built up exist. Animations of objects in the world, people walking around, the "cha-ching" sound of money going into your virtual bank account, all these things add to the "fun" factor in a tycoon game. There's other elements that make certain tycoon games more fun than others, but without knowing more about your game, it's hard to give advise and know what would be applicable and what wouldn't.

So, some general thoughts: One aspect that people like with Tycoon games is solving a puzzle. Having to lay out paths or roads to maximize traffic patterns to be more efficient, having to figure out where to place a ride or police station to get the best results, having to make overly complex train networks to get 99% goods transported. Add to this that some people like having to deal with certain business aspects of Tycoon games, hiring and firing workers, training workers, setting up their paths, balancing a budget, making sure that popcorn prices are high enough to make the most profit but not too high that no one buys any, work with limited funds so that it's an accomplishment when they build a massive rollercoaster that cost $20,000 and has a perfect rating. Finally, unlocking content, seeing all the new, cool stuff that a game has to offer, and including it in their plan for their game.

Answer 2

I dont know about those time adjustments. The last tycoon game I played was GameDev Story, and it was basically something which gave you sequences of choices, reaction time was not a factor, nor would it be helpful to have speedforwarding since you have to make relevant choices often. So I think, that is the magic: giving relevant choices, with frequency, and allow the user to learn from the results. The assumption is that the user must learn to play and win the game. Once the user knows the system, he is assumed to win with > 50% chance. How to keep interest after that point, there is the deepest question...