No economy?

[Zoopy]

I'm a bit surprised by the decision to not include money in the game and it's the main reason I haven't bought it yet.

Is this something that might change during the course of Early Access or is the decision final?

Otherwise, what challenge does the game provide? Are there any lose conditions?

[monkeypunch87]

I wonder the same. I played the demo a while back and the basic gameplay of setting up the slopes works great, but I was really dissappointed about the missing economy part.

[Khahir]

Well - I have played a demo and now this EA and there is a difference. In demo there was no challenge at all. On the current stage, there are some "goals" to reach. Instead of money it looks that you need to focus on your guest happiness or technology and gaining stars. I also have troubles with too long queue, enough type of ski trace (for different type of skiers, I mean skills) - this type of challanges. But still, game is not so "tycoon" regarding economy, but is fun in my opinion :) I just started EA but it is quite fun 

[Willow Rivers]

Originally posted by Khahir:

Well - I have played a demo and now this EA and there is a difference. In demo there was no challenge at all. On the current stage, there are some "goals" to reach. Instead of money it looks that you need to focus on your guest happiness or technology and gaining stars. I also have troubles with too long queue, enough type of ski trace (for different type of skiers, I mean skills) - this type of challanges. But still, game is not so "tycoon" regarding economy, but is fun in my opinion :) I just started EA but it is quite fun

Tycoon games had all that as well, you have to keep guests happy and provide servies that they waned and had goals to acheive to reach next ranks, etc. Having a economy does not take away from the other things but a economy is essential in a Tycoon Management game.

[Vinolik]

The game is gonna need to have some kind of business management before I'd consider buying it. Can't be a tycoon game otherwise.

[jay_czub]

1. Please install the economy system. (If I lose visitors, I would like to take out a loan to improve myself, is not possible now.)
2. Can expand area.
3. Remove bugs like: slope has no connection or lift has no connection simply out of nowhere even though nothing has been changed.
4. Set visitor limit.
(5. A wish: opponents on the map who are also trying to develop the area.)
6. It would be nice to see the workers and the snowcat at work.
Thanks.

[Tribal44]

i have played like 20 min, but this sure could be developped a lot more.
Money, village buildings,roads, "unique" customers (snowparks,cross-country skiing,synergy with buildings/customers,etc). etc.

Could be interesting to deal with maps this way or that way. (like cheap mass tourism or luxury station) but well, anyway, seems the game won't go so deep.
But the groundworks is solid.

[Zoopy]

Originally posted by Willow Rivers:

Tycoon games had all that as well, you have to keep guests happy and provide servies that they waned and had goals to acheive to reach next ranks, etc. Having a economy does not take away from the other things but a economy is essential in a Tycoon Management game.

This. A lot of people are working under the assumption that it's either economy or visitor happiness, which is not the case. In pretty much any tycoon game, you need to balance money and visitor happiness, because you won't make any money if the visitors aren't happy.

Not having an economy removes a big layer of depth from the game.

[Witchdrash]

It's a builder game, not a tycoon game, at least at the moment, the point of it is to build stuff, unlock new stuff, build more stuff, the current weakness is not a lack of economy but no easy way to upgrade old stuff to newer stuff or reconfigure existing set ups to use more advanced technology.

[Vinolik]

Originally posted by Witchdrash:

It's a builder game, not a tycoon game, at least at the moment, the point of it is to build stuff, unlock new stuff, build more stuff, the current weakness is not a lack of economy but no easy way to upgrade old stuff to newer stuff or reconfigure existing set ups to use more advanced technology.

The game's name has "Tycoon" in it, so I think its perfectly reasonable to expect there to be actual tycoon features in the game... If they don't have the intention of bringing economy to the game they should change the name.

[Witchdrash]

Originally posted by Vinolik:

Originally posted by Witchdrash:

It's a builder game, not a tycoon game, at least at the moment, the point of it is to build stuff, unlock new stuff, build more stuff, the current weakness is not a lack of economy but no easy way to upgrade old stuff to newer stuff or reconfigure existing set ups to use more advanced technology.

The game's name has "Tycoon" in it, so I think its perfectly reasonable to expect there to be actual tycoon features in the game... If they don't have the intention of bringing economy to the game they should change the name.

I hadn't actually seen this, and I've put in a lot of time into the alpha demo release and played a few hours of the EA build last night, but you're correct, in the steam store name there it is Snowtopia : Ski Resort Tycoon, so I agree, that is misleading and really needs to be removed, especially as once you're actually physically in the game there's no mention of Tycoon anywhere, nor is it in the released videos etc, the game is just referred to as Snowtopia.

I guess someone put it there to try give some context to the game, but at the moment it really isn't a Tycoon game it's a builder/management style game, closer to say the style of play of Satisfactory, or other builders, where you can't lose, it's just how much time you're willing to spend building/researching etc and how efficient you effective you want your resort to be.

[Vinolik]

Originally posted by Witchdrash:

Originally posted by Vinolik:

The game's name has "Tycoon" in it, so I think its perfectly reasonable to expect there to be actual tycoon features in the game... If they don't have the intention of bringing economy to the game they should change the name.

I hadn't actually seen this, and I've put in a lot of time into the alpha demo release and played a few hours of the EA build last night, but you're correct, in the steam store name there it is Snowtopia : Ski Resort Tycoon, so I agree, that is misleading and really needs to be removed, especially as once you're actually physically in the game there's no mention of Tycoon anywhere, nor is it in the released videos etc, the game is just referred to as Snowtopia.

I guess someone put it there to try give some context to the game, but at the moment it really isn't a Tycoon game it's a builder/management style game, closer to say the style of play of Satisfactory, or other builders, where you can't lose, it's just how much time you're willing to spend building/researching etc and how efficient you effective you want your resort to be.

Exactly, agreed.

[Juro]

Please add economy to this game

[carbonfibah]

I agree about the money. However, one could argue that with the current version the Skier Count and Volunteers Available could be considered an "economy".

[Andragon]

A game with research, where I can research all before I even open the resort is pointless. Its a sandbox game where I get the obstacle of researching all before a start to build. There must be an economy missing or it really makes no sense at all.

[jaymanmac2010]

From Wikipedia the definition of economics is "how people interact with value; in particular, the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services." While this game does not have money, it absolutely has an "economy" because you have to balance and manage limited resources. Personally, I find the money free economics in this sim a refreshing change from all of the other tycoon games that are out there.

Game devs if you are reading this, count me as one vote AGAINST adding money.