The story behind the Zombie Tycoon name. (It’s really a RTS game).

[Misterproof]

Its a rather boring story, but since many people are wondering (and rightly so) why a RTS game sports the T word in its name, I’ll try to explain it once and for all.

In 2008 Frima acquired another studio as well as its brands. One of those brands was Zombie Tycoon. However, no game actually existed, just a few design ideas that were not clearly defined and a poster with a big Zombie Tycoon logo. We all thought it was an awesome name...

Fast forward a few months and here I am with my team creating a Zombie game where you actually play the zombies for once. We try things out, we test, we tweak, we fine tune and come up with a pretty cool RTS game. That game, released on Halloween 2009 is one of the first PSP Mini game for the PlayStation Network: Zombie Tycoon.(The first one).

Should we have changed the name back then? Maybe. Did we think Zombie Tycoon was a kickass name? Hell Yeah!

During the process of making the game we had created our mad scientist main protagonist and named him Professor Orville Tycoon. So, we decided to keep that name, Zombie Tycoon, because we thought it was a really cool name for a brand and not because we wanted to pass our game as something else.

A lot of people played the first Zombie Tycoon game on PlayStation 3 and PSP and really liked it. We decided to make a sequel, but this time it would have a significantly higher budget, use the Unreal Engine 3, and incorporate elements of Moba style games within a RTS design. Since it was initially created for console, we designed it with 2 customisable zombie squads, 1 hero unit and a mobile base. This enabled us to have an awesome controller scheme and keep the multiplayer games fast paced and challenging. You don’t build a base inZombie Tycoon, you drive one.

So, to sum it up, once you create a brand, you don’t go back and change the name.Zombie Tycoon is here to stay as a brand and the first two titles are real time strategy games. Not because we want to confuse players, but because at some point we made a decision about a name and now we have to live with it. We’d really like it if you would too.

Who knows, maybe at some point we’ll actually make a Zombie Tycoon Tycoon game. We could probably name it Zombie Tycoon: The Actual Tycoon Game.

Thanks.

M.

P.S. Please do not name your children Orville Tycoon or some such. They’d have to live with it too...

[a razor named qualia]

I would pay for that.
There I said it.

[Mesa]

<33 nice game

[Spoonie]

I just bought the game because the you guys (dev's) seem cool

[Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper]

"Fast forward a few months and here I am with my team creating a Zombie game where you actually play the zombies for once."

Stubbs the Zombie did it.

[AbLaK]

:D

[Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper]

Originally posted by luckz:

Originally posted by Town Park Radio:

How about you just own up to the lie and name it something else? By now you've recouped your development cost... time to stop riding someone else's coattails and start succeeding on your own.

Yes, I'm sure Tycoon Corporation, makers of the well-known classic videogames Tycoon, Tycoon II, Game of Tycoons, Orville Tycoon presents: Tycooning, and Tycoon Tycoon will soon sue. :miner:

He didn't mention a lawsuit in his post. All he said they needed to do was "quit lying".

I don't agree they're doing it maliciously, but I'd like to know how many people bought this mistaking it for a business simulation game.

[a razor named qualia]

Their fault then, no one else's

[Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper]

Originally posted by Oscar, Knight of Astora:

Their fault then, no one else's

If somebody released a game called Madden and it was about Hockey, I'd be justified in being upset when it wasn't Football.

The same goes when a game with "tycoon" in the title gets released, you expect it to have some sort of business management and design.

I actually came close to buying the game, until I read reviews online, because the store page doesn't explicitly say it has nothing to do with the tycoon series.

While yes, some fault goes to the consumer. The developers also take some of the fault here.

[a razor named qualia]

If you buy a game based on the title, you didn't look up the game and get some information BEFORE buying the game. More fault leans toward the consumer.

ALSO SCREENSHOTS

[Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper]

Originally posted by Oscar, Knight of Astora:

If you buy a game based on the title, you didn't look up the game and get some information BEFORE buying the game. More fault leans toward the consumer.

ALSO SCREENSHOTS

You sure are defensive about this.

[a razor named qualia]

I'm trying not to be...

Of course this might be because I hate people who call devs angry names (not directed at you) because they thought that people can do research before purchasing a product.

[luckz]

Originally posted by ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°):

it has nothing to do with the tycoon series.

Another guy who believes in "the tycoon series"!

[Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper]

Originally posted by luckz:

Originally posted by ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°):

it has nothing to do with the tycoon series.

Another guy who believes in "the tycoon series"!

I sure do. Because they exist.
Or rather, the genre exists.