Expected interest is very static

[BiscuitChan]

I'm not sure if this is something that is being changed in the future but the fact I can make an OS framework and just keep it updated and make new OS's every 2-3 years with no new features seems a little broken and doesn't incentivise me to make large teams to add more features to my software, once you set up project management on something you can just leave it and that's that.

Would be nice if over time certain features pretty much became mandatory or products affected the amount of interest a feature gives (e.g. new OS comes out and is the only one with multitasking, if it gets popular than multitasking becomes less effective at giving interest as its now more of an expected feature).

[Gopher]

Project Management itself needs a lot of quality of life changes. It doesn't make expansions, You can't set how long they work on updates before they start a new project (instead they update and do a new project at same time).

I agree, it's lame that you can just keep pumping out the same software, but if you couldn't do that then project management would be worthless

[nosedigger]

Well, I spoke with the Dev on this matter, and the logic is like this:
- You create a software, it gets base fans for those features/techs
- Make sequels to increase Market Recognition and sales. Every product category has base "market interest" but it should fluctuate over time and response to what the Player and AI are releasing.

This is the core mechanic.

Now, what needs to be told further is that the Fans do not like the change, and by changing features or technologies in the sequels should add new Fans to the base BUT it will also remove some of the fans that do not like new stuff. For an example, I've noticed a big difference in sales when I switched Doom from 2D to 3D, or when I introduce Network to Strategy games. When I asked the Kenneth about this, he explained what I wrote above.

So it might seems dumb to just churn out sequels that are exact copies of the original, but in this game, that is the way to increase Market recognition, increase sales and grow your core fan base. But, it is a simulation game, so not everybody goals are the same.

As for PM, I would rather have it do one stuff well over and over, than to throw wrenches in the production, random events or non consistent quality output.

[BiscuitChan]

Thanks for the clarification! From what I understand in your message it sounds like fans are unique for each area to the interest triangle so the optimal way to gain fans is rather than make one feature complete software, make multiple of the same software using different features to appeal to each area of interest which is where the use for the "unused" features come from (feel free to correct me if I've misunderstood though!).

Even if this is the case It does still seem a little strange that certain features don't slowly become "mandatory" as there are features like Windows and Multitasking on OS's that seem like they should just phase into being universal.

[mrddrm]

Yes and no. Back in January I asked a similar question regarding features as it had changed since the last time I played it. While one can make three versions of a tool, each one focusing on a different market and find success, the current meta is analyze the market and focus on the lowest scored feature.

But like others have said here and in other places, the game is fairly open ended and on practically all difficulties except impossible, one will typically find success. Not that it is easy, there is still other factors at play.

I agree, it does seem odd that features do not become standard as time goes on. It has always rubbed me the wrong the way that there are things that I guess could have existed in the 80s or did but were not common at ALL and then you can build software without features that should be standard in the 90s and on and be fine. At the end of the day, it is a game and certain elements need to be gamefied so it is still fun. I've read before to imagine the yearly updates with the same features as tech updates as the technology from 1981 to 1982 is going to be large. I mean, look at the tech upgrades in real life from Wolf3D to Doom to Dark Forces. We went from 1 level to multilevel to being able to look up and down in the span of four years.