100 years of Production Line: A Civilization game of car manufacturing (a dream)

Production Line Suggestions
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I enjoy the game profoundly, it is basically crack. :laughing: The systems are very solid like all the other Positech games I played, with laser focus on efficiency, number-juggling mechanisms and a well adjusted interplay of many tiny cogs. There is always a possibility to optimize for the player, and I canā€™t stop doing it.

What I can not stop to think about, how well those systems in Production Line would work in a broader context, a wider scope. So this is meant not as a suggestion about the game as it is, but maybe future Addons or deviations. I think there is massive potential and I want to share my thoughts.

One can dream, right?

I would love to start building the production line from its inception, like being Henry Ford and see the manufacturing revolution unfold and following through until today (and the electric future, of course). 100 years of car manufacturing to fiddle around with. Seeing the manufacturing processes be refined and changed over time would be very interesting. You could beautifully implement the research tree and connect it to world events and progressing time. As an example, Game Dev Tycoon does a great job in this: As time moves forward, new opportunities arise and new techs are invented, while history plays literally itself out in the background (from C64 to Playstation 5).

Imagine to start with a Benz Motorwagen in a garage with a one-cylinder machine with little to optimize, the first bloom of electrics and the finally the first real production line with a Model T type, then the Volkswagen, the rise and fall of the muscle cars (oil crisis), bucket seats, safety belts, Toyotas quality offensive and supplier control/integration, car platforms, Clean Diesel and Dieselgateā€¦Playing different eras like in Civilization but for cars - with changing goals, manufacturing processes, graphics and sounds.

I get it, the scope is big, one would need to simplify a lot to make it happen. But your game certainly whetted the appetite for more :slight_smile: Have you plans to go deeper in this broad direction in the future, @cliffski?

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Originally when I started on the game it was set in the henry ford era, and I did a lot of research, visited the ford museum in detroit etc, but after a while it became clear that generally people preferred the look and tech of modern cars, and obviously the artwork, and other design & code/GUI requirements of the game going through all the ages would be a real nightmare for just a small indie developer.
Maybe if the game is a success in the long term it would be cool to add earlier times, or do a sequel set in those times (a prequel!)

2 Likes
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You know 1994s ā€œMotor Cityā€ of MaxDesign then, right? (Gameplay Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRCGN_ARRiQ) Horrible much-to-click GUI, but I loved it anyway. So cool to start off with a 1-cylinder, 5 HP engine, open car and design, build and sell your way up from that. Not to mention the gun in the drawer to end it fast, if your factory did not work out :smile: