How do you call these games that let you macro-manage people/creatures/processes and you can watch your engine run?
Examples are Rimworld, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Factorio.
I don’t like fast action-based RTS, micromanaging games, I just love to create a world and watch it running on it‘s own!
Is there a specific name for this mechanic? And what are your favorite examples?
They’re called management sims, or in the case of Factorio a factory builder.
Rimworld is a colony management sim… check out Dwarf Fortress or Oxygen Not Included for similar games
Rollercoaster Tycoon is a theme park management sim, the obvious suggestions are Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo but also check out City Skylines.
Factorio is a factory builder, I would recommend Satisfactory or Dyson Sphere Program, there’s a few handfuls of those types of games. If you want to get a little wild look into Minecraft (Java edition) w/ mods - most easily something like the FTB Infinity Evolved or one of the new Direwolf packs, it’s arguably where the factory building craze started.
I need to try to get back into ONI. It should be something I would really enjoy. But I got hung up on some details.
Actually, I know it’s a defect in my mindset in approaching that game. I shouldn’t expect certain things like conservation of mass and energy… I also took a while to realize that solubility and diffusion just don’t exist in the game. I don’t want to care so much about this but I struggle.
I loved Tekkit/FTB back in the day! Lots of good times setting up factories and controlling swarms of turtles.
To be honest, I’ve never been able to get over the hump in ONI. I play for hours, have a blast but eventually things start falling apart and I’m not usually able to recover. That being said, I know there’s been some updates since last I played so I may go back to it soon.
Back in 2011 or so I got really into Minecraft mods. I think it was literally just Buildcraft and Industrialcraft. It involved many steps, putting folders inside the Minecraft JAR file, deleting meta INF files, etc. I stuck with it for a few years during which the scene exploded. I actually paid to host a website for my friend’s only server that just included links to the specifics mod versions and step by step instructions how to install them. It was around the same time FTB modpacks came out that I fell off, I played one or two SP worlds with FTB Infinity Evolved and had a lot of fun but Factorio and eventually Satisfactory scratched that same itch.
Awesome suggestions, thank you.
If your interested in the minecraft Mods, Skyfactory 3 or 4 are both good for this. There is a bit of startup before you get to all the automation though.