So this is a 3 part idea I had that I think would be very fun for immersion into the game, one of them is completely within the games parameters, the other 2 would be impactful of frontier game's real life business and are therefore completely beyond the scope of my comprehension, still its been done before.
Part 1
The idea is similar to the "advertising" system RCT used where you could take out ads for the park, or ride, etc via newspaper, radio, tv, and choose how long to run it for etc. This is the easy one. Another idea that came to mind though is product placement, as far as immersion goes RCT got 1 thing right, they used real world companies in their game to create the the illusion that the park had sponsors of very big companies. Now understanding the complexity of those arrangements and the costs/benefits of the arrangement completely allude me, it is beyond the scope of my understanding because that is big boy business and I just own a mom n pops shop. So if Frontier chose to do that, groovy. However if they chose to just make up brands in game and allow that product placement it would still have the desired effect.
Now where immersion comes in is taking the advertising/business end of gameplay to the next level. As opposed to the limited business aspects of RCT where you set prices, options, etc on stalls/rides/park entrance fees, and pay for advertising and thats it.
My idea is in contracts/payments etc. For example, there could be a contract with Cosmic Cow with a list of objectives. Completing those objectives will grant you a reward. This can be implemented in a number of ways which I will list below, and if anyone else has ideas to add feel free.
List One, Objectives:
1. Minimum store count
2. Minimum Gross/Net Profit
3. Minimum Customers
4. Minimum Customer Satisfaction (can be for every stall, or an average of all stalls)
5. Include their brand name in your advertisements for set # of months
6. Honor set number of coupons that are distributed outside of the park by said brand (think coke cans get you $5 off at six-flags)
These things could have time allotments as well, such as a set amount of time (months, years, etc) or indefinitely.
List Two, Rewards:
1. Company Favor (an idea that by being in the good graces of Cosmic Cow, Inc, you could have permanent bonuses such as opening stores on credit, or having permanent reductions in operating costs or store placements.) If you wanted to take it a step further it could even unlock new menu items etc, such as having 4 or 5 stalls placed around the park, but 1 particular large restaurant in the park has a FULL menu like an actual dine in restaurant. (you could even build it!!!)
2. Reduced advertising costs.
3. Reduced operating costs
4. Unlocking branded rides, like the Cosmic Cow Dairy-go-Round (See what I did there)
The list goes on forever. In the real world of trademark laws and business deals that meant those companies paid RCT devs to put their logo in their game, thus making the games development more affordable, which leads me to Part 2.
Part 2
Real World Brands. This is entirely up to the devs, the Cost/Benefit, etc of all this is beyond my knowledge and thus none of my business, but still it would be pretty cool IF it was possible.
Part 3
Player Created Advertisements!
This idea is a mixture of both in and out of game implementation. For example, do a contest with people playing the game asking people to come up with an advertisement for parks or park stores, allow people access to the assets needed for such things (logo, color codes, etc) and pick winners however you see fit. Then IN GAME, those are the ads used when you do the in game advertising for your park, and you can "preview" the ads before placing them, adding a bit more immersion without having to tie your devs down making a crap load of 30 second clips.
Anyway, that is the whole of my extremely long winded idea, let me know what you guys think.
Part 1
The idea is similar to the "advertising" system RCT used where you could take out ads for the park, or ride, etc via newspaper, radio, tv, and choose how long to run it for etc. This is the easy one. Another idea that came to mind though is product placement, as far as immersion goes RCT got 1 thing right, they used real world companies in their game to create the the illusion that the park had sponsors of very big companies. Now understanding the complexity of those arrangements and the costs/benefits of the arrangement completely allude me, it is beyond the scope of my understanding because that is big boy business and I just own a mom n pops shop. So if Frontier chose to do that, groovy. However if they chose to just make up brands in game and allow that product placement it would still have the desired effect.
Now where immersion comes in is taking the advertising/business end of gameplay to the next level. As opposed to the limited business aspects of RCT where you set prices, options, etc on stalls/rides/park entrance fees, and pay for advertising and thats it.
My idea is in contracts/payments etc. For example, there could be a contract with Cosmic Cow with a list of objectives. Completing those objectives will grant you a reward. This can be implemented in a number of ways which I will list below, and if anyone else has ideas to add feel free.
List One, Objectives:
1. Minimum store count
2. Minimum Gross/Net Profit
3. Minimum Customers
4. Minimum Customer Satisfaction (can be for every stall, or an average of all stalls)
5. Include their brand name in your advertisements for set # of months
6. Honor set number of coupons that are distributed outside of the park by said brand (think coke cans get you $5 off at six-flags)
These things could have time allotments as well, such as a set amount of time (months, years, etc) or indefinitely.
List Two, Rewards:
1. Company Favor (an idea that by being in the good graces of Cosmic Cow, Inc, you could have permanent bonuses such as opening stores on credit, or having permanent reductions in operating costs or store placements.) If you wanted to take it a step further it could even unlock new menu items etc, such as having 4 or 5 stalls placed around the park, but 1 particular large restaurant in the park has a FULL menu like an actual dine in restaurant. (you could even build it!!!)
2. Reduced advertising costs.
3. Reduced operating costs
4. Unlocking branded rides, like the Cosmic Cow Dairy-go-Round (See what I did there)
The list goes on forever. In the real world of trademark laws and business deals that meant those companies paid RCT devs to put their logo in their game, thus making the games development more affordable, which leads me to Part 2.
Part 2
Real World Brands. This is entirely up to the devs, the Cost/Benefit, etc of all this is beyond my knowledge and thus none of my business, but still it would be pretty cool IF it was possible.
Part 3
Player Created Advertisements!
This idea is a mixture of both in and out of game implementation. For example, do a contest with people playing the game asking people to come up with an advertisement for parks or park stores, allow people access to the assets needed for such things (logo, color codes, etc) and pick winners however you see fit. Then IN GAME, those are the ads used when you do the in game advertising for your park, and you can "preview" the ads before placing them, adding a bit more immersion without having to tie your devs down making a crap load of 30 second clips.
Anyway, that is the whole of my extremely long winded idea, let me know what you guys think.
