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Will this game go back to having a strategy aspect?

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25 days ago
Dec 6, 2024, 1:40:20 AM

I played a lot of both TPH and TPC and I will probably buy TPM day one. However, although TPC took a step forward from TPH in terms of the decorating/building aspect, it really took a step backwards in terms of the strategy aspect of the game. TPC was just way too easy. It was more like playing The Sims than any kind of strategy game like TPH or Theme Hospital was. TPC at least added the Challenge mode, which I enjoyed, but the main campaign definitely seemed more like it was made for people who just wanted to decorate a virtual dollhouse. I liked having to restart levels in TPH, trying out different strategies to see what would work. Nothing was more satisfying than beating that level where you had to treat 250 patients that came in all at once.


So my question is: Will TPM go back to adding actual difficulty to the campaign like TPH? 


I don't know your sales numbers, but based on the number of reviews on Steam and the number of DLCs for TPH vs. TPC, I'm going to guess TPH sold much better than TPC, so I'm probably not the only one feeling that TPC was a step down from TPH in terms of gameplay. Bring back the strategy!

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24 days ago
Dec 6, 2024, 10:53:09 AM

Heya! First, appreciate you sharing your thoughts :D

The management/strategy side of things was one of the first focuses for the team, in our first pitches of Museum as a concept the designers honed in on what we've been calling "plate-spinning". We saw a lot of comments similar to this that the community missed some of the chaos and difficulty of Hospital, so the team made sure it was a focus!

By plate spinning, we mean the sort of 'minute-to-minute' gameplay, a common piece of feedback on Campus is that (if you knew what you were doing) you could set things up and let it run, whereas in Hospital you were forced to be responsive and to be noodling away at things all the time. So for example in Museum, whilst you might be waiting for an expedition to come back, there might be a thieves' guild targeting the place, maybe a fire broke out because your Janitor is in the bandage box after getting injured, perhaps you're re-arranging things to better fit a new exhibit, there's a school trip visiting and you desperately want a new interactive display, maybe you've just unlocked tours or another cool new thing so you're busy setting those up - so short answer: the design team worked hard on ensuring there's always something new coming or a new focus to keep you busy.

There's always something you can be working on and dedicating attention to. I find if I 'leave the game to it' as I could with Campus, I come back to my plants dying or my assistants being overwhelmed because I'd not considered my Experts being away or how popular the new plushies I unlocked for the Gift Shop would be.

Now we're still definitely an 'accessible' management sim, meaning if you've no experience with the genre we're a good entry point as it's easy to jump in and out of the game in short play sessions. We've always tried to champion that nostalgia for the '90s and early '00s tycoon games, meaning whilst you can go deep into min-maxing layouts, prices, zoning staff etc. if you're so inclined, we've never been a game that needs a steep learning curve to 'get' as most things are intuitive.

There's also sandbox mode for folks to play around with, unleash creativity, and otherwise have fun in, which is unlocked from the very beginning in Museum, based on feedback too (:

(Oh and PSA, we'll have a 'management' focus video coming out before launch, much like the recent "Two Point Museums ....Museums" video which summarised and looked at the first 3 levels!)

Updated 24 days ago.
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24 days ago
Dec 6, 2024, 1:07:26 PM

Thanks for the response, that's great to hear! I will keep an eye out for that upcoming video :) 

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