I have a slight problem with a game I'm working on. Game is about managing factory production in changing market conditions.
Problem is, that after a while demand rises so high, that one can sell whole inventory every turn, so there is no sense in selling at any other price but the highest. At the moment market changes d10-3 every turn. Starting from 1 and ending at 100.
At the end of every turn market shares are checked from table comparing players price, quality and brand ratings. And in that order, emphasis on price and quality. I haven't yet found good way to reward strong brand.
Game is designed for 2-4 players and market shares are 40%, 30%, 20% and 10%.
Tell me if you even understood what I am trying to say. This is first time I'm trying to explain this game in english so bear with me :) And thanks in advance.
Market changes d10 minus 3 every turn, so it can shrink as well. Originally it only grew and I have yet to decide what is the possibility of it shrinking. But two color coded dices sound like something i ought to try.
I try to explain mechanics a little further. I'll add that all the players are making same product, so productvariations are found in price and quality.
End-product price is decided each turn by each player. Players use cards 1 to 10 to mark price and cards are then revealed simultaneusly(spelling?).
End-product quality is decided by quality of raw material used and quality of players machinery used.
Brand, or brand strength depends on cumulative sales by that player. And by marketing efforts, which I haven't implemented yet.
Then, there is table with quality on y-axis and price on x-axis. Relation of price and quality gives a certain value and then brand strength is added to this. Player with highest score gets 40%, second 30% and so forth.
This works just fine when combined capacity is more than market demand. But after a few turns market demand grows too much and there isn't enough incentive to invest on capacity.
Now that I think of it, I should re-check machiner prices and maybe lower them.
When I solve this problem, next one is victory conditions. I don't want this game to be winnable only by making most profit.
Thanks for your input, even writing this down gives me new ideas to try out all the time:)