Musing on the excesses of the consumer electronics industry on my way to work (where I perform my function as one little cog in said industry) this morning, inevitably a game idea began to form...
It would be game in which players represent companies making 'widgets', which would involve R&D, components, manufacturing facilities, stock market fluctuations, consumer demand fluctuations etc.
Players could raise capital by issuing public offerings of their stock on the stock market to build their business, and would then gain or loose victory points depending on the value they subsequently deliver to their shareholders. Having more shareholders gives greater capital resources, but this must be matched by making greater profits. Therefore players
would have to choose between a smaller, more agile company and a larger more powerful one. A variety of non player companies representing various parts of the design and supply chain would also come into and out of existence from time to time, which can be used as suppliers or as targets for take over.
Thus players would not need to build the whole supply and manufacturing chain, instead choosing to use various non-player companies to perform certain functions in exchange for less absolute control of their supply chain.
Alternatively players could go for vertical integration instead, which would entail more capital risk. There would be lots of other mechanics for R+D, new tech etc but I think this outline captures the essence of the game.
I looked on BGG for games with an industry/manufacturing theme, and there were few that shared these types of themes and mechanics. Can anyone point me in the direction of existing games which address some or all of these ideas? Or has anyone attempted something along these lines before?
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The widgets are in fact advanced consumer electronic communication and media goods, such as ipods, phones and cameras. This will be obvious to all players, since the required components would be something like 'chipsets, screens, chassis and software'. Does that tally with your suggestion?
The idea is to have players assemble product designs incorporating various forms of these components, along with special 'features' obtained via cards in the game, which they then manufacture in theior various factories. The market would determine demand for widgets based on their overall quality level and their features. This pricing scheme will be a tricky bit to get right.
The 'features' mechanism is designed to keep the game dynamic by forcing players to upgrade expensive factories and pour money into R&D to keep up with what the market wants. And if a player overextends, misjudges the market or lets another player get a monopoly on one part of the supply chain, or fails to make the right investments then they'll loose VPs hand over fist until they put things right.
So 'doomed technology companies' is exactly the theme I'm aiming at.