I was making a small turn based "game dev simulator" but I run out of steam/ideas (I figured to my big surprise that I don't know enough about making games to make a sim about it :D). But the game has several nice charateristics and several cool things that work, so I thought maybe I could retheme it?

The download link of the abandoned game: http://www.silverlemur.com/work/GDT/GDT_TechDemo.zip

And a picture:

The current "engine" focus on human resources management (recruiting/firing people, assigning them to teams, there are quite nice simplistic generated portraits and name generator), it allows creating "products/projects" that bring money when finished (but I can discard that one). Financial mechanics work (salaries, expenses, income). It also has a nice interface (I would like to keep it similar). It was intended a small turn based strategy game.

I would prefer to keep most of these characteristics if possible (mostly because these works and I find them entertaining).

What kind of game could it be (especially what theme)?

I was thinking along the lines of "factory simulator" (you hire workers and assign them to machines and then produce stuff and sell it) or "corporation simulator" (like a huge multinational megacorporation with mindless office workers passing papers around :D).

Again, note that that game should focus on human factor (hiring and assigning employees) and that it should be reasonably simple/short.

What about "Human resource manager" where you take the job of being the human resource manager for deferent companies.

You start your career at something small like a diner and build up your CV to work at large companies.

Each company have deferent problems to solve making player choose between them.

You can gain inside reputation if you work for a franchise etc.

If you make a game like this people won't judge to harshly if you don't get every thing about a company right , because each company will only be a small part of the game.

What about "Human resource manager" where you take the job of being the human resource manager for deferent companies.

Well... I graduaded in HR specialisation (so I'm supposed to be hardcore fan of this subject), yet I would not find such game amusing. And if it's not amusing even to me I don't think it would amuse a normal player (who is not a fan of this topic unlike me). I think HR aspect should be an important in that game, but not the only one (maybe even not the one that is the most important).

OK, maybe tell me what *YOU* would want to play (that is at least a bit related to at least some restrictions/assumptions I posted). Let's first look at this like players and later like designers.

Thanks for posting Scouting Ninja!

*cough*makeitbeaboutabrothel'sstaffofprostitutes*cough*

Or if you want something more g-rated, they could be stockbrokers? I was trying to think, what is a human job equivalent to race horses or greyhounds, because that's the most similar-looking kind of tycoon I've played... I like tycoon games, except the ones I like aren't about people but instead have a realtime sim element of breeding plants/animals or growing crops. Or a realtime racing element where you actually steer your mount/pet/vehicle, or a speedpuzzle element where you are doing factory work or whatever will do as well; anything so that the main time-filling activity of the game isn't turn-based.

*cough*makeitbeaboutabrothel'sstaffofprostitutes*cough*

LOL, that indeed would fit with the engine well :) But I won't choose that one for obvious reasons :D

How about Hollywood sim? You hire actors/directors and make movies?

Or maybe Fantasy RPG party sim (Guild of Heroes)? You hire heroes and assign them to parties then send them to dungeon to earn loot (I even think there was a game like that, can't recall through). But I'm not sure the interface style would fit with it thematically...

Or spaceship sim maybe? You hire various crew (pilors, gunners, engineers), train them and them launch the ship to adventure (or it could be a space pirates ship?) But I'm not sure this mostly static/text rich layout would fit with it...

There was a hollywood sim quite a few years ago that was pretty good called The Movies.

any you just listed would be pretty good.

I think you could still work the game dev sim. it was ok for something really simple. just need to allow players to decide on the type/size(AAA all the way down to app) of the games. also create some other phony game companies to compete with(allow for buying out each others talent) along with a few trade shows and awards. heck you could even go and start the game in the 80s or 70s and bring in the R&D aspect in and go from text/low graphics all the way to full 3D. could even create some parody characters that give boosts: Mid Syers, Gil Bates, also bring in the marketing aspects.

A lot of these ideas are based on my time playing The Movies. I suggest you check it out.

I would turn it into some kind of "farming game" where you would grow different types of consultants in stead of apples. In stead of development tasks they would be out doing various jobs: pruning trees, take care of kids, make websites and ultimately become a stand in for the president of the U.S. since everyone in the white house got a bad flu strain (<- "gradual" progress towards cooler jobs).

This is good since you can keep the original layout with office and workers, but scale up the game with job-modules: suburban small jobs, inner-city-small jobs, wall-street jobs, military jobs etc.

Your consultants would become better but also more expensive to keep.

Hey, good luck with rethemeing.
If you're out to make a game that a lot of people would want to play, then I would personally suggest keeping it a game developer game, and not a game about human resource management Rethemeing could work fine, but what about either:
1 - finding out more about big team game development, or
2 - writing up a fictional way that game development works in your gameworld ;)

A lot of the management games that has gotten me hooked throughout the years have had a very similar general structure, even though they've all felt really different. Most of them kind of plays like tower defense games.

Imagine your game studio as a tower defense game for the development part:

First, The initial game dev team needs to focus in on a game idea. (like choosing a level in a TD game)

Second, they have to allocate resources. Who will do what in development? (like setting up your first defenses)

Third, they have to balance features, levels and other content versus a deadline or budget limit (like adding new towers for a wave of flying enemies, but not forgetting that ground enemies are still on the way)

Fourth, the stretch up to and including release of a game has additional work like pr spending, bugtesting and polishing, public previews and whether or not to release for holidays or in competition with other games (the way you adjust and perfect your TD setup before watching the chaos or perfect obliteration in that last TD wave).

Now if this sounds like a lot of work to put into your game, then yes, it definately can be. Depending on whether or not you want players to feel like they are making games, or managing people who make games on their own, it can be a daunting task. But, I for one, would very much play that game, as the game developer games I have tried all are cute and fun in their own ways, but often lacking in several ways.

If you are serious about this and still want to give it a shot, though, I would reccommend that you check out Game Dev Story and Gamebiz 3 for inspiration. And please let me know if you do. I'd love to play it

A short and educational corporation sim, with a focus on human resources, might have the aim of bringing the company to its knees as fast as possible. Hire incompetents and put them in the most harmful places, spread discord and dissatisfaction with compensation policies, give the best employees reasons to quit, reorganize effective teams into oblivion, and so on; all the time without losing management and shareholder support. A pure bureaucracy company, like a bank or insurance, would probably work well: organization is more arbitrary and there are no industrial aspects or meaningful marketing and R&D projects distracting the player.

How about some form of spin on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Obviously not identical, as I believe Metropolis is still in copyright, but something along the lines of dystopian city underground workers?