I really want to jump into another tycoon game like the ones in the title, which I played so much of growing up. However, many modern tycoon games appear to have so much DLC on top of the base price or are just abandoned. Any recommendations where all DLC comes in one package and is finished?

It’s an isometric arcade management sim where you build and run your own arcade. You build and customize an arcade, manage its daily chaos, expand the business, hire a recurring cast of employees, deal with strange customers and dynamic events, maintain an evolving collection of machines, and actually step inside those machines to play mini-games yourself.

I coded it myself, drew everything myself, and now the systems are set. It took me around 17 months to build all of this. The biggest challenge was the FSM (finite state machine), which turned into an extensive coding lesson.

I’d really appreciate feedback, especially about what feels confusing, which systems need better explanation, bugs you encounter, and what parts of the game you think have the most potential.

AI Disclosure:
No AI was used in making of this game.

Link to the game:
https://cola-powered-gamer.itch.io/coin-op-empire

So I've been building a browser game called Verticopolis that's supposed to have complete parity with the original 1994 SimTower, and you can also flip on a more "modern" variant when you start a new tower for stuff the original couldn't do.

The game is at https://verticopolis.com/

There's a help page too if you want to get your first tower going: https://verticopolis.com/help

It runs right in the browser, no install, and you can also download it as a PWA on Android, Mac and PC to play standalone... no internet required unless you want to grab updates when they come through.

A few things I'm kinda proud of:

Every room type has its own art, you can see them all here: https://verticopolis.com/gallery

The little voices when you zoom in on people are literally me and my kids babbling in gibberish 😅

The save-file conversion works both ways now! You can take a .tdt save from the real 1994 game and load it in the browser, AND export a tower from the browser back into the actual 1994 game and it'll load and play. I've round-tripped a big 4-star tower (~1,900 rooms, 15 elevator shafts, full basement with metro + parking) through both games and back 🎉🎉. Still always happy to get more real .tdt saves to test weird edge cases though, so send 'em my way!

It's open source too, contributions welcome (GitHub is linked in the help section).

Please let me know what y'all think, what's missing from the original, and what you'd want added in the "modern" variant!

Oh, and since r/tycoon requires it, here's my AI disclosure, no sugar-coating: a lot of this game is made with AI, with me directing and iterating heavily (I didn't just ship the first thing it gave me). The code is written largely by AI coding agents (Claude Code) while I do the design, balance and testing. The pixel art is AI-generated too. I iterated on it a lot to get each room right. The music and ambience I made by going back and forth with AI until the balance felt right (no staticky, annoying AI noise). The one fully-human part is the little character voices when you zoom in on people, which is literally me and my kids making noises 😁. No ripped assets anywhere, and it's all open source so you can see exactly how every bit of it is made.

It's really janky but hoping it conveys the gameloop. You buy planes, add routes, and then adjust based on competitors' actions.

AI disclosure - no AI was used in the making of the game, the trailer or this post.

Hi r/tycoon

I wanted to share with you this little trailer for Factory Default: Build, Trade, Repeat. It basically tells you that FD will be available on Steam in Early Access on September 8th!

In Factory Default: Build, Trade, Repeat, you manage a company across a 3D hex globe featuring 105 real countries and unions. Each has its own market, taxes, resource fertilities, and workforce demands. I tried to make the supply chains feel realistic. You navigate global geography and politics to secure resources for large-scale projects like a new continent in the Pacific, a space elevator, a space station, and as you can see on the roadmap, eventually much of our Solar System.

Published by MicroProse, and entering Early Access on September 8th!

If any of that interests you, you can check out the Steam Page where I go into much further detail.

Thanks!

-Chett

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3901610/Factory_Default_Build_Trade_Repeat/

AI Disclosure: No AI was used in the making of this game.

My sumo stable management game is live on Steam!

If you are not familiar with it, you run a sumo stable and run through a comprehensive sim of the sport. You scout and train wrestlers, climb the ranks, keep the finances from falling apart, and deal with whatever nonsense the off-season throws at you.

The web version is still free, still no account and no ads. You can play at https://uchinoheya.com/ and if you decide to pick up the Steam version, the save files can transfer between the two versions.

https://reddit.com/link/1v14crd/video/onhxu8utdgeh1/player

The Steam version adds two modes you won't find on the web. Hardcore mode lets you run as a single fighter, or play a career that's both more realistically difficult, and stripped of the sillier random events if you want something closer to the real thing.

In an upcoming free update there's a post-game mode built around your retired fighters. it's a little roguelike, kind of Pokémon Stadium meets Slay the Spire, where those old wrestlers come back to pick up buffs by winning tournaments and beating bosses.

The sumo logic has taken a long time to get to a point where it is feeling close to accurate. An expert (Sumo Spiffy!) has helped me a ton going back and forth to try and get it as realistic as we can.

Thank you so much to those of you here that have helped test the early versions!

AI Disclosure: The only gen ai I used was to help think of ideas for the many random events that occur in the off season. No AI art, and music came from community licensed music that was not labeled as being ai.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4717870/Uchi_No_Heya/

Here's the kitchen for room service for my game, Inn Kreeper. Rather than making good dishes, combine ingredients that make for unpleasant taste and textures. Make whatever you want but you get a bonus for making the daily specials.

Anyway, here's pickle pizza.

No AI was used in the making of this game.

Looking for recommendations for a first person tycoon style game specifically available on ps5. Something like Schedule 1 (sadly not on console) or your typical Roblox tycoon but more robust and interesting is what I’m looking for. Any recommendations are appreciated.

1. I played again with a new account and many of the expansions are much more time-consuming and limited. I couldn't expand the runway to receive medium-sized planes. Help me.

I've been building Camping Keeper solo. It's a management/tycoon game where you lay out pitches, tents and cabins, hire staff, and keep every camper happy. Each visitor has their own needs and moves around the site on their own, so the place slowly comes to life.

Short clip attached, early but almost playable. I'd genuinely love this community's take: what makes or breaks a tycoon game for you ; depth of simulation, the economy, or the chill factor?

AI disclosure: Generative AI was used for the background music and the text translations (localization). All the design, game systems, art direction and creative decisions are my own.

(Happy to share the Steam page in the comments for anyone who wants to follow along.)

Hi! I’m the developer of Big Market Simulator, a supermarket management simulation game.

This gameplay video shows part of the current gameplay loop: stocking products, opening the supermarket, customers coming in to shop, and eventually forming checkout lines.

I’m currently working on adding more features and improving the overall supermarket management experience. I’d be interested to hear what fellow tycoon and management game fans think about the current gameplay.

AI Disclosure: No AI-generated content or assets are used in the gameplay shown in this video.

Developer Disclosure: I am the developer of Big Market Simulator.

Looking for recommendations of tycoon games you personally enjoy in the transportation world.

Personally, I’ve really been enjoying National Transit, and it’s made me want to explore the overall genre more.

Every trader in this market is out to beat you. None of them are human.

MarginCall is a living stock market simulation where thousands of AI traders think, panic, and profit on their own. Each with their own skill, bias, and blind spots. No scripted prices. No fake liquidity. Just a real order book, real money on the line, and a market that moves because someone decided to move it.

Read the tape. Spot the dislocation. Cross the spread before the herd catches on.

Can you survive the margin call?

🔔 WISHLIST NOW ON STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4961460/

AI was used to help code.

In a time where most new "tycoon" games in this forum seem to have at least some AI-generated content, have any of them actually caught your attention, or do you avoid AI-made games altogether?

I'm especially curious whether any games built with the help of tools like Claude have turned out to be genuinely good.

P.S. In the spirit of the question, this entire post was generated by AI. :)

P.S.2. I am not planning to launch my own game. Just making conversation while I wait for Hollywood Animal to get a decent update.

Hey guys! Finally... I've released CD Market on Steam!!

Steam link with all the info:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4622330/CD_Market__Music_Label_Sim/

Other links:
https://discord.gg/ZvukVZePDt

https://www.reddit.com/r/cdmarketgame/

https://x.com/cdmarketgame

AI disclosure: Only translations were done by AI, but I implemented a system for users to report wrong translations just in case.

Hi everyone. I can't help but notice that since Ship Simulator Extreme and Ocean Trader there's no new simulation or tycoon games where you can operate Steam Ocean liners of the past with some degree of realism. I know, Transport Fever 2 and OpenTTD may have such things inside, but those games are too generic and not deep into the operation of the vehicle itself.

I believe, it would be very entertaining to get deep into the steam engines operation and make ship go do some high-speed dangerous transatlantic crossings (New York - Southhampton). From the tycoon management POV it would be nice as well, as ocean liners of 20th century were part of complicated logistics network and themselves were size of a small city.

Do you know some upcoming / recently launched tycoon games where you can work with steam ships with high degree of realism?

Mars Rapid Transit is a train themed tycoon game on Mars.

Steam store page | Trailer

I recently returned to working on this game and I've got a few features that I think are cool that I'd like to share and to get thoughts on:

Track Laying

My aim is to make track laying and route management really intuitive and easy for new players while allowing advanced players to optimise their rail network. Track laying is based on a grid system with players creating a blueprint or ghost track plan first, which they can then modify and run test/simulation trains on before committing the plan, and the money actually being spent and the track constructed for real.

This is mostly born of my frustrations in some train tycoon games of laying track instantly being built, only to find that it doesn't quite line up and I've wasted a load of money and time on something that doesn't work.

Equally, I want players to be able to just drag a line across the map to create a rail route, and then pop a train on that line, and it just knows where to go without further instructions. A bit like Mini Metro. (With the player then able to fine-tune that route and schedule if they want). The way I do this is that every time a new section of track is laid by the player, it is automatically assigned to a train line, either an existing one based on the adjoining track, or a new one. This largely sidesteps the problems of navigation for trains. So similar to lines in other transport games, but mandated and automatically created by the game, with again the option for players to them customise and edit if they want.

Economic Simulation

I grew up playing A-Train and I love the way that game lets players build a rail line out into the middle of an empty space, with houses and businesses then growing around that (if you set it up right).

Mars Rapid Transit economic simulator will still be based on transporting around discreet stacks of different goods and passengers, but with simulated NPC companies operating in the background with specialised behaviours. So for example, hotel chains that expand based on if your rail company transports lots of tourists to their hotels. And real estate and construction NPC companies that build and expand the buildings which the NPC hotel chain company or whoever else rent out.

End Game - Giant Domes

I also want the game to have mega-structures in the form of giant domed cities that the player can eventually build, after having grown the economy and supporting industries to be able to support that.

It wont be something with hard rules, (so nothing like "get 3000 population to unlock"), but more that just the amount of advanced production chains that need to be established and the sheer volume of materials needed makes it a challenge. Equally, it's not like you build a giant dome and the victory screen appears. Instead it's something to aim for if you want.

This is the plan at least. I mocked up quite a bit of stuff for the trailer and screenshots, but mostly because I wanted to get rid of the AI art I was previously using in the steam store capsules (it seemed like a good idea in 2024). Curious what you all think

Edit: AI Disclosure: No AI is being used in the game and no plans to add/use AI in the future. Previously used AI for the Steam store page capsules, but those have now all been removed and replaced with human made art. See also above.

Hey r/tycoon! A while back I built a single-player airline management game called Tailwinds (https://www.tailwindsairlinegame.com). Since then I've been adapting it into a full multiplayer version — Headwinds, free to play in your browser: https://www.headwindsairlinegame.com

The core idea of the multiplayer version: there are no AI airlines. competitor in your world is another real player. If someone undercuts your fares on a route, that's a human decision — and you can open their airline's dossier, see their fleet and network, and decide whether to fight them or found an alliance with them.

What you actually do:

• Build a route network, buy and lease aircraft, and manage fleet utilization
• Set fares per cabin, configure seat quality, and fight for demand on contested routes
• Run cargo alongside passengers
• Found or join player alliances (partner demand boosts, interlining) — or go it alone
• Message rivals and allymates directly in-game
• Dig into a proper P&L, load factors, yields, and route-level profitability when things go sideways

So overall great for people who love a management sim and love optimization problems.

The game has over 150 aircraft, 2,000+ airports (which means there are over a million airport pairs in the demand model). The demand model itself is based on real city data to try and simulate the real demand between cities as best as possible.

Worlds run on a shared clock and keep advancing while you're offline, so it plays well in short daily sessions rather than demanding you camp on it. It's free. And if you'd rather learn the ropes against no one before diving into a shared world, the original single-player Tailwinds is still there and free too.

It's early days and I'd love feedback from people who actually play tycoon games — what's missing, what's confusing, what would make the experience better for you.

AI disclosure: I'm a solo dev and built much of Headwinds with AI assistance. The game design and decisions are mine; a lot of the code was written with AI help. I understand that many people do not like AI use in game development, if thats an issue for you then I recommend that you do not play this game. I'm not trained in software development and would never have been able to build this passion project without assistance from AI.

Hi everyone! 

We are looking for pre-alpha playtesters for Hamlet—a medieval city builder built specifically for tycoon enthusiasts and min/maxers. If you prefer deep supply chains and complex logistics over cozy aesthetics, this is for you. 

What is Hamlet about?

Hamlet is a medieval city builder with a few USPs;

1. Character-Driven Economy: Recruit and develop unique managers over their lifespans. Their individual traits directly dictate your supply chain’s production quality and output volume. 
2. Quality Ratings: Every single product in your settlement has a dynamic quality rating. Optimization is everything. 
3. Economic Defense: There are no RTS military units to micro-manage, but the military is a massive economic sink—and your primary tool for defense and making money. 

The Pre-Alpha Test: 

• The Goal: Scale your settlement to a population of 250. 
• Playtime: Roughly 2 hours of deep gameplay for experienced tycoon players. 
• AI use: 2D portraits and menu backgrounds use temporary AI placeholders.  
• 3D models: no AI use. 100% manual modelling and texturing. Also placeholders.
• Coding: No AI code generation. 100% manual coding.  

How to get involved:

If this sounds like your type of game, you can get more info here…

• 🎬  Trailer (2 min) - good to get a sense/aim of the game.
• 🕹️ Watch Gameplay Footage (4.5 min) - good to see how the game plays.

…and join our playtest here …

• 📝 Apply for the Pre-Alpha TestPlay. Steam key sent via email.
• 📌 Wishlist on Steam

Happy to answer any questions you may have in the comments.

There are nights when a full Civ or Stellaris session sounds great, and nights when I just want to make a city or empire slightly less dysfunctional. Age of Empires Mobile on PC kind of sits in that second bucket for me: resources, upgrades, growth, but shorter sessions. What do you play for that?

Hey everyone. I posted a while back about a game I was working on inspired by old school business sims like Lemonade Tycoon. It is my debut title as a solo dev, and it officially launched yesterday.

The gameplay loop revolves around managing your own stand. A typical in-game day looks like this:

• Checking the weather and news to see how they will impact foot traffic and what customers want
• Managing inventory by restocking tea bags, sugar, lemons, ice, and cups
• Setting an advertising budget and hiring employees to help out
• Buying upgrades to increase storage capacity, speed up service, and access bulk supply deals
• Tweaking your recipe and setting a fair price per cup

There are two main game modes. Career mode lets you play endlessly and grow your business at your own pace. Challenge mode gives you a strict 30 days to make as much profit as possible.

This is my first game released under Scarlet Carnation Studios. I built it in GameMaker, drew the pixel graphics in Aseprite, and composed the music in LMMS. The only things I did not make from scratch were the fonts and sound effects. I also give credit to playtesters, many of whom came from here, which I really appreciate~

It feels great to finally hit the release button. If this sounds like your kind of game, I would love for you to check it out. Grab a refreshing glass of sweet tea and take a look at the Steam page here. It's 10% off for this first week too:

Sweet Tea Tycoon | Out Now on Steam!

(AI Disclosure: No generative AI tools were used in developing this game.)

https://reddit.com/link/1ux5d0r/video/i1fv7vof7edh1/player

I've been working on a survival sandbox called 404 Survivor, and I figured the mechanic this sub would find most interesting is the zombie taming system.

AI Disclosure: No AI was used in the making of this game.

The basic idea: you capture zombies and use a device to control them, turning them into workers instead of just killing everything on sight. From there you can assign them to haul resources or work in production. The system started out pretty simple, but I've been expanding it — now you can also send them out to scavenge for supplies, and eventually I want them to help build your base or even fight alongside you.

Outside of that system, the rest of the game follows the usual zombie survival loop — gather resources, craft gear, build a base, and survive as the horde gets bigger and nastier each night.

Right now I'm also working on a bunch of other systems:

1. Animals & livestock: hunting is already in, livestock is coming next so you can actually settle down and be self-sufficient.
2. Gear system: mix and match outfits for different stat bonuses (gear modding planned later).
3. Vitals & mood system: beyond health/thirst/hunger, there's overheating, infection, anxiety, etc., all affecting each other so survival isn't just watching one hunger bar.
4. Multiplayer: already playable, still ironing out bugs.
5. Inventory/backpack: mostly done, weight limits coming later.

Next up: a full texture/environment overhaul, a weather system that actually affects your survival strategy, a perks/skills tree, and a bandit system. So eventually it's not just zombies and hunger you're dealing with, but other survivors who'll raid you too.

Still early days, but the zombie labor system is the part I'm most excited to keep building out.Thanks for reading! Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

hi everyone! reposting (with mod blessing) to include the 'no AI used disclosure' a bit more clearly.

I've been working on a golf game mostly inspired by Rimworld/Prison Architect (in terms of building/NPC depth/interaction) and Mini Motorways (in terms of cleanliness of UI/game elements, not quite there yet, but it's my goal!) with the main gameplay being restoration of a somewhat neglected golf club.

I've built for two different modes: one, the idea of 'there's no doing wrong', in that you can go about the restoration any way you want, there are no real fail states, and you can play as passively or actively as you want. the other being a more Rimworld like director mode, where you are actively challenged and failure is a very real option. in either mode, you'll build out your property, design the golf course, manage your crew, your facilities, deal with issues that arise on a daily basis, interact with your customers, manage the course finances, and so on!

i'd love any feedback at all, if anyone wouldn't mind taking a look! i'm kinda super proud of what i've created so far but i'm still early enough that i've had zero playtesting, and fairly limited eyes on the game, so any thoughts/ideas/feedback would be so hugely appreciated.

if you'd like to check it out on Steam, the name is Fairwell.

AI DISCLOSURE: No AI used in the making of this game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4826230/Fairwell_A_Cozy_Golf_Revival/

Hi! I'm the dev of Retro Zoo CEO, and I'm running the first sale of the game after its release.

Retro Zoo CEO is a builder game inspired heavily by the classic tycoon games, but I've made it first and foremost as a mobile game, after I've noticed that there were pretty much no games that scratch this particular itch on the phone. It's has no additional purchases after the initial buy, and I've made all of it with my own hands.

No generative AI was used on this project. I'm no visual artist, but I still figured out an artstyle that I could do and I drew all of it by hand. All the animal sprites and their animations, quite a lot of work that I'm really proud of. I also did the music and everything :)

Here is the trailer on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJNUdGaQjus

Here it is on Playstore

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ptkstefano.retrozooceo&hl=en

And here it is on Appstore

https://apps.apple.com/br/app/retro-zoo-ceo/id6754300553

Thanks a lot and I hope you enjoy it!

For us, the city in a crime strategy and gangster management sim cannot exist only as background scenery.

Players will spend much of their time studying streets, buildings, neighborhoods, movement, territory, and opportunity from an elevated view. That means Union City needs to remain clear and readable as a management space, helping players understand where their organization operates and how the city is changing around them.

At the same time, we want each neighborhood to feel believable when viewed from street level.

Our visual direction is built around three core ideas:

Urban decay: Worn buildings, vacant lots, graffiti, aging roads, and overgrown spaces.

Nostalgia: An early-2000s atmosphere expressed through vehicles, architecture, lighting, and visual tone.

Gang culture: Territorial identity and the visible influence different criminal organizations have on their neighborhoods.

These screenshots show the same area of Union City from the elevated strategic view and from street level. The visuals are still in development and are not representative of the final game.

For tycoon and management games, how important is it that the game world feels like a believable place rather than a purely functional map?

We are also working toward our first round of player testing. Newsletter subscribers and Discord members will be among the first players invited to participate !!

Join below:

Newsletter:
https://762interactive.com/project-kingpin/#news

Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/vaB5TNJbx8

AI was not used in the generation of these screenshots or in the building of the game world.