Hi! So I've been working on this idea of mine for the past month or two and a lot of times I've blanked on what I'm going to do for certain areas of the game, whether it be game mechanics, story-line, etc. If you don't mind reading a good majority of this post, or maybe even all, would be great so you can give me the best possible feedback! So my question is, what's an efficient way to make sure that my game idea is a balance between challenging, engaging and fun? My game idea is based off of another game that was super hyped up during release, then the devs just took the money and ran. So i guess you could say I'm making it off of the idea of that game, but with my own spin to it. It's a god game where you can build a society, keep them happy, and make sure it continues to grow.
If you're in the mood to read the rest below, then go ahead now. But if you don't want to, you can leave your answers to the title in the comments. Thanks!
In the game I'm taking inspiration off of, you can mold the land however you please, and molding the lands will create plots for your people to build houses. The game had a currency called "Belief", and after a period of time, a little bubble would appear on top of a house to be collected. You could use belief for different things, you used belief when you sculpted the land, or used any sort of power to make whatever you touched happier or sadder. As time went on, the people got sadder, and when the whole village was sad enough, you would lose some of the population to a rivaling villager nearby that was much happier then your civilization. So you had to make sure your villagers were happier then the rivaling village so your people wouldn't get jealous and leave you for them. There's a lot more to the game but obviously going into larger detail would be counterproductive.
My game would have a similar aspect to it, other then the terrain molding and automatically drawing plots for the people to build in. (you can look it up, it's called Godus. It's on steam, but it's mainly a mobile game. It's very fun, I highly recommend it if your into god games.) One thing Godus didn't have is collecting resources. You kinda just had to send a little person nearby the open plot to build there. No strings attached; other then waiting for the person to build it. I feel like in my game, to make it more grind-y and less idle-y. There would always be something to do or to distract you with and keep you engaged. Most of the time in Godus, you had to wait for something to be completed. Which is typical for a mobile game. But, in my game, I feel like you can always be doing something, but you don't always have to. Of course, to keep the game interesting there would be certain events that would pop up that would make sure the player is engaged and active. Something along the lines of that.
If you have any ideas, feedback, or any kinds comments, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much for reading! :)