UPDATE: 13/07/2016 -
Astragon Entertainment originally announced in March that it would be releasing Industry Manager - Future Technologies on 7th July, although the publisher revealed today that it’s been pushed back until the 6th October. It will cost €19.99/£18.99.
Below is a comment from Benjamin Wolf, Junior Producer at astragon explaining the delay;
“Since the first announcement of the initial release date at end of January we have received a tremendous amount of constructive feedback and suggestions from within the fan community. At the same time we ourselves have also had many creative ideas on how to create an even more interesting gameplay experience and how to give the game even more depth and long-term playability. In order to implement the new content and adjust the game’s balancing we have therefore decided on a postponement of the release until autumn 2016.”
Original Story: 15th March, 2016 - Economica becomes Industry Manager and gets July 7th release date
Astragon Software has revealed that its business simulation game Economica: Future Industries has been renamed to Industry Manager: Future Technologies; no explanation was given for the name change. The studio also announced that the game will be available on 7th July, 2016.
Economica was quietly announced last October as a full fledged business and economic sim where players started their own business, building it from the ground up by buying land for raw resources and constructing buildings. Players then have to not only turn their basic goods into manufactured products, but also buy shops in cities to distribute their products, advertising them and deal with rival businesses aiming to shut them out of the market.
One of the main features of the game is that it’ll take place over a long period of time. Random events will occur and ”players will experience the ups and downs of their chosen market including unexpected events that may lead to a complete change of strategy. They will need to decide on the number of different production buildings, the most efficient and cost effective means of transportation of their goods along with the appropriate wages for their staff.” This includes building a research department to find new products as the current product becomes obsolete.
For gamers interested in Industry Manager, Astragon has a blog eagerly looking for their input. For example, the most recent entry discusses how much of an impact buying the initial parcel of land can be. ”When you start the game you will need to buy a sector on the map so that you can actually place buildings for your production chains. And in fact it can be quite a heavy decision as sectors are completely different. Not all resources are available in each sector. And even if they are available their amount varies. In some sectors oil is more common and therefore can produced quite quickly. In other sectors it is rare and it will take ages to get it out of the earth.”
The rest of the blog details many of the “behind the numbers” details about the calculations that go into generating results in the game.
