When creating a new game it would be helpful if the topics which one already used would be highlighted. E.g. used topics are shown with a green background, unused a grey one.
An even more helpful and sophisticated view would differ for which genre a topic was used already. If it’s intended that there’re only 6 genres for good a possible display format could be to group the topic field into 6 areas (top left, top middle, top right, bottom left, …) which stand for the 6 genres and highlight the areas for which the topic was used already. The easiest way to differ the genres would propably be to assign a unique color to each genre.
If you plan to expand the genres I suggest that the used genre topic combinations are indicated with a unique genre symbol.
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While I agree that this is a nice idea, I think that part of the development experience is that you need to figure out the best way to keep track of topics you have used yourself. Otherwise, you don’t get as deep into the experience. In other words, if topics you’ve already used are highlighted, it may become less of a creative thought process and more of just another checklist.
This would be a great feature. It’s data that would be easily accessible in-world. There’s no thematic justification for forcing the player to keep a private notebook - and it pushes you out of the experience when you have to.
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To add to this, when you are selecting a topic/genre combo, remind the player if they have used this combo before or not.
This is very important because making new-combo games generates double the research points for the player, and accidentally making a new game with a combo you previously used but forgot you used can needlessly cause you to miss out on some research.
I also agree with the highlighting of unused topics…especially helpful if I go on a topic research binge and then slowly make use of them over time.
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