Tavern Keeper Has Some Competition!

Looks like Greenheart Games isn’t the only one entering the Tavern/Simulation world.

An early access tavern tycoon called, you guessed it, “Tavern Tycoon” has just been released on Steam.

Many are already comparing it to the same thing Tavern Keeper was compared to: Theme Hospital.

I think Tavern Keeper definitely beats this game when it comes to art and graphics (not that Tavern Tycoon’s graphics are bad, but Tavern Keeper just has such a rich, unique look).

Cannot currently say much more since I haven’t played it yet; however, I would like to hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions about this.

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People in the review section talk about boring, slow-paced gameplay, a lot of bugs, poor AI, etc… The developer wants to ‘balance’ the game and add late-game stuff, and he thinks early acces is the best fit for that, obviously he has way more work to do. The developer says the game could be in early acces for half a year or a whole one, I do not think that is how early acces should be used.

I just hope it doesn’t put a dent in Tavern Keeper sales and success. Even though I confidently believe Tavern Keeper will be better, by the Tavern Keeper is released, Tavern Tycoon will have been fleshed out quite a bit.

I mean the Tavern Keeper beta will be out around the time Tavern Tycoon full version is out.

Like I said though, I still think Tavern Keeper will outperform, but I can’t say that Tavern Tycoon won’t have some effect.

For some developers, Early Access provides them the necessary finances to continue development.

That is true, but he does have more work to do than just balancing the game and adding late game stuff.

i personally think tavern keeper still looks better.

Honestly Tavern Keeper looks like it has better graphics and is going to have more mechanics.

From what i heard is Tavern Tycoon has a lot of bugs and problems and gets fairly boring.

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Like I’ve said, I think Tavern Keeper will be better too, but Tavern Tycoon, by the time the full version is out, could have some kind of a negative effect on Tavern Keeper sales.

I think it’s important to realize that the game has a long way to go. When Tavern Keeper is finally released, Tavern Tycoon will have been categorically fleshed out and added to.

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Competition or not, Tavern keeper pretty much already has my money

A good example of early access is software inc IMO, sure it’s alpha, but the community seems to be listened to a lot with suggestions, and i don’t think there’s any major bugs.

Competition is only healthy. It’s what drives your desire to be better. I’d imagine GHG have more resources. Tavern tycoon looks like theme hospital for taverns; not necessarily a bad thing. To me, it looks early in the development process, and Tavern keeper looks further along, and to me, the art style is less generic and more stylized (for tavern keeper)

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That dev also works full-time on his game, I should play it again sometime.

Yeah, I’ve heard good things about it. I might buy it.

Reminds me of this:

(aka “Fears of a software developer”)

There is definitely some truth to that kind of reaction but as is often the case with fears, they are not all that helpful and largely irrational.

This doesn’t just apply to us but to anyone creating anything. It’s normal that, as soon as you start your project, you will pay more attention to things that appear similar. Suddenly your idea is everywhere where before it seemed wholly original. There are a bunch of cognitive biases that further intensify this: attentional bias and frequency illusion are probably the most relevant.

We weren’t aware of any tavern sim games before we started work on Tavern Keeper but since then quite a number of games with this overall theme have popped up:

Orcish Inn
Epic Tavern
Tavern Tycoon
The Tavern
Moonstone Tavern (was previoulsy Fortune’s Tavern)
Tavernier
Arashia Tavern
as well as a whole bunch of free to play, mobile and flash games…

So, why would we bother to invest so much time, money and energy into an idea that doesn’t seem all that original anymore?

Simply put, while the idea of a ‘tavern simulation game’ is not unique, our vision for that game, and our execution of that vision is. We believe that Tavern Keeper will be something special and we are looking forward to showing players why.

We don’t really see these other games as competition. Sure, they share the same theme but from what we see our game will be quite different. It’s the same story with Game Dev Tycoon. There are now a bunch of game dev simulation games but we don’t see this as a bad thing.

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I own it, its pretty good but nothing like Tavern Keeper

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