As some others, I'm struggling with this theme mostly because the the whole point of the theme would make any game unplayable in my mind. I know that's not actually the case but that's the mind block I keep running into. I've basically set aside about 24 hours to work on my entry, so time is a huge factor!

Current line of thinking:

1) Real Time Sim + Text Based Game Input

2) Basically your sim says "We need more food" and you type "Buy Food" <enter> and then it adds food to your stockpile.

3) Resource management would be key

4) There'd be a real UI but for resources but all resource management would be text based.

5) On paper this doesn't look bad but in practice I suspect it'll be boring.

Hopefully I don't have to scrap this idea as well.