For the longest time, I wanted to develop a supply-chain city builder, similar to the Settlers or Anno game. I was pretty excited when I saw the theme suggestions, as several of them seemed to fit nicely (connections, combine, etc.).

With the Collector theme, rather than going with the obvious path of collecting resources, I actually had the idea for a game where you don’t build the city directly, but instead influence it through various taxes. Tariffs encourage more producers of imported goods to come to the city, while property tax discourages land-intensive buildings such as farms.

At the end of the first day, I let my partner play it:

“I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do.”

The game used to let you set tariffs and income tax with sliders and then click Go — at that point, the village does its thing: producing and importing goods, converting resources, and satisfying the people’s needs for food, drink, and clothing.

“It doesn’t really feel like a game.”

There was a ton of information on screen — the price of goods including taxes both internally and on the market, the money each person has, and the market demand for various goods, etc.

“It’s not fun.”

I had created a game you needed to play with a spreadsheet. I needed to pivot.

Instead of doubling down on the simulation aspect, I focused on the immediate tax-collection — you run around collecting taxes generated by trade. I like the end result — it accidentally became a satire as you siphon money from other people’s hard work, and you do need to make some considerations about how to tax and upgrade to reach the 2,500 goal.

You can try it here.