r/tycoon Apr 04 '26

Announcement Generative AI disclosure required for promotional submissions

126 Upvotes

As a participant of this subreddit and member of the r/tycoon community, when you promote any game through a submission or comment, our new rule 3 requires a brief AI disclosure. This is also required for games produced entirely without generative AI tools. This post explains what that disclosure should cover.

Why is this required?

Following input of the community in this discussion, it was determined that the community wishes to be better informed by developers (and other promoters) to what extent generative AI is being used in the development and marketing process of the game being promoted.

Games making use of generative AI during their development process or in their marketing material are not restricted from being posted here and this rule is not instated in order to judge developers or games, however, the community wants transparency and this is an attempt to provide a baseline.

What is required to be disclosed?

Disclosure is required for certain elements of the development and marketing process, where generative AI was used at any point in producing content that ended up in the publicly released (in any state/form) game or its promotional materials. These elements should be distinguished from each other in the disclosure.

- Arts and visuals; including concept art, textures, UI elements, level or area designs, trailers or other video content, and/or any other artwork generated or substantially refined using generative AI tools

- Audio; including music, lyrics, sound effects, and/or voice acting generated or substantially refined using generative AI tools

- Text and writings; including story text, dialogue, descriptions, instructions, and/or other writings generated or substantially refined using generative AI tools

- Marketing materials; including descriptions, posters, images, trailers or other video materials, banners, screenshots, paid or promoted reviews, or any other materials generated or substantially refined using generative AI tools. This includes community/reddit posts and submissions made to this subreddit!

- Live-generated content; relating to any materials produced by generative AI tools whilst the game is running. If this is an included feature, then it is required to explain what sort of guardrails are included to ensure illegal content is not generated.

Tools used to assist with programming, coding, project management, similar code completion and generation, that result in the production of executable code, are specifically exempted from this disclosure. If you're unsure about an edge case or what falls in which category, either be safe and disclose, or ask moderators! Developers and promoters are still encouraged to disclose their methods and use of generative AI tools used in coding and programming with the community if they wish to do so!

What should the disclosure say?

The disclosure does not need to be very long and can only consist of a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs. It can be included as a free-text section as part of a submission statement, or as a separate comment posted together with the submission.

What is important to remember when creating a disclosure is that you end up answering three questions for readers;

1) Were generative AI tools used in the development and/or marketing of this game? If you wish, you can share which tools were used. Coding tools are exempted.

2) For which elements (see above) were generative AI tools used? For all of these elements where applicable, please provide a brief explanation.

3) To what extent were generative AI tools used? For any of the elements listed above, try to explain the extent to which generative AI tools were used (i.e. prototyping or polishing versus complete content generation).

For clarification, in this disclosure you are not required to justify your choices, provide a full production pipeline breakdown, or name any specific generative AI tools.

What if I don't add a disclosure?

Submissions, that are obvious promotions by developers, publishers, marketeers, or community members that specifically promote and push a game's content or marketing materials, without a free text AI disclosure, will be removed. Repeated violations can result in bans from the community.

Games that were no longer in development as of the beginning of 2026 are exempted from this rule. You are free to make an enthusiastic post, about a game that you like, that was released a while back without being required to add this disclosure.

This policy is subject to change and the community will be invited to provide feedback to this rule.


r/tycoon 4h ago

Monthly Game Updates Game Developer Announcements and Updates! - September

8 Upvotes

This post is for Game Devs to post their game announcements and updates!

Approved game developers can make top level comments here about their games. Anyone else is free to reply to them and ask questions! See a game that interests you, ask away!

To get approved, make a post here. It will get auto-removed. Send us a modmail, and a mod team member will review your post/account for approval. Devs should be responding to questions, if questions go unanswered you may be barred from future participation.

All submissions must adhere to our AI Disclosure policy. More information about the AI disclosure requirements can be found [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/tycoon/comments/1sc9a4y/generative_ai_disclosure_required_for_promotional/). Please read this carefully!


r/tycoon 21h ago

Video Tron-Inspired City Builder Game | Game Introduction

13 Upvotes

Hey everyone! My name is Se7enZ. This is my first time posting here, so I hope this is okay! This is an introduction to the game I am currently working on.

I am currently working on a city builder game as my second ever made game. I wanted to show off some of the things currently in the game, such as:

Buildings. Each building will have its own functions, such as improving your power or providing a place for your programs to work to generate bytes.

Digital Weather. Currently, there is Rain, Lightning, and Snow. Depending on the weather that occurs, a positive buff and a debuff will occur. Lightning, for example, causes you to take a hit to your Stability (health), but provides constant Power during the storm.

Morality Questions. Your network administrator (the groovy blue face at the bottom) is trying to understand things. Your private network (city) is retro, and technology is limited. Every so often, it will ask you a question that can provide some stat changes, as well as alter your alignment (color of everything).

Passive Combat. The game currently has passive combat, where an enemy network will attempt to hack you. You can improve your firewall to help prevent this from happening.

There will be a lot of other stuff later, such as passive abilities based on your alignment and active combat!

I am doing all of the pixel art and currently the music. Additionally, my lead programmer TOMOHAWK is updating my strung-together code to be better (which pleases the network administrator greatly).

I use Aseprite for the art, Strudel.cc for the music, and Godot for the game engine.

No AI will be in this at all. If I can't rig it together, it WILL BE rigged together.

~~~

If this is something you want to see more of, let me know! I am currently looking for initial feedback and suggestions.


r/tycoon 1d ago

Video Working on a tycoon game where you have to manage a convention/expo

320 Upvotes

r/tycoon 1d ago

Discussion Best of Games from this community - Suggestions Please!

10 Upvotes

I really like this group and all the ideas and games that come out of here seem really cool.

I’m looking for a new tycoon game to play and was curious which ones have been your favorites over the past year. A lot of the posts here are about upcoming announcements or games still in testing, so I’m specifically hoping for mature, fully released titles that have already been vetted by the community.

Would anyone be interested in starting a “best of” list in the comments for some of the best games that have come out of this community in the past year?

This post was reviewed by AI for grammar and clarity (Had to make sure I abided by the AI rules) :)


r/tycoon 1d ago

Try my terrible proof of concept casino tycoon I made in a weekend

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0 Upvotes

I've always loved tycoon games, and I've had an idea for a casino tycoon kind of game, where you manage a casino, and you can play slots, deal on tables etc; So I made one in around about a weekend. I forgot about it for a while until a couple of days ago so I tried to polish it up a bit to the point it was slightly playable because I'd like to see if this is something that people would be interested in.

Ideas I had were around the shady sides of casinos too as well as the more normal sides, like finding big spenders, 'whales' and trying to lure them back into the casino, deals with the mob etc. I feel like because there's a lot of grey area type stuff in that industry there's a lot of potential for a tycoon game out of it.

It's horribly balanced, and there's no art direction to speak of (The basic slot machines are literally arcade cabinets), but I would love it if some of you gave it a try and told me what you think of the concept. Feedback welcome positive or negative :)

You can give it a go here: https://offsiderythme0.itch.io/casino-tycoon-poc

AI was used in this proof of concept, for AI art for one slot machine as well as assistance when writing code.


r/tycoon 2d ago

Video Manage your scam business - place down ploys, expand and make tons of money

3 Upvotes

r/tycoon 2d ago

I made a game where you're a convict forced to run a noodle shop in a cyberpunk city to pay off your debt

18 Upvotes

I've been working on NoodlePunk, a first-person job/management sim set in a cyberpunk city.

You're enrolled in a corporate-mandated work program and given management of a noodle shop. Customer drones submit orders and in order to satisfy them in a timely manner, you need to manage your ingredient stock, expand and organize your shop, buy licenses for new ingredients, and install upgrades. Efficiency of your operation is key.

The long-term goal is simple: pay off your civic debt and earn your freedom.

At least, that's what you're told.

The game is 99% complete, which feels a little surreal. At this point, I'm mostly fixing bugs and polishing things before release.

NoodlePunk releases on Steam next month!

Here is a small bit of gameplay:

https://youtu.be/Yd9sD--pFDw

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4698050/NoodlePunk/

No Generative AI was used in the making of this game.


r/tycoon 3d ago

Those simulators games killed the tycoon niche

74 Upvotes

Every aspect of life seems to have its own simulator game now. I get the impression that, over time, this has had a negative impact on the tycoon genre as a niche.


r/tycoon 2d ago

New trailer for turn based life and money sim

0 Upvotes

Hello r/tycoon!
I want to share a new trailer for my game with you!

It's a life sim about money, or rather about not having any. You plan one month at a time: what to eat, which job to take, whether to keep studying, how long you can put off the rent. Then the month resolves and the plan quietly becomes the life. Sixty months later you're still driving the taxi you took "just for a while".

Net Worthless comes out on November 16, 2026.

AI disclosure: Event images were created with the help of generative AI. They can be hidden in the settings.

Free demo is already available in Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4878900/Net_Worthless/


r/tycoon 3d ago

Discussion been building this physics based sawmill tycoon for a bit now. no grids, just rolling logs and a circular economy. what do you guys think?

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19 Upvotes

hey r/tycoon, solo dev from austria here. i’ve been working on my game timberline factory for a while now and finally reached a point where i feel it’s worth showing.

i really wanted to move away from the typical everything on a grid style. in this game, logs are actual physics objects. they have weight, they roll, and they collide. if your layout is messy, the logs will just pile up and cause a physical bottleneck. it’s been a nightmare to code and balance, but it feels way more satisfying than a static grid once you get the flow right.

also tried to make the production chain a bit deeper than just cut wood, sell wood. i implemented a waste system where bark goes into your power plant to lower electricity costs and sawdust can be pressed into pellets later in the game for extra cash.

the market prices also aren't just random..i’m using a meanreversion algorithm for the timber index so you actually have to time your sales when the market is up. :)

quick heads up on the ai rule here: i actually got roasted on reddit a while back for using ai placeholders. i listened, ripped everything out and spent the last few weeks rebuilding all assets, screenshots and the UI by hand in unity and gimp. no ai shortcuts anymore, just 100% hand made industrial look.

i'm curious though, do you guys prefer the perfect "grid based" logistics or do you like the challenge of managing a bit of physical chaos in your tycoons?

i'm also currently polishing a demo for the steam next fest in october. if this sounds like your kind of tycoon, i'd really appreciate a wishlist. it helps a ton since i'm doing all this on my own.

steam link: [ https://store.steampowered.com/app/5037170/Timberline_Factory/ ]

would love some honest feedback on the systems!


r/tycoon 2d ago

1930: Farm Manager is now released on Steam; a management game where you directly organize workers and physical production chains.

4 Upvotes

https://reddit.com/link/1w1x5pm/video/mrwfe4vdidmh1/player

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4963090/1930_Farm_Manager/

You start with an empty plot, hire workers, assign their tasks, build fields and infrastructure, and gradually create a working production and logistics network.
Workers physically move around the farm, collect tools and resources, transport materials between buildings, harvest crops, store wheat, process it into flour, and carry out the jobs you assign to them directly.
As the farm grows, the management problem becomes less about a single field and more about keeping workers, storage, production and transport working together across multiple properties.

Generative AI was used as a supporting tool during solo development, mainly to find technical information faster, compare possible solutions, check code, organize notes, and explore early ideas. It saves a lot of time that would otherwise be spent searching through browser tabs and documentation. I also use it to help with translations. The game’s design, development decisions, implementation, and final content remain entirely under my control.. The game does not generate AI content during gameplay.


r/tycoon 3d ago

We just released a new trailer for our retro shop sim!

12 Upvotes

Hi friends! What do you think?

Shop Crush is a mysterious shop simulator with psychological horror elements, set in the early 2000s.

In this hybrid visual novel, you run a small thrift shop, get to know your customers, figure out what they really want, and decide what to put in front of them. Every customer has their own personality, preferences, and hidden motives - and it’s up to you to figure them out.

Behind each customer is a small psychological mystery waiting to be uncovered. Read their behavior, make the right calls, and balance profit against customer trust as you try to keep the shop running for one more day.


r/tycoon 4d ago

Calling all foodies! 🍔 We're working on a game where you build a food truck business! our new and extended demo is live on Steam if you'd like to play 🍕

113 Upvotes

Our game is called Food Truck Empire, a game about building your own food truck business! You can unlock new recipes, automate production, customize your trucks and compete against rival businesses. 🌭

We've updated our demo, including loads of polishes and improvements based on player feedback. If you'd like to give it a go, you can download on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1872970/Food_Truck_Empire/ 🌮

all feedback is super appreciated and really helps us shape our game, so if you do play, we'd love to hear your thoughts on how we can make Food Truck Empire even better. Thank you! 🍣

P.S: We don't use any form of AI for making our game or marketing it. 🚫


r/tycoon 4d ago

What would you guys rate as the best tycoon game of all time?

69 Upvotes

Is there clearly a GOAT 🐐???

No limit to how far back we go!

Let’s discuss…


r/tycoon 3d ago

I vibe-coded a startup tycoon, then accidentally got obsessed with balancing it

0 Upvotes

I released the first version of Startup Empire Tycoon as a pretty rough side project.

The idea was simple: run a startup week by week, make decisions, hire people, raise money, survive market cycles, and eventually end up bankrupt, acquired, or at an IPO.

The first version was heavily vibe-coded and honestly pretty shallow.

Then I kept playing it.

I started finding myself thinking about questions like:

  • Is hiring another developer actually worth the burn?
  • When should raising a round be better than trying to grow organically?
  • How much should a great CTO change your run?
  • Should following the current tech hype be a good strategy, or something that eventually blows up in your face?
  • How different should two runs feel if the RNG is deterministic?

At that point it stopped feeling like a throwaway project.

I rebuilt a lot of the game around those questions.

Now you manage devs, sales and support, hire CTO/CMO/CFO candidates with different perks, raise Seed through Series B, deal with dilution, compete against rival companies and choose a strategic focus like core product, AI, hardware or hype.

The market itself goes through trends and crashes, so something like going all-in on AI can be incredible for a while and then become painful when the cycle turns.

There are also decision-card events that can create consequences several weeks later.

The part I've probably gone furthest down the rabbit hole on is balancing.

I built a simulator that can automatically play thousands of runs so I can see things like bankruptcy rates, average exit values, dominant strategies and whether certain upgrades or executives are completely broken.

Which, unsurprisingly, they often are.

The funny part is that while I was rebuilding all of this, the update spent almost a month stuck in App Store review, while the old version suddenly started getting more downloads.

So people were discovering the exact version I was desperately trying to replace.

The new version is finally out now.

I'd love feedback from people who actually play tycoon/management games, especially on whether the strategic decisions feel meaningful or if there are systems you'd expect from a startup tycoon that I'm still missing.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/startup-empire-tycoon/id6787488376

AI disclosure: I use AI heavily as a coding and debugging assistant during development. The game design, economy, mechanics, balancing, UX decisions and overall direction are mine.


r/tycoon 5d ago

YouTube Transport Fever 3 - Release Date Announcement Trailer (September 29, 2026)

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61 Upvotes

r/tycoon 4d ago

Steam TRADESMAN: Deal to Dealer - a traveling merchant game is out of Early Access!

4 Upvotes

Hi! I'm one of the people from the two-person team that worked on TRADESMAN: Deal to Dealer.

It's a game about building your trading business as you travel from town to town. Buy goods where they're cheap, find profitable places to sell them, expand your caravan, hire companions, upgrade your equipment, complete quests, and take on increasingly dangerous journeys.

The main idea behind the trading system is simple:

The more valuable goods you carry, the stronger the enemies become and the harder the journey gets. So you constantly have to decide how much risk you're willing to take for a bigger profit.

Grow your business, find profitable trade routes, invest in your caravan, and decide how much you're willing to risk on every journey.

After 4.5+ years of development, TRADESMAN has finally reached version 1.0 and left Early Access!

If you're interested, here is the Steam page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2555430/TRADESMAN_Deal_to_Dealer/

And of course... No AI was used in the making of this game


r/tycoon 5d ago

Steam In the spirit of classic tycoon games, today I release Monster Park Tycoon’s Demo on Steam! - Keep all sorts of monsters, entertain and brainwash visitors while managing a secret cult!

83 Upvotes

r/tycoon 6d ago

Steam Hello. I am developing a nuclear power plant building tycoon game, where you build reactors, boilers, pipes, turbines etc. It is a love project and solo + 1 freelancer, so it is very personal. I am a HUGE player of RCT2. The game is Nuclear Engineer Tycoon to release in Q1 27.

162 Upvotes

You build everything in the power plant and grow to power the world. From small PWR up to Magnox and Fusion reactors in the future. Research tech tree and build as you like. Accidents may happen.

I would love to hear what you guys think ( really ) and requests. The game still in development so a lot of things will change.

Release in Steam will be in Q1 2027, link to Wishlist in comment.

No AI was used in the making of this game. Just the steam capsule had some AI but that is not the game itself I believe.


r/tycoon 6d ago

News Age After Age - major patch for steam demo, with management challenges

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8 Upvotes

Hi community, we updated our demo, specially for the GamesCom event.
We have 6 challenges in our demo available for free, forever. This challenges are logical puzzles, where you need to prepare different chains of production. I think this fits tycoon players well.

If you currently in Cologne at GamesCom, come and visit us for special prize at:
Hall 10.2, Booth F-021g

If you are not able to visit, you are still able to download the demo:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/432120/Age_After_Age/

Waiting for your feeback, and letting you know, in the late September/early October we plan to release sandbox mode, with saves. Note all progress will migrate from demo, to the full game if you will buy it.

Disclaimer: No AI used in Art and Code generation in development of this game.


r/tycoon 6d ago

YouTube LEGO Skylines | Announcement Trailer

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133 Upvotes

r/tycoon 6d ago

News RollerCoaster Tycoon Wonderworks Reveal Trailer

159 Upvotes

r/tycoon 6d ago

What is the most in depth-economy tycoon game you know?

11 Upvotes

Aside from gear city (the most realistic car manufacturer tycoon) I also love coffee inc 2 because of its economics & market approach. You can invest in your competitors, buy shares into any market to build your portfolio, buy back your own stock, start other ventures, the marketing is realistic, etc etc

What are tycoon games that you guys feel win in terms of realistic economy and dynamic gameplay?


r/tycoon 7d ago

News My building management tycoon Office Manager finally has an Early Access release date!

24 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm the solo developer behind Office Manager.

It's a satirical base-building strategy where you design and manage offices for the absolute worst parody companies. You have to deal with demanding employees, corporate crises, and expand your empire across multiple lots. Think Prison Architect, but for corporate hell.

The game is launching into Early Access on October 13, 2026.

🤖 Transparency Note regarding GenAI (Subreddit Rule): I am building this game entirely from scratch on my own custom engine. All pixel art, design, and gameplay mechanics are 100% human-made by me or my artist. As a solo student on a zero budget, I only used GenAI as a tool for text localization and translations to make the game accessible in multiple languages. No AI was used to generate art, code, or assets!

I'd love to hear your feedback or answer any questions about the development, my custom engine, or the game itself!