New Graphics for Internet and Telecom Companies in upcoming version 10.0

[mrgarrettscott]

These futuristic designs are out of place if you consider the overall style of the graphics. If they must be included, then please consider adding the option to use classic Capitalism 2/Lab graphics.

[maff]

"Improving the graphics" is not about making the game more cute and childish, on the contrary, I think that the majority of people who play this game are of legal age.

It would be great if the improvements suggested by mdemircan2 were implemented.

[VelTraher]

David, thanks for your reply.

I just want to say, my intention is not to offend anyone with my previous comment, as I only express my opinion while I am deeply in love with the game itself.

As another user pointed out after me, I do believe the main thing for Cap Lab is to be a company/economy sim and users who critique the graphics as old or outdated are rather missing the point of what Cap Lab actually is. For me personally, the focus should be on updating the company/economy and sim part of the game with new features (& PC optimization) and not so much on the game looks. To be fair, what drove me in, besides the depth of features, was the '80's, 90's NY Wolf of Wall Street' or '90-00s Company boss' aesthetic of the game - clean, pleasing and light to look at which no other similar game nowadays has. There is nothing wrong in the old-school looks. The game is in a league of its own with no competition. The original graphics are no way inferior. Heck, I even enjoy Wall $street Raider from Ronin Software, which practically looks like an Excel spreadsheet, but it is filled with its own content and is completely satisfying to spend multiple hours on. (I do secretly dream both CapLab and Wall $street Raider having a baby, but that's another story..).

All in all, I do believe the focus of updates should continue to be on the features part and not so much on how the game graphically looks.

******
Hi everyone,
I think this is a good subject…
There are lots of demands on improving the game from the players. The CabLab Team uses polls to judge these demands fairly and that’s a good solution.
It seems like most of the demands revolve around improving the game's graphics. Will these improvements make the game a better business simulation? Some improvements do affect the ambiance of the game in a good way.

CabLab has another kind of players who see CapLab as a business simulation. Those are professionals from various fields such as finance, manufacturing, banking, sales, marketing, etc. and I’m one of them. The other players prioritize graphical improvements, but we have other kinds of demands. Since there are few of us our demands are often overlooked in the polls.
If more attention is paid to business simulation players' demands, the game's business simulation features will greatly improve and get deeper.
I wonder if the CapLab Development Team follows any news about other business simulations.
In the past, Capitalism Lab II was used in universities. Nowadays, Capsim and Cesim are more widely used.
If CapLab wants to extend its value in the marketplace and avoid losing it, the company should focus on business simulation players.



By the way, I have a suggestion about financial reporting: In fact, I made that suggestion a long time ago, here’s the link.

viewtopic.php?t=5554&start=20

I want to give you an example of a financial ratio from a bank in my country.
https://www.isbank.com.tr/blog/isletmel ... liz-edilir

1. What are Liquidity Ratios?
Liquidity ratios show whether a business can pay its short-term debt as it matures. There are four types of liquidity ratios: current ratio, cash ratio, acid-test ratio, and stock dependency ratio. The following calculations can be made to perform financial ratio analysis using these values:
How to Calculate the Current Ratio?
The current ratio, which is preferred to be above 2 in terms of working capital adequacy, is calculated as follows:
Current Ratio = Current Assets / Short-Term Foreign Resources

How to Calculate Acid-Test Ratio?
The acid-test ratio, which is expected to be above 1 to indicate that the business can pay its short-term debts, is calculated as follows:
Acid-Test Ratio = (Current Assets - Inventories) / Short-Term Foreign Resources

How to Calculate Cash Rate?
The cash ratio, which determines whether short-term debts can be paid using existing capital if there is no cash flow to the business throughout the year, is calculated as follows:

Cash Ratio = (Securities + Liquid Assets) / Short-Term Foreign Resources

How to Calculate Stock Dependency Ratio?

The stock dependency ratio is an analysis that determines what percentage of the existing stock must be sold to pay short-term debts. The stock dependency ratio, whose high value indicates an increased dependency on stocks, is calculated as follows:

Stock Dependency Ratio = [ Short-Term Foreign Resources - ( Securities + Liquid Assets ) ] / Stocks

2. What are Financial Structure Ratios?

Financial structure ratios express the extent to which the capital of businesses consists of debt-based financing. These values, which are used to analyze the long-term financial structures and risk situations of companies, are also called debt ratios. Financial structure ratios that reveal the ratio between capital and debt are as follows:

How to Calculate Leverage Ratio?

This value, which shows the percentage of working capital originating from borrowing, is expected to be below 50% in order not to indicate financial risk. The leverage ratio, which shows the ratio of debts to all business assets, is calculated as follows:

Leverage Ratio = Total Debt / Total Assets

How to Calculate Equity Ratio?

This value, also known as the financing rate, is expected to be above 1%. If this value is above 1%, it indicates that the business does not need to borrow in terms of capital. The financing rate calculation is made as follows:

Equity Ratio = Equity / (Short + Long Term Foreign Resources)

How to Calculate Autofinancing Rate?

Auto-financing, which means that the business creates equity capital from the profit it earns, is calculated as follows:

Auto-financing = (Profit Reserves - Previous Years Losses) / Paid-in Capital

How to Calculate Short-Term Debt Ratio?

This value, which shows the extent to which working capital is covered by short-term debts, is calculated as follows:

Short-Term Debt Ratio = Short-Term Debts / Total Liabilities

How to Calculate Long-Term Debt Ratio?

This value, which expresses the proportion of the company's capital consisting of long-term debts, is calculated as follows:

Long-Term Debt Ratio = Long-Term Debts / Total Liabilities

3. What are Profitability Ratios?

Profitability ratios, one of the most frequently used financial analysis values; show how much profitability can be achieved with the company's equity capital, operating expenses, and balance sheet. A high ratio is expected, indicating that the business is performing strongly by generating cash flow. However, a more accurate analysis can be made by comparing these values with past period rates and the rates obtained by other companies in the sector. Profitability ratios and calculation methods that help make financial ratio analysis are as follows:
How to Calculate Economic Profitability?

A high ratio, also known as economic profitability, indicates the effective use of working capital.

Economic Profitability = Profit Before Interest and Tax / Total Assets or Liabilities

How to Calculate Return on Assets?

This ratio, which is expected to be high, shows the size of the profit the business makes from its investments.

Return on Assets = Net Profit for the Period / Assets

How to Calculate Return Per Share?

Obtaining a high ratio as a result of the calculation indicates that the company's stock value is high.

Return per Share = Net Profit / Number of Shares in Circulation

How to Calculate Return on Investment?

Return on investment, one of the widely used financial ratio analyses, expresses how much profit is made from a project according to the investment made by the business.

Return on Investment = Total Investment Profit / Total Amount of Investment

There are many other profitability ratios other than these widely used ratios, whose calculation methods are given. Other profitability ratios such as cumulative profitability ratio, business volume profitability, and current asset profitability can be determined according to the field in which the business wants to conduct financial analysis. It is useful to analyze such values, which will be taken from the financial statements and proportioned, in comparison with other figures obtained. In this way, the financial situations of businesses can be addressed in a multifaceted manner and the necessary strategic steps can be taken.

I think that we really need to do more to improve the interface, improve its readability, because we spend most of our time in the windows of the game, not on the map, and it's not so important what these houses look like.

And now with your new vision in futuristic design, the game is losing the zeitgeist. After all, I personally have been starting the game through a script since 1980 and this futurism does not fight the era. It would be better if you just made the image clearer by increasing the number of pixels scaling if possible.

Your interface is really outdated, although I really adore your game because of the large availability of data and statistics. But to be honest, after hundreds of hours of playing, it's hard to return to it after actual games. Although interest in it does not disappear. It also seems to me that a dark theme is missing.

I am very sorry that you still do not have financial data saved in the game for the company's years spent.

Even now you are adding these banners for windows created through a neural network, but I don't think people had a request for this. And in terms of design, it is not readable at all and causes rejection.

I love this game. But sometimes it feels like you won't see any other good examples. And try to improve, although you can just copy other people's ideas.

[Dav3]

Agree with the poster above me. The "new" stores look weird now in comparison to the old ones before and the ones that still have not had a update. The old buildings had a charm to them and still looked kinda realistic in a sense. Now with the AI ones they dont look as real and are too futuristic for the game in my opinion, dont really mix well in general.
I think the people complaining about the graphics being "old" wont change their opinion based on a few new buildings or AI generated banners, I would say they mean graphics in a general broader term like the whole game in that sense and this is not a quick fix like changing a few textures, that would for sure need a new engine, a new vision, different UI etc. The game is a niche game but with a certain charm, im not sure about these types of games reaching a broader mainstream audience but surely have a constant following fanbase that grows with time. At least we can replace the newer buildings with the old ones via modding which is good for those people who dont like the cyberpunk aesthetic.

[maff]

Agree with the poster above me. The "new" stores look weird now in comparison to the old ones before and the ones that still have not had a update. The old buildings had a charm to them and still looked kinda realistic in a sense. Now with the AI ones they dont look as real and are too futuristic for the game in my opinion, dont really mix well in general.
I think the people complaining about the graphics being "old" wont change their opinion based on a few new buildings or AI generated banners, I would say they mean graphics in a general broader term like the whole game in that sense and this is not a quick fix like changing a few textures, that would for sure need a new engine, a new vision, different UI etc. The game is a niche game but with a certain charm, im not sure about these types of games reaching a broader mainstream audience but surely have a constant following fanbase that grows with time. At least we can replace the newer buildings with the old ones via modding which is good for those people who dont like the cyberpunk aesthetic.

I agree with everything you said, especially about the fan base, charm. I don't agree, I don't want to have to use MODs to make the game normal again

[David]

I'm delighted to inform you that a new set of graphics for Internet and Telecom companies will be introduced in version 10.0. While the futuristic designs at the top of this thread will remain an option, AI companies will not utilize them. Instead, the choice of whether or not to build with these designs will be solely up to the players. This provides the flexibility to opt out of using the designs if it's not to your liking.

[mrgarrettscott]

Thank the heavens this futuristic art style will be an option versus the default. Any user complaining that graphics are old probably doesn't know Capitalism Lab, graphically, is old, being an updated Capitalism II. Most players of Capitalism Lab are not playing it because it has the latest and greatest graphical enhancements that push pixels at 60 FPS in 4K resolution.

[maff]

Most players of Capitalism Lab are not playing it because it has the latest and greatest graphical enhancements that push pixels at 60 FPS in 4K resolution.

I spend all my time in the game looking at numbers and statistics rather than "walking" around the map