Artillery Tycoon

Artillery Tycoon is an original WWI-era factory management sim where players research authentic weapon components, engineer complete artillery pieces, prove them on a firing range, and compete for government contracts. Game Tactics designed, built, and shipped it on Steam, concept to storefront under one contract, and released it into Early Access in April 2025 where it is live and updating.

Mobile-first studios often stumble on Steam. PC strategy players expect systemic depth, dozens-of-hours progression, keyboard-and-mouse-native UI, and a level of simulation fidelity that mobile design instincts do not prepare you for, and the Steam audience punishes shallow tycoon games brutally in reviews. Artillery Tycoon set out to earn that audience: research breech mechanisms, recoil systems, and firing platforms, engineer complete artillery pieces, test prototypes on a firing range, and win government contracts. Miss the test-fire, lose the contract.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• Simulation depth that stays performant: an economy of interlocking systems, component research, warehouse and production management, contracts, and test firing, running smoothly even in sprawling late-game factories.
• A tycoon UI that respects PC players: dense information (production stats, contract terms, research trees) that stays readable and mouse-efficient across resolutions.
• Steam as a platform, not just a store: Steamworks integration, a store page built for conversion, and a production setup that could sustain a public Early Access update roadmap after launch.

• A simulation architecture built for the late game: the production sim is tick-based and decoupled from the render loop, with production chains resolved in batched updates rather than per-machine per-frame calls. Late-game factories stay smooth because cost scales with ticks, not frame rate.
• A designer-editable economy: component costs, contract payouts, and research pricing live in data, so balance evolves update after update without touching engine code.
• Contract and progression design that creates "one more turn": short-term contracts layer against long-term research bets, so the player always has a near-term goal and a strategic gamble running at the same time.
• Full Steamworks integration and a store page built for conversion, capsule art, screenshots sequenced to show depth progression, and copy aimed squarely at the simulation and strategy audience.
• A live Early Access roadmap delivered on: tutorial voice-over, research content, balance passes, and bug fixing shipped continuously since the April 2025 launch, driven by player feedback from Steam discussions and Discord.