The Venture Zone Game: Looking for Your Thoughts

By Kevin Shaw, 8 June, 2019

Forum
iOS and iPadOS Gaming
I work for the CNIB Foundation in Canada as the program manager for entrepreneurship & innovation. On May 16, we released The Venture Zone Game—a business simulation learning game for iOS—think Farmville for running a business. The game is available in the Canadian App Store with an international version coming later this summer. In the game, you as the business owner borrow virtual cash to create a production-based business centred around a product you choose at the start of the game. You learn to run your business by branding, marketing, manufacturing and selling your product. Hire staff; fire staff, set up your own factory and even crowdfund your product. If you get stuck, there is a comprehensive help system built into the game, as well as a tutorial to get you started if you have never run a business before. The game is fully accessible with VoiceOver and was built natively in Swift using UIKit objects. We have even added VoiceOver hints specific to the game so you know exactly what each button and control does. Post your high score to Game Centre when your business gets bought out at the end of the game. We'd love any feedback, suggestions or comments on the game. I can't post in the App Directory out of conflict of interest with AppleVis, but would love it if you could post your experiences with the game. We're looking at developing version 2.0 already, so please feel free to add any suggestions. Search for "Venture Zone Game" in the Canadian App Store or click the link below: https://apple.co/2I0ZTl4 Looking forward to your feedback!

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Comments

By Karok on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

hello, when in summer do you hope for this to be out? can't wait play, sounds very strategic.

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi Will,
We're packaging the app right now. Just need a name like Venture Zone Global or Venture Zone International. Any preference?

By Karok on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

venture zone worldwide maybe? i assume will be a lot of strategy involved thou?

By Karok on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

hi can we hear a play of the game?

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

Yes, you will need to think strategically about how you build your brand strength, how you market, where and when to spend cash and so on.

By Karok on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

sounds like can keep us playing for hours, do events happen in realtime? to hear a teaser be great? wet our interests? or has anyone reviewed it? thx so much for this.

Will, 7 seconds of game time equals one day in the life of your business. Your business runs over two years. The game doesn't play itself when you close the app. If someone could review it, that would be great.

By Karok on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

hi, will we who speak french, when it out, be able to change the language in-game? also, why does it say something like 33 point 5 thousand dollars? sounds confusing? when have a specific release date in the rest of the _will, let us know!

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

A French version is in the works as I write this. Look for it later this summer.
depending on which speech synthesizer you have run-in, the figures are read differently. For example, the Alex voice will say 33.5 thousand dollars. the Siri voice will read it as 33.5k dollars.

By Karok on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

kevin just sent you a personal message on the site. Will

By Unregistered User (not verified) on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi,
Your game sounds cool.
When is it going to come out for the US App Store?

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi Angel,

We expect this out in the next month or so. We are packaging a version for outside Canada.

By Ornella on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

This is a game that I've been looking for and I'm happy one is coming out. This game reminds me of the windows game park boss only that this one is more in depth with even more things to do. Keep up the good work and can't wait to download this. I've always pushed for games like this to be made and finally someone is doing it.

By Jessica Brown on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

I am in canada and i can’t click the app store link. I also could not find it by searching.

By Jessica Brown on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

That worked but i can’t play cause i don’t have a new enough ios.

By Cornettoking on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

How many different languages will be supported when it is released internationally? I would be especially interested if ther will be a german version.

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

Venture Zone Global will be released in English first. We'll be adding French this summer. We have not planned other languages yet, but would be interested in finding out which ones are in demand.

By techluver on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hello,
May I ask what are the differences between the version released in canada and the version released for the rest of the world?

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

The Canadian version situates the player in Canada so that production runs don't take as long as international production runs. This presents a problem if you're outside Canada and see that ordering from Canada takes less than a week when you're in another country. We may also be able to localize currency marks in the game as well.

By techluver on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

So in the global version, you won't be situated anywhere, so that all production runs will take the same?

By Kevin Shaw on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

You will be able to chose from a local supplier, a non-domestic supplier and a second non-domestic supplier. In the Canadian version of the game, we have these set to Canada, USA and China.

By techluver on Monday, June 10, 2019 - 04:10

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much for your explanations. I'm really excited to play the game when it comes out.

By Paige on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 04:10

This game sounds awesome! I'm really excited for it to come out in the US

We're just about there. We're looking for a few non-Canadian testers who are TestFlight savvy and can test the app. Please message me on AppleVis if you're interested. I'll only be taking a limited number of testers. Please send me your TestFlight e-mail and we'll send invites.

Hi,

My name is Ian McNamara and I am from the UK.

This game sounds really good, if yu are still looking for testers I would be happy to assist.

By Kevin Shaw on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi and thanks for getting in touch. We've received a lot of interest in the game. TestFlight e-mails will be going out. We won't be taking more testers. Thanks again!

By Karok on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 04:10

hello will those of us who have been selected be invited today? just so we know when to expect an invitation if offered?

By Lexi on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hello, I would like to be a tester. How would I do that?

By techluver on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 04:10

He said that testing was already closed unfortunately.

By techluver on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hey there!
How'd the testing going? Just curious about if we have a definite release date yet?

By Kevin Shaw on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi, we're pushing out one more release in TestFlight and tying in some things on the back end for the global version. I expect release in the next week.

By JeffB on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Sounds fun can't wait to check it out!

By techluver on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Awesome! Thanks.

By Bingo Little on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi,

Jus curious: if I choose to base my business in the UK, will I be bound by EU regulations, and will the extent to which I am bound by EU regulations subsequently change to reflect the terms on which Brexit is concluded? Is the game sensitive to changes in local laws that impact on business e.g. reductions in Corporation Tax or exemption from business rates? I'm guessing not, but just wondered how far localisation actually goes.

By Kevin Shaw on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi, we don't have that kind of specificity in the game with respect to localization, however this will be an interesting addition to version 2 which I'll bring up. Great question though!

By Kevin Shaw on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hi all,

Our beta testing for Venture Zone Global is nearly complete. We've managed to squash a few bugs with VoiceOver and are on track for a release on August 1. Thanks for the great feedback so far. Stay tuned for more!

By Siobhan on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

@autumn, let me explain how to send a personal message. You click on the name, we'll use me for the example. So you click my link, then you are taken to my profile. That has ow long i've been a member, and if I have any apps put up in the directory, other stuff like that. Then I think there's a contact link. Click that and your email should open. Then write the note, click send. Hope that helps. If I've missed a step, i'm sorry.

By techluver on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

It'd be really cool if people could share their businesses. For example, I could send a business file to my friend, who could then import it into his copy of the game. In this way the game would play up to the point the file was created, and it would teach people how to do business better.

By techluver on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Only 6 more days in counting until this game is released.
It's been a while since a game has captured my interest as this one has. I find most mobile games to be mostly time-killers, but this one seems like it will require some strategy.

By Lexi on Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 04:10

Hello, will I be able to play this game on my echo?