Lawn Mowing Simulator – Retrospective #9 – Equipment Pricing Structure

In this update looking back on the design of Lawn Mowing Simulator we’re taking in the subject of Equipment Pricing Structure.

As with many games that feature player progression, and most of the time in real life, the better stuff costs more. For games, this is an important pacing mechanic that helps to give players something to strive for – often it’s the ability to be more ambitious in your activities, earn greater rewards or make things easier.

In LMS you can buy mowers and strimmers, many of the former featuring optional attachments – but they all cost money! So how is the cost of equipment decided? Game Director, Rick Payne explains.

Q: How did you set the balance for how much equipment costs? Was it aligned to real-life prices, or was it abstracted?

Rick: We wanted to be totally accurate with our pricings of equipment, so every mower and string trimmer in the game were the exact price it would have cost someone in the UK to buy that piece in the real-world in 2021.

Even the cost of the fuel to refill the petrol tanks was based on the price of fuel in the UK at the time we made the game.

Q: Does aligning real-life equipment actually make designing in-game progression more difficult? If all the mowers were made-up, it would be easier to draw a critical path through the player’s progression, wouldn’t it?

Rick: From the start of development I always wanted the prices to be accurate so that people that play the game know just how much some of these top pieces of machinery they see cutting their local parks cost.

We worked a lot to try and make sure that the roster in LMS1 had different types of mower, while also making sure that there was a fairly gradual curve of pricing from the cheapest to most expensive.

An open policy was designed into the game in terms of player progression, we wanted the player to forge their own path. So beyond the limitations at the start of the game on mower purchasing, we left it completely open to them what they spend their money on.

Q: Are you planning to continue with the same design for LMS2, or will it differ at all?

Rick: LMS2 will continue the accurate prices of equipment, but this time accurate for 2026 in the USA setting. It will also continue the design philosophy of allowing the player to choose what they want to spend their in-game money on, when they want to.

Remember, if there’s something from the original game you’d like us to talk about, let us know! For more Lawn Mowing Simulator content, be sure to check out our Discord server!