Lawn Mowing Simulator – Retrospective #1 – Engine Overload

As the team works hard on getting the core systems of LMS2 in place, we thought it would be interesting to look back on the original Lawn Mowing Simulator and dive into some of the design decisions that were made, unpack and explain them, and talk a bit about how things might be different in LMS2.

The first subject we’re going to tackle is Engine Overload.

As a quick summary, engine overload happened when you were trying to cut grass too quickly for the mower you were using, and was especially prevalent in the early stages of the player’s career when money was limited. Using some of the early available mowers on contracts with big areas and the Long Grass warning would require super-slow mowing speeds not to trigger engine overload – resulting in uncut grass and potential damage to the mower.

So why did the design work this way, and what did we learn from it? Game Director Rick Payne answers our questions!

Q: What was Engine Overload intended to replicate in the real world?

Rick: In the real world, lawncare professionals have to constantly assess the grass they are cutting and adjust either their speed or the cut height to ensure they don’t overload their mower’s motor or cause the blades to clog up. When designing Lawn Mowing Simulator we felt that this was a key risk/reward system that players could master and a driving force for players to want to upgrade to the larger, more powerful machines.

Q: Most game features are a balance or compromise of some kind – looking back, how do you feel about how it ended up in-game?

Rick: I still believe that Engine Overload is a key mechanic in the LMS series. But now, with a few years of hindsight and new learnings, I think our first implementation didn’t achieve the kind of player feedback and choice the system was meant to portray.

Q: For LMS2 are you looking at the design in a different way?

Rick: We absolutely are yes. We feel that the grass in LMS2 is the co-star with the equipment, and are rebuilding the grass and mowers from the ground up. One thing we are really pushing for is the grass to both look great and visually tell players how to approach cutting. In LMS1 due to tech limitations at the time all our uncut grass looks the same height, which stopped the player from being able to see problem areas and adapt. With the grass in LMS2 the uncut state will look much more natural and a player will be able to see areas of grass that are taller or thicker, and change their approach to cutting as they wish by either slowing down for those patches or changing the cut height.

Thanks Rick – we’ll be looking back at more original LMS design decisions in future updates, and if there’s something you’d like us to talk about, let us know!

For those of you who didn’t know, the Lawn Mowing Simulator 2 Kickstarter Pre-Launch page just got a huge new update! Be sure to check it out, and follow the page for further updates.