5.Animation Studio Tycoon
Here at whatNerd, we love animation! And that’s whyAnimation Studio Tycoonsticks out, as it gives us a chance to try running our own studio that makes animated cartoons.
You start off by naming your animation studio along with every cartoon you end up producing. (But don’t skip on the random name generator! There are some real gems that can come from it.)
Animation Studio Tycoonrequires a delicate balance between properly funding each production (enough that the end result is pleasing to fans) without overstretching your budgets.
My favorite part is how the game starts in the 1920s with limited technologies of the time, then slowly introduces new techniques that become available to you as you research them.
Changes in sound, coloring, and distribution technologies can have a huge impact on how well a film performs, and that’s highlighted here.
Sadly, the development team behind the game has moved on, so don’t expect any new features in the future. That said, it’s a solid online tycoon game that won’t cost you a penny to play.
4.Pizza Tycoon
If you grew up in the MS-DOS era, you probably remember playing plenty of unforgiving games that didn’t exactly hold your hand.
Pizza Tycoonis one of those games, freely emulated in the browser via Classic Reload. In this game, you build your pizza empire from the ground up, complete with MIDI sound effects and retro pixel artwork.
Like most tycoon games of the era,Pizza Tycooncan be brutally difficult at times. You have to cater to different demographics, each of which wants something different from your pizzeria.
It can be tough to balance your business against your customers' wishes, and you can even go bust after just a few bad days on the job. However, once you crack the formula and get over the learning curve,Pizza Tycoonholds up surprisingly well for its age.
The art is a great example of how developers worked around the technological restrictions of the time to create a sense of vibrancy and color, further elevating the experience.
Related:Nostalgic Treasures: Cool Things You Can Find on the Internet Archive
3.Hardware Tycoon
It seems appropriate forHardware Tycoonto be a game that’s still in development—it is, after all, a game about running your own hardware company and building it up from the ground.
However, there’s enough progress and content that the game is worth checking out, even in its currently early stage.
InHardware Tycoon, your goal is to eke out a profit in an increasingly competitive field by balancing costs of development against the need to research new products and features.
What’s interesting is that you can take several different approaches. For example, maybe you’ll focus on affordable and accessible CPUs, or maybe you’ll aim for top-of-the-line products for extreme customers.
Every path presents its own challenges while remaining viable options for players. Plus, there’s a community of modders who have built on top of what the original developer created, so you can customize your gaming experience even further.
2.StudioTcn
Don’t be fooled by the text-based interface ofStudioTcn! This free online tycoon game is shockingly deep.
StudioTcnis about building a music studio and guiding talented artists toward stardom, assuming you can manage them well. Build a catalog of music that tops the charts and watch the money roll in!
Interestingly,StudioTcnallows you to compete against other players to produce the most marketable music. There are daily charts for the highest-performing songs, albums, bands, and managers, so you can let your competitive nature take over in this one.
TheStudioTcncommunity is really welcoming and there are plenty of guides available on their forums to help you get started.
Related:The Best Online HTML5 Games That Don’t Require Flash Player
1.OpenTTD
Short for “Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe,“OpenTTDis an online tycoon game that has enough features to keep you busy for hours upon hours.
Build transport routes to get products from one part of the world to the other, with bonuses for delivering goods faster than your competitors. Manage fleets of trucks, planes, and boats, all while choosing the best options for each delivery.
Often, you’ll need to plan different methods for different legs of the trip, creating a very fun balancing act. This is easily the deepest free tycoon game you can play online.
Even without the full soundtrack and all the features of the full game,OpenTTDoffers nearly endless replayability for players looking to build a full-blown transport empire.
The online version of this game is based on the early version of the open-sourceTransport Tycoon Deluxegame.
Read next:The Best Online Typing Games You Can Play in a Browser
