It’s the summer! Which means plenty of families on holiday. Whether staying in the country or going elsewhere, for those who want all the options of a holiday on site (mostly), nothing beats a holiday resort. Of course, holiday resorts are also the least used type of theming for a simulation game. I had hoped Hotel: A Resort Simulator could be a great one, but…

It was a nice concept, offering up a relaxing life running a resort. The execution was bad. Very bad. Even before its release, I was thinking how I would want a holiday resort business management game to be designed. And it includes a lot more customisation in how the resort itself looks. So, allow me to be your holiday guide as I provide a tour of Ruby Resorts.

Across the many locations one of these resorts can be built, a road will signify where the entrance to the resort needs to be placed. With the entrance in place, the main road where the entire rest of the resort will splinter off from is next. Roads, paths, and the like would be easy enough to place, with options to help with accuracy. That goes for everything that is placeable.

A reception building is one of the first things to place, along with a car park. Buildings come in various sizes, but are also modular in use. That means placing two small reception buildings together will count it as one building. This modular building style also means that if you wanted a reception building to be part of a larger complex of facilities, it is possible to do so.

Say for instance you have a large arcade. You want the reception to be inside that large arcade. Simply place the reception modules inside the arcade one. Then choose whether there will be any inside walls and where the entrance will be if there are. That entrance placing is also used for outside walls, along with windows. While the inside of buildings have no customisation options beyond the walls and doors, the outside allows for personalisation of walls and roof.

The same module options are also available for the rooms. Things are a bit different with regards to rooms, as you don’t just place them in the world for each individual building. After all, there’s going to be many, many rooms being built in the resort. Instead, each type of room is built in its own editor. Selecting a type of room, such as a standard four-person room, will allow that configuration to be placed.

A resort should have plenty of other facilities, too. Restaurants, shops, pools, sporting activities… All of these are available to place on the resort, again in a modular fashion. Some things can be both indoor and outdoor facilities, such as pools. They have separate options but will still count as one facility when placed together. For those outdoor facilities, they have fences with specific entrances.

Decorations, small stalls, and the like are also placeable. There’s a wide range of objects to make sure these resorts have unique flair. The stalls act like mini shops, providing food, drinks, or even small gifts to those who are in areas you might not want a large facility. Where there’s a beach attached to the resort, such stalls can be placed on it to keep people investing in your resort.

With all the looks of the resort out of the way, it time for the business side. Every facility needs staff to run them. But then staff also need somewhere to live. So there are staff buildings that can be placed for them. The staff at first are hired and placed in a staff building, before a facility and role is selected for them. It simply isn’t a case of everyone being suitable for everything, however.

From the job hire screen, there’s a lot of categories for jobs, such as bartending, entertainer, sports coach. Each person can have multiple jobs they are capable of doing, with experience for them being shown. The number of years they’ve worked that job, and any certificates and awards they have for that job. They will have a weekly wage that needs paying, so you can’t over hire. All those buildings also have bills that add to the weekly cost being paid each week.

As for how money is earnt, guests book rooms for a certain amount of nights. Between three and seven. Each type of room has a base cost per night. Those that hold more people see a slight increase in price, even across the same tier. Packages can eventually be created which include a room plus a few discounts for guests to entice them to the resort. Such packages might allow free eating at a certain restaurant.

Anything earnt from stalls, shops, restaurants, and all the activities which have a cost is also added to the resort’s funds. At the end of each week is when the bills are paid, so if you don’t have enough, you’ll have a month to get out of it before bankruptcy is called. And since everything you build also has a cost, there’s a lot of money management to think about.

Another thing to be aware of is the theming of all these buildings. Guests will have some traits that say what they want from a holiday. Family friendly, active, relaxing, and the like. All buildings provide a higher rating for the traits they hold. That in turn brings the guests in. It’s possible to spread them all wide to attract as many types of guests as possible, or focus in on a few.

And lastly, events. In the entertainment venues placed, there needs to be a schedule in place. Music, bingo, competitions, shows… Whatever you put in, you need to make sure you have staff who can run them. Elsewhere, events can be booked such as a sports competition. All these events also have traits that build the ratings. Special events booked for a certain time can also be arranged to attract a lot of guests who share that trait.

The career mode features all the locations Ruby Resorts wants to develop. Some will want that focus of certain traits, while others will leave you to choose. Some might have requirements regarding the decorations placed around, or hiring a superstar talent for the shows within two years. There would be three tiers of objectives per resort, with the first two needing to be completed before moving to the next.

A special conditions mode restricts what is available, needing to complete objectives to bring more into play. Can you survive until everything is unrestricted again? Then there’s the sandbox mode, where money is not a thing. Unless you want it to be. Sandbox has many things to toggle, such as whether traits are active or whether you even need to manage schedules.

Ruby Resorts is leaning to a greater focus on business than the creativity aspect of being a simulation. I had considered leaning more to the creative aspect, allowing every facet of the park to be designed – including interiors. But I feel that should be saved for a second in the series. One that leans hard into those creative aspects, much like what Frontier have done with their Planet series. Which would be better for a resort management game? Leaning into business or creative?

Images Taken From:
Google Earth Pro
hru-resort-map-2024 | Holiday Resort Unity
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