Something didn't quite work out in my initial post, let's try that again.

Hi all! New member here.

I've been bumbling about with retro hardware for quite some years now and I decided to see if I could combine it with my passion for gaming and game development.

This has resulted in the prototype/demo "Retro PC Workshop" which can be found on itch here: https://tormbo.itch.io/retro-pc-workshop

The concept is that you run a retro pc repair workshop in current day, working on orders from customers with all kinds of requests and problems. Eventually being able to scour the markets for parts and build your own systems for sale.

The main focus is on being as close to (our) reality and have the player do things like:

• Identify Hardware (even with dirt and/or faded markings)
• Diagnosing systems that don't POST or misbehave
• Searching the 'internet' for manuals and information
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• Configuring jumpers for BUS speed, multiplier and voltage settings. (Maybe IRQ and cache options later)
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• BIOS configuration

The prototype currently has a small interactive tutorial for the ones that do not (yet) have the require knowledge and 3 diagnose-and-repair jobs.

I'm not aiming for a full electrical level simulation and I will be forced to make abstractions at some points when true realism just isn't fun anymore. But I do want it to feel as close to handling the old machinery as possible.

That is also why I am here, you guys know a lot about this stuff and can provide me with valuable feedback, especially on the following parts:

• What would make good repair jobs (hardware faults, incompatible parts)
• Realistic symptoms for those faults
• Motherboard or manual quirks worth putting in
• How deep you'd want the simulation to go

Especially interested in the cases where the answer isn't simply: "replace everything one by one until it works again". More like "Why does it work on this board revision and not the other one?" and "These SIMMS technically should work but don't".

If you entertain trying it, it would be very worthwhile to me if you filled out the feedback form provided with the game or give me the feedback here.

AI-assisted development disclosure: I use AI coding tools as part of the development process. The game design, hardware behaviour, testing and overall direction are done and reviewed by me.