Idol Ascent | Devpost

Idol Ascent
Welcome
Garage Venue
City Exploration
Concert Venue
Stadium
Upgrades

Inspiration

Idol Ascent started with the idea of capturing the full journey of a music band, from small local gigs to global fame. We wanted to recreate the rhythm, pressure, and excitement of the industry through the lens of a management sim. The world of K-pop inspired us with its mix of creative expression, relentless training, and intricate fan culture, which fit naturally into a tycoon-style gameplay structure.

What it does

Idol Ascent lets players become the manager of a rising K-pop band. Starting in a garage, the player guides their group through concerts, errands, and upgrades to reach the level of a world-class act. The gameplay connects multiple systems, where happiness, fan attention, performance quality, and cash all feed into the player’s reputation score. Players will soon be able to choose from multiple fictional bands with unique names, logos, and upgrade paths for deeper customization. You can do 3 concerts a day with has enough time to get 9 errands in for fun 'jumping in daily' gameplay.

How we built it

This first build was created using custom scripting and AI-assisted design workflows. All environments and props were generated with GenAI tools, optimized for consistent performance and a cohesive look. The core loop connects four layers of gameplay: errands, concerts, rewards, and upgrades.

Challenges we ran into

Designing a multi-stadium tycoon game meant managing several interconnected systems, such as fan growth, happiness balance, and cash flow, without breaking progression. Each variable affects the others, so tuning the system required extensive testing and refinement. We will be adding additional errands that if not completed correctly or in a timeframe will affect the currencies negatively also. We'd also love for friends to join one of your gigs and help out. Adding band costume customisation to show off to friends is also something we'd of loved to had included in this version of the build.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a working tycoon prototype that connects management strategy with creative storytelling. It demonstrates how generative workflows can power complex, scalable systems. We built a complete custom game play loop and event dispatch system along side a spatial errand mechanic.

What we learned

We learned that interconnected variables can drive strong replay value when every decision impacts long-term growth. They are also a huge challenge to orchestrate and develop. That's why the progress of the game is very much ongoing.

What's next for Idol Ascent

We plan to expand Idol Ascent with more and better minigames (already planned and designed), tasks, upgrades, songs, customization options, venues, and dynamic events that respond to player choices across multiple bands.