project-hospital game sourced
Project Hospital
A hospital management sim in which the player builds departments and hires staff while doctors diagnose patients by ordering examinations that reveal symptoms until one diagnosis remains.
core loop
sign insurer contracts -> patients arrive with complaints -> doctors order examinations and lab tests -> revealed symptoms narrow the diagnosis -> treat, hospitalize, or operate -> insurers pay -> build departments and hire staff
design notes
Oxymoron Games reduced medicine to symptom rules: each diagnosis has symptoms with tuned occurrence frequencies, examinations reveal them, and a diagnosis becomes clear once enough are found; frequencies were set so a case is rarely obvious after the first exam. Patients reach the hospital through insurance company contracts, and the developers say the resulting economy came to resemble the American system. The free Doctor Mode update lets the player make individual doctors' exam and treatment choices, turning the facility sim into a diagnosis game.
relations
10 stored edgesDiagnosis and treatment
Each patient has a hidden diagnosis; doctors order examinations, lab tests, and equipment procedures that each reveal symptoms, symptom frequencies are tuned so one exam rarely settles a case, and treatment, hospitalization, or surgery follows.
Building placement
The player lays foundations, walls, floor tiles, doors, and windows and places equipment for each department, or starts from prefabs.
Staff hiring and rosters
The player hires and specializes doctors, nurses, lab staff, and janitors and manages their job satisfaction; the Hospital Services DLC adds staff training.
Scenario objectives
A campaign and six challenge levels set goals; sandbox mode removes them.
Unit commands
Doctor Mode (2019) lets the player choose exams, diagnoses, and treatments for individual doctors and their patients.